Affiliate Newsletter Communications

Building for Success

Primary PurposeInform your audience

• Announce offerings (trainings, meetings, courses)• Build community• Call to action (events, legislative alerts,

volunteerism)• Share tools, tips, and insights• Provide or Link to resources• Encourage collaboration• Celebrate or acknowledge accomplishments• Generate attendance• Create appetite for consistent news and updates• Share results, outcomes, member experiences

What is a newsletter?The voice of your organization.

The face of your organization.

The tone of your organization.

The first – and lasting – impression your audience receives about who you are, to whom you offer services, how you communicate, and whether you’re:

• Available• Professional• Informed• Congenial• Versatile• Evolving• Responsive• Responsible

Content that loses readers

• Personal, chatty billboard for individual opinions, personal axes to grind, and listings for non-related events or services.

• Collection of off-topic anecdotes.

• L0osely organized hodgepodge of items without apparent hierarchy of importance.

• Ugly monster of different type styles, grainy photos, missing paragraphs, typos, over-long stories and messages in a hard-to-explore visual presentation.

Communications basicsWriting

• Effective headlines announce the gist and importance of the article.

• First paragraph contains all pertinent info: Who? What? When? and Where?

• Article clearly addresses the target audience.

• Content strictly adheres to third-person view, except for personal stories, blogs, or addresses from officials (President’s message, etc.).

• Language avoids overly technical jargon or abbreviations without first identifying the term or organization.

• Language is straight, friendly (but not chatty or informal), and designed to reach the greatest number of readers. Short pieces are attractive in an era of short attention spans. Link out or continue longer pieces off of the first page.

Graphics, the basics• Masthead or logo should replicate the branding used on all

communications including print, digital, web, or letterhead.

• Multiple columns break up monotony and segment items into user groups.

• Top-left is the key location for most-important content, especially news, followed by lower left and center. Right-side content is ideal for slower-paced personal stories or features.

• Relevant photos, graphs, illustrations or artwork add variety and capture eyeballs. Establish a style guide for graphics (size, location, etc.) and stick to it.

• Regular, recurring features should appear in the same location with each edition.

eNewsletter Essentials• Establish regular features and/or contributors. Create a

reader's appetite for knowledge.

• Identify your target audience and build a permission-based email list with opt-out choices.

• Create a professional communication containing relevant, timely content. Include registration buttons for events, links to key documents, or to collateral on your website.

• Vital: Sender Address and Subject Line. This is the key way people filter out email.

• Create an effective mix of material: Campaigns (donations, NAMI Walks), classes, training, personal profiles, interviews, successes, events, reports, links, local/regional/state legislation.

NAMI Identity Guidehttp://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Identity_Guide/NAMI_Identity_Guide_Overview.htm

Viral Communications ToolsSocial Networking

• A media list is a compilation of all the news organizations and contacts in a community or media market.• Each entry on the list consists of the name of an individual contact, their title, telephone number and email address.

Press Releases

Archiving

Building Your Mailing List

• Sign-up forms/links on your website.

• Email forwarding options on newsletters.

• Links to web-based sign-up forms on emails, publications, brochures, class registration forms, flyers.

• Print versions of current or recent newsletters at booths, talks, NAMI Walks, affiliate meetings, or where appropriate at public meetings. Registration cards to be manually entered after an event.

• Digital copies printed out or available on LCD screens at events.

ExamplesNAMI Contra Costa

Sends out newsletters by hard copy or email depending upon member preference.

500 hard copy newsletters are mailed to members, medical offices and public venues.

eNewsletter goes out to 1,000.

Uses Vertical Response for eNewsletters and maintains mailing list at affiliate office and online at Vertical Response.

NAMI Contra Costa(top center)• Special General Meeting

(left side)• Consumer and Family Picnic• Online Newsletter .pdf• NAMI Connection

(right side)• NAMI Walk Results/donate• Facebook Announcement• In Our Own Voice (schedule

presentations)

NAMI Contra Costa PDF Version

• President’s message

• Local honors• Grant news• Area services

news

• Call for volunteers• General meeting

update• Education schedules• Office contact and info

NAMI SacramentoMembers have the choice of receiving the newsletter by:(1) email(2) postal mail(3) both email and postal mail.

• Newsletter built in Microsoft Publisher. • Converted to a PDF and sent to printers. • PDF posted on website. • Email blast goes to members with a link to the PDF for people who

want an electronic copy.

NAMI Sacramento (.pdf)

• General Meeting announcement

• Contact information• Main story on multi-cultural

brunch

• NAMI support groups/classes• Legislative action• Non-NAMI support groups,

locations and meeting times

NAMI Ventura County

• Dates to remember (events linked to .pdf)

• Lead story: conference• Listings of support groups, dates

& times

• Feature story on training• Local helpline contact details• Electronic “join” and “contribute”

NAMI Shasta County

Comparing eNewsletter CompaniesVertical Response

Prepay for a year $8.50/mo up to 500$23.80/mo up to 2,00015% discount to nonprofitsIf approved, free for any organization that is a 501(c)(3)

iContact$14/mo up to 500 subscribers$29/mo up to 2,500 subscribers20% discount to all non-profit organizations

Constant Contact$15/mo up to 500$29/mo up to 2,500Nonprofit discounts by prepay term: 6 months (save 20%) or 1 year (save 30%)

Benchmark Email$9.95/mo up to 500$19.95/mo up to 2,500Benchmark Email offers a 25% discount to registered non-profit organizations

Get Response$15/mo up to 1,000$25/mo up to 2,50050% discount for nonprofits

Contact

Gabby HymanWeb/Print Consultantghyman@gmail.com