9: Newsletter & Brochure

  B A (JMC) (3-YDC), SEMESTER SYSTEM

SEMESTER –IV

SEC III: PUBLIC RELATIONS AND EVENT MANAGEMENT

Unit -1: PUBLIC RELATIONS

LESSON - 9: NEWSLETTER & BROCHURE

 Objectives:

1.    Know about corporate publications

2.    Understand the role of publications in corporate communication

3.    Learn about Newsletter

4.    Learn about Brochure

5.    Identify the benefits of Newsletter & Brochure

 

Introduction:

Newsletter and Brochure are the two important publications among various corporate publications. Corporate publications are the material published by corporate organisations to inform about themselves, their performance and their success etc to the public. Corporate publications are brought out either as printed material or in digital format. They are the tools that augment a P.R. practitioner's overall public relations strategy. These publications accurately portray the company's status, activities and progress. Corporate publications include everything from stationery like visiting cards to annual reports either in print or in electronic form. Organisations usually bring out folders, fliers, handbills, leaflets, posters, newsletters, prospectus, folders, pamphlets, calendars, diaries, manuals, handbooks, circulars, bulletins, guidebooks, annual reports, Chairman’s speech, internal house journal, external house journal, employee newsletters, customer brochures, pictorial albums, coffee table books, annual reports etc. Incidentally, a handout is a brochure or folder or a flier or a circular of information that can be easily handed out to people as a free distribution material. Public Relations make use of these things to inform, educate, motivate and influence the organisational publics towards its goals. They are intended for the benefit of the company's stakeholders. However, these printed word information is a potential medium of communication to reach out to a literate population only.

Corporate publications target both external and internal audiences. In this way, they are the tools that augment other communications that make up overall public relations strategy. Corporate publications are produced for two kinds of audience: internal, such as employees of the organisation; and external that is customers or other influential people, such as the media, government, financial institutions, elected representatives, community leaders, influencers, opinion leaders etc. An employees’ newsletter is an example of internal publication. A customer brochure is an example of a publication designed largely for external audiences. In this lesson we will be learning about corporate publications, especially newsletters and brochures in the practice of public relations and corporate communication.

Corporate Communication

Corporate communication has been defined by different authors in different ways. Here are some definitions in relation to public relations.

·         "Corporate Communication is about 'harmonising' all communication within an organisation to ensure consistency with corporate mission and objectives"

·         "Corporate Communication is the process of 'establishing' trust, social capital and legitimacy" - Max Weber, 1968.

·         “Corporate communication means the activities that an organization undertakes as a corporate entity and include 'public relations', the company website, the annual report, corporate identity programmes, the company logo, and any form of corporate advertising that the company carries out.” - Keith J Butterick, 2011.

·         “Corporate communications focuses responsibilities, for narrowing the gap between the organisation's desired image and its actual image; establishing a consistent organisational profile; and the organisation of communication by developing and implementing guidelines for coordinating all internal and external communications and controlling communications. Public relations complements marketing communication in achieving the aims of the organisation among external publics - it translates an identity into an image.” - Richard J Varey, 2007.

·         “Corporate communication is primarily a mechanism for developing and managing a set of relationships with publics or stakeholders who could affect the overall performance of an organisation. These relationships must be viewed in a long term strategic fashion” - William Schutz, 2007.

·    Paul A Argenti & Janis Forman in their volume, "The power of corporate communication", 2003 wrote: "By corporate communication we mean the corporation's voice and the images it projects of itself on a world stage populated by its various audiences or what we refer to as its constituencies. Included in this field are areas such as corporate reputation, corporate advertising and advocacy, employee communications, investor relations, government relations, media management and crisis communications.”

·         “Corporate communication is an instrument of management by means of which all consciously used forms of internal and external communication are harmonised as effectively and efficiently as possible, so as to create a favourable basis for relationships with groups upon which the company is dependent” - Van Rie, 2005.

·         “Corporate communication is the integrated approach to all communications produced by an organisation, directed to all relevant target groups” said Blauw, 1989.

·         Peter Jackson, 1987 defines corporate communications "as the total communication activity generated by a company to achieve its planned objectives".

While all these definitions clearly indicate that Corporate Communication is a 360-degree communication between a Corporate body or a Company with its clientele, it can be divided into four broad components:

1.    Communication by a corporation to influence stakeholders and publics for establishing better relations.

2.    Marketing communication which is directed at achieving sales and support and other management disciplines such as finance, human resource development, production etc.

