Evaluate Your Options. Could Your Newsletter Benefit from the Expertise of a Professional Publishing Company?

If you're about to launch or revisit your newsletter project, your first inclination may be to look to your marketing communication team – whether that is someone inhouse, your advertising agency or PR firm. But you have another choice: a professional publishing company. Before you begin your newsletter, consider this: The Newsletter Company will design your newsletter, and we'll do it for free. Let me explain why.

Every newsletter design created by this publishing company begins with the end in mind.

We start with clearly stated goals and objectives, which lead to a clear editorial outline, which lead to the newsletter design. Most designers who lack publication experience begin with the design of the publication, which is actually several steps down the road.

Additionally designers who have never worked in publishing tend to make two mistakes:

First, they create newsletters that are expensive to produce because they lack the publishing experience to know how to design an affordable publication. That may be OK for marketing material produced once such as brochures, invitations, and collateral. But it's downright wasteful to do this for a newsletter printed several times per year.

Second, they create newsletters that simply don't work for the folks who have to produce issue after issue. Oftentimes, their newsletter is not designed using a grid and lacks a format. What you end up with is a newsletter design that has to be redesigned each issue. This is often one of the main reasons newsletters die a slow death. They weren't set up to "win" from the beginning.

Use the chart below to evaluate your newsletter options:

Companies		Ad Agency /PR.Firm	Inhouse	Other Publishing Companies
Are newsletters all they do?	yes	no	no	?
# years Publishing newsletters?	22	?	?	?
Do they WANT to do the newsletter?	YES!	usually not	usually not	yes
Is content 'generic' or original?	you choose	?	?	?
Combined years publishing experience	50+	?	?	?
Services offered:
- strategic development of newsletter	yes	?	?	?
- audience survey	yes	?	?	?
- FREE design services	yes	usually not	?	?
- writers that specialize by industry	yes	?	?	?
- detailed production schedule prior to each issue	yes	?	?	?
- charge for corrections/additions	no	?	?	?
- online proofing via secure portion of website	yes	?	?	?
- database of stories/graphics	yes	?	?	?
- dedicated Account Manager	yes	?	?	?
- Custom program based on YOUR needs	yes	?	?	?
- EXCELLENT customer service	yes	?	?	?
Is the newsletter ON TIME?	YES!	?	?	?
Is the newsletter IN BUDGET?	YES!	?	?	?
Is the newsletter ERROR FREE?	YES!	?	?	?