Newsletters, Their Writing And Usage

There are a number of reasons why someone might choose to write a newsletter. That being said, all newsletters serve the same basic purpose – to educate or inform readers about relevant occurrences that have either already taken place or are about to take place.

One of the most important things to take into account when writing a newsletter of any kind is the audience that the newsletter is being written for. Knowing your audience impacts not only the language and verbiage used, but also the actual content contained inside the letter.

When writing a newsletter, you need to consider:

1. Your audience: It is important to write the newsletter with the audience in mind. This will determine the tone and content that goes into the newsletter itself, it will also help to ensure that you are writing about things that your readers are actually interested in.
2. The length of the newsletter: The information delivered needs to be concise. Anyone reading it should be able to quickly understand the information you are sharing.
3. The content needs to be relevant: You should only deliver reliable information – this is true even if you are writing something personal like a holiday greeting. Any information you share should be backed up by facts.
4. Include meaningful visuals: Your newsletter should include a mix of text blocks and photos or graphics. For example, if you interviewed a person or your speaking about a past potluck, considered including a photograph.
5. Use a templateor an easy to follow format: When you are formatting a newsletter, you might choose to use a pre formatted template, or design your own with multiple columns of text. Single column pages are not effective for newsletters, in fact, they make information difficult to retain and result in crowded pages.
6. Always edit your newsletter: Even if your newsletter isn’t for a professional audience (a family newsletter, for example) you should always take the time to edit and proofread what you’ve written to make sure that everything is grammatically correct and that there are no spelling mistakes. You might even choose to have a colleague or friend lend a second set of eyes.

Newsletters – how to create them?

Whether you are making a school newsletter, one for the local church, or even a holiday newsletter for relatives that you haven’t seen in awhile, the process is the same. You can choose to download a fancy template, or you can design your own in Word. Here is how to create a newsletter in Microsoft Word.

Step 1. Open Microsoft Word.

Step 2. Open a new blank document using keyboard commands

• Windows – Use Ctrl+N (Hold down the Ctrl key and tap the N key one time)
• Mac – Use Command+N (Hold down the Command key and tap the N key one time)

Step 3. Go to View menu and select Header and Footer. Create your title in the header. Center, change font and/or insert an image to your liking. When finished, close the Header and Footer dialog box. Your header will appear light gray.

Step 4. Go to the Format menu and select Columns. Decide how many you wish and select the appropriate number. Most newsletters use two columns. You will see no difference in the set up of the page right away. As you type, the words will fill down in column one first.

Step 5. If you wish for your newsletter to look like an actual newspaper, you should select Justify which aligns the print both on the left and the right.

Step 6. Insert pictures as you go along. Place your cursor where you wish to insert the picture. You will need to resize most pictures to fit into the column.

Click on the picture and a box appears. Go to the Format menu and select Format Picture . There are several things that you can do with a picture.

Resize the image by clicking and dragging. Click once on the image and it will be surrounded by eight boxes; one at each corner, and one in the middle of each line.

If you click on a box in the middle of a line and drag outward from the center of the image you will change only the width or height of the picture, causing distortion.

If you click on a corner box, hold the shift key down, and drag outward from the picture you will change width and height proportionally. If the aspect ratio is locked, Word automatically does this without your having to hold down the shift key.

Move the image by clicking and dragging. Click once on the image and it will be surrounded by eight boxes; one at each corner, and one in the middle of each line.

Move your cursor over the image and it becomes a pointer with a four headed arrow attached to it. Click anywhere in the picture and drag it to the desired location.

Step 7. At the bottom of your newsletter you may wish to add information about the staff in charge of this project. Add a footer to this page (View/Header and Footer) and type in the information just as you did in step 3.

Step 8. Save and print the newsletter.

What is a Newsletter?

Simply put, a newsletter is a printed communication that delivers news or other information pertaining to the activities of a business school, or other organization. Typically, this type of correspondence will be delivered either by mail or electronic communication to members, customers, employees or students of the corresponding organization, who share a mutual interest in or need to know the information being relayed.

Newsletters are written for a variety of reasons, including:

• To deliver holiday messages to relatives or employees
• To communicate to parents of school children
• To deliver information to parishioners of a church
• To communicate with members of a club or community group

To share ideas or fundraising plans

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