Newsletters have become increasingly popular over the past few years, mainly because companies have found them to be exceptionally effective as standalone mailshots. Modern printing, design and production technology have now made the job even easier and less costly.
A newsletter can be a cost-effective and powerful marketing tool, communicating valuable information about a company, its products and services, people and distributors or agents in a highly readable and ‘trustworthy’ editorial style. If well written and produced, it will show a company in a very positive light, but beware that a poorly produced effort could have the opposite effect.
Once you’ve decided on the type of newsletter to produce, tell everyone in your company about your intentions and what’s requested or expected of them. You should offer them some space in the publication to incorporate their information, especially if you have offices in different countries. Provide a sensible working schedule and make sure everyone is reminded about their contributions.
You should meet up with a graphic designer as soon as the project receives the go-ahead. At the initial meeting, you should discuss the size of your newsletter, typeface, general design, how many columns per page, what kind of photographs you will include and come up with a production schedule.
Have a look at other newsletters for ideas. Also, ask your designer for samples of other newsletters they’ve done, so you can judge if you like their work and select an agreed design style and layout.
A title for the newsletter should be agreed upon – perhaps you could organise a competition to come up with the best name.
Your graphic designer should give you a few ideas for the masthead at the top of the front page. Follow any typeface rule you may have for the company name. Make sure you’re happy with the masthead design, as you’ll probably keep it for some time.
Now let’s start on actual issue planning and layout. We can assume that you’ve chosen an A4, four-column page, four-page standard version newsletter.
You should have at least a list of stories, if not all, or most copy by now. It’s a good idea to keep continually on the lookout for material day to day. Press releases previously sent to the media can, of course, be adapted for the newsletter, and normally are.
Remember you’re producing a newsletter, not a brochure, so everyone should follow the rule of ‘tell don’t sell’ if you want recipients to read it with an element of editorial trust. But, unlike a press release, you can put in a bit more marketing and product ‘hype’ wording, but not too much or you could defeat the object and make it a boring read.
Leaving space for your masthead, you may want to put a box at the top-right of the page detailing the contents of your newsletter.
In the right-hand column, you could put three or four snippets about recent sales or other important company topics. The main article on the front page could be written by your top executive about the company and its expansion, or a major new product or service, plus other interesting new developments and overseas offices, for example.
Apart from pleasing the top boss, this will be an ideal opportunity to address customers and personnel without appearing too official.
A really good photograph or graphic reflecting the company at its best is essential for the front page. It could be a new product or people, or both. It could also be a photo of an important VIP visit to the firm. Whatever they show, make sure your pictures are sharp, interesting and eye-catching.
Another story may be required on the front page, which should be the most interesting page. Think carefully about this page, as it’s your showpiece, too.
These could include new products, application/case studies, technical articles and new contracts. A mixture of story lengths is advisable for giving pages interest, with layout variation bringing attention to the more important items. A special tinted column with a heading such as ‘briefs’ can be very useful on page three for a number of short items, with single-line headings.
On this page, you may want to write about new or retired staff, overseas offices, feature a competition, company facts or sporting events.
Make sure that you have mailing lists and cover letters (the shorter the better) fully prepared, with labelled envelopes, before your newsletter goes to print. A newsletter can be a powerful directly mailed marketing tool, but you must strike while the press is hot and get it out to your customers and prospects, as well as agents, distributors and staff, without delay. Copies for other forms of distribution should be readied as soon as possible to avoid missing planned dates.
The printed newsletter can also be made into a PDF and placed onto your website. Ask your printer, web or newsletter designer/IT person about this.
Also send your newsletter to relevant media, together with a short press release pointing out that it’s now available free, and highlighting the most interesting stories. Although this release itself may not be published, a specific story in the newsletter may be chosen for use or you may receive a call for more information on a particular subject. And, of course, you will have brought your company’s activity to an editor’s attention most effectively.
Alan Godfrey is founder of AGM Publicity, a specialist publicity service for B2B manufacturers, processors and suppliers marketing to the UK.
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