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| How do you communicate with your members? And how well do you communicate with your members? What do they want to know? What do you want them to know? |
| These are some of the most important questions private club general managers and boards of directors are asking themselves all the time. They want their members in the loop. They want to get around the grapevine…they want members to get the news from the horse's mouth, so to speak. |
| But are you getting the right message out to your members, and are they reading and listening to what's being said? There are many ways, formal and informal, to communicate with the club membership, ranging from annual meetings, special meetings, committee meetings, bulletin boards and of course today, the Internet. |
| In the private club industry, one of the most important, and it seems one of the most effective tools, even in the age of advancing technology, is the printed newsletter… a communications tool. But do clubs see the newsletter as a major marketing tool? |
| "Absolutely," says Dennis Conneally, CCM, general manager and COO of the San Diego Yacht Club. " |
| "In fact it has been the most reliable source for communicating to the general membership for many years. Since the advent of computers, faxes and email, there are now other forums for club managers to reach their members, especially target marketing. However, I find that there will always be a need for the good old fashioned print media, and no matter how advanced we get with technology, people rely on the club newsletter for most of their club information." |
| "Absolutely!" Liza Isacsson agreed. "Our newsletter is a combination of news and event promotion, with columns on current events, tennis tips, member-written columns and updates from the staff. Our centerfold contains advertisements and notices for upcoming events with times, prices, and entertainment," says Isacsson, CMP, membership/marketing director of the Altadena Town and Country Club, Altadena, CA. |
| "A regular newsletter, done right, becomes something members rely on for planning their time at the club. It's both expected and surprising - a mix of events they're used to seeing and looking forward to events and articles they've never seen before. |
| "The benefit for the club and its members is clear - members need to know what is happening here at the club, whether it's a social event or a major renovation, and the newsletter keeps all of our members on the same 'page, '" Isacsson explained. |
| Tom Gilbertson, general manager of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, says, "clearly the newsletter is a marketing piece because upcoming events are promoted and past events reviewed. It's a package that gives members of the NHYC coffee table bragging rights that also passes along information and allows us to communicate with our members." |
| While Andrea L. Curthoys, assistant manager of The Beach Club of Santa Monica views the newsletter as a "major marketing tool for the club," she says it serves a greater purpose. "It not only conveys information about pertinent happenings in the member community, it conveys the culture of our club," Curthoys suggested. |
| "We validate members whenever possible, we keep members informed rather than hiding from controversial subjects. We listen to members through our President's Suggestion Box and we give them dignity through a thoughtful response. The newsletter also gives up-to-date information on memberships, sponsoring candidates and the going prices of the equity for sale. The members benefit from the newsletter by becoming informed," she explained. |
| In many respects the benefits go beyond that of simply informing. |
| "They say knowledge is power, well, many a scuffle can be avoided by giving all of the facts. The benefit for the club is the trust it builds between the board, the general membership and the staff. The members trust that what they are reading is true and they gain trust in the organization for having strong values of honesty, forthrightness and integrity. It builds a strong community and a culture that integrates members with staff, " Curthoys opined. |
| So how does it all happen for various clubs? At the Altadena Town and Country Club, Liza Isaccson, the membership/marketing director, takes charge of the newsletter because it is one of the club's major marketing tools. "It's a primary news source for events at the club," she says. Articles are collected and assembled by her office. And as with most member-wide communications, the general manager of the club signs off on the newsletter before it is sent to the membership." |
| Conneally says clubs should use their newsletter "in a way that best communicates information to its members," and at the San Diego Yacht Club, with 1,900 members, the monthly magazine, the Mainsheet, is that vital "best way. Our office manager, who also serves as our membership secretary, is the one individual…responsible for collecting, writing and assembling all information for our monthly publication," Conneally says. "With her expertise in publishing, she is also responsible for the layout and design of the magazine." |
| There is also one member of the club who serves as editor of the magazine and has the ultimate responsibility for each publication. "It is always best to insist on a three-year commitment when selecting an editor so that there is consistency and continuity from year to year," Conneally explained. |
| It's Conneally's contention "the newsletter should always be reviewed by several knowledgeable members in your club before it is released to the membership." At his club, that's done with five volunteers. |
| At The Beach Club, the process develops somewhat differently, where the general manager and the assistant manager are "in charge" of the newsletter. The GM is responsible for creating a substantive periodical in a timely manner. |
| Curthoys, who functions as the marketing director and youth director in addition to her duties as assistant manager, is responsible for its production, packaging and delivery of the product. |
| "The general manager writes the newsletter almost in its entirety," Curthoys explained. He (general manager Gregg Patterson) collects and compiles all information. It is easy to funnel the collection of information through one or two sources, rather than relying on multiple writers to turn in their articles in a timely manner. With only one writer, the style and quality of what is written remains consistent throughout the entire publication. |
| "We make sure that topics of interest and some controversial issues are highlighted in the earlier parts of the newsletter, while lighter subject matters and fun articles are featured in the latter half," she explained. "This in-house task of formatting the newsletter is also a great way of proofing for errors and inconsistencies." |
| The Beach Club newsletter also involves the board of directors directly. "Although written by the GM, the newsletter is thoroughly proofed for content by the board of directors," Curthoys outlined. "The board acts as the editor and deletes, corrects and advises freely about all content. Once the board has approved each and every article in the newsletter and once the formatting has been complete, the president reviews it in its camera-ready form. A member who specializes in proofreading scours it for typographical errors and grammatically incorrect sentences. She does not proof for content," Curthoys added. Once revisions are made the general manager signs off and the cycle of another newsletter ends. |
| The San Diego Yacht Club has a multi-use 36-page magazine, formatted to report on four major areas including club business, club news, racing and sailing and departmental news. "We do not allow outside advertising to offset costs of the publication, however we do advertise and promote club wide events for our members." |
