Some newsletters need to be serious. Take a publication going to clients of a major brokerage firm, a newsletter detailing the recent activities of an environmentalist group’s lobbying efforts, or a fund-raising mailing for disaster victims. These are documents that are designed to get straight to the point and leave little room for fun and games.
But most of us produce newsletters that have the ability to have a little fun. Increasing the humorous, light-hearted, and fun content in your newsletter can lead to an increase in its readability. Although it seems that it seems like it should be easy to inject humor and frivolity into your newsletter, it can actually be quite a challenge. Next time you are putting together your newsletter, try these approaches to help add a little fun to your publication.
Make It Personal
It always helps to increase the readability of your newsletter when you include information that seems more personal and pertinent to your readers. The key to including this type of information is how well you know your readers. Humorous content for young adults, seniors, or military families can all vary. Although you can always find something that appeals to everyone, it sometimes really hits home when you customize your information.
Including photographs in your newsletter is another way to add fun and to personalize your newsletter. Carrying a camera with you, even if it is just a disposable one, is an easy way to ensure that you will always be ready for those candid shots. Are you not often around your readers during the course of your day? Include a notice in your newsletter asking for readers to submit photographs. Or better yet—supply the camera yourself. If you know of an important event or topic you want to write about, hand out a couple of disposable cameras to a few volunteers who would be willing to be official newsletter photographers for the day. Even kids can get in on the act—you may be pleasantly surprised at what a young photographer finds interesting!
Add a Game or Two
Many years ago, I happened to visit an office where the staff knew how to start the day off right. The first employee to arrive would make several copies of the word and crossword puzzles in the newspaper. A copy would go on each employee’s desk. It became quite a tradition for everyone to work the first few minutes of the work day on the puzzles, compare answers, and then get on with the work of the day. In fact, I was told it was quite addicting! This concept can apply to your newsletter as well. By providing a word game or trivia quiz in every newsletter, your readers will come to expect the added fun in each issue. In fact, this may be the first thing they turn to.
Subscribers to NewsletterFillers.com's filler article service receive monthly word games that are easy to insert into a newsletter. These are real attention grabbers in your newsletter. Chances are that once the fun stuff is perused, your reader will linger over the rest of your content. Increasing the readability of your newsletter in this way ensures that the other information you are including in your newsletter gets attention as well.
Liven Things Up
If you really want to jazz up your newsletter, consider adding some cartoons or fun graphics. You can purchase collections of cartoons in clip art format. This is an easy way to add this type of element to your newsletter, as you don’t have to worry about copyright infringement. Beware of copying a cartoon you find. Unless you get permission from the artist, this is a basic copyright violation.
Clip art also comes in cartoon-like graphics. Although there is no caption, you can use some of your creativity to liven up your newsletter with these types of images. For example, you might choose an image of a tightrope walker or a juggler to accompany an article on managing stress. Flipping through collections of clip art you have can be a great jumping off point. Just let your imagination be your guide!