About The Newsletter Company

This is the part where we tell you how great we are — all of our experience (29 years as newsletter publishers), credentials (Degrees of Principals: Advertising), and our dedication to customer satisfaction (outstanding). It's all true, but if you'd like to know who we really are, read on. Because we believe you can't have a great newsletter without a great partnership, and it's hard to form a partnership without really knowing the people and business philosophy behind the company you're working with.

In the beginning...

Believe it or not, nobody who works at The Newsletter Company grew up dreaming of becoming newsletter publishers. I, Sherry McKinley, never knew such an industry existed until I started the business 29 years ago and found there were actually a few competitors scattered around the United States.

Having just graduated from the University of Texas in 1978, I landed a job at an advertising agency in Dallas right out of school. Of course, it was part-time, minimum wage, but at least I was working in my field. (The waitress job at night was just one of those 'make ends meet' deals). My first job at the agency: Take over the client newsletters. WOW — did they ever realize the value of my degree! It wasn't until a few months down the road that I realized the newsletter always got shuffled off to the new hire, even if it was the receptionist. But by then, I had taken the newsletter publishing job quite seriously, and with enthusiasm and dedication, had actually brought the newsletters to a new level. The clients were delighted, and I was hooked on publishing newsletters.

By 1981, I realized there was a real need for my services, and formed the business under the name McKinley Communications. We handled advertising and marketing, but our emphasis was on publishing newsletters. We were one of the first companies to create highly personalized newsletter programs for companies that needed multiple versions of a newsletter for agents, dealers or franchisees. That remains the core of our business today.

I was joined in the early 80's by my sister Sheila, a recent graduate from UT who later left to pursue her passion for social work. A few years later, sister Mary Ann, also a UT advertising graduate, joined and today is VP of The Newsletter Company and in charge of operations.

Our offices are as unique as the newsletters we publish. We've moved four times over the last 29 years, and each office has been a creative haven. We've never officed in a prestigious building because in the early days, I often had an infant in tow, and needed a place that would accommodate a nursery. So we rented (or bought) historic Victorian homes, and filled them with antiques from flea markets and estate sales. Our current office, across from the Farmer's Market in downtown Dallas, is a loft-warehouse building with 14' ceilings, brick walls and timber beams that was built in 1901 as a furniture manufacturing plant. The irony is that we have a fabulous office, yet our clients rarely see it because most are out-of-town. The kitchen is put to good use when we bake chocolate chip cookies for new clients.

We work in a team approach and are set up like many advertising agencies since that is our background. Each Team Leader manages a staff of AEs, artists, and support personnel who are responsible for making sure each newsletter is produced on time, in budget and error free. They are degreed professionals mostly with backgrounds in advertising, marketing, journalism, graphic design and PR. Most of us work 8 a.m. till 6 p.m. (or later). Principals Sherry and Mary Ann McKinley oversee sales and operations, and are involved with every newsletter program during the development and execution of the first issues.

Our culture is relaxed, friendly, and definitely business casual. Most of the staff cooks lunch in the kitchen instead of eating out. We don't have expense reports, and we rarely wine and dine because most of our customers aren't in Dallas. We travel if you tell us to budget for it. And we throw one heck of an annual Christmas party the second Thursday in December!

Quirky? Definitely. We recycle paper clips, manilla envelopes, and hundreds of ink cartridges every year from the printers we use for proofing. We plant roses, gardenias and azaleas in the garden so we have fresh flowers on our desks in the spring and summer. We light candles in the winter, and have a piano in our team area so we can drown out our voices when we sing "happy birthday" or Christmas carols. We ring a bell when we make a sale, and everyone comes out to celebrate.

Tight fisted? Absolutely. We run a lean operation and question every invoice that doesn't match the purchase order. How else can we offer our clients 4-color newsletters at such a low cost? We're very value-conscious as are many of our clients. But our staff is fairly compensated and we're known for our great atmosphere and fun parties. We're very Irish (McKinley) so we're full of libation and usually quite lucky.

Are we perfect? No. Anybody who tells you they are is not telling the truth. The real question is: When a mistake happens, how do we handle it? At The Newsletter Company, we quickly apply all the necessary resources to get any mistake corrected and our client completely satisfied.

Is every client we've worked with still on our roster? No. Any company who has been in business for any length of time will tell you the same thing. But unlike other companies, we'll provide you with the name of our past clients as well as our current clients if you'd like 360° references.

One thing is for certain: we believe we are the absolute best at what we do, and every member of our staff enjoys their job and takes pride in their work.

If you like what you've read, call Sherry to discuss your project. If it sounds a bit dramatic, call Mary Ann. We're almost exactly opposite, but complement each other quite well. Either way, if you're considering outsourcing your newsletter project, give us a call at 800-828-7198.