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Developing Newsletters & Flyers For Your Neighborhood Organization • • • • • An effective neighborhood newsletter can be one of the best marketing tools for your organization. A monthly or quarterly newsletter can keep your neighbors updated on changes in: Organizational structure (officers, etc.) Bylaws Ordinances New businesses New neighbors Neighborhood newsletters: • Help neighbors get to know each other better • Entertain • Spread general information How Long Will It Take? If one person is creating the publication, it could take several days or weeks to fully complete and deliver the newsletter. But if you have an adequate number of people helping out—you can shorten the amount of time it takes to get newsletters to the residents in your neighborhood. How Difficult is it to Create a Newsletter? Almost anyone with any kind of computer savvy-ness can create a simple neighborhood newsletter. Things You’ll Need • Computer • Publishing or word processing computer software (i.e. MS Publisher, Adobe Pagemaker, Printshop, etc.) • Paper/printer/ink or access to copy store • Scanner (optional) • Photo software (optional) Planning the Newsletter STEP 1 Plan the basics. You’ll want to give the newsletter a name, decide how often it will be disseminated and how it will be delivered (e-mailed or printed and delivered to mailboxes), how many newsletters will be sent out to neighbors, what program or programs you will use to create the newsletter and determine who will be in charge of writing or compiling the information in the newsletter, designing the newsletter, printing the newsletter and delivering the newsletter. Create an email address and determine a phone number and/or physical address neighbors can contact in regards to the newsletter. Planning the Newsletter STEP 2 Decide what will go in the newsletter. Make a list of what the newsletter needs to have in it and some other features you want to include; discuss possible topics at a neighborhood association meeting with other individuals or simply ask your neighbors. Items to be included in the newsletter can include city/county law changes, neighborhood bylaw/covenants changes, a calendar for neighborhood events, contact information for residents to submit information for future newsletters, neighborhood news like births and new neighbors and other features like recipes places of interest, contests (i.e. yard of the month, best holiday decorations) and pictures. Planning the Newsletter STEP 3 Determine the format. You and the other decision makers need to determine the paper size, number of pages you want the newsletter to be, if it will be color or black and white, if it will have pictures or simply words and what timeline it will cover. Planning the Newsletter STEP 4 Gather information. The first neighborhood newsletter might simply be filled with mostly general information about where future items might go and how residents can submit informational items. You can gather information for the first and future issues by talking to your neighbors or local officials, reading information online or in official documents or having neighbors submit information via email, phone, mail or in person. Planning the Newsletter STEP 5 Establish the layout. If you have only one page or multiple pages, you’ll want to determine where the information you gather will be placed on the page(s). Place more important news items at the top of the paper or on the front page of the newsletter, while less important information will be placed at the bottom of the page or near the back of the newsletter, as many individuals might not read the entire newsletter or might want to determine what they need to read first if they only have a certain amount of time to read it. Creating the Newsletter STEP 1 Create a template. Using whatever publishing or word processing computer software you decide to use to create the newsletter, use a default newsletter template or create your own. Place the newsletter name, contact information and any other data or graphics you plan to have in each newsletter; also create placeholders for sections you plan to have in every issue. Create a color and design scheme and uniform letter sizes and fonts too. Change the template in the future if you need to, as long as you resave it as your template. Every time you have a new issue, having a template ready to go will save you a lot of time. Creating the Newsletter STEP 2 Start filling up the newsletter. After you’ve opened or created your template, start typing or pasting the information you gathered earlier in the file; add headlines, graphics, pictures, information boxes and other data as needed. You also might find it easier after the first issue to simply place information in the newsletter file as you receive it, instead of filling up the newsletter space all at once. You might have to change the font or letter size or create jumps to other pages to get all of the information to fit. Creating the Newsletter STEP 3 Review the newsletter. Once you think you’ve finished the newsletter, leave it alone for a few hours or a day, if you have the time, and come back to it to read over it in case you have any mistakes or left anything out. Have a neighbor or other stakeholder read over it before you distribute it. Getting the Newsletter Out STEP 1 Prepare the document to be delivered. If you are handing out hard copies to the neighborhood residents, print out the copies on your