In this day and age, communicating with our audience is more important than ever. Email newsletters are a tool to not only communicate with owners (and future owners!), but build credibility, convey professionalism, build community, recruit involvement and create a sense of stability.
On the flip side, if you don’t put the time and energy needed into your email newsletter you can do the exact opposite. You can damage your reputation, lead your audience to believe that “nothing is happening” and allow doubt to creep into the minds of your followers. The good news is, I have four suggestions to take your newsletter to the next level.
- Segment your audience. Most co-ops do a good job of growing their email distribution list, but I’m guessing that most include co-op owners/members and prospective members on that list…and they all get the same email newsletter. Imagine if you are a member of your co-op and you get an email that says “become an owner”. Wouldn’t you wonder why? Don’t they know I am an owner? Did they not get my paperwork? Or on the flip side, you aren’t an owner (yet!) and you get an email that says “thanks for being an owner”. You’d probably think the co-op didn’t quite have all their details in order and may not be so inclined to become an owner just yet. Segment your audience and tailor your message to them specifically.
- Create a schedule and stick to it. Do you send your email newsletter out religiously on the same day of the month, EVERY month? Or do you sometimes send it out monthly at times when you have news to share, or just when you have the time? When you consistently provide credible, usable content to subscribers you gain their trust and respect. They see you as a resource and they pay attention. Haphazardly sending email newsletters when we get around to it can diminish the co-op’s reputation and allow doubt to creep into the minds of your followers. If they haven’t heard from you in a while they may begin to wonder “is that co-op thing still really happening?”. I recommend a monthly structure–for example, the first Tuesday of the month.
- Establish a set structure. Think back to the olden days…you know, when we actually printed newspapers…you knew exactly where to find what you needed in the newspaper. You knew where to look to see the top stories of the day, the weather forecast, the comics, and the Dear Abby column (yes! I am dating myself here!). We need to create that kind of structure with our email newsletters. You want your subscribers to be able to locate the co-op’s most important messages, your calendar of events, board updates and more. Check out this webinar to hear what I recommend in terms of the kinds of articles to include in your email newsletter.
- Provide meaningful content. I often hear from co-ops that “we don’t have anything to say.” And I call bulls#@t. Pardon my French. I know you are all working your tails off, day in and day out. What you are doing may seem boring and irrelevant to you, but to your owners and followers it is not. Trust me. They want to know that the board is meeting regularly (and how to attend meetings!), they want to see pictures of committee meetings (even if it is a Zoom picture) and they want to know that the co-op they invested their hard earned money in is moving forward. He are some simple content ideas:
- An update of some sort. Maybe it’s a monthly Letter from the President or Message from your Board. Whatever form it takes for you, create a format to give owners the quick and dirty about what you’ve been up to for the last 30 days.
- Member Profiles. If you have a nine member board of directors, you have nine individuals you can easily profile. Work in some volunteer/committee member profiles and you have 12 months of content. Creating a set format for these (think google form) can make your job even easier.
- Calendar of events. Every email newsletter you send out should highlight what’s on the calendar for the next 30-60 days…even if that is just board and committee meetings.
- The cooperative principles. There are 7 principles, highlight one per month and you have over a half a year of content darn near ready to print. You can fill in the last five months by highlighting co-ops who are living out the principles.
I urge you to consider this list and take the suggestions that apply to where you are with your email newsletter. My guess is that you’ll soon have an audience that can’t wait to see your newsletter hit their inbox because they know it will be relevant, current and full of useful information.