3.    Organisational communication engaging those publics where there is 'interdependence' by implication with the major groups such as investors, employees and suppliers and

4.    Reputation management based on organisational performance.

Corporate communication appears to be more popular than public relations these days. This popularity is based on the idea and an assumption that the term corporate communication is broader than public relations. On the other hand, public relations is often incorrectly perceived as mere media relations and is practised in Govt organisations and public sector undertakings only. However, the fact is that public relations is practised in every entity – big or small or even for individuals like celebrities and people in politics and it is an umbrella of several disciplines. When practised in corporates, public relations is known as corporate public relations and in other words, corporate communication. Similar to public relations, Corporate communication too encompasses all communications of the company, namely advertising, marketing, government relations, community relations and employee communication etc.

Every publication brought out by a corporation is meant to communicate with people, both present and future. Thus, a vast scope exists of corporate publications in the practice of corporate communications and public relations profession.

Scope of Communication in Corporate Publications

As already said, corporate communication means any communication emanating from a company or occurring within it. The word 'corporate', however, refers to the whole body or corpus, and applies to any kind of organisation, regardless of whether it is in a private, public or not-for-profit sector. All companies including non-commercial bodies are interested in corporate communications for building their images and reputations, besides maintaining relationships with the stakeholders. These days, many corporations in the USA, Europe and even in India are using the nomenclature corporate communication for public relations discipline.

A few years ago, a student from Padmavathi Mahila University, Tirupati, selected the topic 'Public Relations in IT Industry' for her Ph.D. and went to various IT companies both in Bangalore and in Hyderabad for research. She was informed that there were no public relations departments in the companies. She came back disappointed. Based on the advice of a PR professional, she again went to these companies for information on “Corporate Communication in IT Industry”. They readily gave information. This shall make people understand that the public relations practised in Corporates is called corporate communication.   

Having learnt about Corporate publications in relation to the practice of corporate communication and public relations, let us proceed to understand the two important things among several types of publications. They are Employee Newsletter and Customer Brochure.

Newsletter

It is a letter carrying some news. It is the miniature version of a newspaper. Newsletters and newspapers are similar in that they both communicate and advertise new ideas. However, newspapers are usually distributed daily, while newsletters are often sent out weekly or monthly. A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organisation that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. It is tool used by businesses and organizations to share relevant and valuable information. Printed newsletters reach the subscribers directly by post and e-newsletters are sent electronically. Newsletters are a cornerstone of any marketing strategy. Enterprises and small businesses alike can gain extremely valuable benefits from developing a monthly newsletter. To maximize the results, one needs to ensure that the newsletter is tailored to reach targeted recipients.

Production of Newsletter

The standard dimension for newsletters in print is 8.5 x 11 inches and email newsletters can be 600 x 1500 pixels. Whether in print or in digital format, the three pillars of a Newsletter are Design, Content and Value. Every great newsletter starts with design. Without a sleek, responsive design strategy, it won’t matter how great and compelling the content is. A newsletter should be easy to navigate and engaging. The key elements of an eye-catching newsletter include:

Naming the newsletter: Naming the newsletter can be a challenge. While a clever name can be fun, it is more important to be descriptive. A clever name might take too long to understand, and you could miss out on subscribers. A simple and straight forward name depicting the activities of the organisation is always better.

Headers: Like the glossy pages of a magazine, a newsletter should have a masthead that reflects the branding and encourages the audience to keep reading.

Logos: Brand logo should set the tone of the color scheme and remind readers who is responsible for valuable content in their inbox.

Imagery: Depending on the brand, the newsletters should contain either vibrant photos, vivid illustrations or a combination of both.

Content layout: Using headers and subheadings will ensure that readers can easily navigate the newsletter and understand the content at a glance.

Personalized content: When possible, it is better to include personalization elements such as addressing the newsletter to each subscriber by name. Connecting customer relationship management data makes that possible. The content within the newsletter should be highly relevant to the audience and it should provide immediate value. That means the content needs to help the readers in some way, whether that is by keeping them informed on the latest industry trends and news or by providing tips and insights on a specific topic. At this juncture, it is important to learn something about employee communication.

