Newsletters are not inexpensive to produce or buy. A typical newsletter will cost a firm thousands of dollars per year to produce and mail. Make sure you are getting the most bang out of your newsletter buck!

Why have one?

If you have signed onto the newsletter bandwagon because your competitor had one, step back and analyze whether your newsletter is getting results. Do you hear from your customers more after an issue hits the mail? Do you have a fax-back from that allows your clients to easily reply to an article or other non-urgent subject? Also, is your newsletter the medium needed to convey the messages you are sending in it? Would your message be received better in a personal letter or in person?

Square One

Have you stated the purpose of your newsletter? Do you know what results you want to get from your newsletter? If not, it is time to go back to square one and decide what the purpose of your newsletter is. Each article should have a specific goal linked to it. Do you want to inform? Do you more business from it?

Hire Write

As accountants, you have honed your financial craft. You know the technical aspects better than anyone else does. The key to an effective newsletter writing style is ensuring you can transfer your technical wisdom to “plain ol’ language” that your clients understand. Remember your audience as you are writing articles. If you can’t get past the technospeak, hire a professional as a ghostwriter. Your primary goal is to convey a message. No one has to know you had help on the writing end!

Stay Out of the Vacuum

If you publish your newsletter from a vacuum called your firm, you may be missing the mark. Ask your audience what they want to know and how they want to hear about it. You aren’t the only one on information overload – your newsletter competes with all the other information pouring into your clients’ lives.

Get a Report Card

If you still aren’t sure, ask a colleague to critique your publication. If you can find a colleague that also shares your target market characteristics – do it.

Reality Check

Answer these questions to get a quick newsletter reality check:

If your newsletter disappeared tomorrow, who would miss it, and why?

What corporate goals does the newsletter fulfill, and how?

Do your clients ever complain about the information contained in or not contained in your newsletter?

If you asked a cross sampling of your clients, would they know and recognize your newsletter?