RICHMOND — When it was launched on April 4, 2006, the Virginia Baptist Mission Board's Advance Notice e-newsletter was the first monthly electronic source of information for Virginia Baptists of the 1,400-plus member churches of the Baptist General Association of Virginia.
“Advance Notice has given us a timely and cost-effective tool to communicate with our Virginia Baptist family,” said Paige Peak, assistant executive director and chief communications officer for the VBMB. According to Peak, the e-newsletter was instituted to take advantage of technologies that disseminate information more quickly and have fewer associated costs. “We know that we're being better stewards of our communications dollars by utilizing this tool, as its cost pales in comparison to the cost of printing and mailing a newsletter,” says Peak.
Emailed on the first Tuesday of each month to more than 1,700 recipients, Advance Notice includes regular features such as a “Kingdom Vision” article by John Upton, executive director of the VBMB and BGAV; “This Month in Our History,” written by Fred Anderson, executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies; a profile of a Virginia Baptist ministry partner; a “Did You Know” section containing relevant statistics; links to information about upcoming Virginia Baptist events; and downloadable Cooperative Missions ads and “Read the Bible Through” calendars.
In addition to the 12 monthly issues, special editions of Advance Notice were produced near the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the two-year anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami detailing Virginia Baptists' ongoing ministries in response to these disasters. A third special edition of Advance Notice was emailed after the BGAV annual meeting to recap that year's event, which was called Connect:2006.
The Katrina, Connect:2006 and tsunami special editions of Advance Notice are currently archived on the VBMB website (www.vbmb.org), along with each of the monthly issues. Subscriptions also are available on the web site by clicking on the “Sign up for our e-newsletters” link.
Advance Notice was also used to make several urgent announcements related to the P.E.A.C.E in 21-C conference, which was held Feb. 2-3, 2007. In mid-January when Highlands Fellow-ship church in Abingdon offered to pay the registration fees for two key leaders from any BGAV church to attend 21-C, a special edition of Advance Notice was sent to announce this special offer. And when an unexpected family death forced conference leaders Rick and Kay Warren to cancel their participation only a few days before 21-C, a news release was emailed to everyone on the Advance Notice mailing list.
Statistics from Advance Notice's first year demonstrate its success in keeping Virginia Baptists informed. According to Kirby Knight, the VBMB's web services coordinator, on average almost 50 percent of recipients opened each monthly issue. “While at first glance this percentage may appear low,” Knight said, “it compares quite favorably with the open rates of other e-newsletters, which average 30 percent-33 percent. So clearly we're reaching a far larger percentage of our target audience than most e-newsletters do.”
Similarly, Advance Notice's average “click-through” rate (the percentage of recipients who click on one or more links) is also much higher than that of other e-newsletters: 28 percent vs. 6 percent-8 percent. The most popular links are the event promotions (31 percent), John Upton's article (28 percent), and the “Read the Bible Through” calendars (12 percent).
Even as Advance Notice marks its first anniversary, Peak is turning her attention to its future. “As with any of our communication tools, we will continue to evaluate its effectiveness. And we look forward to adding some new elements to keep it fresh and engaging.”