Communication is vital for any group. The best way to communicate regularly is with a newsletter where you can incorporate the group’s colors, logo, motto etc. A well-organized and properly produced newsletter full of meaningful content can enhance membership loyalty and cultivate a sense of belonging.
What’s So Special About Newsletters?
A newsletter is the most efficient way of keeping everyone up-to-date with calendar events like the time and date of meetings, what happens on specified days of the week etc. It can be a great reminder resource as well, where you can outline what is coming up for discussion in meetings, who the committee members are, their special responsibilities and so on. Newsletters have their own inherent power; read about this in Effective Newsletters.
What Should Be In It?
Members often quickly become familiar with the layout of a newsletter and start looking forward to its regular inclusions. Coming Events is the most common example but, with a little imagination, you can think up many more. ‘Serialized’ content is another form of feature that has many advantages including allowing an editor to run articles that otherwise might be considered too long and complex for the newsletter format.
Should It Contain Only ‘Club News’?
Definitely not! A newsletter that only contains news that directly involves the host organization soon becomes boring.
For example, a newsletter for The Dolphins junior league water polo team, might soon lose its power to excite if its coverage is always restricted to committee meetings, reports of wins and losses, upcoming events etc.
Some human interest is always good for variety (like how little Jimmy’s mother always launders the whole team’s gear after every match) but it has its limitations. What is needed is appropriate supporting copy.
What Is Supporting Copy?
Anything that goes beyond material strictly necessary for inclusion qualifies as supporting copy. Continuing the above example, this might include such items as a series on Famous Stars of Water Polo, a crossword with a sports theme, a couple of jokes and maybe a cartoon. Supporting copy used this way adds variety and ensures that the newsletter gets read.
Where Do You Find Supporting Copy?
Specialized copy, such as the hypothetical Famous Stars of Water Polo piece, might be contributed by a club member or researched using an enthusiastic member’s book collection on the sport. Or you could use your local library, an encyclopedia or the Internet, to seek out the fundamental data needed for that article and maybe some of the other things mentioned.