by The competition is hot to get eyes on your content. We’re all working harder than ever before, and our time is limited for stopping our workflow to read emails, articles or blogs. So, why would you package it in a “Departmental Update Newsletter”? Oh, because you don’t want anyone to read it, right?
Wrong.
Of course, you want your employees to read your newsletter. Yes, newsletters are old technology, but based on a Ragan seminar I attended recently on “Employee Communication and Culture,” email was revealed by every communications leader who spoke as (still) the number one communications technology used in the enterprise. (That’s a whole other fish to fry!) So, with our work inboxes getting hundreds of emails a day, how do you get your audience to read your newsletter.
Here’s my first tip: Stop doing what you’re currently doing. How do I know what you’re doing? Because everyone is doing it. A formal email with an uninspiring title with a laundry list of corporate-speak-filled articles designed to wring every possible fact out of each topic.
You have only seconds to capture people’s attention and drive engagement in your messaging. So, don’t waste their time with trite says and jargon. Keep these three Word Ninja tenets in mind when you’re building your content:
Get In
Don’t bury the lead. Get to the point of the article from the get-go. Offer a summary right away so people know what they’re reading about–and more importantly–help them understand WHY they should read this article. What’s In It For Me (WIIFM) is king! Relate the topic to the reader and make them care!
Get Out
Keep it brief. In fact, once you’re done writing and think it’s great, do yourself a favor and cut it in half! Challenge yourself or your team to share compelling messages with as few words as possible. I’m not talking caveman speak here, but trimming the fat off your content will keep it short and engaging. Some examples of “fat” are too much background information or names of teams or team members who may have been involved in what you’re writing about. (Of course, a piece devoted to the “human” element can be a compelling angle if done well.)
Leave Some Sparkle
Use a hook: a turn of phrase, humor, onomatopoeia, alliteration–play around and find what works for and your audience–to help people remember the seed of what they just read. Brainstorm a title for your newsletter that generates excitement. And you can keep the excitement going by keeping your content fresh and engaging.
Lastly, I’ll say hyperlinks are our friends. If you have more information to share on a topic that will work in a newsletter, add a “Read more…” link at the end of the article or at the end of the newsletter to give those who want deep-dive access to additional information. But, let’s be real, most people just want a high-level overview of what’s going on in most areas.
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