Start a community newsletter
Community newsletters can be an entertaining way to share important information about your neighbourhood. A good newsletter contains information that is useful and interesting to the reader, such as upcoming events, tips for improving their property, local promotions and, of course, news.
Paper or Web?
Traditionally, community newsletters have been printed on paper, but with the explosion of the Internet, personal emails and inexpensive e-newsletter design and distribution services, many community newsletters are now produced and distributed electronically. Both options have positives and negatives.
A paper newsletter can be more expensive and time-consuming to produce and distribute as it requires paper supplies, a personal or professional printer and hand or postal delivery. The benefit of a paper newsletter, however, is that it allows you to reach all of the households and businesses in your community, including those that do not have Internet access or whose residents are not comfortable with technology.
An electronic newsletter offers the benefit of being cheaper to produce and distribute. On the flip-side, an electronic newsletter can only reach members of your community who have Internet access. Posting the newsletter to a website requires people to actively search for the newsletter, which may or may not happen; in order to email it, neighbours must provide you with their email addresses, which some may not want to do.
What you need to start
To start your newsletter, you need to decide who will be the editor. The editor of a community newsletter coordinates all of the content and often writes many of the articles. He or she should have strong writing skills, an eye for detail and good skills for interviewing community members and/or persuade them to contribute to the newsletter. It is a good idea to have more than one person working on the newsletter together to share the work and provide ideas.
Once you have an editor or editorial team, you need to decide how often to publish the newsletter. It is a good idea to start with fewer issues, such as four time a year, and then increase the number once you have enough content and a good publishing process.
Community newsletters can include a variety of sections, such as neighbourhood association updates (from meeting minutes), upcoming events, helpful tips, messages from your community police officer, local services (e.g. flu clinics, community programs), local schools and classified listings.
Designing your newsletter
Most people who own a home computer will have access to software and programs for designing documents like newsletters. These programs often contain several templates that you can use and personalize, and you simply add content. You might also think about asking a volunteer in your neighbourhood who has experience with design to help you out.
Many e-newsletter templates are available online, for free or for a small fee. These are often simple to use but you may not have a lot of choice in how your newsletter looks.
There are also e-newsletter services, which allow you to create your newsletter online (it is good to have some design and web skills if you wish to include photos) and house and update your emailing lists on their system. These services give you the opportunity to create a variety of e-messages, from holiday cards to newsletters.
Getting content
Getting content for your newsletter is often the most challenging part! The editor cannot do everything alone. Identify people in your community who have an interest in writing and/or photography and invite them to be regular contributors to the newsletter. This editorial team can provide story ideas, interview community members and develop the articles or photographic content. Ask community members to contribute articles as well.
If community submissions make up a big part of your newsletter, the editor or editorial team may want to establish guidelines on editorial content, such length of articles, acceptable subject matter (e.g. must related to the community in question) and outlining the editorial team’s rights to edit material. You can ask community members for input in many ways, including within the newsletter, at neighbourhood meetings, on your community website and in conversations with neighbours and local businesses. Make sure that community members’ names are printed with their articles in the newsletter.
If your newsletter accepts advertising, a good way to involve young people is to have them distribute flyers with advertising rates to businesses serving your community.
Tips for a successful newsletter
- Plan a calendar – Decide when you want to release the publication and, based on that, how early you will need to begin working on it. Take into consideration printing and/or design time, holidays, distribution time, etc. Make sure everyone involved has the schedule.
- Create/Use a template – There is no point starting your newsletter from scratch each time. Use a template to make producing your newsletter consistent, efficient and simple for the next person who will be responsible for it.
- Try to limit the amount of “filler” material, such as jokes and clip art, in your newsletter - Although it may be necessary and even entertaining to use these at times, people read your newsletter to find useful information. They will be less likely to read it in the future if they think it doesn’t offer value.
- Have someone else double-check it - No matter how detail-oriented you are, when you’re very close to a creative project, you will miss your mistakes. Having “fresh eyes” look at the document before it is printed/distributed helps to reduce these errors.
- Publish your newsletter on time – Publishing on time helps to build anticipation for the newsletter with your readers and good relationships with readers, contributors and advertisers by demonstrating that you are reliable.
- Request feedback from readers often – Opening the lines of communication will encourage article ideas, community engagement and dialogue.
Resources
Email newsletter template for Microsoft Word and Microsoft Publisher
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC010219711033.aspx
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/ct101043281033.aspx
Online e-newsletter services
