We’ve written about two ingredients of effective newsletters, hard news and genuinely useful information. Here’s a third: emotional appeals that lift the spirits.
In a recent Webinar about putting more zing into newsletters, Kivi Leroux of NonprofitMarketingGuide.com encouraged publications managers to look for stories about overcoming adversity and going on to achieve a triumph.
I saw a great example. If you go to the Web site of the Humane Society of America, you’ll see “From Tragedy to Triumph,” the story of 11-year-old Haley Ham of Tennessee, whose two dogs died after slurping up some antifreeze. Haley turned her despair into action, writing to a local legislator and urging him to fight for a bill that would require antifreeze sold in Tennessee to contain a bittering agent. The legislator responded by proposing that very legislation, which the Humane Society is now urging state lawmakers to pass.
Who could fail to be stirred? Readers all relish stories that follow a path from adversity to redemption. Those stories might even get them involved in a cause and motivated to effect change.
The Humane Society, meanwhile, also marries effective advocacy journalism to savvy use of technology. Haley Ham’s story contains hyperlinks to the Humane Society Youth page and “antifreeze poisoning.”
Read the full story here. Learn more about Kivi Leroux at www.ecoscribe.com or at www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com.
