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Unlocking the real value of words
Marketing
departments are right to protect their budgets jealously.
It’s
one of the hard truths about the business world: when
it comes to reducing corporate overheads, you can rest
assured
marketing
will be one of the first casualties.
That’s why it’s
critical – both at board level
and within a marketing department – that a company
can ensure it gets the most out of every single penny spent
on
producing its corporate magazine or newsletter.
It’s
simple business sense to account for each and every investment:
how much was spent, why was it spent, and how did
the company benefit?
However, it’s notoriously difficult
to measure the value of an investment in marketing collateral.
As a result, many companies
end up deciding to produce an internal or external publication ‘just
because they should’.
Many of these companies adopt
the simple assumption that because it’s so hard
to quantify the value of an investment in corporate
newsletters or corporate magazines, they shouldn’t
bother trying. They simply spend their money anyway – again,
because ‘that’s what companies do’.
The
result, in the worst cases, is a wide array of external
and internal publications that can cost an organisation
hundreds of thousands a year to produce and manage.
And
yet nobody is quite sure what they’re all
for.
It could be that just one of those publications
has real business value to the company. But the
overall
cost combines
with a perceived
lack of value to mean that when an organisation
looks to reduce overheads, it tends to axe its
publications
budget.
A single gem can be lost, simply because
there is no overall publications strategy.
The
business of creating diamonds
It’s a real pity when
a good corporate publication goes to the wall, and great
opportunities are often missed through traditional approaches
to corporate newsletters and corporate magazines.
But it doesn’t have to be like that.
Electronic newsletters,
online magazines and printed trade publications can
all play a vital
role in
the marketing mix. What’s
essential is that a company knows,
from the very outset, exactly what
its strategy
is.
It’s not
enough, for instance, to decide to produce ‘a newsletter
or a magazine’. They’re different types of publication
and there are specific reasons why one medium might suit
your company’s purpose better than the other.
A newsletter,
for instance, is the ideal platform
for communicating
new product
release information
to existing
clients. If
your organisation has a lot of
new messages to share on a regular
basis, or if your client base responds
well to regular updates, then a
newsletter is
probably for you.
If, on the other
hand, it’s important that your company
needs to present itself as a ‘thought
leader’, and
seeks to initiate debate, while
at the same time wanting to add
value to readers by providing
content with a less overtly ‘marketing’ feel,
then a corporate magazine with
regular opinion articles would
fit the bill.
Honed and polished
The
next question is whether your publication should be
electronic or printed. Again,
the answer is
determined by what you’re
trying to achieve and who
your audience is. If your
company
provides an online service
and has an extensive list
of email customers,
then an electronic newsletter
could be the perfect way
to drive people directly
to your
website.
However, it could
be that you’re offering
a brand new service online.
If that’s the case,
then you might first need
to increase the profile
of your website. In this
instance,
you might
want to start off with
a printed newsletter, combined
perhaps with a direct mail
campaign.
Your communications
strategy
could evolve over time – gradually
moving from printed to
electronic format, as
your readership becomes
more
aware of what you do.
Developing
an effective marketing
communications
strategy involves
investigating all
these issues. Proper
forward planning of
this kind can literally save
your company thousands.
There’s
no such thing as
the perfect ‘newsletter
template’ or ‘magazine
template’.
These issues are
determined
by the way your company
does business, and
the
most successful marketing
publications will
always be unique,
communicating
in the best way for
an identified audience.
Flawless – from
the start
Writing Machine has nearly fifteen
years’ experience helping some of the world’s
largest companies to develop coherent, cost efficient and,
above all, highly effective strategies for corporate communications.
Our
writing department
has the expertise
to assist your
organisation
in answering
some
of the key
questions when
it comes to
publishing internal or external
magazines or
newsletters – both
online and
in print.
Writing
Machine
offers a
comprehensive consultancy
service that
enables your
company to
ensure it
spends its marketing
budget
in the most
effective
way possible.
- Who do you
want to communicate with?
- What do
you want them to hear?
- How do you know they’re interested?
- What’s the best medium for your audience and your
message?
- How will
you measure the success of your publication?
There’s just no point spending
thousands on a printed magazine if your audience will respond
just as well – or even more
positively – to a monthly electronic newsletter,
at a fraction of the cost.
All
of our
consultants are
professional marketing
writers. Through
their detailed
knowledge of
how corporate
communications work
in the
real world,
they can
help you
answer all
the relevant
questions.
Perfect
delivery
At the end of the consultancy
process, we will provide you with a unique, detailed flatplan
for your magazine or newsletter. The flatplan details the
content required for your publication and the kinds of messages
you need to be communicating, as well as the recommended
style, tone and length of each article. We can even help
you set deadlines for content, and give you tips for writing
newsletters or magazines.
Creating
a publication
is a
big investment.
Through our
editorial consultancy
service, Writing
Machine can
help your
company target
its investment
in the
written word – so you can
rest assured your publications are worth every
penny you spend.
It’s simple business sense to account for
each and every investment: how much was spent, why was it
spent, and how did
the company benefit?
To find out more about our newsletter and magazine editorial
consultancy service, please contact Claire Fuller on +44
(0) 1962 841250. Or email clairef@writingmachine.com
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