Carrie Blazina
Newsletters and email marketing
At the Online News Association, I launched a LinkedIn newsletter, which drew 2,000+ subscribers at launch, and wrote two other newsletters. I also wrote email marketing campaigns that included targeted messages to certain audience segments, promoting events and opportunities. Our goals were to inform and engage the ONA community (online journalists) and drive attendance at ONA events and webinars. I took care when writing these to keep the text short and to the point, creative and engaging, and casual yet professional.
Please note these links work best on a desktop computer.
Example 1
This is an issue of ONA Weekly, a roundup newsletter that curates the organization’s and industry’s news from the previous seven days in order to keep the ONA community informed. This issue came together very last-minute because, unusually, the lead item was only finalized and confirmed late the previous evening. I was already busy producing other content related to the organization’s 2023 conference but found time to make sure we could give the session news and the other announcements a place to shine. It’s also an issue that balances conference-related content with other updates because it goes out to the entire ONA community, not just event attendees.
This involved managing internal and external expectations because the second news item about a new partnership would have led the newsletter in any other week, and I had to work with the partnerships team to make sure our partners did not feel slighted by not being the top item in the newsletter. Overall, I’m pleased with the speed with which I produced this issue and the ways I balanced different types of content to reach multiple audiences.
Example 2
LinkedIn newsletter: Office Hours
Please read more details about this project on the Audience Engagement Projects page.
Example 3
ONA23 News (conference newsletter)
This every-other-week seasonal newsletter includes updates about new sessions at ONA’s flagship conference as well as (when there is room) reminders, archived content and session recommendations. This issue featured two newsletter-exclusive sections about new conference sessions. Both sections were initially expected to link back to related blog posts with more suggestions, but those posts were not finalized and published in time. Instead, I made sure the sessions themselves were still ready to announce and rewrote the content to stand alone. I’m glad I was able to think quickly and pivot to a new plan. I’m also happy with this newsletter because it relies somewhat less on visuals than some other ONA offerings, using section headings and bulleted lists to keep readers engaged.
Example 4
This targeted promotional email for the 2023 Online News Association Conference uses bold text, bullet points, a subheading and short, engaging copy to promote the event to members. Highlighting the available member discount allowed me to show members that they were getting an important and exclusive perk. Plus, I knew it was worthwhile to tell people which sessions and speakers to expect because our internal data and surveys showed that these were among the biggest factors in driving people to sign up for passes.
Example 5
This promotional email for ONA23 used a similar approach and format as the previous one linked above, except the copy focused more heavily on offerings for early-career attendees. ONA’s data and surveys showed that many of ONA’s conference attendees are attending for the first time, and many of those people are early in their career, so it felt important to market the event to them. I also wrote the blog post featured here about how to make the case for the event to their bosses, which seemed like a key thing to refer to because they would probably need to get buy-in from higher-ups to attend.
Example 6
This email was targeted to ONA members in the DC area based on data they provided when they joined and based on their self-identified job title or responsibility. I made sure to highlight a member discount because ONA was experimenting with using and expanding tiered pricing based on member status, and it was important to show people what perks they were getting out of their membership.