Planning YOUR newsletter

The word “newsletter” implies “news.” That means fresh, current information or analysis that relates to theme of the newsletter. Try to find a way to link what you write with what’s happening now. Better yet, to what’s happening here and now.

This applies to every type of newsletter you may be responsible for preparing. Even the in-house “family” style personnel newsletter should be loaded with the latest safety statistics, news about awards and achievements, background about the next speaker at the leadership council, and ways the personnel department is dealing with layoffs scheduled over the next three months—just as examples.

A scholarly newsletter for researchers and professors in a specific field of knowledge is no exception. These publications are usually a subset of peer-reviewed journals that are required to adhere to strict academic standards. Print or online newsletters help subscribers refer to the journals and summarize current research, current applications of previous research, news about tools and information sources, and newsworthy achievements by members.

Most of us are involved in marketing newsletters: publications that are planned to build loyalty for a service or brand of materials of some kind offered by a business or group of businesses.

Too many marketing newsletters stop right there. The marketing department sets the sales goals for various products or services, and the newsletter supports that strategy by promoting the selected products. The best loyalty-building newsletters do more than post ordering information and give details about the benefits of buying products from the vendor. For example, they will—

• Give tips or suggestions for solving problems related to the newsletter owner’s products and services
• Share news about what real people say about the company and/or the company’s offerings
• Position the newsletter producer as an expert in the industry by providing current industry news, trends, and developments
• Feature “favorite” products or services by telling the story of their development, how the company offers them
• Profile key people at the company, presenting them as human, caring, interesting people with something to say to readers
• Highlight achievements by employees related to business goals and products

If you’d like story ideas for your newsletters, call 1 800 359-9503, and I’ll chat with you any time at no cost to you. That’s right! My advice based on 20+ years of newsletter publishing. Free and with no obligation and no advertising. Or send email to hodi@mindspring.com. Mention the newsletter blog.

Griffith Publishing

Let’s put a newsletter together…

One of my projects six times a year is to prepare a newsletter on work-related health and safety from a medical perspective. The next edition is dated January-February, and today is November 10. How long do I have to put this 8-page  full-color newsletter together? Moving backwards…

• P&B. It takes the printer about a week to print and staple the newsletter and send roughly 3,000 copies to the mailer.
• Design. It takes the designer 5 to 10 working days to design, illustrate, and format the pages. That doesn’t mean she spends 8 hours a day for one or two weeks. Not at all. But that by the time she works everything in with her full-time job and other demands on her time plus corrections and changes by me, the editor, it’s usually a week but sometimes two before I have the final pages ready for final changes.
• Writing. The editor/writer needs two weeks to write the stories and sometimes an extra 2-3 days to get approvals and permissions all taken care of.
• Authorizing. The people who authorize the newsletter and are responsible for its contents need 2-3 working days to approve of the story list. They also need 2-3 days to approve of the final version of the newsletter.
• Story list. Only one thing left: prepare the story list.

This is backwards, so we put the schedule on its head and learn that we need to get the story list done by November 7 to have the newsletter ready to mail by Christmas.

I’ve done that, and here’s the story list for our Jan-Feb edition:

1. The costs of obesity at work and what businesses are doing about it.
2. Head of OSHA out, with comments about criticism of Edwin Foulke, Jr.’s apparent lack of enough enforcement to make rules worthwhile.
3. Turning safety green. Tips for convincing management to direct more funding for health and safety programs that also support a cleaner environment.
4. Hazardous jobs.
5. Mercury. Why we are so concerned about mercury spills even in small quantities.
6. Warmth in winter. Protecting the head, fingers, toes against cold.
7. Frostbite. Why this coldness injury is so dangerous. How to prevent, treat.
8. Chemical exposure. For nurses, for beauty shop workers, by an attorney group and others.
9. Featured industry: Bakeries and food preparation businesses
10. Suggested New Year’s Resolutions for better health & safety. (I’ll have to make these up! Just a thought for now…)
11. Climate change’s effect on the office. Information from the EPA.

We might change some of those topics before the deadline has arrived, and staff may have comments or suggestions. But since I’ve been producing this newsletter for about 18 years, I’m pretty sure I’ll be authorized to move ahead. In other words, I can start collecting information and writing these stories.

The ideal newsletter would have quotes with local authorities, information that applies to the part of the U.S. where the newsletters readers live and work, and news about supporting clinics and services. Sometimes that comes through, but sometimes it doesn’t. I can go ahead and put a great little newsletter together without local input, so I move ahead.

