Cutting Out Media? What About Newsletters?

If you’ve spent much time reading any time management literature, you’ve probably seen the recommendation to limit your intake of news and other media. Whether they advise you to turn off the TV, stop reading so many magazines, or stay off the Internet news sites, most time management gurus recommend information consumption diets of one kind or another.

What is new, at least to me, is hearing marketing people proclaim the value of limiting media consumption.

For instance, Timothy Ferriss, in The 4-Hour Workweek, recommends cutting out newspaper reading and turning to friends and strangers to keep informed about what’s happening in the world. Then, in a later chapter, he talks about advertising a business in traditional media.

This dichotomy bugs me. Not because we have a social obligation to stay informed and plugged in to a steady stream of information. But because, taken to the extreme, it gets complicated.

If we all cease to interact with media of any kind, we won’t be able to rely on others to keep us informed. If we all stop reading newspapers, and magazines, watching TV, and surfing the Internet, who will see the ads we run to promote our businesses?

More than these semi-rambling musings, though, I really wonder what kind of impact this will have on newsletters. it seems the likeliest outcome is two-fold:

1) People will stay subscribed to your newsletter only as long as it has *immediate* relevance–so, likely only for a month, at most.

or

2) People will stay subscribed to your newsletter only as long as it has emotional resonance–perhaps for several years or longer.

Of course, neither of these outcomes is particularly troublesome–they merely mean you need to take an active role in making sure your newsletter has relevance to your target audience, both in terms of practical information and in emotional connection. But, they are worth considering.

As people become harder to reach, what are you doing to ensure they are receptive to your message? If you suddenly start losing 75% of all your new subscribers (when they unsubscribe promptly upon getting the information they need), what changes might you make to maximize your newsletter’s appeal to the 25% who stay?

I’m curious. Do you limit your exposure to the mass media? What impact has this had on your life? What impact do you foresee it having on your newsletter subscribers if they follow in your footsteps?

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