Fine print: customized newsletters and magazines are a cost-effective way for a bank to get its message across. Below are the ABCs of publishing periodicals.

• Author: DiPaolo, Vince
• Position: Fundamentals

Producing a bank-to-customer newsletter or magazine is effective way to communicate with a target audience. Sometimes referred to as "custom" publications, such printed material can increase your institution's visibility, speed up the sales cycle, help to cross-sell additional product lines and boost client retention.

Here's what you need to do to produce a custom publication.

Step 1: Decide whether to publish internally or to seek assistance from an outside provider.

Once you've decided that a custom publication makes sense for your bank, you need to decide how you will get your client newsletter or magazine produced. Some banks rely on internal staff, while others hire companies that specialize in producing bank-sponsored newsletters and magazines.

There are advantages to both options. Banks that produce their publication internally maintain a greater degree of control over the look and content of their publication. On the other hand, banks that outsource benefit from the broader level of knowledge about industry issues and more professional production services generally available from publication providers. The latter banks also free up significant staff resources--resources that otherwise would be tied up in producing your client publication--to focus on bank core functions like customer service and product development.

The decision ultimately comes down to which alternative enables you to produce the most effective client briefing publication. Here are some factors that impact the effectiveness of your client magazine or newsletter:

Regular frequency. Industry experts suggest that a bank needs to maintain a frequency of quarterly or more to maintain visibility in the marketplace and an adequate "share of mind" of both retail and corporate consumers of banking services. Does your bank have the internal resources required to produce a newsletter from beginning to end and publish it four times per year?

Authoritative yet readable editorial content. For your newsletter to be credible and reflect well on your bank, its content needs to provide substantive information that provides real value to the reader. It needs to combine insights into the latest developments in the banking industry with an understanding of the wants and needs of your customers--whether they are retail consumers or business users. And your publication needs to be professionally written in a style that keeps readers coming back for more, edition by edition.

Professional appearance. The expression is true--you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. And it certainly applies to your client newsletter. Your custom publication needs to have an inviting look that causes the reader to stop and take notice of it when it crosses his or her desk, or when viewed online.

Client perspective. To be effective and credible, your client briefing needs to focus on the concerns of your clients. You need to really struggle against the impulse to produce a publication that is written for the interests of fellow bankers.

Step 2: If you decide to seek an outside provider, your next step...