1. Many different types of newsletters exist today. Trade or professional associations publish newsletters
to tell members about happenings in the organization. Large corporations publish newsletters with
employee news, policy changes, and company updates. Other companies use newsletters as a public-
relations tool. Publishing a successful newsletter requires the combined efforts of seven service
providers.
A writer
A design/layout specialist
A photographer
A graphic artist
A pre-press service bureau
A printer
A mailing service
Frequently, the people in charge of publishing a newsletter find themselves providing all seven of these
services. If you don’t fill all these roles yourself, you need to understand the important contribution of
each provider.
Writer
A skilled writer pursues the unique angle of every story. A writer working on a newsletter deadline must
grasp the essence of a story, write succinctly, and hand work in on time. The writer must also be able to
edit a story to suit the limitations of the layout.
Design/Layout Specialist
Once the writing is done, the design of the newsletter must be attractive and easy to read. The best
writing will be wasted with a poor design.
Photographer
A well-written, attractively designed newsletter can be ruined by poor photography. Photos printed
using old techniques often appear washed out.
Graphic Artist
A specially trained graphics person, who understands not only concepts, but also the use of
sophisticated graphic design computer programs, provides special artwork such as a business logo or a
specific image to illustrate a story.
Pre-Press Service Bureau
When you’re finished with the layout, you must decide how to move it from your computer to the
printed page. A pre-press service bureau takes your disk and produces a photographic image of your
newsletter for the printer.

2. Printer
Do you want a quick-printed or fine commercially printed newsletter? How many colors will your
newsletter include? What kind of paper do you want? Your printer will need to do a good job with your
selections, perform the job on time, and stick to the quoted price.
Mailing House
A mailing house nust get your letter out immediately, rather than it sit for several days. A reputable
establishment will provide you with complete services such as affixing labels, sorting, and delivering
your mailing to the post office.
Successful Newsletters
To create a successful newsletter, follow these general rules:
Provide a message that benefits your customers.
Your customers or potential customers are not looking for a description of your services.
They are looking for solutions to their problems. Tell them how your firm can solve their
problems in a cost effective way. Success takes several years to achieve for most
newsletters or magazines. Are you dealing with a subject that you can live with for the
long haul?
Use a readable typestyle.
That fancy typestyle might look stylish on the sample sheet in the print shop, but it can
be so hard to read that your prospective customers could toss your newsletter in the
trash can. Keep your type simple enough and large enough to get your message read.
Pay attention to your design.
Nothing turns off a reader faster than long, dull columns of gray type. Focus your
readers’ attention with creative graphic elements-art, photos, and screen tints. These
visual elements are a tremendous aid in expressing your marketing message. Adopt new
ideas wherever you find them.
Use a stylebook.
The Associated Press Style Book, The Washington Post Desk Book on Style, The Chicago
Manual of Style, and The Elements of Style by Strunk and White are excellent. Have
someone double-check your articles for grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax, and
clarity.
Study other publications
Avoid bad artwork and too much artwork

3. The best layout and writing can be undone by poor artwork; so don’t try to be too clever. In addition,
too many newsletters wander away from their purpose and end up cluttered with too many graphic
elements.
Keep your stories short, simple, and clean.
Good writing will sometimes command attention, even if your design is lacking in
creativity.
Avoid clichés.
Avoid expressions such as “a good time was had by all,” ”it goes without saying,” or
“needless to say.”
Don’t get too fancy with printing.
The main object of your newsletter is that it gets read. Stay away from colored ink for
text. Newsletter articles look best in black or dark blue. Use a second and/or third color
sparingly-for screen tints, large drop caps at the beginning of an article, page numbers,
and any other graphic repeated throughout the newsletter. Print your newsletter on
white, off-white, light gray, beige, or other light-colored paper. Avoid saturated paper
colors, such as red, green, blue, yellow and orange