CASE STUDY: Newsletter

	MSN HomeAdvisor News – Microsoft’s real estate-oriented newsletter – began life humbly. Very humbly, in fact. In February, 1999, when Siler & Company began conceptualizing the newsletter with Matt Heinz, lead product manager for MSN HomeAdvisor, the goal was to produce a modestly designed, faxable newsletter that would update the media on the growth, benefits and features of the company’s new online real estate site, HomeAdvisor.com. The initial (and decidedly modest) goal was to fax the newsletter to no more than 200 news organizations and another 300 real estate brokers and key industry players. But as the old saying holds, giant oaks from tiny acorns grow. In fact, MSN HomeAdvisor News is now the largest-circulation newsletter published by Microsoft. As MSN HomeAdvisor News evolved – and as growing numbers of real estate professionals began using the online real estate site to post their thousands of listings of homes for sale – the newsletter’s audience grew. And grew. And grew some more. In fact, it continues to grow. Just three years since its founding, MSN HomeAdvisor News’ distribution has witnessed a meteoric increase, from a mere 500 to nearly 200,000 real estate professionals, media outlets, and HomeAdvisor partners nationwide. To put the newsletter’s circulation into perspective: It is nearly as large as The Toledo Blade and The Boston Herald -- two large metropolitan newspapers. MSN HomeAdvisor News has become such a respected resource of the real estate industry that the HomeAdvisor sales team now uses it as a primary sales tool for attracting new brokers and multiple listing services to partner with the site. As MSN HomeAdvisor News’ audience evolved and expanded, so did its format. There are now two versions – one that is printed, the other e-mailed. The printed version is used primarily as a sales tool that is mailed and distributed at industry trade shows. The e-mail version – a format befitting the online technology it represents – is conveniently and immediately dispatched to the desktops of thousands of readers. “Many people don't realize how cost effective a newsletter can be, whether it's printed or e-mailed,” says Heinz. “Newsletters are a great way to spread your message and they can be distributed in many ways: via U.S. mail, e-mail, in sales kits and at trade shows. It’s been especially exciting to watch MSN HomeAdvisor News grow to become one of the most popular and largest-circulation newsletter published by Microsoft.” More than three years after creating the first newsletter for MSN HomeAdvisor, Siler & Company continues working with Heinz on the publication. Siler & Company is responsible for its editorial content, design and printing of the monthly publication. Click here to view a sample of HomeAdvisor News