Production of a newsletter gives your branch the opportunity to tell members in your area about the good work you are doing locally. This might include stories about local campaigns, project updates, or support you have given to a restoration project. It also provides a way to let members know what events you have planned. 

Content created for the newsletters can be repurposed elsewhere to raise awareness of your work with new audiences in other ways. For example, events and branch stories can also be added to your website pages, and social media channels, if you have them. You might use email channels to distribute updates more frequently to members with email addresses. 

One IWA – One Voice

Content curated for newsletters should be edited to have a consistent and distinguishable tone of voice. It is how people get to know our personality and form an idea of who we are and what we stand for. IWA’s tone of voice is:

• Honest 
• Confident
• Energised 
• Authoritative
• Respectful
• Straight-talking

See our brand guidelines for more information. 

Text provided by third parties should be edited to become part of our story. For example, if a restoration group shares an update about the restoration of a bridge or a lock, you might think about:

• If the copy has been submitted in the first person, changing it to be in the third person
• Whether the branch or IWA has contributed to the lock or bridge – this might be through a donation, or funding of a feasibility study in the past, or engineering advice from one of our honorary consultants through the restoration hub, environmental survey or a Waterway Recovery Group Canal Camp or weekend dig. 

The key thing is to remember that this communication is for IWA members, and to think about how you want them to feel about your branch and IWA when they receive it.