Chances are your foundation and/or alumni office already publishes a printed newspaper on a regular basis. Now that you’ve done the hard part of pulling together great content that highlights your college’s success and the many people that support it, it makes sense to take the extra step of producing a digital version. For a little extra effort you can significantly increase readership and engagement among your alumni, donors, and volunteers.

1. Your Constituents Have Gone Digital

Content and media of all kinds is now specially formatted for consumption on mobile devices because that’s where people access much of the information they consume. Yes, you do have constituents that prefer to have a quality printed newsletter in their hands and I agree that you should keep sending them one. Having said that, the future is digital and the future is already here. You will engage a greater portion of your audience by providing them with a digital option.

2.  It Is Almost Free

Once you’ve done the setup work to create a distribution list and/or purchase an email marketing solution like MailChimp or Constant Contact, the rest can be automated over time. In addition, most third-party email platforms provide useful engagement analytics. Speaking of engagement . . .

3. Engagement, Engagement, Engagement

The greatest collateral in the world – regardless of whether it is print or digital – is meaningless if it doesn’t engage your audience and inspire them to take action. A digital newsletter allows you to increase engagement with embedded videos of students, links to additional information, social media widgets and more. By including these interactive features in your digital newsletter you allow the reader to opt-in to learning more about something that catches their eye in the moment.

Ultimately, a digital newsletter gives you a variety of ways to creatively share it and connect with your audience. A small investment of time and capital up-front will yield great results for your college, your students, and the communities you serve.