Pitching a Newsletter to Your Boss
A visitor to the Manager’s Guide website reported that she had developed plans to start a newsletter for her organization; so far, so good.
But, now she was being asked to attend a meeting with a senior manager, and others, to discuss the newsletter. She wanted to know what to do to prepare for the meeting, and what she should do while at the meeting.
This is an edited version of my response to her; it has been changed to make it applicable to all types of newsletters, and not just employee newsletters, as originally written.
First of all…
Congratulations on getting this far. You have made a start that’s good enough to get the attention of someone who can make a newsletter proceed, or prevent it from getting started at all.
Consider, too: Although you might not be a newsletter expert, you now probably know more about the subject than they do. Plus, you are willing to do something about communication that they likely want done.
This means they’ll want to be on your side, hoping you can do it. After all, they have something to gain, too, and should be willing to help. So, even if the questioning is tough, don’t shrink from it, they probably want you to succeed.
At the meeting:
If I were in your place, I would look at this meeting as a chance to ask a lot of questions, to ensure the newsletter aligns with their expectations.
This approach also takes much of the anxiety out of the meeting, because you will be engaging in a discussion, rather than making a presentation. You are asking for their help and consulting with them, rather than asking for a Yes or No response to a request.
At the start of the meeting, explain that you have been developing the concept, why you came up with the idea, and that you want to develop a consensus about the objectives and operations before publishing. Therefore, you would like to ask questions that would help you understand their needs and interests.
A couple of key questions might be:
- If you were publishing this newsletter, what would your objectives be?
- Would you mind if I wrote a memo to customers, or fellow employees, or other stakeholders asking them what they would want from a newsletter?
- What information would management like to deliver through the newsletter?
If you have time after these three questions, I would ask three more:
- Would you like to be involved in outlining the content of the first couple of issues (Probably at another meeting)?
- Would you be willing to be a member of the editorial board for the newsletter? [This would involve a meeting of 1 to 2 hours before work begins on each issue)?
- Would you mind if I researched newsletters from other organizations like ours?
You may have a few questions of your own, of course, and will probably want to ask them now, if you haven’t done so already.
After getting your answers, tell them that you will spend some time further developing the ideas you have for the newsletter, and that you will prepare and distribute a report to them in the near future. Then, if they wish, you can meet with them again to finalize plans.
In my opinion, the important thing at this meeting is to ask questions. That allows them to buy into the newsletter and become its ’step-parents.’ It also gives you a chance to find out about the political issues the newsletter faces. And, quite frankly, political issues are extremely important for newsletters.
Their questions
You also should be prepared to answer questions from them as well. Likely questions include:
- How much staff time will this take?
- What will it cost, in out-of-pocket costs or new costs?
- When would you expect to start?
Finally, you want to give some thought before the meeting to the benefits a newsletter might produce. At this point it probably doesn’t make much sense to try to put a dollar value on them, but you should be able to say what benefits you envision.
