Newsletter Design Elements 101

By Tracey Batacan

Some organizations use newsletters as a communications tool to inform and engage target audiences, promote the organizational brand, and highlight success stories. The newsletter has evolved from an analog, paper-driven document to an e-publication that often includes video clips, images, graphics and more. So how does one create an engaging organizational newsletter? Check out the top 7 Newsletter Design Tips below to start your journey.

1. Newsletter Branding

Creating the look and feel of a newsletter is the first step in developing your organization’s newsletter brand design. Start by partnering with diverse, creative minds to generate ideas on how to use and place the organization’s logo and develop the publication masthead. The goal is to create a simple yet powerful design that will promote the brand while providing timely news and information. Contact your internal branding team to obtain insights into the current organizational style guide requirements as part of your planning and development.

2. Selecting Newsletter Topics

Leverage resources such as historical data, mini focus groups or short surveys to obtain insight into the content that interests your readers. For example, review past publications to identify article trends such as what works and what did not work. Create your newsletter strategy around this data which will help you avoid a myopic view of news story submissions.

3. Draw the Reader’s Eye In

Think about ways to visually engage the reader by using more impactful images and new page layouts instead of just lines and rows of unending text.  One way to get started includes conducting online research to view other organizations’ magazines, newsletters or e-publications and develop ways to duplicate their designs.

4. Generate Fresh Content

Creating and sustaining a newsletter/e-publication requires some strategic planning on the editor’s part to avoid the potential gaps in the production cycle. Some newsletter editors design and implement an editorial calendar that creates a 30/60/90 supply of news stories. Using this process will require collaborating with people in different organizations, teams, and locations regularly to create content. Also, create a tangible news story guideline document to share with your contributors so you can set them up for success. Take the time to review and revise your story guidelines at least twice a year as a way of keeping being open to new topics.

5. Approval Process

Work with your communications leadership team to make the news article approval process streamlined and simple. Review your approval process and make sure there are only 2 to 3 levels of approval to make it easy to get content published promptly. Also, you can reduce your newsletter production cycle time by a few days by ensuring articles approved in advance.

6. News Story Submission Feedback Loop

Have you ever submitted a news story or Op-Ed to a publication only to never hear from the organization about your submission? It is frustrating for contributors to send stories in regularly and they never obtain information about the approval status. Newsletter editors need to develop and adhere to a feedback loop that provides writers with concrete details about their work. Editors can enhance this process by creating “boilerplate” language regarding the approval status of content submissions. Editors can tactfully share the feedback and tangible examples with the writers, so they can learn how to develop content and revise and resubmit their stories.

7. Design a Publication Production Wall

Ok, a show of hands…how many of you think of yourself as designers or the “creative type”? Everyone should have their hand in the air. For those looking for an opportunity to channel their inner newsletter editor, remind yourself that creativity often starts with inspiration. Encourage your team to share their ideas and inspiration regarding the look and feel of the new publication. And don’t shy away from using different color palettes and page layouts. Once the editorial team finalizes the content, create a Newsletter/E-publication Production Wall to view the hard copy layouts. The Newsletter/E-publication Production Wall creates a visual review of all content and fosters an open forum for sharing ideas. Then encourage your editorial team to add suggestions or comments by placing sticky notes on the stories posted to the production wall.

Designing an innovative newsletter is hard work, but it can also be fun. It simply requires taking a risk and changing your approach to the process.

View the original on the Federal Communicators Network. 

7 Things I Learned from My First Promotion

     A few years ago I was fortunate enough to identify the organization's needs and develop a tactical approach to implementing change. My reward was a promotion that allowed me to strategic and creative in different ways that help to support the mission. Some people approach promotions differently. They are either highly engaged in their next adventure, so caught up in the hype they forget to share with others, skeptical of leaving what they've already known or have issues adjusting to a new role that leverages their abilities. A promotion is a great journey when you are willing to see the big picture. What are you looking to get out of your next promotion? Check out the tips below. 

7 Things I Learned from My First Promotion 

1. Be fearless and creative: Take time to check your organization's strategic plan to generate new ideas. Then be like Nike and just do it. 

2. Leverage good project management: Be willing to work with others to create a realistic project timeline that everyone on the team can support and takes into account that the team may have other work priorities. 

3. Do not use an "auto pilot" approach to your work: Sometimes we just do the work to "get it done" and miss an opportunity to check for quality and conciseness. Take the time to use a fresh perspective and approach your work by leveraging clarity. You may learn something new along the way. 

4. Meet new people inside and outside of the organization: Redefine your definition of the word team by getting away from your desk and introduce yourself to people outside of your immediate team structure.  

5. Learn new skills: The goal is to try new skills that will force you to exercise your brain and creativity more often.

6. Do not listen to what others say about your peers. Avoid getting caught up in the "gossip-loop."

7. Take your leadership role seriously: Be a strategic, task-oriented leader who appreciates the hard work and dedication of the staff. 

Career Singular Sensation written by Tracey Batacan

Once upon a time, employees received encouragement to become the singular best at their craft by focusing their energies on becoming experts in their fields. This was part of a business culture that celebrated subject matter experts who maintained the status quo by enrolling in annual training that reinforces the they very skills they’ve known all of their professional lives. Consequently, some employees received recognition for being solely dedicated to one’s industry and business acumen.

During my parents’ generation, people often stayed within the same career field with a singular focus on their craft. As a result a lot of people retired from work after 20 or 30 years in the same field with a great sense of accomplishment. Now, there is nothing wrong with this type of career focus. However, a “career singular sensation paradox” can occur when an employee becomes complacent and no longer focuses on learning new things at work. Which begs the question: what happens when you reach the pinnacle of your career field?

