I’m not usually one to advocate for more command information. PAOs spend too much time creating content to talk to ourselves, rather than plugging into the mission and talking about something important.
On the other hand, you should start a weekly newsletter for your organization. Especially if you are a new PAO or are rekindling a defunct Public Affairs program – a weekly newsletter will do a few important things for your organization:
- Shove command priorities down peoples’ throats.
- Announce the Public Affairs Office makes professional, tangible things on the cheap.
- Remind people of stories’ power. Entertain and delight your organization’s members.
Keep it short. We went with a 200-250 word max article on the front, and another 150-200 word column from one of our units or staff directorates on the back. You can pull together a big feature photo, Q&A with staff leader, or relevant Army.mil article to fill up the rest of the space. Since you’re a busy PA shop, you’ll have more trouble trimming content than finding it.
Make the design simple, and professional without spending hours on the design process. Since you care about branding and a professional image, you won’t take the shortcut to use Publisher, PowerPoint, or any Microsoft product. Use Adobe InDesign, the professional standard, but there’s no reason the design needs to be complex or flashy. Let the content speak for itself.
This is a weekly reflection of your command’s relentless focus on mission. This is not the PAO Newsletter or an opportunity for you to justify your existence.
Print it in color on cardstock paper. People like tangible products. Don’t spend time designing a 8.5″ x 11″ portrait PDF just so people can read it through a 20″ x 15″ landscape lightbulb. The Internet is fine for some things, but nothing beats sending a printed document home to Mom.
Put it in the shitters. No joke, Dave B. and I bought document holders and stuck them in every toilet stall in our seven-story headquarters building. Every Friday night when most folks had left, we walked the halls, cleaned the trash and toilet paper rolls out of each holder, and added a couple copies of the week’s newsletter. Of course, we had a few set out at the main entrance, too.
Absolutely don’t make it the only, or even the main, thing your team does. Your weekly newsletter should be a byproduct of your relentless commitment to mission and lasting impact. When your commander asks you what the PAO team did in the past week, your answer should not be “well, we made the newsletter.” The newsletter happens because you make so many other things happen.
(Photo by Sgt. Jarred Woods, DVIDS)
