No matter how many communication tools companies use to deliver messages, employees’ newsletter still matter. It remains to be the traditional yet effective way to provide more information on a company policy, new development or campaign strategy. Distribution lists can be segmented according to function and location, hence content can be tailored depending on the information the readers need. It can also be designed to be read on either desktops or mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets.
One of the essential relevance of employees’ newsletter is its ability to aggregate several data into a single e-mail. However, a newsletter can only be effective if they create the desired impact on the readers. People want to be informed but will reject a message if they see it as a contribution on inbox clutter.
Therefore, make your employees’ newsletter significant, relevant, concise and appealing. Below are 7 tips on how to make your newsletters more effective:
1. Include graphics, video or multimedia.
People have been processing so many kinds of text information that images or videos will be a welcome change for them. If your message is mainly procedural, directional or even informational, why not design an infograph? It is a delightful way to illustrate a message targeting on key points and figures. Did the company exceed its sales target from its last project? Did the company realize growth in sales revenue compared to last year? These are some of the information you can illustrate through an infograph. It is engaging, creative and fun to read.
2. Make it interactive.
Strike a conversation. Include a way for employees to reach the sender and make questions or comments. Perhaps you can include polls and “likes” feature or include e-mail addresses and hotline numbers which concerned employees can later on contact. Or why not link your newsletter to your available internal social media channels? Today’s technology already makes embedding interactive features easily and quickly.
3. Let the content be your determinant in the frequency of newsletter distribution.
Sometimes, continually publishing newsletters weekly or monthly makes it a struggle for content developers to create relevant information. There may be an instance that the newsletter is published after information becomes obsolete. If information needs to be relayed to the public well before the scheduled date of publication, you can still inform your audience by posting the message on the intranet. Nevertheless, for long-term and strategy-focused announcements, employees’ newsletter can be distributed on a quarterly basis.
4. Understand the existing information already received by the employees.
It is tempting to go ahead and put all significant information in the newsletter to ensure that employees will not miss any important company development. However, you should also consider the existing information that the employees already received. Are you sending redundant messages? Perhaps the message is already displayed in the corporate screensaver? It is important to avoid at all costs information overload. You may confirm the result of a poll or survey, or you give a summary of an event that transpired, but try to avoid repeating information that has already been published.
5. Make sure the information is published on an accessible format.
Sending newsletters directing links to servers that are not accessible to employees make the intention futile. Aside from thinking about the content, packaging and distribution, it is also important to determine if the newsletter is in a popular format. In sending newsletters to foreign locations, check if the linked video or website is viewable to the country the user resides in.
6. Deviate from the formal corporate tone and content.
There are so many ways to encourage readership and among the techniques is to include a touch of humor and personal interest to your content. You can include a short cartoon on an employee’s daily life, or you can feature an employee and provide a short inspiring narration on his/her family, hobbies and activities outside the company. You can also include an invitation to join organization clubs like sports, arts and dance. Feature their activities, training, milestones and you may even add some pictures to complement the description.
7. Include content that boosts professional and personal growth.
The dilemma of newsletter writers is which topic or subject to discuss. Sometimes, it doesn’t need to be always centered on company developments, industry updates or company policies. Make newsletters something that employees look forward to by including topics that range from finance, stress management, time management to health and wellness, sports, food and travel. Just as long as the topics are still in line with the corporate values, these topics will add spice to your publications and engage the employees. It will also look like the company is concerned not only with bombarding information about the organization, but also with the personal growth and interests of the employees.
