The Pros, Cons and Realities of Outsourcing Your E-Newsletter

It’s well known that email marketing is effective because it keeps you and your organization visible to customers and prospects. It can help you generate and nurture your leads and show off your expertise.

Your e-newsletter should be thought of as the foundation for a successful content-marketing strategy that includes blogging, social media, article-writing and PR. Email marketing can make or break promotional campaigns.

Pros and cons to outsourcing your newsletter

You’ve worked hard to build your business, and it can be hard to trust others to get the job done right. But here are some reality checks of the real risks and benefits of outsourcing your e-newsletter.

“No one knows my business or my personality well enough to write this for me. I’m a niche expert.”

Reality check: Choose a professional firm who will take the time to learn your niche and be responsible for your e-newsletter. In the amount of time it would take you to prepare one newsletter on your own, you can get a professional writer entrenched in your field. Brief phone calls and reviewing someone else’s work is always easier than writing from scratch.

Clearly, not just any firm can handle complex work. Look at examples of the types of clients they’ve worked with in the past. While it’s a real benefit if they’ve already worked with another firm in your industry (because they should already know specialized jargon and trends), if they can demonstrate an ability to master the complexities of other niche fields, you’ll be in good hands. You can expect, as you work together over several months, they will learn your lingo as well as provide fresh insights into your sector.

Plus, a professional can help you write succinctly and develop a voice that is appropriate for your brand. They’ll also help you avoid embarrassing typos and grammar errors.

“New graphics and images will cost me too much money.”

Reality check: You’re using low-quality images that are not truly connected to your own brand identity.

Professional designers have resources to help you find or design better looking graphics that will make your newsletter stand out from the rest—from access to greater photo libraries; to creating info-graphics, to adjusting a chart to match your own brand. These are the details that really make your e-newsletter represent your brand in the best way possible.

“I’ll lose total control of my email marketing if I outsource.”

Reality check: You might like to keep control over your e-newsletter, but it never gets done!

If you are spending too many hours working inefficiently on your newsletter, recoup that investment in billable, profitable work by shedding your e-newsletter from your to-do list. Focus on higher priority, billable work, while someone else manages your newsletter.

Email marketing only works when you actually do it!

We challenge you to look back over the past year to see how many times you actually sent out an e-newsletter to your list. Typically, people have a goal of sending monthly e-newsletters, but only successfully send about 3 or 4!

Next, think about how long each one takes you to write, create images for, and send. Now multiply that number of hours times by your hourly rate. Did your stomach turn a bit there?

We’ve had clients using DIY platforms that spend 2, 5 or even 8 hours to get their e-newsletter looking good. By the time they fixed the colors, wrote the text, checked the links, uploaded their latest contacts, it was a huge amount of time. It’s a headache-inducing experience, and honestly the end result is not something that looks really good, either!

Has your e-newsletter been on your to-do list for too long? Are you intimidated and frustrated with the process? It’s time to delegate your e-newsletter.