Creating a HOA newsletter that is physically mailed to your members is a powerful way to reinforce a sense of community among your members. Unfortunately, such publications are often time-consuming and can become bulky with too much information, or so burdensome and predictable that your association members stop reading it altogether.
Here are 10 tips for your HOA newsletter that will help to engage everyone in your community.
1. Have an Eye-Catching Design
When homeowners receive your newsletter, the first thing they’re going to see is the design — which is why it’s essential that it appears clean, interesting, and pops! Here are a few ways to give your newsletter a professional flair and a visually pleasing appearance:
- Use your logo – feature it prominently to catch the eye
- Use your logo’s colors as the primary color scheme
- Create cohesive style by using elements, like fonts, bullet points and line styles consistently. This will make your publication look clean and sophisticated.
Often times, HOAs don’t have the time to design their own newsletter or would rather have experienced professionals, like Page Per Page, do it for them. With decades of experience working with community associations, Page Per Page can help you to create newsletters that are aesthetically pleasing and cohesive with your brand. Additionally, they can print and mail your newsletters for you, saving you time and resources.
2. Keep it Short and Sweet
Your members are busy people, which is important to keep in mind when creating your newsletter. Avoid overwhelming them with volume by keeping your newsletter informative, but concise only including stories to pique the reader’s interest.
If there are more details on a specific topic, include a phone number or website address within the newsletter to provide more information for those interested. Additionally, for more pertinent news, like assessments or an upcoming meeting reminder, including an insert separate from the newsletter is a great way to grab a reader’s attention without over-saturating your newsletter.
3. Add an Element of Fun
When putting your HOA newsletter together, make it fun and interesting so that people will enjoy reading it! You can easily add an element of fun by including human interest aspects that encourage participation by community members.
Here are some suggestions to consider:
- Introduce a board member – feature a new member in each publication
- Feature an employee with his/her picture
- A seasonal recipe submitted by a member
- Holiday decorating tips
- Home maintenance tips
- Seasonal gardening or landscaping to-do list
- Create a poll or survey giving member’s a wish list of things to accomplish
- Add a “This month in History” section about your town or region
4. Feature Events Happening Around Town
Another tip for crafting your HOA newsletter is to include local events. This creates an added section that’s informative and actionable for your members that may help increase readership. Additionally, consider including local news stories that may be relevant.
Look into your local news sites, Visitor Information Center, Chamber of Commerce, or local event websites for things like:
- Concerts
- Music and food festivals
- Arts in the Park
- Car Shows
- Sporting Events or Charity Runs
You may also want to consider segmenting the events into categories, such as family-friendly, date night, adult only, and so on.
5. Highlight Members
Highlighting homeowners is a great way to promote community involvement and increase readership. By featuring individual member accomplishments, you have the opportunity to engage readers and encourage camaraderie within the community. Consider including things like:
- Volunteerism (inside or outside the community)
- Award recipients
- Major job promotions
- Anniversaries
- Birth announcements
6. Use Photos and Graphics
Photos and graphical elements are useful tools to help make your publication visually pleasing. Additionally, charts and graphs can help convey a message that is easier to digest than text. For example, if you need to show financial comparisons, a graph can more clearly display the association’s standings without the need to include long write-ups. Additionally, during busy months, consider including an event calendar to highlight changes to the holiday maintenance or trash removal schedule.
A few rules of thumb for photos and graphics:
- Use charts are big enough to read
- Include clear and high-resolution pictures
- Utilize eye-catching colors
7. Include Reminders
Keeping your members up-to-date on important meetings and association business can make your job infinitely easier. Especially, if you’re in the midst of learning how to start an association! Informed members have a better chance at attending meetings and come better prepared to discuss business matters.
Include reminders about meeting dates and elections in your newsletter to make sure they are top of mind for members. You may also want to consider including reminders for any upcoming HOA assessments so members aren’t surprised.
8. Encourage Participation
Ever thought of inviting your community to contribute to the newsletter with their own articles or photos? Not only does such participation simplify the job of creating the newsletter for management, but it also creates some excitement and anticipation from the members. Some ideas for member input might include:
- Articles addressing community decisions
- Community play dates
- Block Party announcements
- Photos from holiday events like Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Halloween
9. Put Yourself in the Readers’ Shoes
When you’re putting your HOA newsletter together, think about the people who are reading it. They likely won’t read something that sounds dry and looks disorganized. Consider making the overall tone and voice of the newsletter positive and congratulatory. Filling a newsletter with rules, violations, and warnings does not attract readers – it can actually repel them. When members are encouraged, however, they are more likely to take pride in their association, seeing the community as an investment that’s paying off in real ways.
10. Be Consistent
Once you’ve sent out your HOA newsletter, keep it going! Continually send it monthly or quarterly so that members can expect its arrival. With consistent sending and interesting content, readership can benefit greatly.
Create a Beautiful HOA Newsletter with Page Per Page
Newsletters can be the glue that lends a sense of commonality to your association. Ensuring that each one is expertly designed and consistently sent out is crucial to ensuring readership.
With Page Per Page’s vast experience with HOAs and community associations, they can regularly design, print and even mail your HOA newsletters for you so you don’t have to!
Ensure higher newsletter open rates with the help of Page Per Page.
