The absolute most valuable information we can depart to you in regard to creating a Basketball Newsletter for your program is that you can build it in any shape or form you desire. You are the creator, the editor in chief! We are now in the 8th year of publishing Full Court Press. There is not enough space to tell you the response we have had in that short amount of time.So why have a newsletter? First and foremost, it is a tremendous way to let those who have played for you in the past know that they are still a part of the “family”. Practically every great program that we know about, regardless of the level of play, is dripping in tradition. Utilizing tradition to help your program means you must find ways to link the past with the future. At LSU, we send newsletters to every former player, manager, student trainer, and assistant coach that have been a part of Lady Tiger Basketball. We also send them to the parents of all those listed above. In fact, a great portion of our response comes from those parents. Also on the mailing out list are key members of our administration as well as supporters of our basketball program. It has also been a major component to our Fast Break Club, which is our booster organization. Our newsletter is a great means of addressing the issues of our program to those who support us.
The newsletter is also a great way to promote your program in a wide variety of ways. You can promote events that your program is sponsoring, such as fundraisers, games, banquets, etc. We also use our newsletter to promote the Lady Tiger philosophy, which deals largely with attitude and its importance in becoming successful in life.
For instance, in our newsletter we always have an inspirational quote on the bottom of the first page titled, “Thought of the Month” which deals totally with a motivational thought. At times, we will also add other motivational items that we want to share with our “family”.
How do we create a newsletter? It’s actually very easy — if you allow it to be! We already added some color in the banner of our newsletter. In our 2nd year, we wanted to spice it up a little bit. However, it’s important for you to understand that our first newsletter wasn’t nearly as nice as the one we are turning out now. Just as in coaching basketball, it is critical to keep it simple. Our first newsletter had no photos and very little art. The important thing for you is to just get started. You also can add on, and spruce it up as you go.
Without question, a computer is a major advantage for a newsletter but don’t think you can’t get by without one. Still, if you don’t have one available to your program, there will be someone who does that would probably love to put the copy in newsletter form for you. Possibly a student in your school or someone on your faculty. Talk them into doing the newsletter on the computer for you and give them a credit each issue. For simplicity, we do our newsletter on a computer but then run off our copies on our copying machine. The color comes from pre-printed stock that we put in the copy machine. Obviously you can’t do the same things that you can with a computer but coaching usually brings out the best of your imagination in the most difficult of times.
How often should we print an issue? One of the first questions to ask yourself is how often do you publish a newsletter. The answer to this one is easy — as often as you want or feel it would be beneficial to your goals and needs. We choose to publish once a month. We have the information monthly to go out as well as the time and manpower to meet our objectives. But again, it’s your call. You might choose to go out bi-monthly (6 times a year); you might decide to go seasonally- spring, summer, fall, and winter; you could go out twice a year or even once a year. These are all answers for you to decide and there are no wrong ones.
We tried to put our newsletter together by using some very common principles to make it as attractive as possible. Here are some areas that have been successful for us that might also be of help to you.
Personalize your newsletter as much as possible. It is an old maxim in journalism that anyone will read a newspaper with their name printed in it. We use several angles to involve players’ names. One way is to list former players’ birthdays for that particular month. Each month we also have a feature titled “Where Are They Now” that we use to update the readers on past players and what they are doing these days. We also have a segment called “Getting To Know Your Lady Tigers,” which is about current players in the program and things they have accomplished or are involved in.
Use short quick hitters. Most newspapers actually use what they call “word count quotas”. This means that each article in the newspaper has a certain number of words that it cannot extend. Few wordy articles are ever read while short quick hitters are read by up to 90%. In our newsletter, the quick hitters include Thought of the Month, Alumni Update, Did You Know, and In The SEC.
Talk to your readers. This is hard for most newspapers to do, but very easy with a newsletter- especially one that is directed to a select audience. We use a personal letter from Coach Chancellor to the reader titled “Dear Friends & Family”. We take this space to send a personal message, just as if it were an actual letter to the reader. It is almost always something along the motivational line.
Use comedy/cartoons. Another prospect we are exploring is the use of cartoons. There is a service that you can subscribe to that provides cartoons for newsletters. Almost everyone will stop to read a cartoon. Another possibility is a “Joke of the Month”.
Utilize quizzes and contests. About twice a year we run a segment titled “Did You Know? Test Your LSU Basketball Knowledge”. In this section, we have trivia questions about our basketball program. We usually run 4-5 questions and add the answer at the bottom of the article. We have thought about once a year having a trivia contest where the winner would win an LSU item, such as a sweatshirt. Reader participation items are always a big hit, as well as a way of extending positive facts about your program to those who are reading.
Accentuate the positive. Newsletters are one of the best ways to spread good will and promote the positive aspects of your program. Good PR is often hard to come by for athletic programs but you are in complete control of what you want your readers to read. Spread the good news about your program. It’s a tremendous way to get people enthusiastic about what you have done as well as what you are about to do.
Use the newsletter as Advertising. Having a fundraiser next month? Want to let others know about your basketball banquet? Starting a season ticket drive and want to let everyone know how they can help? Whatever you need to let anyone know, the newsletter is the perfect medium.
Take advantage of the mail out. We used to send our newsletter in envelopes. That way we can add anything we want in the envelope with the newsletter. For instance, we always send out schedule cards with the November newsletter. Sometimes we may also send a motivational pass out along with the newsletter.
Email the mail. We now send our newsletter out in a PDF format via email. It allows us to utilize a lot more color and there is no printing or postage expenses and we can literally email them to everyone but recruits.
A newsletter will create more than you can ever imagine. For a copy of our newsletter, email me at rstarke@lsu.edu and I will email you a copy of our newsletter.