computer or have a local copy shop make the copies, depending on how large and complicated your newsletter is and how many copies you need. If you are e-mailing it out, make sure the document is a PDF, .rtf file or in another format, which most readers will be able to read. Getting the Newsletter Out STEP 2 Deliver the newsletters to neighbors. E-mail, hand deliver or mail out the newsletters to your neighbors. If you are hand delivering the newsletters, you might want to drive or bike around the neighborhood to deliver the them or have several residents take a few copies by walking house-to-house to deliver, depending on how large your neighborhood is. Getting the Newsletter Out STEP 3 Talk to neighbors as you deliver the newsletters to get their opinions of the newsletter and gather information and ideas for future issues; they also might offer their help. Parts of a Newsletter • Nameplate/Banner The banner on the front of a newsletter that identifies the publication is its nameplate. The nameplate usually contains the name of the newsletter, possibly graphics or a logo, and perhaps a subtitle, motto, and publication information including volume, issue and date. • Table of Contents Usually appearing on the front page, the table of contents briefly lists articles and special sections of the newsletter and the page number for those items. • Body The body of the newsletter is the bulk of the text excluding the headlines and decorative text elements. It's the articles that make up the newsletter content. Parts of a Newsletter • Photos / Illustrations A newsletter design layout may contain photographs, drawings, charts, graphs, or clip art. • Caption The caption is a phrase, sentence, or paragraph describing the contents of an illustration such as a photograph or chart. The caption is usually placed directly above, below, or to the side of the picture it describes. Parts of a Newsletter • Page Numbers Page numbers can appear at the top, bottom, or sides of pages. Usually page one is not numbered in a newsletter. • Head(line)/Title After the nameplate, the headline identifying each article in a newsletter is the most prominent text element. Parts of a Newsletter • Kicker Often seen in newsletter design, the kicker is a short phrase set above the headline. The kicker can serve as an introduction or section heading to identify a regular column. • Deck The newsletter deck is one or more lines of text found between the headline and the body of the article. The deck elaborates or expands on the headline and topic of the accompanying text. Parts of a Newsletter • Byline The byline is a short phrase or paragraph that indicates the name of the author of an article in a newsletter. The byline commonly appears between the headline and start of the article, prefaced by the word "By" although it could also appear at the end of the article. • Jumpline Jumplines, also called continuation lines, typically appear at the end of a column, as in continued on page 45. Jumplines at the top of a column indicate where the article is continued from, as in continued from page 16. Parts of a Newsletter • Masthead The masthead is that section of a newsletter design, typically found on the second page (but could be on any page) that lists the name of the publisher and other pertinent data. May include staff names, contributors, subscription information, addresses, logo, etc. • Continuation Head/Line When articles jump from one page to another, continuation heads identify the continued portion of the articles. The continuation headlines, along with jumplines, provide continuity and cue the reader as to where to pick up reading. Parts of a Newsletter • Pull Out Quote Used to attract attention, especially in long articles, a pullquote is a small selection of text "pulled out and quoted" in a larger typeface. • Mailing Panel Newsletters created as self-mailers (no envelope) need a mailing panel. This is the portion of the newsletter design that contains the return address, mailing address of the recipient, and postage. The mailing panel typically appears on one-half or one-third of the back page so that it faces out when folded. CNLTP Creating Flyers To Communicate With And For Your Neighbors! Creating Flyers A flyer is one of the cheapest but highly effective ways to attract attention for your neighborhood organization. Creating Flyers • • Just keep in mind how many flyers you want to print and make sure your budget allows for 5,000 canary yellow printed sheets. Come up with a snappy headline. This is your first and only shot at capturing the reader's attention. Sum up your event in a few, but powerful, words. Add graphics, if necessary. If your organization is hosting a block party you can add a graphic of a people dancing, or you can simply keep the printing costs down and strictly use text. Copy should be straight to the point. You don't have a lot of space to waste here on rambling words. Give readers enough information to get them in the door. Head to the printer. You're done. • • • Resources Kids N Technology 314 Auction Street • Memphis, TN 38103 901-576-6984 • http://www.kidsntechnology.net/index-2.html Women of Style Spirit & Success Technology Program 901-452-8882 • www.womenofsss.org University of Memphis Continuing Education 101 Brister Hall • Memphis, TN 38152-3440 901-6786000 • Fax: 901-678-2430 http://umce.memphis.edu Southwest Tennessee Community College Continuing education 901333-4208 • Fax: 901-333-4519 http://www.southwest.tn.edu/ceed/