If you have been considering starting a newsletter for your business or organization, you are on the right track. Newsletters have the power to inform, inspire, sell and create loyal connections between your business and your customers or donors.
The benefits of a monthly or quarterly newsletter include:
- More connected customers and donors
- Increased sales or donations
- Brand authority and loyalty
- Better informed customers and donors
KRJPR helps several businesses and organizations with weekly, monthly or quarterly newsletters. Examples are presented in this article to show the variety of ways a newsletter can be implemented in your overall marketing strategy.
Nebraskaland Aviation
This spring, Nebraskaland Aviation asked KRJPR to help create a weekly newsletter throughout the summer to keep its customers informed with crop updates and treatment timings. The newsletter also reports findings from the previous year’s Plant Health Challenge that highlighted the increased yields and improved plant health of fields that used the company’s products.
While the task seemed daunting to create a 3-4-page weekly newsletter during their busiest season, the Nebraskaland Aviation staff pulled it off with flying colors! Together, we created a weekly newsletter that was emailed to farmers in the area and posted to social media. The newsletter provided education to current customers and kept the company top of mind for area farmers who needed to spray for certain field conditions.
In this project, Nebraskaland Aviation employees provided the content and photos, and KRJPR designed the newsletter in PDF form and in digital form in MailChimp (an email newsletter program) so it could be emailed to customers.
YMCA of the Prairie
The YMCA of the Prairie monthly newsletter keeps its members informed about upcoming programs and events and shares stories about members who are reaching their wellness goals thanks to the YMCA. The newsletter sometimes features stories about staff members who are making a difference, which creates more connections between members and the organization.
The intent of the newsletter is two-fold: to promote upcoming programs and activities to encourage health and wellness and to share stories designed to inspire readers to live better and become more connected with the local non-profit.
The newsletter is distributed via printed copies at the local branches, through email to all members and through social media.
KRJPR creates the content and designs the newsletter for the YMCA.
Phelps County Development Corporation
The Phelps County Development Corporation has several goals with its quarterly 8-page newsletter that is mailed to all residents of the county and to state economic development leaders. The Phelps County Business Journal highlights the work of PCDC to create transparency and show investors all the work PCDC staff and volunteers are doing to promote local economic development. The newsletter shares details about PCDC programs, how they are working in the community and how local residents can benefit from the programs. It also celebrates new and existing business expansions and milestones and highlights new business people in the community.
The newsletter shows a vibrant, growing community. Others outside of the community have said the newsletter makes them want to move to the county!
The content for this newsletter is created after brainstorming sessions between KRJPR and the PCDC staff. KRJPR writes the stories, takes photos and designs the newsletter making it easy and not too time-consuming for staff.
GROW Nebraska
GROW Nebraska is a 20-year-old statewide organization that helps large and small entrepreneurs. For years, the GROW has consistently produced a monthly e-newsletter that is sent to all members, donors and others interested in business education.
Each newsletter features updates about GROW Nebraska members and opportunities for training. It often includes videos and direct links to register for upcoming events and trainings. KRJPR has been helping write some of the stories for the GROW Nebraska newsletters over the past year.
GROW Nebraska staff have vast knowledge of marketing, so they design the newsletter and email it out while KRJPR provides a few stories a month to lessen their writing workload.
Link to GROW Nebraska newsletter story.
Steps to Starting a Newsletter
- Determine your goal (promote products or services, educate, share staff news, boost sales or donations, introduce staff or policies, promote a calendar of events).
- Decide how often you will produce the newsletter.
- Decide the platform that will work best for your business or organization (email, direct mail, social media).
- Decide who will create the content, photos or art for the newsletter. Staff my create the content, or you could hire a writer.
- Map out a timeline to distribute the newsletter. Create content and art/photo deadlines, allow time for proofing and set a newsletter publish date.
- Create content and design a newsletter template that matches your company’s brand. If your company doesn’t have a specific brand, pick one font for the headlines and another font for the body text and stay with those same fonts each time. Use this same look in your print advertising.
- Create a mailing list, either direct mail addresses or email addresses.
- Distribute the newsletter.
- Measure the newsletter’s success (email platforms such as MailChimp and Constant Contact show you exactly how many people open your newsletter).
If you would like to set up a FREE meeting to discuss starting a newsletter, please contact me today at kjacobson@krjpr.com
Kristine Jacobson, owner KRJ Public Relations