Cadence: The Matter of The 3C's, Because When You Send Matters
Step #4 in Creating a Compelling Pet Care Industry Newsletter
In recent issues, we've discussed Why your Newsletter needs a solid Purpose, Who your Audience should be, and What Message you want to be sending them in each issue.
Today, I want to talk to you about your Newsletter's Cadence.
Why is Cadence the next critical step in developing a great pet care newsletter that your readers look forward to getting in their inbox?
Your Cadence is your When.
In the context of a Newsletter, your When is about the Cadence at which you choose to publish—the frequency at which readers can expect to hear from you.
Not only that, though; it is also about the cycle of content that streams from the newsletter issue, as well as the measurement of your progress throughout the calendar year.
When working through the Cadence step of developing your compelling, value-driven newsletter, you must first work out what I call the 3C’s: Content, Calendar, and Circulation.
Let’s start with Content.
Content, in this context, refers to the pillar post from which you will build out your content for the Newsletter issue’s cycle.
Using The Pawsitive Press Framework for Newsletter Development process means using the pillar post you craft for your newsletter issue as your foundational Content for the rest of your channels where you post content, and mapping back to your newsletter. In this way, 3 things can happen:
- You streamline your content creation, everything stems from your main article written for your newsletter issue (See Calendar, below).
- You create continuity across all channels so your Message -and whatever themed topic you are converting during the newsletter's content cycle- ring with familiarity to your Audience, no matter where they find your brand.
- Your business's brand recognition across all platforms builds trust and a unified experience for your audience, differentiation in the market, and more effective marketing efforts.
Things to consider when deciding on what Content to create:
- What will you talk about in each issue- what is your main article about, what is your main point, and what is the chief takeaway for your reader?
- What is the tie-in to the previous issue's content (if any) and the next issue?
- What theme do you want to flow through the cycle’s content?
- What are the biggest pain points of your audience?
- What is the key difference in how you can help them solve those dilemmas?
Next, is Calendar.
The second C is all about how often to “cycle” through each issue. Creating an editorial Calendar is a crucial element of this step, and there are many advantages to taking the time to do this:
- You are able to strategically plan out your Content in advance. This allows for seeing the bigger picture of how each piece connects to the main pillar article, and how the main post feeds all the rest of the chosen content.
- An editorial calendar gives you both organization and time management. Crafting the Calendar for each month puts you in a unique position of keeping you- and your team- on top of the content publication specifics, as well as streamlining the creation of it.
- Relying on a well-established Calendar helps you stay consistent, keep your Content quality high, and continually allow for diversity in balance of posting types and focuses.
When working on establishing your Calendar, ask yourself:
- What frequency will we be publishing our newsletter? At what interval should my readers expect to receive it?
- How often will we “cycle” through each issue of our newsletter, and therefore our primary content editorial schedule?
The third C is for Circulation.
This step is about the platform you will use to distribute your Newsletter and get it out to your subscribers. It also feeds directly into the next step of the framework, Design, which we'll discuss in detail in the next issue of The Pawsitive Pathfinder: Professional Edition.
The platform you use to distribute your Newsletter will likely be an email service provider, or ESP. If you don’t already have an ESP, you’ll need to choose one and set it up.
Some important things to keep in mind while doing research here are:
- Deliverability
- Security and Data Privacy Compliance
- Metrics and Analytics Reporting
- Integration
- Customer Support
- Features
- Budget
Keeping a regular Cadence with your newsletter is pawsitively crucial in crafting a compelling publication your audience will love—it helps keep your readers engaged, your messages consistent, and your brand trusty and reliable.
Finding the purr-fect rhythm for your Newsletter means striking a balance: you need to match what you can realistically create with what your readers expect from you, all while making the most of the tools your platform offers.
Get this mix right, and you'll not only boost the impact of your messages but also strengthen the bonds with your audience. And that helps pet parents and guardians do right by their furry friends.
After all, we're all in this to share our love for all our
beloved furry companions, right?
If you've gotten this far in the series on The Pawsitive Press Framework (you can review the other issues here), and you’re not sure where to start, or how to improve on what you’ve been doing in your business, Sitting Pretty Strategies and The Pawsitive Pathfinder Pack are here to help. Just hit REPLY and reach out. I'd love to have a chat!
In the coming issues of The Pawsitive Pathfinder: Professional Edition, we’ll talk more about what works in marketing today, marketing best practices, and how a successful marketing strategy can start as simply— and powerfully— as publishing a compelling, fun, value-driven newsletter consistently, as well as dig into the last step of The Pawsitive Press Framework for Newsletter Development.
Until then...
