Newsletters
A Newsletter Can Hit Your Target — Dead Center!
by Bob Kelly
“A newsletter
allows you to fly undetected under your competitors’ radar,
giving you a head start in the introduction of new products or services.”
Mark S.A. Smith
Click here to read back issues of our newsletter, The KellyGram
In today’s Information Age, newsletters have become one of the most popular forms of business and trade communication, yet one that continues to be overlooked by a great many businesses, professional firms, associations, churches and ministry organizations.
Newsletters provide consistent and positive exposure, enhance credibility and goodwill, build and retain customer loyalty, and produce cost-effective and readily measurable results. A newsletter, properly produced, becomes a unique, timely, informative and often entertaining expression of a company’s philosophy and personality.
Such a newsletter will also retain its value far longer than advertisements or direct mail packages. A routing slip printed right on the front page will encourage the addressee to pass it along to colleagues, and a periodic list of the contents of previous issues will often trigger requests for back copies.
Focus on Quality
If you publish or plan to publish a newsletter, the following tips will help ensure a quality product:
- Keep your articles short. Today’s readers prefer more and shorter stories that are easy to digest rather than face a few very long articles.
- When planning the content, strive for diversity and give it a “breaking news” look. This applies particularly to the front page, which should have more than one story.
- Present a message you want to get across but also offer an item of interest to your readers – even one not related directly to you.
- Plan the front page to include art or an interesting, sharp photo. Use color to help attract the reader’s eye and direct it to the inside pages. You may also want a contents or “inside” box on page one.
- Consider offering readers a column of bite-sized fillers – interesting events/comments from trade publications – that say you’re aware of what’s going on in the world to which you and your customers/clients relate. You may also want to include bits of tasteful humor in a short column or one-liner.
- Write copy that will help you establish credibility. Use the third-person news style. It sounds more believable than a lot of we and us and our. Make sure your organization’s name doesn’t appear too often.
- Don’t write so much copy that you fill all the space with type. Use pull quotes (also known as callouts), subheads, screens, boxes, informational graphics, art and photos.
- One final note of caution – DON’T write to please yourself. Your newsletter MUST be written with your reader in mind. Otherwise, all you’ve produced is an expensive, ineffective, one-way ticket to the round file.
E-zines
Many organizations today are switching to electronic newsletters, known as e-zines. With no postage or printing costs to pay, the economic advantages are significant. One obvious disadvantage is that a surprisingly large number of people in this Age of Technology still don’t use computers. That number, of course, will vary, depending on the target audience. For example, you’ll probably reach a much higher percentage of business or professional people electronically than you will a church congregation or social group.
If you do opt for an e-zine, don’t get so fancy that your readers will have trouble accessing your material. Straight text, right in your e-mail message, is usually the best way to go. Assure your readers that you’ll maintain their confidentiality, and encourage them to forward your e-zine to others. It’s a great way to build your audience without spending a dime.
Planning is Critical
Outstanding newsletters, whether in printed or electronic versions, don’t just happen. Before launching your newsletter, answer these questions:
- Who will have primary in-house responsibility?
- What parts of the process, if any, will be done outside your organization?
- What audience(s) do we want to reach?
- What message(s) do we want to communicate?
- How often will be publish it?
- How much will it cost?
- What results do we want and how will we measure them?
Doing some planning and working with a good production company will give you a newsletter that reflects the quality you work so hard to maintain.
Our Services
There are several steps involved in the production of a quality newsletter. They include:
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We’re equipped to handle any combination of these steps for you, just as we’ve been doing for our clients for nearly a quarter of a century. Overall, more than 30 clients in a wide range of fields have benefited from the newsletters we’ve produced for them. Those fields include:
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What Our Clients Have Said
- “Three years ago we contracted with Bob Kelly, President of
WordCrafters, Inc., to assist us in taking our monthly newsletter to
the next level. Little did we realize what a bargain we had landed. In
addition to wordsmithing (basically rewriting everything we submitted),
Bob and his team proved to be skilled with layout, design and graphics,
which tremendously improved our ‘curb appeal’ and
thus our readership.” (Church business administrator)
- “Congratulations! This first issue of our newsletter
is everything I thought it could be if someone with your skill and
talent applied themselves to producing it.” (University
Club board member)
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“Thanks for the super job on the latest issue
of Life on the Lakefront – super, excellent,
outstanding!!” (Pastor)
- “Thank you for the fine work you have done on our 12,560
circulation newsletter. Due to your efforts, we continually get high
marks for good readable articles, layouts that promote ease of readership,
and innovative ideas such as the new graphics.” (VP,
Sales & Marketing)
- “Designing and producing a newsletter is not easy. Nor is satisfying
a demanding client as we most certainly are. But you have accomplished
both with great skill and patience.” (Department Manager - Los
Angeles Times)
- “It is with pride that I recommend your firm as an outstanding vendor capable of meeting the needs of both a small and large organization in the production of a quality newsletter.” (President - Los Angeles Police Relief Association)
“Oh, words are action good enough,
if they’re the right words.”
D.H. Lawrence
“The difference between the right word and the nearly right word is the same as that between lightning and the lightning bug.”
Mark Twain
For just the Right Word – every time – contact:
Bob Kelly, Resident Wordsmith
WordCrafters, Inc.
10225 E. Stoney Vista Drive
Sun Lakes, AZ 85248
Phone: (480) 895-7617
Fax: (201)
829-7617
Email: bob@kellygram.com
Providing just the Right Word – for writers, speakers, teachers, professionals nonprofit organizations and businesses - since 1979!
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Click here to read back issues of our newsletter, The KellyGram
