Mick
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 810
- Location
- Cambridge, UK
Hi All.
Even though technically 'retired', I still get roped in to help with friends, families, friends of friends etc etc - plus, of course, those clients who just think I've stopped working for everyone else...but not them.
So, the other day, one such case arose and as it's not an area I'm particularly knowledgeable about, I thought I might ask here. Here's the situation: My village, like many in the UK, publishes a village magazine. It's a non-profit set-up. Goes strictly to residents, has strictly local content and they try and cover their printing costs by carrying a bit of local advertising. Been doing things this way for decades. Recently, the costs of - well, pretty much everything - have gone up and with local firms feeling the pinch too, advertising is getting harder to attract. Result: they are now running at an unsustainable loss and looking for ways to cut costs. One thing they're looking at - and this is why they've roped me in - is ditching the 'paper copies to every household' routine and going to an e-mail only delivery. This isn't ideal, but it does tick quite a few boxes. So last month, they tried it. Someone drew up a template message, attached a PDF of the magazine and BCC'd it to about four hundred addresses, just using their own, ordinary old email account.
Outcome (and this won't surprise you): Immediately black-listed as a spam generator. So my mission is to find a way of doing this that won't immediately pitch the sender off-air. I suggested they look at MailChimp. But they did and they don't like it. 'Looks too commercial for us' etc. This isn't something I've had a whole lot of experience with and I'm wondering what you guys would suggest/recommend....if anything?
Thanks for any suggestions/warnings.
Even though technically 'retired', I still get roped in to help with friends, families, friends of friends etc etc - plus, of course, those clients who just think I've stopped working for everyone else...but not them.
So, the other day, one such case arose and as it's not an area I'm particularly knowledgeable about, I thought I might ask here. Here's the situation: My village, like many in the UK, publishes a village magazine. It's a non-profit set-up. Goes strictly to residents, has strictly local content and they try and cover their printing costs by carrying a bit of local advertising. Been doing things this way for decades. Recently, the costs of - well, pretty much everything - have gone up and with local firms feeling the pinch too, advertising is getting harder to attract. Result: they are now running at an unsustainable loss and looking for ways to cut costs. One thing they're looking at - and this is why they've roped me in - is ditching the 'paper copies to every household' routine and going to an e-mail only delivery. This isn't ideal, but it does tick quite a few boxes. So last month, they tried it. Someone drew up a template message, attached a PDF of the magazine and BCC'd it to about four hundred addresses, just using their own, ordinary old email account.
Outcome (and this won't surprise you): Immediately black-listed as a spam generator. So my mission is to find a way of doing this that won't immediately pitch the sender off-air. I suggested they look at MailChimp. But they did and they don't like it. 'Looks too commercial for us' etc. This isn't something I've had a whole lot of experience with and I'm wondering what you guys would suggest/recommend....if anything?
Thanks for any suggestions/warnings.
But this is a small village - everyone knows everyone. I don't want to be walking down the street -it is actually called 'The Street' - while they all whisper behind their hands - "There goes that b'stard who wouldn't even try to help us". Besides - they're nice people; just the epitome of tech-fearful.
