Building an e-mail newsletter for fun and non-profit
NetworkNEWs offers association members the facts -- and much more

By Robert Wray

When the Network of Executive Women approached Rob Wray Marketing of Los Angeles to create its IAC-award winning newsletter two years ago, we began work by asking a few basic but essential questions:

 

·         What were the goals of the organization?

·         What was the group's brand identity?

·         What were the goals of the newsletter?

·         Who was the target audience?

·         How would the newsletter fit into existing communications?

 

We quickly saw that the newsletter could be, should be, much more than the suggested one- or two-page PDF recapping association news and events. By adding service journalism and networking tools, we could increase the newsletter's impact and advance the group's larger goals of  building association membership and sponsorship, increasing member involvement and promoting management diversity in the consumer products and retail industries.

 

We scrapped the PDF idea and proposed a robust HTML e-mail newsletter integrated into the association's website. These two-way links would push e-mail readers to the website and pull existing viewers to the newsletter's online content. The result was an improved website with fresh content and increased traffic, and a newsletter that put the association's entire interactive features a click away [Figure 1].

FIGURE 1 - NETWORK NEWS

The newsletter consists of a magazine-style table of contents

linked to supporting web pages

 

 

The design process

 

We started with the newsletter's name -- NetworkNEWs was chosen from a list of names we provided to the client -- and moved quickly to design studies. My design partner and I -- Bill Reuter of Reuter & Associates, Baltimore -- knew that projects of this kind often got delayed by debate over color and style, so we offered a variety of color palettes [Figure 2] and font combinations for committee members to choose from. The result was a "contemporary traditional" design that was both businesslike and friendly.

 

FIGURE 2 - COLOR STUDIES

Color scheme 'A' was chosen

Next stop: content

 

Having a name and agreed-upon design direction, we proceeded with content. Association news was a priority, so we put this at the center of the newsletter we were creating. But how about putting the spotlight on ordinary members with every issue? Sounded good, so we created Who's NEW, a page of profiles and pictures that introduced association members to their colleagues.

 

To address the organization's larger goal of promoting gender diversity in management, we included service features that would attract readership and reinforce NEW's branding. These added features included an in-depth NEW Interview with a top industry figure (and NEW member), a NEW Book Club reviewing important books for executive women, and Tools of the Trade, monthly features on key topics like hiring and firing, flex time, mentoring, employment negotiation, globalization and diverse work teams. NEW members wanted a Photo Gallery spotlighting their numerous events, so this was quickly added. An Archives page and search function were created to access past issues.

 

The final issue to be addressed was navigation. This went to the heart of how the newsletter worked and how it integrated into the existing website. This key element underwent substantial modifications with the client before a scheme was established and a final prototype approved.

 

NetworkNEWs was launched in April 2004 and was an instant hit with association members, growing to more than three thousand opt-in subscribers (members, prospects and media)  in less than a year. But instead of resting on our laurels, we redesigned the newsletter in September 2005 to make it still easier to read and navigate. We added a scrolling banner acknowledging the association's sponsors, a Press Center page, and non-association news under the heading Diversity Matters. And, most significantly, we redesigned NEW's main website to match the newsletter's look and feel and make the transition between the two sites a seamless experience for users.

 

The back-end

 

As NetworkNEWs grew in scope (some issues top 7,000 words), we needed a online editor to facilitate faster posting and publication. Adapting software from Dreamweaver extension KTML 3, Reuter & Associates created a browser-based online posting and editing system [Figure 3] supporting the newsletter's PHP-based platform. The NetworkNEWs online editor/publisher has an easy-to-use interface similar to desktop editors and offers near total compatibility with Microsoft Word. The system also allows easy uploads of images, editing on the fly, and supports both PC- and Macintosh-based browsers. The introduction of the Reuter-designed editor has cut posting time from four hours to less than one.

 

FIGURE 3 - KTML-BASED EDITOR

Content can be pasted from Word or edited on the fly

 

 

We never e-mail NetworkNEWs on a Monday or Friday, for obvious reasons, and e-mail at 2 pm ET to avoid the early morning and end-of-day e-mail rush in all time zones. We are in full CAN-SPAM compliance, and because we mail monthly to a small list of association members and supporters, we receive virtually no unsubscribes.

 

Final lessons

 

The linchpin of NetworkNEWs' success is close coordination with the Network's staff, officers and members. Several weeks before each issue I compile a list of editorial ideas from members and staff. After these ideas are approved, I start work researching news, conducting interviews, gathering photos and writing copy. The newsletter goes through several drafts in Microsoft Word with the client before final proofread copy is posted and published at the end of each month.

 

We have learned from experience that short subject lines focused on a single topic make the best "envelope" copy [Figures 4 and 5].

 

FIGURE 4 - GOOD ENVELOPE COPY

Long headers from an e-mail address are opened less

 

TO                   recipient@domain.com

FROM             editor@newnewsletter.org

SUBJECT       Diversity Litigation; Megatrends: Power to the Purse; More

 

FIGURE 5 - BETTER ENVELOPE COPY

Short, single-subject headers from a named sender are best

 

TO                   Recipient Name

FROM             Sender Name

SUBJECT       Diversity: Danger of Doing Nothing

  

One last word: Important issues and  big names are important in an association newsletter like NetworkNEWs, but nothing pulls readers in like news about themselves and the people they know. My first journalism teacher, Esther McGuire, had a mantra that I have never forgotten: "Names make the news." Personal coverage and close interaction with the women and men who comprise the Network of Executive Women is the most important part of every edition of NetworkNEWs. As the newsletter's editor and producer, I find it the most gratifying, too. 

 

Rob Wray is president and chief creative officer of Rob Wray Marketing, Los Angeles. A former director of marketing and new media for Crain Communications, he was won Web Awards for Electronic Media Online (media) and AnnieLever.com (small business). He is editor and producer of NetworkNEWs, which was named Best Online Association Newsletter in the WMA's 2006 Internet Advertising Competition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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