Three ways to optimise your company newsletter
A newsletter can paves the way to great interactions with your audience
Intro
We just finished another project for Derby-based charity, Upbeat Communities - their regular newsletter, Upbeat Updates.
A snapshot of the Upbeat Updates newsletter for Upbeat Communities
Upbeat is a Christian charity that exists to help refugees settle and rebuild their lives in the UK. Its vision is to see strangers become neighbours..
You can have a browse through it below.
We've written about things to look out for it you are planning publicity for your campaign, as well as learning points for us. This should give you a well-rounded perspective.
1. Understand why a newsletter is important
A newsletter is a regular piece of communication to an audience, often weekly or monthly
In the business sector it would more commonly be a marketing piece with promotionals or inbound content*
There is a lot of added value in both cases
It helps you maintain contact with your audience, build trust and ultimately win customers or deeper engagement
A newsletter can communicate stories of impact and a charity's organisational values to supporters
For a business, it can provide a compelling view behind the scenes and demonstrate value of products and services to prospective customers
Either way, it provides a key part of delivering a marketing and communications strategy
What we learned
We ensured that our content gathering management processes were honed and ready, which is something we reviewed when we last worked with Upbeat
Content came via Upbeat's communications officer, Sam, and there were minimal changes thanks to the intake form at the start
If you missed it last time, we use Dubsado, a CRM for creatives, and if you're starting up an agency or as a freelancer, its a worth a look
The focal story of the newsletter
2. Put a plan in place
The value of newsletters is that they form part of an ongoing campaign, as one e-mail is never sufficient
The campaign may be as simple as staying current in your audience's mind or building trust through providing company insights (something that we do)
Regardless, you need plan otherwise I'm afraid you will be guilty of the cardinal sin of being active for the sake of it
As mentioned above, ideally your newsletter will form part of a wider communications and marketing strategy so feed into your business objectives
If you do it right, your company maillist will drive enquiries, generate leads or encourage donations, so directly impacting your bottom line
At an implementation level, you will need to plan your content some weeks or months ahead of time with a calendar or matrix
This will allow you to generate the actual content, which is often a blog, as well as be intentional about targetting current events that will resonate with your audience
What we learned
Rachael, our graphic designer, worked closely with the Upbeat team to put together custom cut-out images
While we have constructed many MailChimp campaigns, this is the first PDF-style newsletter we've designed
We realised that there are some compromises
On the one hand you get a really smart, high quality look
On the other hand, it can't be duplicated and edited easily unless you have specialist software and skills
If you like this style of newsletter, our advice would be to ensure that it meets your marketing needs (budget, channels, audience), as it is more expensive
A snapshot of the newsletter featuring a cut-out image
3. Delegate responsibility & authority well
So, you've got your blog set up and a nice campaign template on MailChimp or your marketing platform of choice
Who's going to collect, compile, edit and run your newsletter campaigns - it's unlikely to be a director or your CEO, by the way
You need someone in place who is going to help generate content through your blog or resource area, manage an editorial calendar and then foster community engagement
Ideally, you want to build up a good following, and the best newsletters are anticipated and consumed avidly by audiences
Again, this won't happen overnight, and to maximise your chances and returns, you need someone dedicated to the job
What we learned
Before starting The Apple Yard, we did a lot of work in marketing and communications
Getting the right tools and processes in place are important
Things that have worked well for us are Trello (a drag and drop pinboard app), which you can even use for Human Resources (no joke)
Trello can handle your calendar, blogging rota, good ideas as well as internal guidelines for contributors
A good communications matrix is a core document and you can find many customisable templates if you do a quick Google search
The matrix allows you to view a lot of information at a glance (key events, social media posts, leading articles etc) and plan the core content of your campaign
A snapshot of the events area - great way to keep your audience engaged with you
We hope you've enjoyed this week's blog. If you've got a website or a branding need, do get in touch - we'd love to chat and see how we can help you!