Where do these ideas come from? I monitor everything remotely related to workplace health and safety on the Web. I read the newspapers and watch for information. I listen to everything people tell me. And even without management input, I can produce a locally oriented newsletter.

In general I like to choose topics from the following areas:

1. Local news always takes priority if (and only if) it supports the worker health & wellness theme of the newsletter
2. National or regional news about health and safety
3. A body part or type of injury from a physician’s perspective
4. A targeted industry or type of job and associated hazards
5. A hazard and associated industries or types of job
6. Return to work and accommodating workers with disabilities
7. Seasonal stories: prevent-identify-treat (winter, summer etc.)
8. Information that should be helpful to the health & safety director

That’s all it takes.

Do the same for your newsletter. Start with a list of the main concerns your readers have relative to the subject of your newsletter. Get as many real-life stories and quotes as you can that relate to each of these concerns. Look for tips and suggestons. If you don’t get all the support you’d like from the “authorities,” remember they have work to do, too. Use your imagination and make your newsletter sing.

Types of newsletters

Board members like to be informed

Newsletters cover a lot of territory in their attempt to reach people who are important to the success of the enterprise. For example–

• Personnel. This is the company insider newsletter. It is delivered with the paycheck or from desk to desk one to twelve times a year. It is packed with notes about birthdays and anniversaries, vacation adventures, new company policies and products, announcements of company-wide events and much more. The company newsletter may be posted to the web, but it is generally considered as an in-house publication for employees only.
• Sales staff. Many businesses are centered in one location but have sales staff working for them around the country. It is critical that these sales people know about new products or services or other changes in what the company is offering through their sales rep. Also, since selling is an arduous task that can become discouraging or worse, the sales newsletter is a great way to share sales techniques, stories of successful sales people in the industry or business, and to run contests for the best sales people.
• Board members. Whether the Board of Directors has 12 members or 250, probably every company that has a Board of Directors attempts to provide a printed publication to keep these people informed about key events at the business. Some companies turn the board newsletter into a private letter from the President. Some send a CD with speeches and reports. Some depend on e-mail and informal notes to keep the Board informed between meetings. But almost all businesses work hard to keep the communications lines open between the Board and management.
• Management. A newsletter for department heads or leaders of key programs within the business is a great way to keep these key people current on the latest performance and other statistics as well as to inspire them to accomplish greater things. Some business base their management newsletter on communications to the Board, but release the details after Board members have had a time to review them.
• Business providers. A hospital will probably have a newsletter for its doctors highlighting advancements and future trends. The doctor newsletter also serves as an official announcement sheet for doctors who are leaving or arriving, for advanced certifications awarded, for other providers (or “physician extenders) available, results of advanced training, and many more topics. Other types of businesses have specialists that justify the cost of providing a loyalty-building newsletter.
• Community leaders. If the business is the largest employer in this part of the state or if it generates a lot of “noise” because of the type of product or service it provides, a community leadership newsletter may be a terrific investment. The news media will cover awards events, planning meetings, and other activities of your community group. That generates good will for you and your company. When you need city council approval for a new building or are in trouble because of an alleged violation of the law, the community leadership newsletter can be worth its weight in gold to keep you free from complications.
• Users. I’ve often wondered why car dealers don’t send out newsletters to prospective customers, but they send out so many other colorful pieces, I guess that’s why! Newsletters to prospective users of your service or products can be highly effective in bringing new customers to your door. Too many business owners spend their advertising dollar on bold display ads in the newspaper or in the Yellow Pages. Nothing wrong with that. But a nicely designed sheet with tips and news about an area of life important to them can turn newcomers and others into loyal clients faster than just about anything. Caution: there has to be a strong link between what you offer and what the people need, or think they need.
• Shareholders, contributors, volunteers, and prospective financial supporters. I once spent a few years writing fundraising letters for a religious organization. It was fun altering the wording of the letter and watching the statistics tell us what the changes we made did to the financial contributions, but these letters weren’t newsletters. It is, of course, possible to combine a newsletter with news about the latest happenings as well as an appeal for suppor. Alumni associations and charitable organizations such as a nonprofit school for teenagers in trouble are examples of this type of a newsletter.

These are just a few of the groups of people who can be intensely valuable to you if you want to build your business. You can think of others. I’ve worked on newsletters in each of these categories, but most of my work now is for the “users” category.

