By Bob Gourley
I fielded a question recently about the effectiveness of community newsletters. It came from a property manager who claimed he spent many hours every month preparing a newsletter for his community that “no one ever reads”. After reviewing the newsletter, which was little more than a collection of rants about trash, dog waste, and parking violations, I agreed with his summation of the newsletter’s effectiveness. I certainly wouldn’t read this newsletter or look forward to the next issue. He asked what he could do to improve his ability to communicate with association members in future issues. Here is a checklist we developed to help steer him toward producing an effective newsletter.
The Refrigerator Magnet Test
I use a phrase to describe the appeal a community newsletter should carry. When a child brings home a great grade on a spelling or math test, it usually gets stuck on the refrigerator door with a kitchen magnet. A great community newsletter should have the same appeal. It should look good enough to be worthy of the honor and the content should be relevant enough that a community member should want to keep it close at hand.
The Golden Rule
First, and foremost, remember the Golden Rule of Community Communications – “Speak Unto Others as You Would Like to be Spoken to Yourself”. If you are going to use your newsletter to simply admonish and threaten those who violate the rules, you can expect a highly ineffective result. Every community has rules broken from time to time. The rule breakers usually represent a very small portion of the community. Why not celebrate the actions of those that follow the rules and thank them for being such good citizens? A pat on the back feels better and is more enjoyable to read about.
Positive versus Negative
Think about some of the great communicators of our time. They know that a positive message is better received than a negative message. Use positive energy throughout your publication and you will end up with a newsletter that is both highly read and enjoyed by the community. Use negative energy and you will end up with a largely unread newsletter that does little more than waste resources both in its production and its effectiveness.
Content is King
If you want to draw readers in to your newsletter, you must provide something that they want. My experience with communities has taught me that its members want to know what is going on, especially those items that effect their pocketbook. If the Board of Directors is discussing plans for a major capital improvement project, association members want to know how the improvement will benefit them and how much it will cost. Nothing draws readers in like learning about the new swimming pool they will be enjoying in one year’s time or the new parking lot pavement project that will get rid of the potholes they drive through every day. The more interesting your content is, the more your readers will look forward to learning more in the next issue.
Human Interest
Facts and figures aside, community members like to feel as though they are part of something more than a housing system. Don’t be afraid to add some human interest by sharing knowledge that will intrigue your readers. Who is new in the community? Who just celebrated their 50th anniversary? Who has a new baby in their home? These news items may seem a little trivial at first but they can become a very interesting topic to community members who are more social in nature.
Looks are Important
Making your newsletter look its best is critical to making it effective. If it looks like the person preparing the newsletter doesn’t care about how it looks, it is likely to be received in the same manner. Spelling, grammar, and design are all elements that require attention. If your community can afford color printing for its newsletter, it will carry a higher value by your audience.
Creating an effective newsletter requires attention to detail and knowledge of how to create a winning publication. If your publication highlights only negative items about the community and does nothing more than provide a platform to admonish readers about rules violations, don’t be surprised if no one ever reads it. If you take the time and effort to create a positive experience for your reader, you will be rewarded with an effective tool for communicating with your community members and they will actually look forward to each new issue.
I am currently the media communications intern at Uplifting Men. I’ve been asked to create a newsletter and a acquisiton team.
Best wishes, James.
Dear Publisher,
I have been printing Coffee News editions for the last year for about 65 different publishers and would like to offer my services as your printer for any of your customers. I have 5 very large copiers that produce 11 x 17, 2-sides, fold all inline. All orders received before 12:00noon EST go out the same day. An email is sent when we receive the artwork to let the publisher know that we received the art and a second email is sent with the UPS tracking number. Everything but the art is included in the price of .065 cents each. I would love to help you with your publications.
Thanks for your consideration.
Mike Payne
502-412-7777 office
502-416-7554 cell
mike@turnkeyconcepts.com
Thanks, Mike. Sounds like a great service.
could you recommend a newsletter format or tool that will facilitate pictures and stories and easy to use? I have been trying with Microsoft Publisher, but find it too restrictive.
Thanks
I have used software as simple as Microsoft Word and as sophisticated as Adobe PageMaker. Publisher falls somewhere in between and is not one of my favorites. At MyEZCondo, we regularly use Adobe’s InDesign for many of our client newsletters. Of course, that is not an inexpensive piece of software. My advice is for you to visit download.com (part of the CNET family of companies) and search for desktop publishing software. You’ll find several free or inexpensive programs there as well as user reviews which might help you narrow in on the one that is right for you. Of course, if you prefer to have a professionally designed newsletter for your community association, I’d be glad to discuss a MyEZCondo newsletter with you.
Firstly, I must thank you for these great guidelines. I will certainly be using them. Secondly, how many pages would you recommend a newsletter to have? I was delegated to make a quarterly newsletter for our community center. This will be our first ever for the center. I have already begun, but I find that we have many services to inform that it doesn’t all fit on one page. Finally, the newsletter needs to be translated in two languages. Can you recommend a good translation site so that I don’t offend or misrepresent any comments?
Thank you in advance for your support.
Sincerely, Bonnie
Bonnie, congratulations on launching the first ever newsletter for your community center! Effective newsletters come in all shapes and sizes. Frequency and fit are two things I look at when deciding how much to include and how large the newsletter needs to be. Quarterly tells me that 3 to 6 months of information needs to be included. Volume of information will determine your size. In your case, your organization offers an array of services. Each one may require its own newsletter as folks interested in Adult Education may not care about Youth Services. Separate newsletters would allow for better storytelling and audience interest. As for translation services, there are many to choose from. A quick look at the make-up of your Board tells me they could probably answer that question better than I could. I have used Google’s free translation service and had a Hispanic colleague review my work when I’ve needed to produce Spanish-language articles. I’ll bet you could do something very similar with one of your bi-lingual Board members or another bi-lingual volunteer. Best wishes / Buena Suerte.