# Introduction to broadcasts

We offer two types of broadcasts: *Newsletter* and *Messages triggered via API*.

If you’re new to Customer.io, checkout [Campaigns, broadcasts, and transactional messages](/journeys/types-of-campaigns-and-broadcasts/) to make sure you’re creating the right kind of automation.

## How it works[](#how-it-works)

A broadcast is a message or workflow that you trigger (or schedule) for a group of people. It’s not “active” like a campaign: you’ll send, schedule, or trigger your broadcast for a group of people. Anybody outside that group won’t get the broadcast unless you send it again.

When you create a new broadcast, you choose a *Broadcast Type*: *Newsletter* or *Messages triggered via API*. These two things are fundamentally different, but we can help you choose the right one.

[![The first page after clicking Create broadcast. There's a field for the name of the broadcast. Under the name, you can choose between newsletter and messages triggered via API.](https://docs.customer.io/images/broadcast-type-latest.png)](#856983bb7249f46b93fc2b3ae101d878-lightbox)

A **Newsletter** is a single message you want to send to a group of people. You can schedule a newsletter or send it immediately. Newsletters provide a simple way to broadcast a message to your audience without setting up a complex campaign.

The type **Messages triggered via API** is what we call an **API-triggered broadcast**. This lets you set up a complete workflowA series of actions (messages, attribute updates, etc) that people progress through as a part of a campaign or broadcast.—like an event-triggered campaign, except that the trigger call that you send to our API supports multiple `recipients`. API-triggered broadcasts are highly customizable, and give you precise control over workflows from your backend integration, but are certainly more technical than newsletters or campaigns.

### What type of broadcast should I choose?[](#what-type-of-broadcast-should-i-choose)

**You should send a newsletter if:**

*   You need to send or schedule one message to a group of people.
*   The data to personalize your message already exists in Customer.io.
*   You don’t have development resources.

A newsletter is the easiest way to accomplish a simple broadcast. You might send a newsletter to alert your audience to changes in your terms of service, or to a group of people when you onboard people belonging to an account.

**You should set up an API-triggered broadcast if**:

*   You want to send more than one message.
*   You want to send custom data with your message(s).
*   You want to trigger a workflow for a group of people from your backend.

API-triggered broadcasts provide a way for you to trigger workflows directly from an outside service and pass custom data to the workflow. It’s like an event-triggered campaign but the event can represent a group of people. For example, you might trigger a broadcast for people who are interested in an event when tickets go on sale for the event, or students who are interested in a particular online course when registration opens.

## Newsletters[](#newsletters)

[Newsletters](/journeys/newsletters/) provide a simple way to send a single message to a group of people.

When you set up a newsletter you’ll:

1.  Determine your audience.
2.  Set up your message.
3.  Schedule or send it.

Newsletters do offer a few powerful options that aren’t available for other campaigns or broadcasts:

*   *Send to Everyone:* You can send a message to everyone in your workspace without setting up a segment or assigning attributes. This helps you send important messages, like changes to your Terms Of Service or company-wide alerts.
*   *Send rate:* You can limit the send rate to deliver your message in batches.
*   *Scheduling:* You can schedule your newsletter to send at a specific time!

[![newsletter_schedule_options.png](https://docs.customer.io/images/newsletter_schedule_options.png)](#9ab0e144185208fe2e1bf3c994e1975d-lightbox)

## API-triggered broadcasts[](#api-triggered-broadcasts)

API-triggered broadcasts provide a way to send a one-to-many campaign on demand. It may help to think of API-triggered broadcasts like event-triggered campaigns, except the event comes from your backend integration and represents a group of people. For example, you might use an API-triggered broadcast to:

*   Send news alerts to a group of people interested in a specific topic.
*   Alert users interested in an event when tickets go on sale.
*   Alert students when registration opens for a new online class.

Unlike a newsletter, you can reference trigger data in your API-triggered broadcasts with [liquidA syntax that supports variables, letting you personalize messages for your audience. For example, if you want to reference a person’s first name, you might use the variable `{{customer.first_name}}`.](/using-liquid).

[Learn more about API-triggered broadcasts](/journeys/api-triggered-broadcasts/).

[![preview custom broadcast data](https://docs.customer.io/images/image%28244%29.png)](#bae64d81b812378843045e1b1e18bcda-lightbox)

## Organize your broadcasts[](#organize-your-broadcasts)

You can organize your broadcasts by assigning tags, a way of grouping related automations together. You can use tags to group not just broadcasts, but campaigns, transactional messages, and segments too. [Create, assign, edit, and delete as many tags](/journeys/tagging-campaigns/) as you need in your workspace.