Think about people you need to reach on a regular basis. A newsletter may be the answer to the urgent question: How can we get more people to know about us and choose our products or services?

Presented by Griffith Publishing at no cost or obligation to you.

Where did newsletters come from?

There’s a NEWSLETTER in here somewhere…

Where did newsletters come from? Who filled the first page of blank paper with ideas, questions, recipes, news—and made copies for the curious?

For a fascinating treatment of the origin of newsletters, the Trivia-Library.com, has a feast of words and facts waiting for you here.

The authors of this piece state that there are about 7,000 newsletters in production in the US today. My hunch is that there are at least 7,000 newsletters going in my state of Idaho, but most them don’t make it to the official list because they’re produced by the thousands of clubs, churches, political organizations and small businesses that thrive on winning friends.

But where did they come from? The same source (Trivia-Library.com) shares the following dates as landmarks in the evolution of newsletters:

1704—The Boston Newsletter produced by John Campbell, the first newsletter publisher, calls itself the oldest newspaper in America. Worth a look to see all the gadgets and tools from 2008 displayed on their website.

1918—The Whaley-Eaton American Letter, the first modern newsletter, soon surpassed by The Kiplinger Newsletter.

1923—The Kiplinger Newsletter, the most successful newsletter, with 400,000 subscribers paying $24 a year for $9 million or more in revenues per year but no advertising.

Don’t let this session end without a visit to The Newsletter on Newsletters by newsletterbiz.com where you can read about serious newsletter production and benefit from winning tips for success. Don’t let the annual subscription cost of $249 for the print version or the PDF ready-to-print version put you off if you’re dead serious about building a successful newsletter.

The above information comes to you free of cost or obligation from Griffith Publishing.

4 Reasons for a newsletter

This is a note to the business owner, the CEO, the director of marketing, or the head of the department that feels a newsletter would be a big help.

You should have a newsletter if one or more of the following apply to your organization or business:

1. You need to raise money to support a cause.
2. Your organization offers a service with or without a product.
3. You are in a highly competitive industry.
4. Your highest priorities are to build credibility and loyalty

If you need a newsletter, don’t hand it off to the part-time secretary who knows how to download templates and consider the job done.

Your newsletter needs to deliver results.

Think about the primary purpose of your newsletter when–

1. You choose a name for it
2. You hire someone to produce it
3. You suggest stories
4. You approve a budget for it
5. You evaluate its effectiveness
6. You talk it up every chance you get

There is no shortcut to a good newsletter. You can’t buy one at a central publishing house. You can’t fill it with trivia. You can’t produce it once in a while. You can’t borrow or steal appropriate content. Most important, you can’t turn it loose and let it evolve without your input.

You can do all of these things, of course, but you won’t end up with a newsletter that helps you meet your goals.

Think about the four reasons at the top of this blog. If one of them fits or if you can come up with another one that fits better, then commit yourself to producing a “good” newsletter. Don’t let yourself off the hook. Don’t put out one “good” newsletter and disappear into the woodwork.

You’re in it for the long haul. That’s the only way you’ll get the results you need.

This set of tips and information about newsletter production is brought to you as a public service of Griffith Publishing.

Content comes first

In the  world of newsletters, content rules over everything else.

This reader is looking for information.

Without content there’s no reason for a newsletter. Your newsletter champions the purpose of your organization with news and helpful information. That’s content.

Good graphic design showcases the content so that today’s hurry-up reader will take the time to read the information you’ve prepared.

A great website I’ve found explains the importance of good graphic design and gives dozens of tips for avoiding the most common design errors. Spend a couple of hours browsing through the pages for AG Design. You can even find out where to go for a degree in graphic design.

But without content there is no need for the graphic design that gives a newsletter its snap.

We will discuss in these blogs how to build strong content into your newsletter, how to make sure the content you choose furthers your strategic goals, and how to draw your readers into the issues and answers you present in your newsletter.

Brought to you at no cost or obligation (or advertising) by Griffith Publishing.

How to plan and write a great newsletter

If you want a “cheap” newsletter with mostly words and no design, no editing, and no style, then don’t bother reading the rest of my messages about newsletter production. Go in peace. And may your readers be kind.

Newsletters produced today run the gamut from awful to all right. Very few are in the “wow” category. Only a few depict the dignity or elegance that the sponsoring organization needs to convey to readers.

If you need a quality publication that will draw your readers to its goals, follow the steps proposed by Griffith Publishing in this and succeeding blogs.