Print Buying Direct

Company Newsletters – Including Your Organisation’s News – 3rd November 2009
It’s often a challenge to include your organisation’s news without appearing boastful. Along with articles detailing the specifics of your products or services, there are other ways to include your own news while keeping readers interested.

Remember that newsletters are “happy mail”. Personalise your publication through your writing style and news of your staff and organisation. Greet customers and help them get to know you on a first-name basis. Do this with:

• A “dear reader” section
• An executive editorial
• The history of your organisation
• Staff introductions

As with product articles, you have to show rather then tell. To show how your executives, members or doctors are capable administrators, list their industry activities. Include condensed versions of speeches, technical papers or seminars. Discuss upcoming trade shows and events that you support.

Articles by experts. Show that your president or other officer’s keep abreast with your industry by having them write regular columns on general trends in your industry or on technical subjects. For example, if your product or service fits in with a topic that’s been hot in the news, assign one of your executives to write an editorial. Examples that come to mind include computer viruses, safe packing, recycling, acid rain and controversial books or movies. Every industry has several hot topics to choose from at any given time, and these articles can also be forwarded to trade journals.

Provide a personalised, approachable image by including by-lines and photographs will al columns. Including photos will help regular columnists become familiar and ensure that people will recognise them at industry events.

Milestones. To demonstrate the stability of your organisation, you should report on the milestone you’ve reached. Events such as the 100,000th unit shipped or your 25th anniversary are possibilities. Along with these milestones, you can include some background on your organisation. Within milestone articles, recognise your customers or supporters for making the vent possible. This shifts the focus of the article from your organisation to your customers.

Employee & member profiles.  To show the capabilities of new or existing staff, include profiles of employees or members. Print candid pictures next to these types of articles to attract attention.

Most customers want to see the people they’re dealing with. Behind-the-scenes people can also make good profiles. Show how they help customers or contribute to the organisation. For example, your customers may not be aware of the extremes your dispatch supervisor takes in finding trucking companies to deliver a shipment overnight. Because you always deliver on time, your customers assume it’s easy. By focusing on a key employee, you give the employee recognition while showing customers how hard you work for them.

Unfortunately, some articles on employees aren’t inherently interesting. Articles focusing on the personal accomplishments of your staff, such as number of years with the company, babies born and classes’ attended aren’t appropriate for most promotional newsletters. Save them for your-in house publication.

Advertising.  For organisations that want to include advertising in their publication, one option is to “report” it. Alert your customers or members to advertising or publicity appearing in trade journals. If an advertisement has been affective, include it in the newsletter. As a commentary on why you feel it’s doing well.

You can also announce when you have new literature by including a picture of the brochure or catalogue. If you include an advertisement in your newsletter, separate it from the editorial material. Follow the guidelines of newspapers. Advertisements are clearly marked in boxed off. Any editorial material appearing on products or services is written in a news style.

Some companies report on any public relations exposure they’ve received. By listing the publication, date and page number or web link of the articles written on your organisation, you might inspire your newsletter readers to search the journals for more information about you. It also shows that you are making important enough progress to warrant enough progress to warrant industry-wide coverage.

Awards or achievements. Articles reporting on awards your organisation has received are inherently dull. The only exception is when the award signifies a major achievement in the eyes of your readers.

Be cautious when reporting on awards received or given by your organisation. Make sure they’re really important, such as making the Inc. 500 list or something that’s relevant to your customers’ interest in your organisation. They must be promotional to be worth reporting.

One last note here: if you include a photo of an award being received, avoid a “grip and grin” photo. (This is the photo with the person giving the award shaking hands with the person receiving it.) This style photo tells skimmers to skip the article. 

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For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

• Newsletter Printing – Let your Customers Sell for You – part 2
• Newsletter Printing – Let your Customers Sell for You
• Touting your products in your printed newsletter
• Six Types of Newsletter Content
• Order your Christmas Cards Online in October and Save
• Saving Money by Pruning Your Newsletter Mailing List
• Newsletter Printing – Free ways to reach more people
• Marketing with Printed Newsletters – Assigning codes to prospects
• Dazzling Databases for Printed Newsletters
• Newsletter mailing lists – Mailing list magic
• Printing – The Green issue
• Order your Christmas Cards Online in October and Save £££s
• Newsletter Printing – Using survey results for improved promotions
• The best way to survey how effective your newsletter is…part 2
• The best way to survey how effective your newsletter is…
• Every question has a goal (Newsletter printing)
• How to Conduct Your Survey about your Newsletter
• Newsletter Print and Design – Why the Pros Survey Fewer People
• Newsletters – Pinpointing Reader’s Interests – part 2
• Newsletters – Pinpointing Reader’s Interests – part 1
• Printing – Paper and board – Certified and recycled
• Printing – Paper and board – Pricing and availability
• Printing – Paper and Board
• Print Finishing
• Digital Presses
• Digital Printing
• Offset Printing
• Print Production Management
• How to create a marketing plan incorporating promotional newsletters
• All you need to know about Digital Printing
• The Future of Printing
• Print Finishing
• Variable Data Printing
• ISO 12647 and Colour Management in Printing
• Pre-press – In Flight, Pre-Flight and Post-Flight
• Print, Paper and Recycling
• Design of the times – (Article reproduced from Printing World February 2009)
• Pre-press – 20 years of change
• Transactional and Direct Mail
• 7 Guidelines For Good Newsletter Printing
• Graphic Design
• Printing – Where in the world are we?
• Improving Your Response Rates to Leaflets, Flyers and Brochures
• HINTS & TIPS…The sales letter
• The History of Printing
• 10 Tips for Creatives in a Digital World

Print Buying Direct is the online division and a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and wide format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire, in the North West of England – delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

Also see our other websites

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Tags: company newsletters, Newsletter Design, Newsletter printing

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 8:45 am and is filed under Banners, Business Stationery, Calendars, Christmas Cards, Leaflets and Brochures, News, Newsletters, Postcards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.