Let’s talk about newsletters.
If you’re looking to keep your members engaged on a regular basis, keep them informed of what’s going on at the club and help build a sense of belonging, then sending out a monthly email newsletter is a great place to start.
E-newsletters have a much higher engagement rate than other methods – in fact, it’s one of the best channels for developing a stronger relationship with your members.
Sending out newsletters online via email is also faster and cheaper (and safer during the pandemic!) than sending out physical copies in the post. They allow you to connect with your members regularly and keep them engaged with your club by bringing the latest updates and discussions directly to their inbox.
So you’ve decided you want to begin sending out a regular newsletter. What sorts of things should you include?
Sharing Latest News
A great place to start when deciding what to write about in your newsletter is to share the latest updates and goings-on at your club. Have you recently acquired new waters? Improved your facilities? If so, share the details with your members – they might’ve missed the news! Under the current climate, it’s a good idea to include how your club is following the slowly changing COVID-19 guidelines and the rules that members should be mindful of when they visit your venue.
Sharing updates like these will help keep your members in the loop and avoid any surprises when they come down to fish at your waters.
Upcoming Events & Matches
If you’re hosting upcoming matches, share the details in your newsletter with instructions on how to get involved. State whether it’s an open match or members-only, which water the match is being hosted at and include some photos from old matches to get people excited about it and show new competitors what to expect.
Share results from previous matches and invite your members to give their thoughts and commentary on your social media pages. In doing so, you’re allowing members to chat with each other and exchange tips for competing in future matches; which takes the conversation from their inbox to your club’s social media pages.
Share a Catch of the Month
Get your members to submit photos of their proudest catch from the last month and showcase the most impressive one(s) in your newsletter. It’ll help generate some friendly competition and build a sense of community among your members, along with showcasing the fish that people have the opportunity to catch when they visit your venue.
You could go one step further and reward your anglers for their achievements, (such as Angler of the Month) and reward them by sharing their accomplishments in this section of your newsletter.
Celebrate Milestones
Sharing growth milestones is a great way to celebrate your club’s accomplishments over the years, such as anniversaries, acquiring new waters or investing in stocking programs. Writing about them in your newsletter is a great way to share the celebration with your members and thank them for their support. It’s also a great way to let your members know about how you’re reinvesting their membership subscriptions back into the club. If they know about the hard work and investment the club are putting in, they’re less likely to be unhappy if subscription costs need to go up.
If your members or committee have any personal achievements that they would like to share with the club, you could accept submissions and include those too. Celebrating wins for both the club and its members is an effective way of spreading positivity, especially in these challenging times.
Ask for Feedback
A simple way to make your members feel like their input is valued is by asking them for their feedback, and what they would like to see from your club in the future. When members feel listened to, they begin to have positive connotations with your club and direct their good experience back at you. You won’t need to do it every month, but asking for feedback every so often makes sure your members are happy with the way things are going. They can simply reply to the email newsletter in their inbox, and you can go one step further and share positive experiences and testimonials in future newsletters and marketing materials.
Volunteer Opportunites
If you’re looking to expand your committee or need more volunteers to help with the day-to-day tasks at your club, your newsletter is the perfect platform to spread the word. You can include what your club needs help with, what duties the volunteer would take on and how often they would need to do it. If any of your readers are interested in providing a helping hand, they can reply to your email newsletter and put themselves forward.
Recommendations
This is your chance to share your expertise and make recommendations on anything from tackle to casting techniques, and anything else your members might find value in. It’s another opportunity to invite your readers to join in with the discussion and share their own experiences and suggestions.
FAQs
Including some brief FAQs is an easy way to make sure that your members aren’t missing important information about your club that isn’t necessarily news, particularly if there have been recent changes. Start with the basics, such as how to find your venue, parking information and whether you are accepting new memberships. Including a short FAQs section in your newsletter will prevent members from asking a lot of the same questions, and save you from answering them on your banks.
Providing a link to the Member Resources section of our help centre will help reduce the number of member queries you may get on how to access their online profile too.
Use newsletters to build member loyalty.
In summary, email newsletters are a fantastic way to regularly check in with your members and make sure they’re always aware of what’s going on at your angling club. The main goal of your email newsletters is to build conversation among your members and share content and news that your members find value in. In doing so, you’ll be creating a community of loyal members.
Creating a monthly newsletter can seem a little daunting at first, but hopefully, this post gave you a strong place to start. Remember, you don’t need to include every single one of these content ideas in every newsletter you send. Start with what you think your members will like, and see how they respond!