Guidelines and Advice on how to develop a Company Newsletter

[ahmed_hasan]

Hi all

I am developing a company newsletter ( We are a construction company) , actually I am looking for a guidelines on how to develop the newsletter, and what it should consist of?

How it should look like? I mean its shape? (one page, different pages- folded or not) (contains a lot of pictures or few number of pictures) ?

What are the main topics it should contain?

What is the difference between newsletter and leaflet?

Thank you

Regards
Ahmed

 

[selena15]

Re: Company Newsletter

Hi Ahmed
It depends of what is your target and what is the message that you wanna send and to whom?
If it is prepared to the employees or the customers, to public or with restrictive distribution….blabla, and once again
For the definition of the terms, check out this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsletterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsletter

Our newsletter or even leaflet is talking about the company, achievment ; launching a new brand, describing the daily tasks of employees ….once again, depending of what you want to show or to sell
Also, surf on the net, i'm sure you can get some samples
Hope this help

 

[bobdoering]

I would suggest having key sections, that would drive you to provide content, such as "New Contracts", "Industry Overview", "Views from the Top" - whatever you can share that your audience would find interesting.

Benchmark other newsletters - see what information or format you like, and use the best ideas for yours.

Don't make it six pages, then not be able to keep up that much content on future newsletters. Pace yourself. The best thing you ca do is make about the same size each time, and have the publication frequency consistent - whether quarterly, monthly or weekly.

Make it look good. The lack of effort making it look good will translate into the lack of need for the reader to bother reading it. Make it look like you (and the company) care.

 

[AndyN]

The biggest challenge you face is getting sufficient content to support the newsletter. People don't come forward often enough with enough content to sustain it. Make it one page and you won't run out (as quickly) of ideas/content

 

[Craig H.]

All good comments. I started one here several years ago, and it has evolved, under the editorship of others, quite nicely.

We use 17" x 11" paper, folded into 4 8 1/2" x 11" pages. You may have trouble getting paper with these exact dimensions, but maybe a double A4 page is available.

We print ours in house using one of the newer color copiers. The quality is as good as what we were getting from a professional printer years ago, the cost is a lot less, and turnaround time is greatly improved.

As far as content, remember your audience, as was stated before. Ours goes out to employees and retirees, and the occasional customer. We have a few features we run each issue. On the front page is a "Looking at US" feature where we pick an employee and do an interview with things like where they are from, where they went to school, spouse, children, their Church, and other hobbies, etc. along with their picture. On the back page is a list of hire anniversary dates and length of service for employees with hire dates in the quarter the newsletter is for. We also have safety updates (lost time accidents, etc.) but that is one of the areas we have a goal for, so it may not apply to you.

Remember, people generally like to see their name in print.

 

[bobdoering]

One of the toughest things is keeping up interest - both for the audince and the 'publisher'. There is no applause for a newsletter, so it is somewhat thankless and you may never know if you did a good job or not. That becomes an "upper management" job to let people know they appreciate the work.

In addition to spotlight employees, try to find some general human interest - e.g. people participating in charitable events, even if on their own. It humanizes the newsletter and the company with a positive twist - more that just chucking out parts...

 

[Craig H.]

One of the toughest things is keeping up interest - both for the audince and the 'publisher'. There is no applause for a newsletter, so it is somewhat thankless and you may never know if you did a good job or not. That becomes an "upper management" job to let people know they appreciate the work.

Good point. As a QA Mgr. I make it a point to get at least one article into each issue because I see it as a great selling opportunity for QA and, of course, yours truly. Getting others to write can be a little bit of a challenge. Ideas that have worked, and been very popular, are articles from our sales folks (who rarely make it to the plant) about the state of the market, an article from the guy who's name is on the company about the outlook for the company, etc.

If all else fails, a nice request from the VP of Operations, with a followup "where's my article?" can go a long way.