Start Sending Team Newsletters

The Rise of The Newsletter 🗞

Some people have too many streaming subscriptions, I have too many newsletter subscriptions. Thanks to the growth of newsletter tools like Revue and Substack, which empower anyone to start their own newsletter, I can only imagine my subscription list will continue to expand.

Here’s what makes newsletters great:

1. Consistency: They’re reliable. If readers know when to expect newsletters, they’re able to incorporate them into their routines and maximize the information received. For example, every Sunday at 10:00 am, NYT sends me the “What to Cook This Week” newsletter which kicks off my weekly meal-planning session.
2. Relevancy: Newsletter content is fresh. Unlike… the other week when I found myself reading a blog on SEO strategy only to realize it was published in 2014 when it started suggesting I heavily invest in Google+ content. I now subscribe to The SEO MBA for more timely information.
3. Conciseness: Newsletters tend to be more concise and to-the-point than blogs or articles— covering the most important aspects of a wide breadth of topics in digestible bits.

Leveraging Newsletters for Teams

Effective communication is the bedrock of any high-performing team. Unfortunately, just because your team chats all day on Slack does not necessarily mean they’re effective at communicating. This is where establishing a newsletter practice comes in to get the team in the habit of regularly receiving, writing, and responding to high-level information.

My Weekly Team Newsletters

As a startup Co-Founder and the only full-time employee on my small (but mighty!) team, the objective of my weekly Friday newsletter is to quickly catch my team up on my week so they’re in the loop as they clock out of their weekday jobs and clock into their weekend startup roles.

Screenshot from a recent Weekly Team Roundup I sent our company Slack channel

So while my newsletter may look more like a casual task recap, yours could look very different depending on your team’s needs and how you approach the following newsletter factors.

Newsletter Considerations

1. Author(s): Who is writing & sending the newsletter?
2. Frequency & Timing: How often is it being sent? When is it being sent?
3. Channel: Where is it being sent?
4. Content: Which topics should you include (or exclude)?

Author Options

• Solo Author: The same person always writes the newsletter.
• Multiple Authors: More than one person contributes to writing the newsletter. This requires collaborating on a shared draft, setting a deadline for when content is due, and designating a sender/editor.
• Rotating Authors: Two or more persons take turns writing the newsletter. This requires creating a newsletter sending schedule.

Frequency & Timing Options

• Frequency: When you go longer than a month between sending newsletters (Bi-Monthly, Quarterly), it’s difficult to know what to include because a) so much has happened and b) content gets stale. I suggest weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
• Timing: I send my team newsletters on Friday to recap the week. Think of when your team could benefit from receiving communication most. Beginning of the week to kick things off? Middle of the month to pick up the energy? Monday of the last week of the month to finish strong?

Channel Options

You don’t need to overcomplicate your newsletter distribution. I simply send mine in our general Slack channel. However, you could consider using your company email or even tools like Mailchimp, Substack, or Revue if you want to get fancy.

Content Options

What does your team need to know? What do they want to know? The topics I cover vary wildly from week to week but I always share things that I think will either impact my team or inform them about a certain aspect of the business/product they may find interesting. Below is topic bank I created when looking back at my last 5 newsletters to help get you thinking about what yours could include.

• 🎨 Design
• 🗺 Product
• 💻 Engineering
• 📣 Marketing
• 💸 Sales
• 👥 User Research
• 🌐 Industry News
• 🎒 Learnings
• 🏆 Goals
• 📌 Tasks
• 💡 Ideas
• 🔑 Key Decisions
• 🤝 Partnerships
• 📆 Upcoming Events
• 🛎 Admin
• 🛠 Artifacts
• 👏 Shoutouts
• 🎉 Accomplishments

So whatchya waiting for?

Yeah, writing a newsletter requires a little effort and discipline — especially when you have a million and a half things to do — but it’s well worth it. Over time you’ll start to find that your team feels better informed, that you’re more in tune with the impact of your efforts and priorities, and that your writing skills are improving.

This is a one of many blogs that I plan to write throughout my journey of a first-time startup founder of Makemix. I do hope you continue to follow along.