Make an Employee Newsletter Part of Your Internal Marketing

An employee newsletter provides a way to communicate, recognize and even train your staff. When you distribute a newsletter on a regular basis, you condition employees to look to it as a source of information.

Why An Employee Newsletter?

Before starting an employee newsletter, decide what you want to accomplish. Do you want it to communicate company information, such as announcing a new product? Do you want to use it for boosting employee morale? Will you use it for training tips, such as how to handle an irate customer?

If you aren't sure, let me provide a bit of advice. As a business owner, you undoubtedly aren't wanting to produce an employee newsletter simply for entertainment. More than likely, you want to improve employee communication. Do stop and think from your employees' point of view though. Your challenge is to get employees to read all the product, training and industry-related articles you want to include. You must first entice them to even pay attention to the employee newsletter, with more entertaining articles mixed in. I'll give you some ideas in the "Write Your Newsletter" section below.

Design Your Newsletter

To design your newsletter, first decide how you want to distribute it. An employee newsletter can be very basic or more creative, complete with graphics and employee photos. You'll need to decide how you'll send it, because that will affect how elaborate you can be.

• If you want to keep it simple and be able to communicate quickly, opt for a weekly email "newsletter" to employees. In my most recent position, I sent an "e-newsletter" to all employees each Monday morning. It included a message from our President, the dates and times for happenings of the week, marketing promotions and anything else they needed to be aware of. It was simply an all text newsletter, because we didn't want to fill everyone's email inbox with a lot of graphics. I simply used a blue font for the headline and subheads. Other than that, it wasn't anything graphically challenging. Our staff was more inclined to read it, because it was short and arrived right at their desk.
• If you don't have email, follow the same concept with interoffice mail or a fax machine. Print a simple 8 1/2 X 11 paper with highlights for the week or month and distribute it. Also hang copies in any employee areas, like the breakroom. If you're faxing, stick with white paper. If you're using interoffice mail, you might try some colored paper or a few graphics here and there.
• Opt for a more eye-catching employee newsletter by using one of the design templates you'll find online. I've provided links to some below. Because such a newsletter takes a bit more time, you might publish it every other week or once monthly. Instead of just text, include photos, particularly of employees. Trust me, employees like to look at themselves, and they'll read a newsletter that has their pictures in it. With this type of newsletter, the high-graphic content may make the file too large to email to everyone. (I know this, because of the times I inadvertently did it at my previous job. Our IT person was calling me within seconds.)

  An alternative is to make a PDF file and put it on your Intranet if you have one. I use the free CutePDF Writer to make PDF files. The other, logical option is to simply print copies and send them via interoffice mail. When using interoffice mail, allow for travel time, so the news isn't outdated when it arrives. Also post copies in breakrooms or lunch areas.

• The sample employee newsletter I provide a link to below was created using an HP newsletter template. I'm pointing this out, because it was a simple Microsoft Word template. While I typically use desktop publishing programs for newsletters, I used the Word template so you could see what can be done with a program many small businesses already have. When I downloaded the template, it also gave me the option to download the HP Photo Editor, which made it a piece of cake to place photos in the template.

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Write Your Newsletter

Before writing your employee newsletter each month, make an outline of the topics to include. Here are some possible ideas:

• New products or promotions.
• Changes to current products or procedures.
• Current news related to your industry.
• On-the-job tips (i.e. easier ways to use the phone system, email, etc.).
• Customer or client spotlight.
• Employee or department spotlight.
• A regular product focus (to keep existing product knowledge strong).
• Employee events or activities.
• Community involvement.
• New employees.
• Employee birthdays or anniversaries.
• Customer service tips.
• Employee praise and recognition.
• Any communication to help employees serve customers better.

Your employee newsletter should be written in an informal, conversational tone. Whenever possible, use employee names in the newsletter. They like seeing their names.

Refrain from turning your newsletter into a gossip column. While you do want to include information about employee marriages and births (the kind of info you need to include to keep employees reading), don't let your newsletter turn into only this kind of information.

Employees are good sources for newsletter content. They'll typically come up with some good ideas. Just don't set a precedent for using everything they suggest, as some ideas may not be appropriate or fall more into the "gossip" category.

As with all publications, do spell check. Use a standard font, such as Arial or Times New Roman. Don't overdo the underlining, bold text and colors. Let your text breathe with plenty of white space. You want your newsletter to be easy to read for busy employees.

Improve Readership

You can't force employees to read a newsletter, but you can greatly improve the possibility they will. Including employee photos, names and human interest stories are a good start. Another idea is an occasional "scavenger hunt." Send out 10 questions that can only be answered if employees read the newsletter. Employees with correct answers are entered into a drawing for prizes.

If time allows, you might opt for more than one type of employee newsletter. When I did an email employee newsletter, it focused more on weekly, work-related information. We also created a monthly employee newsletter, focusing more on employee recognition and stories. The two newsletters served different purposes, but both contributed to improved employee communication.

Sample Newsletter and Templates

Sample Employee Newsletter
Xerox Newsletter Templates
Microsoft Online Newsletter Templates
HP Newsletter Templates