Corporate newsletters go stale. It seems to happen sooner or later.
Last year I was called upon by a Seattle agency to write an eight-page quarterly newsletter for a large national paper company. This is a good project for me. I like writing long-form copy and am adept at putting together interesting articles even when the input isn’t the best.
The assignment started with a teleconference that included the agency’s account director and the paper company’s director of corporate communications (the client).
I asked about goals. What are you trying to accomplish?
The client shared three:
1. Communicating the company strategy throughout the newsletter articles.
2. Motivating and inspiring people in the company.
3. Bringing their customers’ perspective into the stories.
Then, another question: Was the content right but the presentation wrong?
Yes, the content was OK but the newsletter was flat. She wanted the newsletter to be more engaging and bring a human interest element into the stories. And so, with the agency creating a new design and me writing the articles, that’s what we’ve done.
This is always a fun challenge for me: Write about what can be boring company news and make it come alive, including the people who work there.
Neil Sagebiel 