Topic: Any stats on printed newsletters placed on resident doors?

I am guessing that there is no way to track this, but I thought I would throw it out there, and also see what you all think about using printed newsletters. On the one hand, they seem so outdated, but on the other, I think there are still some strong arguments for using printed newsletters. For example, they absolutely have to be handled longer than 1 second, at least to be put in the trash, if anything. Compare that to email newsletters, where they can be deleted without opened with a simple click. Second, if you look at it as a percent of the total distribution medium, it is incredibly high. People might get a couple of menus or coupons placed on their door over the course of the week, so on any given day, a printed newsletter is probably 50-100% of that distribution medium, which means basically no competition. Compare that to email, where a newsletter is just one of a multitude of items the resident has to sift through. It reminds me of someone several years ago who said that fax marketing was still really effective for him, well after faxes became essentially obsolete. The thinking was that even though people generally didn't use them anymore, that actually helped because it meant his fax was the only one sitting there, and would almost guarantee it was read.

On the flip side, printed newsletters are much more expensive than email newsletters, both in printing cost and distribution cost, and maybe my assumption that they are read more often is completely wrong.

What do you all think - do newsletters get higher readership because the competition is lower for the resident's attention? And if so, could it still be a good way to engage residents?

UPDATE: I've been thinking more about this in relation to how this is an "old fashioned" medium, and whether that automatically disqualifies it... When we think about younger generations and their use of media, we are talking about how they seek out information. But this is different in that the media sought out the resident. The media is already in their hands, literally. So even if they are tied to their smart phone, does that preclude them from reading the paper in their hand? I don't know, but I thought I would add this thought.

I LOVE newsletters and this is no secret. I LOVE the newsletters I create with personalized content directly related to a specific property. Those have always been highly regarded by residents and they like them enough to ask for copies to send to parents, etc. because they have been featured in an issue. They are not old fashioned, in my opinion. Newsletters are just another means of communicating with your residents. Recently, our properties went without notice from the printed and delivered newsletter to an online fail. I pointed out that several people on our property have NO EMAIL so they wouldn't even see a newsletter. Fell on deaf ears. Residents will read a newsletter whichever way it is delivered (when received) in my experience if the content is all about them and their community, not some prefab dribble sent because no one on the team had the time or wanted to make the time to write engaging, fun content.

Would you care to share some of your newsletters Mindy?

I use newsletters hung on residents' doors all the time. I try to make them fun and artistic so that they are engaging. Also, often times I would ad a few lines right smack dab in the middle of page 2 that said something along the lines of "if you have read the newsletter this far then you now have the chance to win $20-30! Call or stop by the office before 4 pm (add date here) and register to win the $30 drawing". Those who had read that far would call and register. Sometimes I would make it super fun by telling them they had to repeat the catch phrase which was usually something really ridiculous like, "the cat ran away with the geraniums". It was hilarious because I would get messages on the phone that would say, "This is Lisa in #22 and the cat ran away with the geraniums". After we would pull the winner and award the money (often times I simply used my own money) I would post the winner of the $20 and those who had not read the newsletter would be lost and wondering what they missed. People began to catch on......now most everyone makes sure to read the newsletter "just in case" it is a "money" letter. Be careful though because if you go too many months with no money they lose interest.

I completely agree with Mindy. I have done printed newsletters I create for my communities (3 in total) for over 5 years now. In the rare occurrence I had a huge project, fell ill, etc., my residents were disappointed when they were late or I had to combine months. Residents of all ages at my communities look forward to seeing who is celebrating anniversaries, birthday's, and the reminders of policies, local events, and so much more. By creating them myself, finding cost effective printing, and delivering them myself, the cost is actually pretty minimal when you consider the retention. (Mind you my communities are subsidized, so I have next to nothing in my budget for retention/marketing efforts.) I have polled my residents a few times about offering the same newsletter in email form and I have always gotten the same response (NO WAY - They want it in printed form). I have attached a sample of the newsletter I put together for March 2017.

I LOVE the idea of doing a catchy phrase and give away!!

We offer printed newsletters twice a year for our residents. It's a great way to remind them of our rules and regulations, print out reviews of our property, and remind them of our resident referral program. We also always include a sheet for our residents to fill out to update their information (things like: phone number, email address, car, etc). They have an incentive to fill our the resident form because they'd automatically be entered into a drawing to win $25 off their next month's rent. We usually have a pretty good turn around - about 55% of our residents participated in the drawing.

Our residents get to decide what things they get to see in their newsletter. Our most popular requests are for word searches or word scrambles and local events (especially popular among our new residents who are new to our city).

Great question Brent.

We use a hybrid model of printed newsletters that get posted and digital distribution via opt-in request. That way, we allow our residents to choose how they want to receive the information. Some folks want the information right there in their hand, or come to rely on the calendar of events we have posted on the back. Others just want to see if there's anything that matters to them (the monthly doughnut day notice is a big attention-getter!).

It requires just a bit more paperwork and legwork on my part to facilitate who gets the newsletter by which method, but in the end it's all about customer service: how do I take this staple of the industry and make it something they have a say in?