Overtime, the emergence of the global market place sparked a newer, nimble type of employee who continues to evolve as the marketplace continues to change. According to a Harvard Business Review article titled It’s the Company’s Job to Help Employees Learn, “people’s employability is not based on what they already know, it’s their ability to learn.”  It helps to know that there are more opportunities for continuous learning through one’s career. The goal is for employees to explore a variety of educational opportunities outside of their current level of ability. In addition, access to learning opportunities at work may generate a feeling of empowerment among employees because they can see that their work efforts are not running on “auto-pilot”.

Moreover, according to an Entrepreuner.com article, when employees feel empowered at work they focus on becoming “organizational innovators.” These innovators will generate new ideas, share knowledge and bring others along for the journey. Part of the process includes encouraging employees to take on new roles in the organization where they enhance their problem-solving skills, applying newly learned skill sets and network with others outside of their usual work groups.

Every Day Heroes

According to a 2016 Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM.org) article, people seek jobs they are passionate about doing and organizations that recognize its staff. Employee recognition programs are a great way to incentivize creative staff and encourage friendly competition among peers as a way to invest in the organization’s future. While there are some great opportunities with various recognition programs, sometimes some of our greatest assets- everyday heroes may never get a proverbial “shout out” about their contributions because their efforts often go unnoticed. Or, all too often the same people get recognized year in and year out which may generate a “in group/out group” type of culture.

What is an “Every Day Hero?”  Every Day Heroes are employees or other staff who go to great lengths to innovate programs, reduce financial challenges in their organizations’ budgets, serve as office admin and support staff, manage contracts with exemplary fiscal responsibility in mind, make sure you have the technology and tools to get the job done or simply step up to the plate to volunteer to take on a new project at work despite having a full load of priorities.

These people are also known as “individual contributors” who rally the team to exceed expectations and may never ask for a thank you in return because of an altruistic approach to their work.  Moreover, they never brag about their contributions because that is not their style. Every Day Heroes often jump into the fray, give it their all to support the team and move on. And yes, they sometimes fall under the radar when it comes to awards programs because they are selfless and fearless.

How do you make the effort to acknowledge the majority of every day heroes? The book “First, Break All of the Rules” by Markus Buckingham and Curt Coffman suggests that good leaders create an environment that recognizes and rewards them. Consider using the tips below to get started.

5 tips to Recognize Everyday Heroes:

1. Create a work culture that takes the time to say thank you to Every Day Heroes in creative, social and public ways.
2. Encourage leaders to walk and talk with staff across the agency to learn more about individuals’ contributions to the organization’s success.
3. Recognize every day heroes in public forums such as town hall meetings, on social networks and in executive messages.
4. Remember to say thank you to staff that do extraordinary work daily.
5. Personalize the recognition. One of my favorite bosses in the federal sphere held staff meetings once a quarter and gave his team “everyday hero” awards based on their interests. He gave things like gift cards based on staff's specific interests, movie tickets and wrote personal letters of commendation.

Who are the Every Day Heroes in your organization? Give them a GovLoop "Shout Out" for their accomplishments.

Changing Our Perception of the word Strategy

Changing Our Perception of the word Strategy

Winston Churchill once said “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” Once upon a time, employees implemented strategies that were supposedly focused on the organizations overarching goals. Some of these divine plans may have been made in a vacuum with little or no input from team players. Others were probably the results of creativity and innovation on the part of aspiring staff attempting to effect positive change.

When some mentions the word strategy it creates one of two types of responses: dread or excitement for a new opportunity. Either way, the way we approach strategies today continues to evolve over time. For example, some may approach the development of a strategy by looking a lessons learned and then building upon an antiquated foundation. In this tech focused age, it is imperative that unique as well as new approaches to solving organizational challenges be made. This may require a new vision that acknowledges best practices, but does not solely rely on them to move the organization’s mission forward.

Some people dread the need to create strategies because it is perceived as a mountain of work that may not provide the highly valued metrics we all crave, especially during employee evaluation time. This is an opportunity to “right-size” your perception regarding the development of a strategy. This includes leveraging the S.M.A.R.T. goals principle to enhance your project approach. SMART stands for:

•   Specific: target a specific area for improvement.

•   Measurable: quantify, or at least suggest, an indicator of progress.

•   Achievable: ensure you have the team, time and tools to get the work done

•   Realistic: state what results can realistically be achieved given available

resources.

•   Time-bound: identify when the result can be achieved.

Also, don’t forget the creative aspect of strategies. When presented with a work challenge, take time out to consider all of the possibilities, not just the ones management asked you to consider. It may be a struggle at first to consider the possibilities outside the original goal. However, once you try this approach, you can envision the bigger picture when it comes to creating and implementing a plan focused on measurable results. There are creative tools such as unstructured brainstorming sessions, mind maps and more than can help generate innovative approaches to strategic planning endeavors.

Take time to identify ways to measure your results. For example, will you use an online tool, manual assessment or simply rely on a third party to generate the data for you? Either way, you need to assess your progress as well as determine how to overcome barriers to the plan’s success. Moreover, be willing to take a necessary step back to determine if the process is stagnating efforts or moving the organization forward.

Lastly, there are other benefits to learning how to evolve the approach to developing strategies. Once you learn how to make an effective plan, you can then mirror that effort to design strategies for your professional goals. I had a former director who once told me that if I have plans, I should write them down in order to achieve them. She said is it the start of creating a career oriented strategy that will set the foundation for my career. And she was right.