A newsletter is a perfect way to inform your employees, customers, and team members about what’s going on with the company. You can do this through the internet or the old fashioned way–on paper. We don’t hear about newsletter very often these days. However they are still circulating amongst certain industries-particularly in small businesses. Newsletters give employers the opportunity to spread news to employees/customers in depth without consuming too much time.
Below are 6 steps to take on how to write a solid, informative, and entertaining newsletter. So let’s get right into it…
1. Pick a font and format that matches the occasion. Go through and choose a nice font that looks appropriate for what the newsletter is about. You can get as creative as you want or as formal as you want. It all depends upon the business you work for or the occasion at hand. You may be using a template that allows you to choose designs. If so, choose a layout that is appropriate for the occasion or purpose of the newsletter.
2. Have a formal opening. Always add the date and where the letter is from. Then add your greeting beneath it. Your greeting should be made personal to your receivers. For example, you could say “Hello my fellow employees” or “Good morning (Your company’s name) staff”. Of course you can’t name each person individually, but you can acknowledge them in the general sense.
3. Do a brief recap. Before you jump into the new stuff, do a recap of what was said on the last newsletter. Don’t take up much time on this. Just do a paragraph or so. This helps those that may have forgotten the information or did not get the last letter somehow. After recapping, get into the new info. You can tie this to the recap if they are relevant to one another, but if not, you can simply label the recap so your readers can know that it is totally separate from the new information.
4. Add important details. Throughout your newsletter, add in dates, time, and where events took place. Also, let them know why this information matters. What do you want them to think? Is there anything you want them to do?
5. Special features. Now it’s time to add in any additional names, photos, links, and addresses. If you add descriptions, make sure each feature has a one sentence description to keep the newsletter from being too long.
6. Close out the newsletter. At the end, add your personal name, company name, contact information, and your signature (if necessary). Ideally, a newsletter shouldn’t extend past two pages. Anything longer than that would be like a newspaper! But many companies have a newspaper, so if that is the route you want to take, go ahead.
The best newsletters don’t just keep your team engaged in the info, but it must have such clarity that the reader can remember much of the details–and if specific instructions were discussed–the reader would know exactly how to take action. Just think of it as a news report on television or in the newspaper. Keep in mind how detailed yet understandable it is. Your newsletter should be the same way.
