Newsletter FAQs - Part 1

Many businesses and organisations feel the need to produce a newsletter, but as the (slightly paraphrased) saying goes: "If I had a dollar for every newsletter I've seen that has started but not lasted beyond edition three, I'd be a millionaire." Well almost.

Newsletters can be incredibly effective communication tools. Employee newsletters, customer newsletters, member newsletters, parent newsletters ... all sorts of newsletters for all sorts of target groups. And yet so many are dull, unprofessional, not reader friendly and, well, just plain ineffective.

Here's some of the most frequently asked questions about creating, maintaining and editing effective, reader friendly newsletters that apply equally to print, email, audio and video.

Do newsletters really work?

Yes they do ... but only when you get it right. I know that sounds like a lawyer covering his backside, but it's the plain truth. Does a water bore work? Yes, but only if you drill where there is water and keep it well maintained. A newsletter will never cover up for a bad product or a poor service.

Newsletters seem not to work when

  • there is little care or thought about the content
  • there are unclear expectations about what the communication is to achieve
  • the layout and presentation is amateurish
  • the content has no real value to the reader
  • the content is compiled from the creator's point of view, not the reader's point of view

Newsletters seem to work best when

  • your product or service requires education before people can buy (or buy-in, in the case of an employee newsletter)
  • your market, product, service or industry changes rapidly
  • the price of your product is high
  • you're looking for a long term communication tool

What is appropriate content?

Consider newsletter content as a spectrum. Subscription based newsletters (all information) are at one end and at the other end are brochures (all sales information). Balance your content between the two according to your audience and what your call to action is. It helps to think of your content falling into one of six broad categories:

  • Product information - News of your new products or services and potential uses for existing ones.
  • Industry news - Research findings, news summaries, news interpretations, trends and events.
  • Customer testimonials - Case histories, client profiles and new clients.
  • Customer support - How to use products, how to select products, worksheets and answers to common questions (FAQs).
  • Company news - Editorials, milestones, employee news or other publicity.
  • Response devices - Free reports, contests, giveaways, calendars and coupons.

Before you commit to starting a newsletter, sit down and make a list of at least 50 articles using these categories. You'll be surprised at just how much you already have.

In part two we'll look at how to be sure you'll have enough content, and the complexities of copyright made simple.