Newsletters help an organization raise its profile, introduce its products and services, and keep in touch with customers, prospective customers, and the public. To publish a quality newsletter with a frequency to make the desired impact, the newsletter requires content—and a lot of it.
Consider these seven ideas to help you plan and develop your newsletter.
1. Introduce new or updated products and services.
By using the newsletter to introduce a new or updated products and services, people within the organization will be able to see the larger picture, and not just what’s going on in their departments. Often, newsletters go to customers, prospective customers, and the public. Sharing information about new and updated products and services will be of interest to these audiences as well.
2. Introduce new employees.
A new employee may be introduced in a newsletter in any number of ways. A common way is to list the new employee’s name, department, share something interesting about the person, and include a photo. A more complete feature story is another way to introduce a new employee. What inspired the new employee to choose the professional path that led him to this particular organization? Does the new employee have special interests (for example, serving as his daughter’s soccer coach, volunteering at the local food bank, or something similar)?
3. Share personnel milestones.
Personnel milestones humanize the organization and its people. Personnel milestone examples include birthdays, marriages, family additions, special accomplishments or honors, graduations, and retirements.
4. Review industry-related books.
Publishing industry-related book reviews can be useful for those wanting to know what they should be reading to better understand their industry or develop new skills. Publishing reviews can also help those who need only a summary of such materials.
5. Cover industry events and trends.
Industry trade magazines often list events and publish articles that your newsletter readers might not see. Covering a given event—a trade show, for example—or better still, your organization’s involvement with that event, helps raise profiles with the right readers.
6. Interview industry newsmakers.
Sometimes the newsmaker might be within the organization (for example, a staff scientist making a key research discovery). But other times, the newsmaker might be a recognized industry expert who is outside the organization. This type of expert can bring perspectives that can add depth to your newsletter and improve its overall quality.
7. Letter from the president/CEO.
The letter can share the president/CEO’s perspective on what’s happening in the organization or within the industry. The letter doesn’t have to be from the president or CEO, however. In some cases, a different executive or manager writes the letter for every issue. For example, the human resources manager might write the letter for this issue, and the sales manager might write the letter for the following issue.
Consider these ideas as you plan your newsletter. The more you can visualize and plan for developing your newsletter’s content, the better your newsletter will serve its readers.
