One of my clients who sends out quarterly HTML newsletters to their customers recently asked me this question. They don’t have a blog yet. My response:

I wouldn’t worry about people not coming to your blog party. If you’ve got customers, then you’ve already got an audience for your blog.

In your next newsletter, let all your customers know about your new blog, and encourage them to visit your blog and subscribe to it via an RSS feed. That way, they will hear from you each time you post, rather than only once a quarter when they get your newsletter. You’ll always be fresh in their minds.

If you’re writing a newsletter right now for your clients and sending it out as an HTML email, then you could easily be blogging. You’ve already got the content part down; the blog format is merely a more efficient vehicle to get it out.

Plus, it’s a whole lot cheaper and faster. Unlike newslettes, blog posts can be done without the help of a designer. I have spent years designing newsletters for online and print, but I am going to encourage my clients to consider blogging to supplement, or in some cases, even replace, the traditional newsletter format.