We don’t want to write a newsletter.
We’re just not passionate about putting content together in that form, on a regular basis. To us, it feels forced. Like we’re doing it to build The Almighty List because some day, we might want to market something to you. We’ve tried really hard to think up something that would be both fun to write and useful to you. But it’s just not….us. And right now, this is just a blog. If we’re marketing anything at the moment, it’s ideas.
They All say that we should. Because having that list of names is important should something like Twitter disappear. And because email is such a strongly preferred form of communication. And because email isn’t dead. That’s what They say.
Email isn’t dead to us. And we read some great ones that each of us sign up for. It’s just that right now, it’s not something we want to do as it relates to this blog. And we won’t phone it in.
So we Tacks will make a deal with you.
If this blog is important enough to you that you want to be sure we can keep in touch if The Twitter and The Facebook blow up tomorrow, let’s have your email in the form below. Or if you like, elect to subscribe to Brass Tack Thinking via email instead of RSS. That works, too.
[contact-form 1 “Contact form 1”]
You won’t be getting a newsletter from us. It’s our In Case Of Emergency list to make sure that we can reconnect if the scaffolding of the internet comes down on us. And it’s up to you whether that idea strikes fear in your heart, or whether we’d both just tap the dust off of our hands and go on our way.
We won’t ever use it to do anything but tell you what’s up around here should some technological apocalypse occur. If we ever change our minds and want to write a newsletter because a brilliant, irresistable idea worthy of you and this little place over here hits us square in the noggin, we’ll use that email to tell you that and you can elect to stick around, or bail.
So, how’s that? I know, I know. We’re breaking the rules again. We never did care much for them, anyway.
Oh and DJ? Don’t hate.
Love this. I can’t argue with the value of email newsletters and email lists for marketing – it is often the right tactic. But lately I’ve been unsubscribing from a lot email newsletters because I just can’t absorb it all. RSS feeds are easier to manage and less intrusive. So thank you for breaking this rule.
AWESOME- with feeds and the myriad other ways, I too have canned most emails in lieu of RSSing it.
If something that catastrophic happens, heaven forbid, would it mean something has happened HERE aw well?
Unacceptable.
I think what I’ll do is create a brand new newsletter JUST for you, Ridings. It’ll have lots of special stuff in it, and it’ll only come out four or five times a day. Stay tuned.
Unacceptable.
Unacceptable.
So in Firefox 3.6.10 and in IE7, whenever I try to go directly to this webpage, it forwards me to a Google Apps page that allows me to sign up for an E-mail address at Brass Tack Thinking and I can’t see the original post.
When I open up this page in Google Chrome, I see the post, just as it was in Google Reader, but there’s no form to sign up.
I don’t use Apple products, so I can’t comment on how that works.
I’m kind of confused as to what should be happening at this point. Am I supposed to sign up for a Brass Tack Thinking E-Mail address?
Lots less complicated than that. Google Docs is supposed to embed nice and neatly, and not so much. Working on it. Thanks.
Seems to work now; I was able to enter my info. Should I expect some kind of confirmation communication?
Prolly not. That was kind of the point. 🙂
Oh, and in serious, we got ya. 🙂
You tacks have a point. It is appreciated.
I think it’s great that you’ve thought about your communication channels. So many people have a checklist of things “every online business should have” – newsletter, Twitter, Facebook page, etc. Knowing your customer (and knowing yourself) means you think about all your options and pick the best strategies, not just blanket do what everyone else is doing.
I think it’s great that you’ve thought about your communication channels. So many people have a checklist of things “every online business should have” – newsletter, Twitter, Facebook page, etc. Knowing your customer (and knowing yourself) means you think about all your options and pick the best strategies, not just blanket do what everyone else is doing.
Define “regular basis.” Under my hat as a city councilor, I maintain an email newsletter for my constituents and I only send 1-2 a month. That’s regular enough to keep people interested in signing up and replying with feedback.
Ari, that’s you. Not us, and not something we want to do right now. I’m sure it works great for you and many others.
I’m not alone?! I also don’t offer a newsletter because my blog says everything I want to say, on the schedule I want to say it. To paraphrase a fabulous thought I picked up in the book “The Art of Possibility” — “Why follow the rules? They’re all invented. Make up your own.”
I love rule-breakers. And Katherine’s quote from The Art of Possibility. I won’t mind that you don’t put out a newsletter if you don’t mind that I used my “subscribe to stuff” email. I am telling you, the more I know you and Tamsen, the more I heart you. Being true to yourself/selves is everything.
Oops, I meant respect. Ya, that’s it. (No, she meant heart.)
Newsletters take a whole lot of time to maintain. And if you don’t keep ’em coming regularly, I think it’s real easy to lose subscribers and lose people’s attention. So if it doesn’t make sense, for whatever reason, that’s totally fine. Doing it just to do it is totally the wrong approach.
In any case, rock on!