Employee Communication

There are certain media and methods to maintain employee relations. Let us have a look at some of the popular media for this purpose. They are (1) Induction literature (2) Information kiosks (3) Closed circuit televisions (4) Suggestion boxes (5) Shop floor discussions (6) Notice or Bulletin or Information boards (7) Clubs & Societies for sports and cultural activities (8) Visits by the management (9) Employees Newsletter (10) Internal house journals and (11) Periodical refresher or re-orientation trainings.

Communication between the management and the employees has never been as important as it is today, because Industry is becoming increasingly complex in structure and purpose. There is an urgent need for the management to maintain cordial relations with the employees keeping in view the tensions that are arising in industrial relations. There is a need for the employees to know what goes on in the company. They need information about their work, environment and besides they need to know that the management cares for them and that their caring is genuine. According to a former CEO of Du Pont Company in the US “Informed employees are better and more productive employees. They get more out of their work and they do a better job for the company”. What this CEO said is something akin to the employee communication philosophy of Arthur Page, a pioneer of public relations in US who felt that informed employees had a high morale and that a high morale made them good ambassadors to the corporation’s external public. Arthur Page also felt that the more the employees know about their business, the more intelligently they could do their jobs. Employees are deemed as the assets beyond balance sheet figures. They need to be informed by the managements. Now, let us understand as to how the employees can be informed through a newsletter.

Employees’ Newsletter

Organisations that do not publish house journals find a good substitute in what is known as 'Employees’ Newsletters'. An employee newsletter is a modest publication, modest in the sense that it contains a limited number of pages say four to eight pages, and a few pictures and illustrations. Generally, Employee Newsletters are printed in a single colour. However, Newsletters with multi-coloured mastheads are not uncommon.

Employee newsletters have come a long way. Gone are the days of flat, uninspired corporate newsletters which drown staff in floods of text. Today’s digital newsletters are rich multimedia tools for building employee engagement and changing behaviors.

Employee newsletters are a chance to engage and inform the employees about whatever topics the Organisation wants, from company news and events to updates, spotlights, and culture. Most employee newsletters are for employees’ eyes only. This allows a regular direct information and enhance employees’ experience. Employee newsletters are not only a great way to touch base with the employees on a regular basis but are also informative, engaging, reliable, and convenient.

Production of Employees’ Newsletter

Unlike in older days, employees are not confined to one particular work place. They are spread across several geographical locations and are available both physically and online. Employees today are inundated with information coming from a variety of communication channels. Reports show that professionals are spending 2.6 hours in their inboxes and receive an average of 120 messages per day. Some sections of employees while on the job may be receiving more than this number of messages and spending more time dealing with them. This is on top of messages via chat apps, project management tools, video calls, and other channels. So how to compete without noise and get the newsletters read by the employees?

The answer is engaging and fun content can help increase the readership of an employee newsletter, but not to lose sight of communications objectives. By keeping the content relevant, it is to be ensured that employees find value and keep reading. Employees’ newsletters need to balance the content that focuses on business, employer, customer and entertainment-centric content.

Benefits of Employees’ Newsletter

Let’s take a look at some of the benefits a regular newsletter brings to the workplace: They are (1) Increased employee engagement (2) Building the trust between employer and employees (3) Improving the company culture (4) Relaying important information in an interesting format (5) Providing external talking points (6) Creating an archive for communications content (7) Celebrating company and employee achievements and (8) Collecting feedback and metrics and such other incidental benefits.

Brochure

Brochures or customer brochures are information pieces mainly used to introduce a company or organization, and inform about products or services to a target audience – customers and prospective customers. Brochures are distributed by post or e-mail, handed personally or placed in brochure racks. They are usually made available near tourist attractions and hotels. Booklet brochures are made of multiple sheets most often stitched or stapled like a paperback book. Brochures are often printed using four colour process on thick gloss paper to give an initial impression of quality. Businesses may turn out small quantities of brochures on a computer printer or on a digital printer, but offset printing turns out higher quantities for less cost. Compared with a flyer or a handbill, a brochure usually uses higher-quality paper and more colour. A Brochure is a booklet with a limited number of pages. It deals with a single theme. Pictures and illustrations enhance its attractiveness as well as impact. It can be in a single color or in multi-color. Brochures carry distinct, colourfully printed covers that attract the attention of readers.

