In - house newsletter is a powerful PR tool to build company’s brand. It is an excellent medium to communicate and serves as a bridge between the top executives/management and the employees and also between the company and the outside world (Even an in – house newsletter does reach some hands outside especially if it is a printed edition). If used aptly it provides a great opportunity to build the company’s internal as well as external brand.

Some tips:

In your over enthusiasm to use this tool for brand building, do not misguide or give wrong information to your employees. Report about company’s achievements but do not create a big hype about very small accomplishments. On the other hand, refrain from putting anything negative. If you must, underplay it.

Highlight the achievements of the company like new clients/projects and also the challenges faced. Write a word or two about the individuals/ teams involved

Publish messages from management/top executives about the vision of the organization

Let the newsletter be a mix of news and views and not just the repetition of what has already been conveyed to employees thro emails

It should have both technical and non technical info as even employees in a technical company don’t want to read only about technical stuff all the time

Portray the success story of top achievers about how they manage their projects, time, stress busters et al

Publishing about some of the personal details of employees like their birthdays, wedding anniversaries, new additions to their families and hidden talents give an informal and personal touch to the newsletter, and help in breaking barriers

It is advisable to have a regular column on Soft skills, try to publish the info which they can’t find anywhere else, just copying from internet and sending to employees in the form of a newsletter doesn’t make much sense or better still let it come from horses’ mouth, let some employees who are excellent in their soft skills write from their personal experience

Publish about support staff and mention about their contributions from time to time

Have a channel for feedback for the newsletter. Acknowledge the feedback from the readers and give credit to them incase you implement any of their suggestions.

Encourage employees to contribute and share knowledge, this will give them a sense of involvement and belonging

Last, look and feel and, presentation of the information is as important as the information itself to have a lasting impact on the readers. The colors should not be jarring and should suit the profile of your company