A newsletter is an easy, effective, and timely way to provide current and potential customers with valuable information about your business in a subtle way. And thanks to affordable desktop publishing software and laser printers, you can create a newsletter right in your home office.
But how, you might ask, can you possibly compete for your readers’ attention from among the daily barrage of information we all face each day in the form of television, the Internet, email, magazines, newspapers, junk mail, faxes, and such?
The advantage newsletters have over these other mediums is their highly specialized content, combined with their brevity (when well done). In other words, they provide readers with information, which is on a particular topic of interest to them and can be read cover to cover in one sitting.
If you are thinking about starting a newsletter here are 10 tips to help make sure it gets read:
1. Clearly define your audience and the objectives of your newsletter. This should be the first step before producing any publication. Knowing who you are writing for and what you want to accomplish with your newsletter will determine everything from content to design to distribution.
2. Choose a name for your newsletter that will grab your audience’s attention. Try to avoid the obvious choice of calling your newsletter "Your Company’s Name News." For example, if your business is "Stan’s Pet-Sitting Service," try something like "Traveling Pet Owner," which puts the focus on your reader’s interest.
3. Provide content that is relevant and useful to your readers. This sounds obvious, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up a newsletter expecting one kind of information and found something completely off the subject. Don’t bore readers who want to know about managing their personal finances, for example, with the details of your daily life or accounts of your grandchildren’s visit.
4. Offer variety. Use a mix of news, how-to articles, profiles, opinion piece,s and at-a-glance facts. Calendars and columns are other popular features. You can write the articles yourself, have an employee write them, use a freelancer, or accept submissions from the readers themselves.
5. Put the best, most interesting articles on the front page to draw readers inside. This is a tried and true method -- if you don’t give readers a reason to turn the page, they won’t. Just take a look at your daily newspaper or any magazine. The best stuff is up front.
6. Proofread. Nothing will turn off a reader faster than sloppy spelling and punctuation mistakes, typos, and blatant factual errors. It won’t do a whole lot for your company’s image either. Have someone else read the newsletter for these kinds of errors before you print it.
7. Use clean, uncluttered design. Three columns works nicely for most standard 8 1/2" x 11" newsletters. Don’t use large blocks of small type or type that runs from one side of the page clear to the other. One or two fonts should be sufficient. Don’t go crazy with color. Leave some white space so the readers’ eyes have some place to rest. Use headlines, subheads, pull-out quotes, and photo captions to guide readers through the text.
8. Use photos and graphics. One graphic element -- a photo, chart, shaded text box, etc. -- per page works nicely to break up text and create visual interest. Try to avoid poor quality photos, too many headshots and a lot of clip art.
9. Consider reinforcing your print newsletter with an online or email version. You don’t necessarily have to reproduce your entire newsletter electronically, although you may like this method of archiving. You can also use electronic newsletters to provide "extra" information to readers, especially time-sensitive news.
10. Encourage feedback and interaction from readers. Ask readers what they think about your newsletter and what types of articles they would like to read, then give them more of what they want. Contests and letters to the editor are other good ways to get readers involved with a publication.
But how, you might ask, can you possibly compete for your readers’ attention from among the daily barrage of information we all face each day in the form of television, the Internet, email, magazines, newspapers, junk mail, faxes, and such?
The advantage newsletters have over these other mediums is their highly specialized content, combined with their brevity (when well done). In other words, they provide readers with information, which is on a particular topic of interest to them and can be read cover to cover in one sitting.
If you are thinking about starting a newsletter here are 10 tips to help make sure it gets read:
1. Clearly define your audience and the objectives of your newsletter. This should be the first step before producing any publication. Knowing who you are writing for and what you want to accomplish with your newsletter will determine everything from content to design to distribution.
2. Choose a name for your newsletter that will grab your audience’s attention. Try to avoid the obvious choice of calling your newsletter "Your Company’s Name News." For example, if your business is "Stan’s Pet-Sitting Service," try something like "Traveling Pet Owner," which puts the focus on your reader’s interest.
3. Provide content that is relevant and useful to your readers. This sounds obvious, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up a newsletter expecting one kind of information and found something completely off the subject. Don’t bore readers who want to know about managing their personal finances, for example, with the details of your daily life or accounts of your grandchildren’s visit.
4. Offer variety. Use a mix of news, how-to articles, profiles, opinion piece,s and at-a-glance facts. Calendars and columns are other popular features. You can write the articles yourself, have an employee write them, use a freelancer, or accept submissions from the readers themselves.
5. Put the best, most interesting articles on the front page to draw readers inside. This is a tried and true method -- if you don’t give readers a reason to turn the page, they won’t. Just take a look at your daily newspaper or any magazine. The best stuff is up front.
6. Proofread. Nothing will turn off a reader faster than sloppy spelling and punctuation mistakes, typos, and blatant factual errors. It won’t do a whole lot for your company’s image either. Have someone else read the newsletter for these kinds of errors before you print it.
7. Use clean, uncluttered design. Three columns works nicely for most standard 8 1/2" x 11" newsletters. Don’t use large blocks of small type or type that runs from one side of the page clear to the other. One or two fonts should be sufficient. Don’t go crazy with color. Leave some white space so the readers’ eyes have some place to rest. Use headlines, subheads, pull-out quotes, and photo captions to guide readers through the text.
8. Use photos and graphics. One graphic element -- a photo, chart, shaded text box, etc. -- per page works nicely to break up text and create visual interest. Try to avoid poor quality photos, too many headshots and a lot of clip art.
9. Consider reinforcing your print newsletter with an online or email version. You don’t necessarily have to reproduce your entire newsletter electronically, although you may like this method of archiving. You can also use electronic newsletters to provide "extra" information to readers, especially time-sensitive news.
10. Encourage feedback and interaction from readers. Ask readers what they think about your newsletter and what types of articles they would like to read, then give them more of what they want. Contests and letters to the editor are other good ways to get readers involved with a publication.
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