When it comes to newsletters, sometimes the name is just as important as the content inside. You want it to be fun, catchy, memorable – something your members will want to open and read through.

Now we’ll be the first to admit, naming can be tricky, so to help you out, here are four questions to ask yourself when embarking on the newsletter naming journey:

1. What’s the purpose of your newsletter?

This is always a good place to start when naming your association’s newsletter. What purpose does it serve? Is to provide news? Updates? Announcements? Quick snippets of information? You want the name of your newsletter to be at least somewhat indicative of the information inside.

2. How frequently do you send your newsletter?

Frequency is also a good characteristic to reference. How often do you send your association’s newsletter? Weekly? Monthly? Bi-monthly? That may be something you want to include in the name of your association’s newsletter. This sets member expectations, which is great for getting people in the habit of engaging with your organization.

Note: If you send your newsletter out on a specific day of the week, that may be something you want to play off in your naming scheme as well. For example, at MemberClicks, we send our internal newsletter out on Mondays, so we named our newsletter MemberClicks’ Monday Mashup, or MMM for short. That lets employees know they can expect our newsletter every Monday, and hopefully, gets them in the habit of looking for (and reading) it week to week.

3. Can you play off alliteration?

Alliteration is a great tool for making things memorable – and you want your association’s newsletter to be memorable! Again, you want your members to get in the habit of reading it, and you want them to quickly recognize it when it comes through their inbox.

Now that’s not to say you have to use alliteration in your newsletter name, but if you’re struggling to come up with something, that may be a route worth exploring.

Pro tip: Regardless of whether or not you use alliteration, try and keep your newsletter name short. Two to four words is ideal. Anything longer will be difficult for people to remember, and that will automatically start to work against you.

4. Can you play off industry terminology?

You want your newsletter name to be something your members resonate with, so exploring industry terminology is definitely worth a shot. For example, if you work in the education industry, could you incorporate the word bulletin? Or if you work in the agriculture industry, could you incorporate the word feed? Words like that will stand out to your members and make them want to see the content that’s inside.

Now if you’re at a total loss for how to name your association’s newsletter, just start playing around with words! Here are a few to get those creative juices flowing:

  • Chronicle
  • Journal
  • Feed
  • Corner
  • Bulletin
  • Scoop
  • Report
  • Roundup
  • Gazette
  • Digest
  • Insider

For more tips on marketing your association – through email, your website, social media, and more, check out our free Small-Staff Guide to Association Marketing below!