I have felt that for some time e-newsletters can be a powerful relationship building tool. They need to be used regularly, the receivers need to subscribe for a year or so, the content must be of use to subscribers and most importantly the best ones are interactive and overtly encourage feedback or dialogue. For commercial marketers such feedback can be useful in developing new products or refining their messages, for politicians e-newsletters can help them explain their position on topical issues, seek feedback and possibly be a voter winner.
One good example of the speedy and topical use of an e-newsletter to support, as part of an intergrated communication approach, was provided by Tim Farron. By 17.30 yesterday I had recieved an email from Tim commenting on yesterday's Queen's Speech, only a few hours after Her Majesty had presented her Government's programme. What Tim said about the Government's legislative programme was esentially the party line. Therefore, he was using his e-newsletter to reinforce a message which would be presented via other media. I suspect Tim has a few thousand subscribers, so whilst they were hearing about the Queen's Speech on the television or radio, some of his constituents also receiving commentary from their MP.
My only criticism is that Tim's approach was one-way, namely his views only, but he could easily have engaged subscribers by asking for their views as well. At the very least they would have felt that their MP listened to them and wanted to hear their voice.
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