Production of a Brochure

The words brochure and booklet are used in an identical sense to denote a small publication of say 4 pages to any number of pages. Generally, it is not bulky, but 28 or 32 pages. It must always be a multiple of 4 pages in total as each folded section will make 4 pages. The PR practitioner or Corporate Communicator has to bring out brochures regularly to project the image of his organisation. This is part of his duties. Broadly speaking the theme of such brochures will be his organisation, its products and its development. In addition, related aspects of the hard core subjects could also constitute the theme of brochures. They can be brought out in a routine way as well as on special occasions, such as for instance the inauguration of a new plant or launch of a new product etc. The contents may therefore have to be so planned as to make routine brochures and special brochures equally meaningful to serve the purposes in view. Their format and lay out will differ. In these respects, the special brochures will have to look more attractive than the routine ones.

Brochures could be of different sizes. Usually they are brought out in the sizes of 6” x 9” called Memo size; 7 ½” x 9 ½” called Crown quarto size; 8 ½” x 11” called Letter size etc. It should be noted here that the size of a brochure is decided by the theme and the occasion on which it is proposed to be published. If the theme is very important and if the occasion is very significant to the organisation, then the PR practitioner may have to decide in favour of a bigger size and more number of pages. If, on the other hand, the theme is of routine nature, the size need not necessarily be a big one. As already said, a brochure will have only a limited number of pages. Generally we draw a distinction between a brochure and a booklet by number of pages they carry. If the number of pages is more we call it a booklet or book. Taking into consideration the volume of matter and the number of illustrations that should go into the proposed brochure, the PR practitioner decides the number of pages. If the reading matter is more and there are many illustrations, naturally the brochure will have more number of pages.

A basic fact that a PR practitioner has to appreciate is the scope that a brochure offers for the use of different types of illustrations with advantage. They could be colour or black & white photographs or diagrammatic representation or perhaps a harmonious combination of both. Again, a topical and relevant photo montage could also be used as a centre-spread. In this connection, the budget at the disposal will play a major role. Most of the public and private sector organisations bring out brochures on art paper to keep up their prestige, while the usual approach is to use real art paper of higher thickness of cover and real art paper of thinner inner pages. If the brochure were to be attractive, its cover as a rule should be as colourful as possible. Therefore, the cover must be in multi colours. Single color covers have become old fashioned.

Brochures of different sizes offer good scope for the display of reading matter or body matter as well as illustrations. This ought to be taken full advantage of by the PR practitioner while endeavouring to project the image of his organisation through the medium of the printed word. Almost all the sizes of brochures give ample scope to print reading matter or body matter in two or three columns instead of one column as is usually done in text books. This approach easily facilitates the use of various style of headings.

Benefits of a Brochure

In a technology-driven world, more companies are using brochures. Why? Because brochures can send the subtle message that the business is professional, reliable, and committed to quality. Here are the benefits of a brochure -  (1) Brochures are easy to distribute both offline and online. Brochures can be strategically sent or placed in a wide variety of locations. (2) Brochures are cost effective. Compared with other publications and some online marketing options, brochures are a low-cost marketing plan (3) Brochures build trust. Once the potential clients start reading the brochure, a trust can be built. (4) Brochures hold lots of information. Whether product prices are to be included or for telling the business story, plenty of space is there to get the entire message across (5) Brochures personalise the business. It is more effective than speaking to the audience at personal level and (6) Brochures establish business’s authority. While business cards or letterheads offer credibility, a customer brochure shows that the company is willing to invest further. People generally expect printed merchandise from a serious business.

Summary                    

Corporate publications are tools that accurately portray a company's status, activities and progress so as to reach its planned objectives. They are communication tools between an organisation and its various stakeholders to promote goodwill, promote organisational products and services. They include everything from stationery, calendar, diaries, newsletters, brochures, annual reports and house journals. Corporate communication means any communication emanating from a company or occurring within it. Corporate communication can be divided into four broad components: 1. Communication by a corporation to influence stakeholders and publics for establishing better relations, 2. Marketing communication which is directed at achieving sales and support other management disciplines such as finance, human resource development, production etc. 3. Organisational communication engaging those publics where there is 'interdependence' by implication with the major groups such as investors, employees and suppliers and 4. Reputation management based on organisational performance.