| As can be expected with printed packages, deadlines are among the biggest challenges. "Always the deadlines," says Newport Harbor's Gilbertson. |
| "Deadlines are always the most critical component to getting your newsletter out in a timely manner," Conneally added. "If your newsletter is not in the hands of your members by the first of the month for monthly issues, it is old news and is often perceived as less than professional." |
| "Publishing the most up-to-date information, while ensuring that it reaches our members on-time, is always a challenge," adds Isacsson. "Every page must be proofed, and event information is sometimes available only late in the month - but that's the nature of a monthly publication." Her Altadena club prints and distributes nearly 450 copies every month. It's produced in-house for two main reasons: Cost and control. Outsourcing, she maintains is too expensive, and the in-house production allows the club to control the newsletter, content and distribution. |
| "And the challenge is an important one. Our members look for their newsletter on the first of each month. If it's not out right away, we'll get phone calls on the second of the month from members concerned that they've missed it! |
| "A couple of challenges in publishing our newsletter are technology and time," Curthoys stressed. "With all of the other things that a club manager has to do, finding the time to sit and write is crucial. The manager's philosophy of paper-at-home, people-at-the-club keeps him organized with a routine of one article a day to build a really meaty publication. |
| "The time it takes to format the document can be extensive, as the board edits, deletes and sometimes adds articles to the document, reformatting adds time exponentially," she added. |
| "There are copiers out there that will go faster, print better, fold, staple, print in color, print on glossy etc, and this technology costs money. Technology has made it so the average marketing director can produce a 'professional' publication, but the technology can grow at such a rate, one cannot simply learn it fast enough," Curthoys expressed. |
| The San Diego Yacht Club has the ability to do layout and design work in house, but the club uses an "outside vendor for printing and a reputable mailing house for distribution" of the 36-page monthly magazine, Conneally explained. |
| "I would highly recommend outsourcing your newsletter unless you have a professional on staff who can produce a high quality publication. In-house newsletters often times look like they were done on a home computer and copied at the local Kinko's," Conneally opined. "Your newsletter should reflect your membership and your club culture. No matter how much you want to save on design fees and printing costs, in the long run it could cost you your image, which is not a good reflection on your club." |
| While these clubs mainly print their packages, some, like the Altadena club also make the newsletter available on the Internet through the club's website. |
| "We currently post specific articles on our website, but not our entire magazine," says the SDYC's Conneally. |
| However one of the club's goals is to eventually offer the newsletter "both electronically and in printed form to all members. As we move forward with upgrading our club's software, we look forward to expanding our internal club marketing and targeting special interest groups within the club," Conneally explained. "Another goal for our internal marketing is to cut down on blast e-mails and mass mailings and provide more targeted and specific information to our members that request it." |
| The Beach Club's members still get their newsletter in printed form. "Our members still want the hard copy of our newsletter. This is not strange to us. It's not because they are technophobes; it simply mimics the culture that's been created. We are a very personable club, with personal interactions and tactile services. Our members want to see, feel and read on paper our newsletter, which is the same reason why they want a real live person to answer the phones when they call, and they love being greeted by name from the security guard in the parking lot. |
| Despite the differences in how the clubs write and produce their newsletters, and in how they deliver the package, all are striving to meet goals each has established. |
| "Our primary goal is to provide accurate and timely information for our members," said Isacsson. "But we also want our newsletter to be more informative, more entertaining, more visually stimulating, more exciting - in short, we're meeting many of our goals, but our driving goal is to improve. And that goal means our best days are always ahead of us." |
| "We have a set of goals and we do meet them," Curthoys said. "These goals change from time to time but the underlying principles are what determine the style, readability and consistency of the information being conveyed. |
| "Overall, our newsletter holds up. It is factual, interesting and well written," Curthoys explained. "It keeps our members informed, further cultivates our club's culture and most of all…it is read, cover to cover by the entire membership," she concluded. |
| In Conneally's mind, there's another very important reason for the newsletter and that's membership retention. |
| "Many clubs have non-resident members or members who are geographically challenged and live a long distance from their club. In a survey I conducted several years ago while managing another yacht club, I found that 70 percent of non-resident members who resigned from the club annually, actually maintained their membership for an additional three years prior to resigning as a direct result of receiving their monthly newsletter," Conneally observed. |
| "Even though they very seldom came to the club, they found that the newsletter kept them connected with club activities a nd they, in turn, continued to pay their monthly dues. If for no other reason, monthly newsletters are a great way to retain members that might otherwise be thinking of resigning their club membership!" |
| Publisher's final thoughts |
| A newsletter with marketing in mind is the oxygen for your membership. Without marketing, you cut off the oxygen. It can be a lifeblood of the club! I believe a newsletter is one of the most important tasks a club does for its membership. It's an excellent way to keep your services in your members' minds. They build credibility and image. They should provide information and build relationships. And if you do a really professional-looking newsletter with marketing in mind, it should help your club increase member usage and generate more revenue, not be an expense. |
| A newsletter should not be for ego gratification or the broadcasting of management's or members' opinions. Its real purpose should be to build your club's image and a call to action for members to use the club. |
It should be a useful, effective marketing vehicle and containing information important to the members, not just promotional information about your services. Here are some hints:
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| I'm a firm believer in newsletters being created, written and managed by a marketing company or public relations firm because this responsibility should not be given to people without a marketing background. |
| The bottom line: A successful newsletter is a revenue generator, not an expense. At least, that's the way I see it. |
| What's your opinion. If you wish to respond to the Publisher's Perspective, or other BoardRoom articles, contact Publisher John G. Fornaro by email at john@apcd.com. |
| John Fornaro Publisher |