July, 1 | 1:40 pm | Posted by admin

Marcomms with meaning

Some tips for writing and designing effective newsletters and e-shots

We’re not trying to teach anyone to suck eggs, but we live and breathe this stuff, so here are some of the marcomms issues that we come across all the time. And how to deal with them.

Before you get started

First and foremost, always think about things from the reader’s point of view, not yours. As a quick mental checklist, think about who, what, why, how, when and where the reader is affected. Do your articles give readers all the relevant answers? This is where you can show empathy, add to the reader’s understanding and provide some context.

There’s a hierarchy to good comms. Your stories usually don’t have equal weight. Make it obvious what’s most important. Some readers may not get past the lead story, so make sure it’s your best.

People like reading about other people, so it’s worth thinking about a bit of human interest. So consider case studies, examples and personal profiles to demonstrate “how does this affect me?”.

And remember, it’s not “thought leadership” if everyone else is doing it. Read your competitors’ output and do better – or at least put a new spin on it. Don’t forget there are things out there called newspapers that are apparently quite popular! You can’t compete with these guys on news, but your newsletter is your big chance to show off in your specialist subject, so go deeper and do some analysis.

Finding the right words

Headlines are the heroes of your comms. What, in a nutshell, is the story about? Let your reader grasp the crux of your story from the headline and stand-first. Get them interested, but don’t be too clever or oblique as to annoy the reader – make clear what the story is about so the reader can quickly decide whether it’s relevant to them or not.

It might sound obvious, but don’t bury the most interesting stuff at the bottom of your articles or e-shots – put it right at the top. Make your ‘conclusion’ work as a ‘summary’ at the start of your articles and you’re usually halfway there.

Remember to divide up dense copy and mix up long and short sentences. Like this. Junk the jargon and axe the acronyms; instead, use everyday words that you would feel comfortable saying out loud.

And always get someone else to cast a third eye over your work before you go to press or hit the send button.

Design and imagery

Make sure you have access to someone with the design skills to create an engaging layout, with a consistent grid, style sheet and colour palette, but with enough flexibility to allow for creative thinking and layout options to give the reader some visual variety and a satisfying reading experience.

Less is often more: give your copy a breather every now and again in your page layout – you don’t have to fill up every inch of space on the page. Spice things up a bit with appropriate signposting and lay-out techniques to break up your articles into bite-sized chunks to help the skim reader – try stand-firsts, back-story side panels, key facts and figures, pull-out quotes, etc.

Take a leaf out of the popular press and give your stories a human face with decent photography and imagery – but avoid last minute snaps with your mobile phone! Image selection is a skill, rather than a bit of fun at the end once you’ve done all the difficult stuff. Pictures should enhance and support your copy, not distract the reader. There’s a lot of free or very cheap imagery out there, but watch out for cliché.

I’m interested, what do I do next?

Finally, make sure, if possible, that you identify clear calls to action for the reader – what to do next, who to contact, etc. For example, if you’ve got this far, why not e-mail stevesmith@thirdperson.co.uk and tell us what you think?

How we can help

We have loads of experience of establishing an appropriate visual and written tone of voice for client communication, making complex subjects accessible to a range of business and consumer audiences.

If this strikes a chord, we can help you produce high quality print and online comms that your audience will value, through creative content and delicious design services. Or, talk to us about a complete outsourced marketing communications package.

You’ll get the benefit of our writing and design skills, business knowledge and experience to help ensure that your efforts don’t go straight in the bin. We hope this doesn’t.

For further information, please contact: Steve Smith