News

How a topic-based newsletter is helping The Salt Lake Tribune drive revenue

2021-11-17. Newsletters offer great potential for helping news publishers at every stage of the subscription funnel, but it’s important to know what kinds of newsletters work best at which stages and develop them accordingly, says Lauren Gustus, Executive Editor of The Salt Lake Tribune.

by Brian Veseling brian.veseling@wan-ifra.org | November 17, 2021

Speaking during WAN-IFRA’s recent webinar on Topic-focused and Niche Newsletters, Gustus told participants that some newsletters, such as the popular morning briefing ones, tend to be a better fit for the top of the funnel to bring people in and raise awareness of the brand and content.

“Mid-funnel is how do we get people to stay? And how do we get them to come back again and again? The bottom of the funnel is how do we get them to pay? Or how do we, in the instance of The Tribune, get them to donate, to become supporters?” she said.

“In each of those different funnel components, you have different newsletters,” she added. “Where does each newsletter fit is a critical question as we look at where we are going with respect to the goals and objectives of each newsletter.”

The middle and bottom of the funnel are where a publisher should have specific topic-based or niche newsletters aimed at a clear target audience.
A newsletter aimed at Mormons
The Salt Lake Tribune, for example, has a weekly newsletter called Mormon Land that addresses stories and issues relating to the Mormon faith, the predominant faith in Utah, where The Tribune is based. Worldwide, there are around 6.6 million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), who are also called Mormons. About 60 percent of the 3.3 million people who live in Utah are Mormons.

The Tribune is perhaps best known recently for becoming the only major metro newspaper in the United States to convert ...

Keen to read more? This content is exclusively available to our WAN-IFRA Members. If you believe your company is already a member, or you'd like to join in a personal capacity, please contact customer.service@wan-ifra.org If you're a media journalist please reach out to dean.roper@wan-ifra.org

Share via
Copy link