One week at a time: building a superior newsletter.

Through a weekly newsletter, a small association can offer reporters a steady diet of reliable news and have them lining up for more when they need facts fast.

Not a replacement for the typical membership monthly, a weekly newsletter must strictly adhere to reporters' criteria for timely, accurate information. Save reports of the association's social activities for another publication and reserve lengthy research pieces and in-depth analyses for monthly or quarterly issues. A weekly must focus on newsworthy events if it is to serve as the pass-key to media coverage.

The key to gearing a weekly to the press is carefully monitoring the editorial content for concise, targeted news. Filling copy space for a weekly is demanding. But if you allow just one issue of fluff, assignment editors will pass over your publication the next time it lands on their desks.

Even the smallest associations have ample sources for the "hard" news reporters seek. Identify useful information that only our association can gather.

Tapping copy resources

The 700-member California Independent Petroleum Association, Yorba Linda, with a staff of seven, cultivates a reputation as the West Coast's source for petroleum price information by charting crude oil prices from all companies to which their members sell. This information is reported in CIPA's weekly, Monday Morning Report, which started more than 10 years ago as a regular memo to the board of directors and has evolved into a four-page newsletter in three years.

Even if statistics are available elsewhere, your association can add a new element by graphically comparing them, showing prices against production, for example, and drawing conclusions or forecasting.

By guaranteeing members' confidentiality, CIPA also gathers production statistics on an industrywide basis. Beware, however, of surveying members without requiring some identification--you at least must be able to verify the facts they report.

"The members trust us not to release confidential information," CIPA Executive Vice President Tom Hunt says, "and we are careful to maintain that trust."

Consider identifying a fictitious "typical" member by describing his or her successes and problems. Stories about typical members are especially powerful if you have "mom and pop" type members, who make for more interesting news than a large conglomerate. It's often difficult to find common ground among diverse members, but a generalization can be a useful device that leads to concrete examples.

Maintain a clipping file on all members. Expand on any who have received special press coverage. Local newspaper accounts of a CIPA member's battle with property tax assessors offered the association a block-buster opportunity to publicize the need for industrywide tax incentives. In the same vein, when news coverage focuses on the entire industry or profession, develop articles about a specific member to personalize the issue.

Become a forum for industry debate by inviting guest articles. Legislators are an excellent source for a point-counterpoint series. With your help, these articles are likely to be picked up by local papers in the legislator's home district. Find out which federal or state legislators are members of committees that hear issues affecting your association's field, then contact their press representatives or legislative aides.

If the association campaigns for an issue, let members editorialize. Be wary, however, of airing an in-house disagreement and always insist on factual accuracy by personally checking all facts and quotes.

Ask members to forecast the profession's achievements, the association's progress, or the industry's economic influence in the coming year or five years. Especially effective when timed to follow the announcement of a breakthrough, forecasts can also be enhanced by public opinion surveys or segments of your association's long-range plan. CIPA tapped committee members for a series of articles about the petroleum industry in the '90s. A "looking back-looking forward" series is always appropriate at the start of a new year.

Maximize your internal resources. Regularly interview committee chairs--their pet projects could mean big news for the association. Ghostwrite articles for them and the association's president. Make every effort to write with an eye toward the "big picture" by drawing connections to society or to the economy in your state, region, or the nation.

With clear, concise copy in hand, the next challenge is consistently producing a polished finished product.

Production nuts and bolts 

To regularly meet the rapid turn-around demands of a weekly publication, some associations produce camera-ready copy in-house using desktop publishing software like Ventura Publisher or Aldus PageMaker.

Desktop publishing programs combine graphics with word processing to produce copy that, when laser printed, is barely distinguishable from typeset copy. The biggest advantage to desktop systems is accessibility.

Changes to typeset final copy are difficult and time-consuming. In-house computers are flexible and can easily accommodate modifications right up to press time.

Laptop computers are another worthwhile consideration. They enable association communicators to write articles while meetings are still in progress and to quickly feed the information into the desktop publishing system at the home office.

