The newsletter doctor is IN
March 9, 2010
The first question your newsletter doctor asks is this: What the purpose of your newsletter?
Most newsletter are loaded with tidbits of information about people who want to keep in touch with each other. We call them “Social Newsletters,” although churches and businesses often jump on the social bandwagon, too.
Social newsletters can be a lot of fun. As long as you have a list somewhere of how everybody’s name is spelled, that is. You can stir up a lot of interest in members, their hobbies, and their travels. Social newsletters help make friends and encourage the growth and development of the sponsoring organization.
Business letters are supported by a variety of purposes. For example, if you have 50 or more employees, chances are you have some kind of an employee newsletter. The style and content of an employee newsletter is the same as for a social newsletter except that it includes announcements and pointers from the business itself as well as personal news about employees. New hiring policies, openings, and safety regulations may be key topics in such a newsletter.
Business newsletters are either for “outside” or “inside” consumption. A hospital, for example, may publish an “outside” newsletter giving details about the latest hospital-related events to keep friends and patrons aware if what is going on. Some organizations extend their outside business newsletters to reach thousands of current or prospective clients. The newsletter then becomes a public statement of what the business is doing and its purpose in the community.
Another kind of business newsletter is the “insider” newsletter that distributes technical and other industry-related information to employees. A hospital, for example, might publish a special newsletter for its physicians and other healthcare providers. In it they would learn about new professionals hired by the hospital, new equipment purchased for patient care, new policies or procedures at the hospital, and other internal news.
Be sure you understand clearly the purpose of the newsletter you’re most interested in before you being overhauling it. Most of your decisions about what to include, what not to include, and how to present topics should based on the purpose of the newsletter. It’s a good idea to write out a mission statement for each newsletter you produce. In that statement make it clear who the audience is and what information will be shared with that audience.
If you have any questions about planning, writing, editing, or desgining a newsletter, enter your comment in the space below or send us email.
Brought to you as a public service by Griffith Publishing
