7 Tips for Creating An Internal Newsletter That Isn’t Boring

There’s so much more to internal newsletters than pinging everyone in the office about upcoming events. Internal newsletters can be fun, helpful, and something your team actually looks forward to seeing in their inboxes.

A solid internal communications strategy is a powerful component of your marketing efforts and brand storytelling. It’s by far the easiest way to turn the people in your organization into informed and enthusiastic brand ambassadors.

You can use email marketing tools like Campaign Monitor to create engaging internal newsletters that amplify company culture and keep everyone in the loop when it comes to important notices — all without being boring or spammy.

Let’s look at a few tips to get you started.


1. Remember the fundamentals of marketing

A good internal newsletter has a lot in common with any other email marketing campaign. Engagement is still the name of the game, and you’ll want to consider your audience’s needs (even though you’re not trying to sell them anything).

Focus on creating valuable content just like you do for your customers. Never assume that your employees will engage with your newsletter out of some sense of obligation. As with any content, your newsletter has to get their attention and earn their time.

2. Communicate company culture

Your newsletter is one of the best places to discuss your organizational culture. Use it as a platform to talk about shared values and priorities and to foster a sense of community. Culture is a dynamic, living thing. The format of an ongoing newsletter suits that evolving nature. A few ideas to consider around culture:

• Educate new hires and introduce them to your team and make them feel welcome
• Profile existing team members to make them feel appreciated and to celebrate recent achievements
• Talk about your role in the community, the country, and the world (then follow up with reports on the impact your strategy is making)

3. Create conversations

If you want greater transparency, your internal newsletter is a great place to jump-start those efforts. By creating dialogues within your organization, you can enhance cooperation and break down walls between departments or between staff and management.

This is especially useful when it comes to large companies with many departments that might barely be aware of each other’s existence. Sections like a Q&A or “a day in the life” features can help get everyone on the same page and may lead to inter-departmental collaborations that generate unexpected growth.

Everyone likes to see their name in print (or posted online) and by giving credit to the people behind important projects, you increase their sense of ownership of their contribution, which in turn motivates them to contribute more. Make the internal newsletter a collaborative process and solicit content from all of your organization to maximize relevance.

4. Make it part of your marketing strategy

Internal communications should be a key component of your overall marketing strategy, and it’s where your brand’s storytelling should begin. Talk about the why behind what you do, and give readers the information they need to spread the word.

With features like Campaign Monitor’s drag-and-drop email builder, you can design internal newsletters that engage and deliver your brand story in an exciting way rather than spoon-feeding or info-dumping on people who might feel like they already know the high-level story.

5. Use recurring sections

Newspapers have different sections and recurring columns and TV networks have regularly scheduled programing. Organizing content in a formal way lets people know what to expect and makes it easier for them to navigate your content based on their own interests- the way one might scan the headlines but settle in to read the Travel section.

By organizing based on topic, you can seamlessly integrate info that new hires need to know alongside fresh updates for folks who are already in the loop. Also, data shows that when you organize with recurring sections, people tend to have an easier time remembering what you tell them.

6. Have fun with it

The content of your newsletter doesn’t have to be limited to official business. After all, there’s more to a newspaper than current events. Consider adding elements of fun to your internal newsletter, such as:

• Visuals like vacation photos, videos, or even memes
• Personal news and exciting events in your team members’ lives
• Social media links for shareable articles
• Crossword puzzles or interactive games

7. Add an element of surprise (to encourage opens)

The best email marketing campaign in the world is useless if nobody reads it. Your most important task when writing and email, whether in-house or client-facing, is to get recipients to open it. That means thinking strategically about your subject line and email content.

You might find, for example, that starting your newsletter with details about the week’s catered staff lunch could lead to a high open rate. This goes back to having predictable, recurring sections. Employees know the newsletter will contain a surprise menu each week, so they have to open it to find out what they’ll be eating.

Wrap up

There are no more excuses for having a bland and boring newsletter. With these tips in mind, you’re already on your way to creating more fun, engaging, and value-packed internal communications that actually get opened and read.

Read more:

• Dos and Don’ts of the Internal Comms Newsletter