What To Write In Newsletters And Trade Journals

By Naomi Hulbert (Guest Blogger)

So you’ve been given the job of coming up with stories for your company’s trade journal or newsletter. What do you write about?

The general aim of a trade journal is to provide customers and potential customers with information and entertainment that increases the integrity of your business (through the sharing of knowledge), and boosts your brand (by positioning you as an expert in your industry).

There are several types of stories you can follow in a trade journal:

Testimonials

Have you received positive feedback from a customer recently? Let’s say the customer purchased your product and wrote you a ‘thank you’ email to the effect that the installation was very straightforward and the product was improving performance in their company.

Approach the person and ask whether they would be willing to be featured in your next trade journal. You could tell readers the customer’s story, such as the problems they were originally facing, and why they chose your particular product to solve those problems. Then talk about the process of installation, and the positive differences that this has since made to the company and to the customer personally.

New innovations

Has your company developed or introduced a new product or service? You could write a short story about industry innovation, and how your company is solving problems for its customers with innovation.

Education

Does your company have some form of expertise that it could share? Write a ‘how to’ article for your trade journal. These types of stories add value to your customers, and you don’t need to be selling anything in particular because the goal is to increase the level of goodwill towards you, and position you as an industry expert to be remembered when next your readers require a service you offer.

Industry news & updates

Has anything of significance occurred recently in your industry? You may wish to write about this event or occurrence.

The key when you write about news or events in trade journals is to remember to make it personal for your readers. For example, say you recently attended a global industry conference. Big deal, why should your readers care? But if an agreement was made at the conference that would ultimately drop retail prices, or somehow solve a consumer problem, that would be of interest to your readers.

Strategic directions

Give your customers a sneak preview of new directions being taken in your industry. Tell them where product or service development is heading, why, and (most importantly) how it will positively impact them.

In this type of story, it is relatively easy to introduce some of your own products or services as examples of this new direction. It not only subtly advertises what you have to sell, but also positions you as a thought-leader at the forefront of your industry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Author Naomi Hulbert is founder and managing director of Urashima Writing Services, an Australian company that provides writing, editing, translation and training services to clients in the corporate sector. Naomi is an experienced journalist, author, radio broadcaster, ghost writer, corporate writer and educational writer, and teaches at the majority of Urashima's writing workshops. www.urashima.com.au. Article Source here.