Newsletter Tips
By Yvonne Buchanan, Real-World PR
www.realworldpr.com
Company newsletters are a great way to convey timely information about your firm, its products and offerings. And because
they offer both entertainment and information, newsletters tend to have a longer shelf life than other types of promotions.
Newsletters may either be “house organs” (internal newsletters distributed to the employees of your company) or external
newsletters, sent to a specific mailing list of your clients, partners, or potential clients. Even internal newsletters can be
used to improve public relations: send copies of them with notes to your vendors, suppliers, and strategic partners. They’ll
appreciate this way of keeping in touch.
Newsletters are easily produced using desktop publishing software and can then be printed internally or offsite depending on
your needs and budget.
If you don’t have the time or inclination to write your own newsletter, there are many “canned” (generic) newsletters
available that you can send out under your company name. Some of them aren’t too bad. Another idea is to co-create a
newsletter with a strategic partner and send it to both company’s mailing lists. Not only do you increase your mailing list,
you add credibility to both companies by linking your names in print.
For all of their advantages, newsletters are seldom sent to the press. While they should contain newsworthy items, their
format and publication lag time make them generally unsuitable as press materials.
Following are 11 tips for making your newsletters pull their PR weight. Although these tips apply primarily to printed
newsletters, many also apply to electronic newsletters.
Newsletter Tips:
1) Write for your readers, not yourself. Always think about ways to benefit your readers with your newsletter.
2) Make your lead article interesting or they won’t read any further.
3) Make the design interesting (use a multi-column format and graphical elements). Use graphics and photos generously.
Use the “dollar bill” test: you should not be able to lay a dollar bill down on your page without it touching a graphical
element.
4) Avoid clip art on external newsletters unless it’s really excellent, in which case try hard to avoid it anyway. It
cheapens your publication, though it’s fine for a homey internal newsletter. If you do choose to use clip art, make certain it’s
all from the same “family” of style (don’t put cartoon characters in the same publication with high quality line art, for
instance).
6) Use two colors (black plus one accent color is fine); this provides a much more professional look than a one-color
publication.
7) Use no more than two or three typefaces. Generally text is in a serif typeface and headlines in sans-serif.
8) Be eco-friendly. Use recycled paper where possible and let your readership know you’re doing so.
9) Include an editorial box with contact information for the publisher, editor and staff so your readers know where to
send their comments and suggestions.
10) Publish your newsletter on a regular basis (quarterly works out well for many businesses). Time publication dates to
coincide with significant events when possible.
11) Ask for feedback regularly. You can do this by simply adding a “feedback please” line in your editorial box or by
including a mail-back survey in the newsletter itself.
Newsletters provide an easy way to stay in touch with your target audience, and because they are generally well received,
they are a communications tool that should be part of your public relations program.
Article provided by www.realworldpr.com
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