Producing Great Newsletters
Eight Ways to Keep Communication Lines Open for Your Customers
Whether you send out a periodic one-page ezine or produce a multi-page bound booklet sent by regular mail, make sure your newsletter works for you.
Most companies and organizations suffer from breakdowns in communication at one time or another. These breakdowns can range from an argument between two people to complete disintegration of the group or business. A good way to keep communication lines open and prevent these problems is to publish a regular newsletter.
Newsletter Functions
Regardless of the form your newsletter takes (ezine, magazine, letter, pamphlet, etc.), it can serve a variety of functions:
- Update people about future meetings and functions
- Review previous meetings and functions for those who could not attend
- Provide tips, warnings, and opportunities about products and companies
- Offer classified advertising related to your profession
- Serve as a forum for discussion or debate
- Provide an opportunity to thank or praise outstanding members/employees/donors for their contributions.
Getting Started
1. The first step in producing a newsletter (or improving an existing one) is to determine what the newsletter needs to accomplish. Will it serve as a forum for opinions, a calendar of events, a list of product reviews, a combination of all three, or something else altogether?
2. Once the purpose of the newsletter is decided, the next step is establishing a budget. The budget determines frequency, length, content, and mailing procedures. If your messages are timely, you might want to create an ezine for instant distribution; for messages that need to be saved or consulted later, hard copy newsletters will be more appropriate.
3. Organize a reliable staff, committee, or editor to produce the newsletter. Typically one or two people can do the job, which entails putting together a mailing list, gathering material, editing copy, and distributing the newsletter. It may also require selling advertising.
Designing Your Newsletter
4. The most important thing to remember about designing your newsletter is readability. You want the information to be easily read, understood, and acted upon. A logical arrangement such as past, present, and future news is a good way to organize the information. Another suggestion would be by subject matter, if that’s more relevant to what you’re trying to accomplish.
5. In designing your newsletter, keep in mind that readers enjoy regular features and departments that have the same font, graphics, and location in each issue. They don’t want to have to hunt for their favorite section. Establish a place for upcoming information, important news, product information, etc., so readers who merely flip through the pages can instantly locate what they need to know.
6. Maintain a consistent style in your newsletter, such as using ALL CAPS or bold copy to highlight special events or make readers aware of important reminders. Keep the mailing dates consistent, too. Send it out on a regular basis so your readers will look forward to seeing it.
Keeping the Costs Down
7. Producing a regular newsletter shouldn’t cost much. Rather than spending money on expensive logos or equipment, use the resources on hand: Organize a contest to design a logo for the newsletter’s masthead or create the newsletter name. Offer a prize for the winner.
8. Use your computer for the layout and production, regardless of how the newsletter will be distributed. Use art and photographs, whenever appropriate to make your newsletter more appealing. (For hard copy newsletters, use a self-mailer [in which the pages themselves become the envelope] to save the expense of actual envelopes.)
Do your best to produce a high-quality newsletter with a pleasant design and attractive art, but remember to put the majority of your time, effort, and money into what’s really important: the content. Make your newsletter worth reading if you want people to keep reading it.
For more information about newsletters, read The Entrepreneur's Almanac.
