Page 3, Chapter 6: A Manager's Guide to Newsletters: Communicating for Results

we as teachers are credible. Ultimately, though, the decision to learn or not to learn belongs solely to the reader.

Characteristics and voices

Mix and match

Determining which voices to use will be somewhat more complicated than picking one or more of those listed here. Start instead with sets of characteristics, which is to say, a collection of important reader characteristics.

For any given reader, the set of characteristics includes an involvement level, an emotional inclination, and a degree of consistency-of-belief with the publisher. And, for any given group of targeted readers, there will be ranges of involvement, emotion, and consistency, rather than specific levels. That means our assessment will involve several steps.

First, we profile our readers as a group or groups, to consider their collective level of involvement, their emotions, and the consistency of their beliefs with ours. In most cases, we'll find characteristics spread across the spectrum, so it will be necessary to try to establish a mid-point on the spectrum for each of the three elements.

Second, we list the voices recommended for each category, and look for common applications. In the examples at the end of this chapter, you'll see that advising or informing comes up quite often. That's because readers of these newsletters are at least moderately involved in the subjects covered, that they bring generally positive emotions to the reading, and that the ideas presented by the publishers are generally consistent with those already held by the readers.

Third, we need to remember that readers change, and they may change because of the messages they see in the newsletter. So choices should be revisited from time to time, to ensure that they're appropriate for the current audience.

That's another good reason for regular surveys.

Involvement or interactivity

Involvement refers to the activeness or passiveness of the reader in response to the content of the newsletter. Is the reader passive - relatively uninvolved? Does she simply glance at each page or read each article without interacting with its content? Or does she get highly involved, using the content to find ways of advancing her interests?

High involvement generally indicates deep interest: we've touched on a subject the reader can connect with her dreams or objectives. Of course, if

Next

Go to Page 4