Employers that cannot afford to print and publish house journals, especially internal house journals meant for its internal public i.e. employees, generally resort to have employees’ newsletters to establish communication with them.  A Brochure is a booklet with a limited number of pages, say 28 to 32 pages. Generally, it is not bulky. It deals with a single theme with pictures and illustrations to enhance its impact. It can be in a single colour or in multi-colour. Brochures carry distinct, colourfully printed covers that attract the attention of readers. Government publications constitute a different and distinct category. They are mostly development communication or publicity literature for wide distribution among almost all sections of the public whereas corporate publications are from Corporate organisations to inform and impress their targeted clientele.

FAQs

1.     Define corporate publication.

2.     What do you understand by corporate communication?

3.     Briefly describe Newsletter

4.     Explain about Brochure

5.     What are the benefits of a newsletter? 

Model Answers

1. Corporate publications are tools to accurately portray a company's status, activities and progress. All printed promotional material such as newsletters, prospectuses, house journals and annual reports etc. are included. Corporate publications are produced for two audience types: internal, such as employees of the organisation; and external that is customers or other influential people, such as the media, government, financial institutions, elected representatives, community leaders, influencers, opinion leaders etc.

2.    Corporate communication means any communication emanating from a company or occurring within it. Corporate communication can be divided into four broad components: 1) Communication by a corporation to influence stakeholders and publics for establishing better relations. 2) Marketing communication which is directed at achieving sales and support other management disciplines such as finance, human resource development, production etc., 3) Organisational communication engaging those publics where there is 'interdependence' by implication with the major groups such as investors, employees and suppliers, and 4) Reputation management based on organisational performance.

3.    A newsletter is a tool used by businesses and organizations to share relevant and valuable information with their network of customers, prospects and subscribers. Newsletters give a direct access to audience’s inbox, to share engaging content, promote sales and drive traffic to the website. Newsletters are a cornerstone of any email marketing strategy. Enterprises and small businesses alike can gain extremely valuable benefits from developing a monthly newsletter. To maximize the results, one needs to ensure that the newsletter is tailored to reach targeted recipients.

4. Brochures or customer brochures are information pieces mainly used to introduce a company or organization, and inform about products or services to a target audience – customers and prospective customers. Compared with a flyer or a handbill, a brochure usually uses higher-quality paper and more colour. A Brochure is a booklet with a limited number of pages say 28-32 pages. It deals with a single theme. Pictures and illustrations enhance its attractiveness as well as impact. It can be in a single color or in multi-color.

5.    The benefits of a newsletter are (1) Increased employee engagement (2) Building the trust between employer and employees (3) Improving the company culture (4) Relaying important information in an interesting format (5) Providing external talking points (6) Creating an archive for communications content (7) Celebrating company and employee achievements and (8) Collecting feedback and metrics and such other incidental benefits.

Multiple Choice Questions

1.    Printed word is a medium of communication to reach ______ population.

a.       Total

b.      Illiterate

c.       Literate

d.      Neo-literate

2.    Informed employees are good ambassadors to the corporation’s external public, said ________

a.    Ivy Lee

b.    David Ogilvy

c.    Du Pont

d.    Arthur Page

3.    Internal Newsletter is meant for ___________

           a.  Public

b.    Employees

c.    Customers

d.    Management

4.    Brochure in print is a multiplication of _______ pages as one section.

a.       2

b.      6

c.       4

d.      8

5.    _________ is not a Corporate Publication

a.    House Journal

b.    Annual Report

c.    Gazette notification

d.    Chairman’s speech

 Keys to Multiple Choice Questions: 1. (c)  2. (d)  3. (b)  4. (c) 5. (c)

 Glossary

Publication: Something made to communicate with the public like pamphlets, folders, brochures, booklets etc.

Corporate Communication: The process of sharing information with people inside and outside a company.

Newsletter: A periodic report that contains news about an organisation or business and is sent to its employees or customers.

Brochure: It is an enlarged publication over a pamphlet with more number of pages for

giving information about an organisation / product. It is used as a piece of advertising.

Annual Report: A detailed document that provides information about a company’s activities and financial performance over the previous year.

Key Words: Publications, Corporate Communication, Public Relations, Newsletters, Brochures.

Y. BABJI

Academic Counsellor, Public Relations (since 1989)

AP Open University/Dr BR Ambedkar Open University

Editor, Public Relations Voice