Ten top tips for producing a Newsletter

Newsletters are essential for many charities, clubs, care homes, community groups and businesses.

After all, newsletters are ideal for letting people know what you’re up to and why.

 

For smaller businesses newsletters are still the most powerful way of keeping in contact with your customers and employees.

Newsletter content builds a broader picture.

Especially if you distribute on a predictable schedule to inform readers of sales, promotions, new features, reunions, and events.

Think about the last newsletter you received in your inbox.  

Was it a newsletter you looked forward to receiving or just another piece to add to the daily content clutter?

If it was a piece of clutter, I am guessing the information included in the newsletter did not provide you with value.  

That’s not to say you can never sell your products or services, but the trust factor is the most important element – and that needs to be built up first.

Here are our ten top tips for people who need to create them :-

1.   Be consistent.
Your newsletter is a reflection of your professionalism and a key component is consistency. For most people, a monthly newsletter will work effectively – pick a certain day every month to send out your newsletter and have a “house style”.

Keeping a schedule to send the newsletter each week or month allows your audience to start to know when to expect it to come through.  Who doesn’t love becoming part of their client’s routine?

2.   Provide interesting content.

If you add value to your newsletters, people will actually start to look forward to hearing from you.  This goes to the heart of why people will want to read your newsletter… because it’s interesting or informative. Make your newsletter about subjects that appeal directly to your audience – they’ll know where it came from and respect you all the more for it!

3.   Balance your content.
90% of your newsletter should be educational and 10% promotional. Chances are, your audience doesn’t want to hear about your products and services 100% of the time. While they may love you and want to hear from you, there’s only so much promotion you can do before they tune out. A quality newsletter needs more than coupons and ads; it needs something readers can’t get from your blog or website.

4.   Be brief.
Set a limit of either 2 or 4 pages and focus on writing brief, punchy paragraphs. Let’s face it; no one wants to read groan-inducing newsletters that are dully written and far too long.  You should aim to strike a consistent balance between text and images in your newsletter – images should contribute to your message, not just clutter the page.

5.   Be creative.
Let your creativity out if the cage!  Use all different forms of imagery, interesting colour schemes, crosswords, word-searches, competitions or links to websites – anything that will enhance the interest, effectiveness and impact of your newsletter.

6.   Use e-mail and print combined.
Getting the word out need not be costly with a combination of email and digital printing. Email is now quick and easy. Once it is set up it will become a matter of pushing a few buttons to send your newsletter to everyone you wish to read it within a matter of seconds. Business email newsletters can also contain links to company videos, promo codes, and new features.

But, some people still love the touch and feel of a printed newsletter – so perhaps combine the two methods and post printed copies to your better customers or prospects!

7.   Keep Database Updated.

A critical part of your newsletter is the process of building and maintaining your database or email list.  There is nothing worse than sending the newsletters to a named individual who left the company some years ago – or even worse is now deceased!

Make updating a simple and easy process for recipients as well,

8.   Have a Clear Objective

Newsletters are about keeping your audience up to date with the latest developments in your company. But they must work and that means you need to have a clear objective and keep monitoring by encouraging feedback and engagement with your audience.

Try them for a fixed period of time and then review whether they have met the original objectives set.

9.   Design & Layout

Having a consistent design and layout unites the pages and makes your newsletter look professional. They will also save you time.

By incorporating your company’s colours, logo and typeface you can increase brand recognition and improve the likelihood that your newsletter gets read.

Follow all the other blog tips from Direct2Print. For example, using dark text against a light background ensures that the page is easily readable and not too busy.

Remember, breaking up your text can make it more legible – splitting it into 3 columns is usually a good choice for a letter-size newsletter

Finally – Number 10 - Share the Best Content

When creating a newsletter, one of the best (and easiest) practices is to obtain content from all sources.  Monitoring industry related blogs over the week and collecting and sharing the most relevant is a great way to add value for a number of reasons.

You establish relationships with other experts, providing your audience with the best information available saving them time and research, and saving yourself endless hours each week having to write all the content on your own.  A win-win-win!

If your organisation has a newsletter to print then our range of digital presses are ideally set up to ensure you the most competitive printing quote and we can help with an email programme.

Simply send us your newsletter to be printed on a paper type of your choice and leave the rest to us!

At Direct2Print we offer fast turnaround times and high quality printing.  For more details call or email us free on 0800 0346 007 or sales@direct2print.co.uk.