If you are selling any product, keeping pertinent information in front of them will accrue to your advantage. I have used newsletters for over 30 years within virtually every organization I have worked for or belonged to. When using a print format, a simple template designed to fit on a quad-fold 11x17 sheet will give you 8.5x11 surfaces. The outside surface after folding will be the back page. The bottom half of the surface also doubles as the mailing surface, with a Motif and return address, a place for a stamp or postage, and a place for the address. Let me say here that your readership will increase dramatically if you hand address, and hand stamp your newsletters. If your list is small enough to make this manageable, it may be worth the trouble.
Depending on what you sell, the top half of this same page can be used for a featured product or other point of emphasis, as this will be the first part that the receiver reads. Selling printing and office equipment, I often used this part of the page for a customer-usable Buy and Sell Classifieds for used equipment of the type of equipment that you sell, and of course of the type that your newsletter is dealing with. The advantage of this idea is that you will be made aware of both sales opportunities when a member of your base places an ad for a product you sell. They may feel that all they can afford is a used item, but with your knowledge of their need, you may direct another customer who has such an item for sale, thereby creating goodwill from both parties and possibly placing the seller in a position to buy a new product from you.
On the other-hand, if a reader requests to list a used item, which they have for sale, odds are that this customer is in the market for a new replacement for the item they are listing for sale. Either way, it offers you opportunities and helps you keep your pulse on what is going on in your market. The front page, which winds up being inside the second fold, can be used for articles about your organization, special promos, or institutional information about your general Industry. I suggest that the inside Left surface, which receives very high readership for a closely cropped, professionally made photo of yourself. This should be accompanied by a personal bio and attempt to sell your readers on you. If this is a joint-effort, you may want to feature one person in alternate issues, picturing all participants equally.
On the bottom half of the inside left surface, I would picture a product. The inside right page may be best used to showcase a particular end-user of your product, who may be of high profile in your community or whom may have a special application which you feel others may see and catch onto. This third-party reference is not only a strong published reference suitable for convincing others to use your product, it has the tendency of locking in the featured user with special loyalty to your company. My own experience has proven this to be the case one-hundred percent of the time. Of course you will want to make doubly sure that the featured customer is catered to.
It is important to use a proper corporate heading or motif throughout the newsletter. Display it prominently as part of your template for the first page. Also display it as a footer for the inside two pages, and finally, display it at the top of the mailing surface and in the place where your return address goes. Provide all your access information, including your web-site if applicable, your email addresses, telephone numbers, and weblogs if apropos.
I mentioned the print format first, for three reasons:
- We cyber-minds tend to think that everyone is computer savvy by now. But it is not true. Many people, especially older key-influencer, buyers, and owners, may still be completely put off by computers. Odd, but true.
- Once your newsletter is prepared for print format, it is a simple process to convert it to a PDF or other format, which can be used as an email attachment or emailed as an E-zine by itself.
- Since my experience is primarily with office and printing equipment, I also suggest that you use it to print in color while demonstrating your industrial grade color printer/copiers. The customer who comes in for a demonstration gets to see firsthand, the streamlined production and printing process on the equipment that you are proposing to them. It makes for a very strong presentation.
If you or your staff don't have ample skills to produce a very high-quality and professional newsletter, get a professional to do it, or at least seek professional advise. Nothing can kill the benefits of this killer idea easier than sending out a piece of junk. On this point, don't ask your Mom if it looks good. This is a time to seek objectivity. Get a pro's advice.