At CIPA, weekly production consumes about 40 percent of the communication manager's time and 10 percent of two other staff members' time. The camera-ready original is prepared in-house on a personal computer and then printed by a quick-printer who delivers 1,000 copies within 24 hours. Before finding a printer who could rapidly print, fold, and label the copies, CIPA prepared two pages of the newsletter one day (one side of an 11- by 17-inch format) and finished the other two pages a day later.

CIPA worked its deadline schedule backward from the delivery date. A first-of-the-week delivery date necessitates that final printed copies be mailed first class before noon on Friday. With a quick-printer capable of 24-hour turn-around, camera-ready copy can be completed by Thursday morning, which allows production flexibility and inclusion of the latest information. In-house photocopying can extend deadlines but is labor intensive, requiring staff members to copy, fold, and label the newsletters.

Once deadlines are set, it is up to the newsletter editor to enforce them, particularly with staff outside the communication department who are involved in the final product. Deadlines are especially important on weeklies; consistent, high-quality content hinges on the timely inclusion of current material.

Mistakes do occasionally happen. Don't hesitate to correct errors in the next week's issue. Be accessible and encourage reporting of any inaccuracies--it's better to correct them than to leave them "on the record." Increase accessibility by publishing the editor's name and telephone number in each edition of the newsletter.

Expenses increase when you change to a weekly from a monthly; associations can expect to incur increased costs in paper, printing, postage, and staff time. These costs can be more than recouped, however, by generating publicity and taking advantage of several other less obvious benefits.

Membership benefits

Far more than a vehicle for garnering media attention, a weekly publication is a great membership solicitation tool and member service. "The Monday Morning Report is probably the most visible service we provide," notes Hunt. "We keep the association's name on members' desks each and every Monday morning. They know their money is working, and they've come to rely on CIPA for news of the petroleum industry."

Education is a second "benefit" of a weekly publication. Start a list of complimentary copies for elected and appointed officials, the press, and other associations. Target your educational efforts for maximum impact.

For example, find out which staff members of the legislators on your complimentary list work on issues important to your association. Add their names to your list. Articles that are lively, easy to read, and provocative may encourage legislators and reporters to focus on key issues affecting the association. It is infinitely easier to get reporters to include your association's perspective when they understand your organization's issues and feel confident about the accuracy of information you provide.

By positioning your association as a media resource, you may also learn of negative press coverage before it runs. Reporters writing investigative pieces will be likely to call the association first, alerting staff to potential public relations disasters.

In such instances, boost your credibility by putting reporters in touch with people who offer an opposing view. Be sure, however, that you've told them your complete story first and have given reporters the facts they need for a balanced article.

The high profile your association maintains through a weekly publication will feed itself. As your credibility and reputation grow, so will the number and caliber of authors interested in contributing copy. Ultimately you may want to sell advertising, a significant source of nondues income.

Getting a weekly off the ground is not without its share of headaches and heartaches. Maintaining high quality in form and content is extremely demanding. Even the best planned issue can be disastrously marred by a rushed proofreader who failed to catch the "$100" that should have been "$100,000."

One way to minimize the tedium and reduce staff tension is to demand flawless design and content every fourth issue rather than every week. Without relaxing quality control, staff can execute that spectacular layout once a month while putting together accurate, if less dazzling, issues the other three weeks.

Becoming a media resource can have its hidden pitfalls. By consistently forecasting and reporting crude oil prices, CIPA once found itself in an unenviable position. As CIPA reported an expected downturn in pricing, companies that bought oil from members cited CIPA news reports as reasons they should lower prices--the forecasts thus became a detrimental self-fulfilling prophecy. CIPA addressed the problem by emphasizing that its forecasts were speculative as all forecasts are. It also offered a disclaimer indicating that the forecasts were not necessarily the beliefs of its members.

A strong commitment to accuracy and strong editorial content will help ensure a weekly's success. Soon, reporters will come knocking and those friendly phone calls to local editors with pleas for fairer press coverage will be but a memory. You might even find time between issues to savor your success.

Melissa Caresosa is the former communication manager for the California Independent Petroleum Association, Yorba Linda. She recently joined the National Nutritional Foods Association, Costa Mesa, California, as communication coordinator.