I’m on the e-mail lists of quite a few law firms. I get their newsletters. Some of these folks go further and invest in sending printed copies of their product.

I’ve got three newsletter mini-rants for you.

Rant 1: Don’t Spam

Don’t send me your newsletter if I didn’t sign up. I do, in fact, sign up for some of them. Sometimes I’m curious about the firm. Sometimes I’m curious about legal developments.

If I signed up, then send away. Don’t, however, send me or anyone else your newsletter if we didn’t ask for it. Spamming diminishes trust. It’s the wrong way to get our attention. I could go on for pages about how annoying we think you are when you mail us unsolicited stuff. Just don’t do it.

If you’re going to do it anyway (and you know who you are), then be sure there’s an easy unsubscribe link. Sending us unsolicited mail and then making it nearly impossible to unsubscribe goes way beyond annoying. It’s the kind of thing people talk about over lunch. Things like “OMG, I hate the Smith firm and its annoying e-mail…” Plus, it’s likely that you’re violating some anti-spam law.

Rant 2: Send Us the Personal Stuff

If you insist on doing the newsletter thing, then send us something that relates to the most important thing of interest to me. Send me stuff about ME. I’m not interested in the stuff for other people. Only send me the stuff that’s for me.

I receive newsletters targeted to a variety of types of people. The newsletter is likely being sent to friends, family, clients, former clients, referral sources, community leaders, seminar attendees, etc. The material reads like it’s written for lots of different folks with differing interests and perspectives. Reality check: I only care about the stuff that relates to me. The other stuff is the reason I stop opening your newsletter. Make it personal or don’t do it (and I’m an advocate of don’t do it).

Rant 3: Keep It Short

The typical newsletter has five articles in it covering the firm’s practice areas. It’s too long. It often starts with an introduction to the articles. Some of the newsletters shoot for being more human and include stories or recipes (yes, I’ve seen recipes—really). It’s too much material. It’s too long. I don’t have the time or interest. (I’m not that busy, but you’re competing with last week’s episode of Homeland.)

Nobody wants to read this lengthy thing about stuff that’s not particularly important to ME. I’m thinking about ME. I want stuff about ME. If it’s not about ME, then I ’m not reading it. I’m especially not interested in reading stuff that’s long and not about ME.

I’d rather get an e-mail with ONE article in it that’s written specifically for ME. I’d save that article. I’d read that article over and over. I’d send it to other people and ask them to read it.

How do I know? Because my tax lawyer sent me an article about ME and I’m still talking about it. He didn’t even write it. I have no idea who wrote it. All I know is that it’s about me and my problem, and it was sent to me by North Carolina tax lawyer Louis Wooten, who doesn’t litter my e-mail box or my snail mailbox with crap written for other people. He sent me stuff about ME and, for that, I remember him, refer to him, pay him, link to him on my site, and say nice things about him.

Five Steps to a Successful Newsletter Campaign

Do you want me and the others on your marketing list to remember you, refer to you, pay you, link to you, and say nice things about you?

If so, then stop sending us a newsletter about other people’s problems, irrelevant practice areas, and stuff we don’t care about. Send us stuff we care about and make it interesting, accessible, and useful.

The bottom line is that I don’t think your newsletter is a particularly effective way of marketing your practice. You send it to us because you want us to know what you do and remember you when the need arises. You want us to perceive you as experts, and you want your name to remain at the tips of our tongues.

Here’s how I’d do it:

1. Get Permission

It’s incredibly tempting to lift e-mail addresses from elsewhere and use them. I get it: been there, done that, and been banned by an e-mail provider. But it’s a bad idea. Shoving your name down someone’s throat might work, but it’s not a good long-term play. Get permission. Give people a good reason to pay attention. They’ll show up, and they’ll stick around. This is a marathon, not a sprint.

2. Create or Curate

Develop the relevant material or wrap others’ material in your words. Find what we need and put it in a convenient format. Think blog post if that’s a good format for the content on your site. Think Wikipedia if that’s a better format.

3. Shrink It

Let us decide whether we want to read it. Make it short with a link back to the original material on (1) your site, (2) your blog, or (3) the source. Just blurb it and give us what we need to decide whether we’re interested in learning more. Send us one item at a time. That’s as much as we can digest.

4. Customize It

Narrow your focus and segment your list so I only get what I need. If I’m on your list due to a tax issue, don’t send me estate planning and administration info. Give me what you know interests me. You can pretty easily track my interests over time by monitoring where I click on your site. If I’m a tax client who suddenly starts reading your estate administration stuff, then add me to that segment. I’m sending you a message with my clicking.

5. Send the Good Stuff

Don’t send stuff to send stuff. Send us what we need when we need it. If you can’t figure out how to automate that process, then don’t automate it. Marketing to us well, one at a time, is much smarter than marketing to us poorly all at once. The reason I got so much out of the article forwarded by Louis Wooten was that it was the exact right article at the exact right time. He knew to send it because we talked about it. Sorry, but great marketing requires hard work and focus (and there I go mentioning my lawyer again, right?).

Bottom Line: Give Them Must-Read Content

Newsletters are an old idea that made sense in a world where printing and postage costs were significant. Today, there are better ways to stay top of mind. Creating content, building an audience, and getting your quality information in front of those folks who care has value as you build your practice. Do it with the audience in mind. Give them what they want, and they’ll do what you want.

When people open your mail, they should be excited with the anticipation of discovering what you sent. Focus on them, and that’s exactly what’ll happen.

[ While I have you here, I wanted to remind you that you can get the latest articles delivered to your inbox a week before they go up on the web. Just one email per week. Sign up here. ]