Putting Together a Teen Newsletter

It’s not easy to stay in contact with teens. From my experience they rarely look at the seasonal activity guides, rarely search out recreation programs through the parks and recreation department (YMCAs on the other hand do a pretty good job), and rarely, if ever, visit the city website.

So what’s an organization to do?

Email a monthly newsletter, that’s what.

The first thing you need to do is gather email addresses. Here are 4 ways to get ‘em:

1. Take them from your existing registered customers. If you have an online registration system like ActiveNet or Class you should be able to quickly gather an email list of parents with teens.
2. Ask the local middle schools or look in their directories. You may just get physical addresses. If that’s the case send postcards to those families asking them to opt-in to the newsletter on your website.
3. Place an opt-in on your website. When parents go to your site you want them to be able to request your teen newsletter. If you have an opt-in parents can leave their name and email address and click “submit” to be automatically added to your list. All you need is an email management system like Constant Contact or Aweber.
4. Collect email addresses at special events. Provide a sign up sheet on a clipboard for people to add their email addresses to.

Now that you are building an email list it’s time to create your newsletter. Where do you start? If you use Constant Contact or Aweber they have a number of templates that you can use to build your newsletter. I highly suggest you take advantage of them.

I have see recreation departments use Word or Publisher to create their own newsletter. Not one of them looked professional. If you’ve taken the time to gather email addresses then take the time to create a nice and professional looking newsletter to send out.

Here are things I put in my monthly teen newsletters…

1. A note from the teen coordinator.
2. Upcoming events and classes.
3. Wrap-ups of past events and classes along with a few pictures.
4. Reviews of websites, books and movies that teens may be interested in.
5. A story of one of the local teens (sports accomplishment, community service work, school accomplishment, etc.)
6. Advice or suggestions (study tips, sports tips, health and fitness tips, biking tips, stc.)
7. A link to a funny video.
8. A joke.

I add a lot of color and pictures as well. I want the newsletter to be informative but also fun to read.

A word on email management systems. Do not use an excel spreadsheet to keep track of all your emails. Why? When you send out emails from your work system there is a good chance that a lot of the emails will get caught in other people’s spam filters. If you decide to send only 10 emails at a time to try and avoid this you’ll be wasting a lot of time. Also, your readers should have a way to opt-out of yoru newsletter if they want to.

Make things easier with Constant Contact or Aweber. There are other email management systems out there but these two have been around a long time and are highly respected and used by many companies. I have used both of them and, while I use Constant Contact, they both have their pros and cons.

1. Both have really good templates. Awebers templates are a bit better and a bit more flexible.
2. Your emails will get through spam filters with each of them.
3. I can add emails from other sources (like a clipboard at an event) and Constant Contact won’t ask customers to click on any links for permission. They already gave you permission by writing it on your list. Aweber won’t do that. Aweber insists on getting permission again.
4. Both of them make it really easy to add an opt-in to your website. Aweber has some really neat opt-in designs.
5. Constant Contact’s site is easier to navigate. However, Aweber has a number of videos to help you set-up your email campaign and more.
6. They both have great customer service.
7. Constant Contact gives you a free 60 day trial. Aweber gives you your first month for $1.

No matter which one you use, get a teen newsletter together to help pump up your programs. It will be well worth it. The above links are both affiliate links, since they are both companies I believe in and feel comfortable recommending.