General Business Tips

7 Guidelines For Good Newsletter Production

You cannot go rushing into newsletter printing without knowing about a few proper practices. Newsletters are not just simple press releases. They are basically shortened newspapers, and they deserve the same attention to detail and content.

WorldSweeper.com receives many inquiries about how to get started into sending regular newsletters to customers and prospects. So, here's an article that covers the basics for what you need to know about getting started. The following are seven major guidelines that you should adhere to when you print newsletters.

1. Write good headlines

The first thing that you need to remember is to write good headlines. Newsletters are basically made up of several articles put together. Each of these articles needs a headline, with the main article being your primary headline. A headline should be a short but descriptive phrase that tells the reader what the article is all about. Besides being descriptive though, the header should also engage the interest of the reader. It should convey a kind of mystery or anticipation so that the readers can be tempted to read the whole article.

Writing good headlines makes your newsletter easier to read, and interesting enough to keep. You should write these kinds of headlines for all kinds of newsletters. Even if it is only a small internal corporate communications newsletter, or a full blown public relations printing, your headlines should match the quality of most newspapers. If you are going to invest in newsletter printing you should go about it all the way, including the headlines.

2. Appeal to your readers

Of course, good headlines will not really matter if your articles do not appeal to your readers. Always make sure that all the articles in your newsletter are related to the overall theme or purpose of the said newsletter. This ensures that all the articles are of interest to the newsletter's target audience.

If you are printing an internal company newsletter, then all the articles should appeal to employees of that company. If you are releasing this newsletter for a more special audience such as investors or clients, then you should cater the content so that they will read articles of interest to them. If you do not match your audience with your content, then most people will probably get bored with your articles or at the most just do not pick up the newsletter altogether. So make sure you know who your target audience is, and write your articles according to their preferences.

3. Use images

Besides the actual content however, you should also think about adding images to your newsletter. When people see a newsletter with a big block of text on its front page, most of them will already get bored. A wall of text will always seem to be a daunting task to read.

You can break the monotony by adding supporting images to your articles. This is especially true to your main article which should always have an accompanying support image alongside it. This adds more visual detail to the article that words can never convey. People respond to pictures, so always have a full color newsletter with images when you plan on newsletter printing.

4. Create proper sections

Organization is also key to a successful newsletter. You cannot have a hodgepodge of articles with differing topics or themes. You need to organize them into coherent sections so that people can go directly to the group of articles that they are interested in. You can have of course a News section, features section, opinion, major announcements and even a "fun page" if you like. The important thing here is that people can find the articles that they can relate to quickly. This makes your newsletter easier to read and more professional.

5. Review and proofread

After writing a whole newsletter, it is important to review and proofread your draft. This is basically the quality control section of newsletter printing. The grammar and spelling of articles must be checked so that they sound fine and professional. The images and layout must also be reviewed so that they look as good as possible. Doing this step should maintain the quality of your newsletter so that it can be respected as a dignified publication.

6. Publish regularly

Also, don't forget to be regular in your newsletter releases. If you plan on printing once a year, once a month or once a week, you should always be on schedule. This is so that people can regularly predict when you release your newsletters so that they expect it. If you become lax with the releases people might think that your newsletter is not really a serious regularly published material. If this happens they might not pay attention to your newsletter too much because of the lack of regularity.

7. Print professionally

Lastly, do not forget to print professionally. There are a lot of professional newsletter printing services out there that you can hire. These newsletter printing companies are experts at publishing like this, so you will be assured with a high quality full color newsletter.

If you print your newsletters on your own printer with a simple newsletter template, your publication will appear amateurish and untrustworthy. So spend some money in professional newsletter printing so that your readers will respect your newsletter with the dignity that it deserves.

Follow these guidelines faithfully and you will be producing high quality and very readable newsletters. Every kind of printed medium deserves the attention and passion that it deserves so that they can attract the audience that they were made for. So think and work on those newsletters carefully.

Janice Jenkins is a writer for Print Place, a marketing company in Chicago, IL. Mostly into marketing research, Janice enjoys imparting her knowledge to individuals new to the marketing industry. Print Place does low cost newsletter printing. For more info, go to: www.printplace.com

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