The Art Of Newsletter Management - Getting your organization to publish a regular online newsletter.
23rd December 2009

Let me begin by making a simple statement.

"The success of your newsletter effort will depend heavily upon the ability of your organization to send relevent information from all parts of the organization to a central responsible person".

Most newsletter efforts fail because it is relegated to the dark dingy closet of the marketing department where some poor intern is given responsbility for it without a clue on what to put in it. Am I being too skeptical? How many truly interesting newsletters do you receive from a non- marketing, non-media company in your industry?

There are a lot of issues with the newsletters I get but the biggest one is that THEY ARE IRRELEVANT OR BORING.

A newsletter is a great opportunity to share your company culture , sense of humour and passion for your industry. In contrast most newsletters look like they have been churned out by the company's humourless accountant or some scientist with thick glasses sitting in a labrinth mumbling to himself.

Would'nt you love to get a newsletter that is?

• Interesting and witty but also very relevant
• Is a breeze to read and does not require you to crunch through data ad nauseum.
• Tells you something about the sending company just by the tone and content.
• GIVES YOU SOMETHING YOU CAN USE.

Lets face it, everyone asks what's in it for me? Unless the receiver doesn't get some value out of it what's the point?

TIPS FOR GENERATING A SUCCESSFUL COMPANY NEWSLETTER

• The Newsletter Hero: Glorify the Newsletter Editor or Compiler in your organization. Ask him to stand up on a stool at the company meetings and let everyone take a look at him/her. Instruct everyone to send whatever information they find interesting to this person so that it can be filtered, edited and broadcast to your newsletter subscribers.
• Great Content: The newsletter content should be an easy read, avoid big terms and too much data. Tables should be used as sparingly as possible. Make sure there is a liberal dose of humour. Try and make it a conversational piece rather then a dry treatise.
  
• Short & Sweet: Rather than sending across a long voluminous newsletter break it into smaller shorter ones sent every two three days. As a thumb rule I recommend one big story and a few relevant links in each newsletter.
• Categorize if possible: Many newsletters allow subscriptions by category. The visitor can choose the category which is most relevant to him/her and only get that topical one. This is important if a lot of data is coming from the company and has many constituents. You'll need a good software to manage these.
• Offer Text Only & HTML: Do offer the subscriber to receive a text only or a full formatted HTML version. Those who want a quick download make opt for the text only version.

Making the effort to create a world class newsletter says to the subscriber that you respect his time, mindshare and share of his mailbox. He will appreciate it back by giving you more business.

Cheers,
Ron