Pub Talk
By Rob Yoegel
About Rob
Rob Yoegel takes an active role in North American Publishing Company's online efforts including content, sales, marketing, usability, functionality and vendor relations as Vice President, e-Media. Rob works directly with publishers and editors in developing a consistent strategy from print to online.
A former journalist, Rob has been involved in Internet strategies since 1996 serving as an associate editor of Target Marketing magazine, where he regularly contributed articles related to the Internet, including e-commerce, Web site design/development, e-mail, fulfillment, customer service and marketing integration. He also spent one year as publisher of PhillyTech Magazine, a regional technology magazine published by Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. E-mail him at ryoegel@napco.com or call (215) 238-5344.
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Enough is Enough. Stop Sending Me E-mail
Not anymore.
Let me explain. Every fall, during a laborious media kit season, I pull up next year’s calendar and begin looking for some times of the year when our e-newsletters won’t be published.
The reasons are simple. Our editors deserve a break. They have families too, and plan at least a few days off around the six major US holidays (I say “six” because that’s when our offices are closed). If editors aren’t around, neither are their readers. Historically, e-newsletter open rates suffer by sending, for instance, an issue out the Friday after Thanksgiving, or the Friday before a Monday holiday. A handful of advertisers every year confirm this theory and ask if they can move an insertion date that was previously scheduled close to a holiday.
All of this changed this year. When I suggested a 2008 schedule to editors (for instance, taking a 52x e-newsletter to 45x), a bunch of them clamored to have a few issues put back in. Maybe they’re reading this blog after all!
I subscribe to a bunch of online publishing/advertising-related e-newsletters and RSS feeds. Apparently some of them don’t care about their readers’ or advertisers’ inboxes. Whether it was another IAB Smart Brief, a MediaPost publication, something from ADOTAS, or another (albeit usually very well-written) post from Scott Karp, I just couldn’t be left alone last week... and, yes, I came to work December 26-28.
All of them, minus Karp’s Publishing 2.0 blog, offered absolutely nothing of value to me. How many times did I have to read how much online advertising is going to increase in 2008 or the “big news” round-ups from 2007? I’m a loyal reader, but I just wanted to be left alone for a few days.
