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The Enrichment Project
Newsletter Creation
Steps
1. Do you need a newsletter?
Before you start planning a newsletter, make sure a newsletter will work for your needs.
What information do you need to share? Is it enough to put out a newsletter? What action
do you want your audience to take from your newsletter? You should have specic,
measurable goals. Make a general list of items you would like to incorporate in your
newsletter. Look at each item critically and ask yourself if a newsletter is the best way
to distribute your information.
2. Your voice.
When I had my rst child, we did a quarterly newsletter to share with our family. We used
the words my daughter was using, made a lot of spelling mistakes and looked for photos
that showed her personality. Another type of personal newsletter is a Christmas newsletter
in lieu of Christmas cards for your family and friends.
Professional newsletters can include those for corporations, hospitals and organizations.
Professional newsletters not only contain a lot of information for the recipient, they are
often commercially printed. There are usually many people involved in their creation.
youll see calls to action which get the recipient involved with the newsletter provider
in some way.
Newsletters for troops, groups and schools fall between these two extremes. They are not
as formal as a professional newsletter, but you dont want to share personal information.
You need to determine how formal or informal you want to appear. Review your list from
Step 1. Determine the voice of your newsletter.
3. Your audience.
Who will read your newsletter? If its for kids, you may want to include coloring pages and
puzzles. Adults look more for information they need and / or want. Family and friends
will be more forgiving if your facts are not correct or if you go for a very informal tone. If
youre looking to get funds from outside sources, youll want to provide facts and gures
to show your group is a great place to make a donation.
Each one of these audiences will need a diferent focus not only on material provided in
your pages, but the information you present as well. Create a list of people you intend to
be your audience.
4. What do others communicate?
Look at newsletters similar to the one you plan on creating. List what information,
graphics, puzzles and other elements they have. Is there a mix of immediately needed
information and later reference material? Are there references to other locations to nd
information? How long are the articles? How do they address their audience? Compare
whats in their newsletter and your idea list. Adjust your idea list if you see anything you
might want to include.
Newsletter
Creation
Thinking of starting
a newsletter?
Planning your course
is often more
complicated than
actually doing it.
Explore the steps to
creating your own
newsletter before
actually doing so.
Remember,
communicating
through printed
means is sometimes
necessary. Not
everyone is hooked
to the Web. The
more avenues you
have to distribute,
though, the more
likely your informa-
tion will be received.
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Project
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5. Brainstorm topics.
These can be very general to start. Remember that if you want your audience to keep
your newsletter, you need to include something worth keeping. If youre just publishing
a schedule, it will be in the trash as soon as the dates are gone. Adding Ten Sites to Help
Earn Badges will give your readers a reason to save it.
In addition, newsletters are released on a schedule. You need a pool of ideas for future
issues so you always have something available to include. You can go back to your
brainstorm list for ideas or to help kick start your creativity.
6. Keeping les.
At the beginning of creating a newsletter, youll have plenty of material. Your excitement
will help you get it out the door. However, will you still have something to talk about in six
months? What about a year after you begin? You have your brainstormed topics to start
with, but sometimes that wont be enough.
As ideas come to you, write them down or type them into a document. Keep clippings of
interest that you might want to include or images and information from the Web. This will
help you when you cant think of anything to include.
7. Contributors.
If you are asking for contributions, you will need to provide a list of items you are looking
to include. You can use Steps 1, 4 and 5 to help you create this list. You will also need to
provide dates when you are accepting contributions. Will you pay for submissions? Are
you expecting donations? Is there something you can provide contributors other than
money?
8. Who is responsible?
If you are doing all the work yourself, you are responsible. However, if you need others to
help, each person needs to have their own list of responsibilities so that nothing is missed.
This should include due dates as well. Make a list of responsibilities, starting with these:
Layout
Writing
Editing
Graphics
Photography
Distribution
9. Set the schedule.
Determine the frequency for your newsletter. Will publishing once a month work for you?
Every other month? Will you only publish certain times of the year? By setting a schedule
of release dates and communicating it with your audience, they will know to look for your
newsletter and inquire when they dont get it.
10. Protecting yourself.
By writing a story, taking a picture or creating a newsletter, you are automatically the
copyright holder. To expand your audience, you may need to give up some of your rights.
If you are merely providing lists of dates for your troop / group this may not be pertinent,
but if youre looking at making money from your newsletter, this needs to be determined
at the creative stage.
Review the copyright laws in your country. Also review Creative Commons to determine
if you are willing to give up some of your rights to get a larger audience.
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11. Final format - print.
The nal format you have will be dependent on your distribution. You need to know your
audience. Here are some suggestions. Decide if any of these work for you and add any
others you feel would be good.
PDF (printable and as an e-mail attachment)
TXT (most universally accepted, but lacks design elements)
12. Final format digital.
You may want your nal format to be digital only. This will save you a lot in printing and
mailing costs. Explore these formats and determine if any of these will work for you.
HTML (Web page, blog, wiki, e-mail, etc.)
EPUB (most widely distributed, vendor-independent)
MOBI / KF8 (Kindle format)
PDF (can be electronic, may need a diferent layout than a printable version)
TXT (most universally accepted, but lacks design elements)
If none of these formats work for you, explore other avenues of electronic distribution.
Sites to Explore
tools.devshed.com/c/a/Newsletter-Marketing/Why-Create-a-Newsletter
newsletter.lifetips.com
advertising.about.com/cs/newsletters/ht/create_newslett.htm
www.ehow.com/how_5213417_make-class-newsletter-parents-read.html
www.newsletterwritingtips.com/newsletters/category/types-of-newsletters
www.mailonthemark.com/2012/08/what-content-should-go-in-your-e-newsletter-50-ideas
ethicallaunch.com/how-do-i-plan-my-newsletter
www.newsletterwritingtips.com/newsletters/2006/08/18/how-to-write-a-newsletter-for-your-church
www.snapcomms.com/solutions/internal-newsletter-ideas.aspx
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