Chapter 6: A Manager's Guide to Newsletters: Communicating for Results

Willingness and responses

In this chapter we continue to focus on reader willingness. As you'll recall (from Chapter 4), a reader's willingness to read the newsletter depends on a number of factors, including relevance, credibility, involvement (or interactivity), emotion, and consistency.

In the previous chapter we explained how relevance and credibility help us identify subjects for the newsletter. In this chapter we use the other elements of willingness - involvement, emotion, and consistency - to determine presentation tactics.

Again, we want to maximize impact. First, we want readers to read the newsletter - that's crucial. And if we have relevant and credible topics, we've made a good start. Now, we want to maximize how much is read, and how carefully it's read, and those measures depend on the three other factors of willingness.

We do that by matching the characteristics of willingness with the presentation style that will maintain or increase a reader's willingness to read the newsletter. For example, if readers are angry about the newsletter or the organization that publishes it, we might use empathy. Or if readers are highly involved with the organization and its newsletter, then we'll try to maintain that state by advising.

We refer to these modes of presentation as voices, and their purpose is to provide appropriate responses to the willingness characteristics. We want appropriate responses because they will increase the influence the newsletter exerts over the way targeted readers think and act.

We start by recognizing the existing characteristics that readers bring to the newsletter, and then choose the voice or voices that will be most effective for

* Developing new attitudes

* Reinforcing existing attitudes

* Reinforcing existing behaviors

* Developing new behaviors

The voices

Ten voices are used in this book. And while the list should be helpful, it's not complete or exhaustive, nor is it arranged in any particular order, or ranked.

* Challenge

* Empathize

* Analyze

* Advise or Inform

* Entertain

* Teach

* Consult

* Interpret

* Envision

* Solve

Next

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