The Anatomy Of A Great Club Newsletter for Printing

Are you thinking about starting a printed newsletter for your local club or community organisation? Creating a top-notch newsletter isn’t just about building a publication that welcomes, entertains, connects and informs your reader, it’s also about crafting a newsletter that can thrive on consistency. Because a great club newsletter isn’t just about making one great publication, it’s about doing it time and time again. Follow these simple steps and nifty content ideas to make the perfect printed newsletter for your club.

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A Successful Newsletter Is All In The Timing

Before you even begin to think about what goes into your club newsletter, it’s best to first work out how often you want to print, publish and distribute the newsletter. You could decide on weekly, monthly, quarterly or even annually, depending on the resources and time you have available to dedicate the appropriate amount of work to the publication.

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Work out which members of your editorial team will do what - like write, edit, proofread, design, photograph, organise logistics and deliver the newsletter. Once you’ve committed to these planning strategies, it will be much easier to perfect the consistency and quality that your printed club newsletter deserves.

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Club President Letter

There’s no better way to set up the content, tone and purpose of your printed newsletter than by beginning the publication with a letter from your club’s president. This introduction from a figure of authority in the club lets your reader know that they’re in good hands, and that the publication is endorsed by the club itself. Plus, it’s a great way to summarise the kinds of content pieces and articles that will follow in the publication. 

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Some helpful tips to keep in mind when crafting the club president message is keeping it clear and concise - one page is plenty - use an active voice to solidify strength and assist grammatical flow, and address a few significant issues or topics of interest without overwhelming the simplicity of the letter.

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Contributions From The Community

Engaging your reader base through creative contributions is a terrific way to both produce content for your club newsletter while also creating a publication that is a summation of the community it's targeted to. Encourage club members to send in their own articles, think-pieces, letters to the editor, questions, or even photos and illustrations. The most successful of club newsletters don’t just speak to the community it’s for, but also represent that community in its pages. 

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Some ideas for reader contributions could be A Day In the Life article, a Mystery Photo competition, interactive components and Member Spotlights. Because you’re crafting a club newsletter as opposed to a community magazine, you won’t want to go overboard with these ideas - one or two in each newsletter is a great way to keep that connection with your readership alive.

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What’s On This Month

No matter how often you publish your printed newsletter - be it weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually - a section dedicated to upcoming events and important club occasions is paramount when creating your publication. A calendar works great for this section, offering your reader a handy tool they can keep referring back to throughout the upcoming period.

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Transform one part of your printed newsletter into a calendar of squares, each designated to a particular day in the upcoming period, and fill in the important dates, events, anniversaries and club meetings. This also turns your newsletter from a publication to read in one sitting into a valuable resource for your reader to hang onto and keep referring back to throughout the period.

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Club Awards, Achievements, Anniversaries and Recognitions

Recognising the work and commitment of your club members doesn’t only make for a great read in any club newsletter, it’s also an important way to reflect on the dedication and effort of your members. This section could be for recognising any club awards recently won, any anniversaries of club memberships coming up, changes in the club’s leadership team, or any notable achievements outside of traditional award recognition. This part is all about making your club members feel informed and included in the organisation’s happenings.

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Meet The Team

One of the ways you can sign off your club newsletter is with a Meet The Team section. This will give your reader an idea of who put the newsletter together, as well as work as a form of connection to the people behind the publication. After all, you’re all part of the same club and community! In this section, you can add images of each of the team members, alongside their name and title. If you find you don’t have much room leftover for this section, a small designated box at the end of the printed newsletter that details the names of the significant members of the club and the people who worked on the newsletter will easily suffice.

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How To Design Your Newsletter Right

Now that you have an assortment of content ideas to build your newsletter, it’s time to think about how you can design these anatomical newsletter bits and bobs to build a great publication for your club.

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Visual hierarchy tips

You don’t need to be an expert graphic designer to construct a beautiful newsletter. There are a few simple tips and tricks to keep in mind that will elevate your printed newsletter beyond just a couple of pages with copy scrawled across them. One of the key components in crafting a visually appealing club newsletter is visual hierarchy. In simple terms, visual hierarchy will want to achieve three design moves to effectively engage your reader: attract, intrigue and deliver.

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This means that you’ll want to have the most important and eye-catching elements - like headlines and images - as the biggest components on the page to attract attention. Sub-headings and smaller graphics or photos will then be sized slightly smaller, with well-constructed headings to intrigue your viewer. Then, your copy (or writing) will be the smallest in size so you have room to go into detail and deliver your information or message with a punch. Colour is also a great way to establish hierarchy too, with the largest and most attractive elements on the page using colour and the body copy employing plainer shades. 

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Don’t be afraid of white space, either! You’ll want to give your reader some room to rest their eyes in between taking in your writing and imagery.

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Choosing the right paper type

Creating a great club newsletter isn’t just about crafting engaging content in an effective way on the page, it’s also about the choice of paper itself. When it comes to printing your club newsletter, at FolioFox we recommend to print your publication in either A4 or A5 (the most popular print sizes for newsletters) and opting for a colour cover that uses silk or gloss paper finish with a 150 to 250gsm paper weight or Self-Cover (same as Text). For the internal pages, we also recommend going for coloured printed pages for maximum visual effectiveness with a silk or gloss finish and a paper weight of 80 to 150gsm.

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By keeping these easy-to-follow tips in mind when constructing your club newsletter, you’ll be on your way to crafting a great printed publication that will both inform and entertain your readership - as well as have them coming back for more!

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To learn more about our newsletter printing services and how modern digital printing technology can benefit your next project, get in touch with our team today. We're here to help you navigate the evolving world of newsletter production with confidence.