Employees are one of the most important groups of stakeholders in a business, so it is vital that we engage with them in a meaningful way. Deborah Zanke of Message Communications offers 8 tips for creating an effective internal publication.
1. A combination of fun, morale-boosting features and useful corporate information. Yes, include the births, deaths and marriages but also inform readers about new products, policies and services. But do it in an interesting way through interviews and including employee opinions.
2. Have a consistent look. Your newsletter should have a consistent style, layout, format and publication schedule. This will make it easier to read, more attractive and relied upon as a source of information.
3. Involve employees. When employees are involved by contributing to the newsletter, they are more likely to read it and it will be more relevant to them.
4. Make it interesting. Many newsletters end up being a series of monologues delivered from senior executives. Writing style should follow the same principles as for a newspaper or magazine article. Include lots of quotes from those involved in the story as well as action photos.
5. Provide a digital and hard copy. Given overloaded inboxes and the fact that some employees rarely need to use a computer, providing some hard copies of the newsletter is still necessary. But not everyone needs a hard copy – they just need to have access to one, so experiment with how many you need.
6. Distribution. Don’t forget to send copies of the newsletter to employees on medical or other leave. This will help them to remain connected and informed. Also look beyond employees. Is there a group of company stakeholders (e.g. volunteers of a charity) that would benefit from the information?
7. Link to other media. Integrate your newsletter with other internal communication tools. You can have longer features or videos on your company’s intranet, for example, or a series of photographs related to the story that you didn’t have room to publish. This can also be useful for driving traffic to your website.
8. Get feedback. Survey employees from time to time to find out what features they regularly read and what kind of information they tend to retain from a newsletter format. This will help you plan future issues.
If you are thinking about starting an internal publication, give us a call and we can show you what’s possible!
Zahra Media Group:
Tel: +353 (01) 255 7566 Email: hello@zahramediagroup.com
Website: www.acornmediatestserver.com
