The Marketing Agency Talk

A client said a newsletter is a waste of time as it comprises stale news. I totally disagree with him and I told him so.

A newsletter is a communication bridge between a company and its employees, clients and patrons. It is a regular update of your products, events and happenings within your own company, as well as the industry. It is a good means of increasing your market exposure and gaining mind share. By regularly reminding your market of your presence, you give a sense of consistency and stability. It helps build trust and improves customer relationship.

Producing a newsletter is easy if you keep a few princples in mind:

1. Consistency
The design should be simple and the layout structure should be consistent for a period of time before you change it. Besides the layout, content should be related to the company or the industry to make them worth reading. Headlines should be attention grabbing to entice reading the full article . Most importantly, the layout of the newspaper should have a natural flow. Consider having the “hard” news (articles on products, R&D, etc) upfront, followed by the “soft” news (articles on staff such as Family Days, etc) behind.

2. Good Photographs
You should shoot your photographs with a good enough resolution (at least DPI300) to allow goof quality printng. If you intend to DIY your newsletter and your editorial committee lacks a good writer, photo stories are a good solution. Instead of writing a one-line photo caption, use descriptive terms to detail what is happening. That will be easier for you to write and faster for your readers to digest. Placement of the photographs should be done carefully as strategic placement help improve the overall look of your newsletter.

3. Typography and Colors
Think “less is more” here. Limit the number of different fonts to two at most. Having too many typefaces on one page will make the newsletter look cluttered. Usually serif fonts are preferred for body copy. You can use sans-serif fonts for shorter headlines and sub-headlines.

Colors should be bold and confident but not loud and mismatched. Match the colors with your corporate colors or the photographs of that issue.

4. Digital or Offset Printing for Printed Newsletter
It is better if you choose a professional printing company rather than doing the printing yourself. Hiring professionals minimizes the chances of errors. For small quantity like 100-300 copies, you should opt for digital printing, but check the price for 500 -1000 copies. You may decide the price difference is so marginal that you would prefer to pay the difference for a better quality product. Though digital printing technology is improving in speed and quality, offset printing quality is still superior in terms of color reproduction and sharpness. If your quantity is above 1000 copies, I’m quite sure offset printing is cost effective.

Call us if you need to produce one. My team is great with newsletters from concept development, copy editing, design execution and even print supervision.

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