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Last Issue We Asked You:
How Do Newsletters Really Happen? Magic?
In my IT department, we have a monthly newsletter that provides updates on one of our projects. Top management requires that we do it. Middle management that represents the team responsible for the newsletter provides no support when we take issues to him. Two of us have been leading the effort and writing most of the articles. We’re sick of it. Surveys tell us it’s important to continue the newsletter and to add fresh blood. Yet:
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No one will volunteer to do articles even if we ask around. When we do get volunteers, they’re unreliable.
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Non-new employees suggested things that should be covered in the newsletter, when they were already covered in a previous issue!
We have a good process in place for the newsletter production. That’s not the issue. The issue is the organization’s lack of support to contribute to the newsletter. Can your readers offer any suggestions?
Roxanne Battles, Business Analyst
Responses
Plan Ahead!
Think forward and be empowered
by Stacey Wentz, Product Marketing Manager, Katun Corporation
Take an Inventory
Repurpose content if necessary
by Keary Phillips, Marketing Analyst, Allstate Insurance Company
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Take an Inventory
Repurpose content if necessary
by Keary Phillips, Marketing Analyst, Allstate Insurance Company
Conduct a content "inventory" for your organization - compile brochures, press releases, white papers - any collateral that may contain even an idea. Look at your company's Web site - is there any content you can leverage there? Granted, most of what you uncover may really just be repurposing, but if it fits and helps fill a void.
Next, presuming you've uncovered enough in point one to buy you some time (given yourself a few months of content to deliver), work on a content strategy, and publishing schedule. Maybe attack it topically depending on priority and available resources. Once you have a schedule contact potential article authors in advance to get them on board and give them time to work on writing the article. If you really are having a hard time recruiting internal resources, propose an outsourced solution. When they see the price and ask why? Indicate this is the only way to produce the newsletter given the lack of cooperation. The onus really should fall on middle management if they have been charged by top management to produce the newsletter. If they are not contributing they are the ones who should be held accountable.
It sounds like politics play a role. Identifying who the real driver in upper management would be helpful. There must be buy-in at some level by someone if there truly is the sense that the newsletter is valuable to the company. That being said, any data, statistics, feedback etc. that support the "cause" or value proposition of the newsletter should be made clear to manager and director. If they don't see the value they are unlikely to support it fully (as appears to be the case). Another factor to consider is - is this newsletter part of Roxanne's performance goals or objectives - meaning is she accountable to deliver the newsletter or content therein and is this a factor in her performance reviews. If so, she would have a strong case that the organization was not doing its part to allow her to meet her objectives. I would broach the subject with top management (i.e. whomever the key stakeholder or driver is) if all else fails. In a political organizational environment, going over someone's head rarely leads to good will.
Lastly, I think that identifying a list of "static" topics (i.e. that would appear in every issue - company news, press etc., company earnings, stock price) and maybe a content section(s) that differ each month - would help in the overall planning process. This all depends on what the communication intent of the newsletter is - without knowing this it's difficult to be specific.
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Plan Ahead!
Think forward and be empowered
by Stacey Wentz, Product Marketing Manager, Katun Corporation
We are still in the planning stages of creating an e-newsletter, but our goal is to establish a team of people to take ownership over the newsletter and create a 12-month plan for article topics and authors. Along with this crew, we are also implementing executive management to act as sponsors of the project. Though we're not yet doing an active internet newsletter, our plan is to ask small-mid size business owners and / or principles with whom we have long-standing relationships to write articles.
As for how we would involve the customer in the newsletter - We are fortunate to have been a market leader for twenty years, so we have solid partnerships that we would like to leverage for providing and sharing information among customers. We would like to create a marketing campaign encouraging customer article submission by first, flattering our customer by sharing that we see him / her as a professional in the industry who has some unique insight to share.
The second plan would be to incentivize the customer with product discounts, loyalty / membership programs, special product announcements, etc. Most likely, the customers chosen will have long-standing relationships with our sales team and will be selected according to sales' discretion. Ultimately, we want those customers we ask to submit an article, to feel good about themselves, and see themselves as a value to the marketplace.
As to the question that if Roxanne's newsletter team is made up of forward thinking people who have repeatedly tried to get others to write articles while putting energy and planning into it to no avail: I'm not speaking from experience, as this is a new initiative for us, but my recommendation would be to tap new sources - maybe a business partner, supplier, industry guru, long-term customer, etc. I see the newsletter article as a piece used to create dialogue. Maybe rather than tap those members of an organization who seem to be the obvious choices - the CFO, Marketing VP, Sales VP, etc., maybe reach deeper within the organization to Customer Service Reps, telesales, marketing analysts, etc. Everyone is an expert in some part of their job - and that can turn into a valuable communication tool.
Our hope is that in creating a team of forward-thinking people (following the concept of "get the right people on the bus before deciding where to drive it") will create the empowerment needed to keep the project fresh and alive. We are also signing up customers to produce articles - that helps reduce the weight on our people's shoulders to continually come up with new ideas. Obviously, this is not yet a proven method as we are still in the beginning stages of creating our newsletter, but hopefully approaching it this way will aid us in consistently offering our customers a news-worthy value add piece.
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