Masters Lesson Series: Choosing Software, Part 1

Which software program is the best for your projects?

What software should you use to build your newsletter?  Is one software program better than another?  These are important questions and the answers to them are not as easy as you may think!  The sheer volume of software available is mind boggling.  This post will help you sort through the mess and make a few decisions.

The decision regarding what software to use to create your newsletter, whether you plan on creating a print newsletter or an email newsletter, is often loaded with emotion.  Computer use is a very polarizing topic.  Will you choose a PC or a Mac?  If you chose a PC, will you choose Microsoft Office, Google Suite, Libre Office, or OpenOffice?  If you chose a Mac will you choose the iWork Suite, Google Suite, Open Office, or Libre Office?  Trust me when I say that these are just a few examples of software productivity suites that you can choose from in either PC or Mac.

Nowhere else in the newsletter decision making process will opinions come into play that will cause a spike in blood pressure and arguments to erupt the way that choosing software will.  The choice of software is deeply personal.  Just like Mac users and PC users are immovable and will argue their computer choices passionately, the software that we use is equally mired in controversy. 

The very thought of having to change from our regular routines cause stress and panic in many of us.  In an age where choices abound and something new will be invented every 7 seconds, it is surprising that we become mired in repetition and routine.  The field of Psychology tells us that when we perform the same activities day after day and follow the same routines week in and week out, we begin to prefer to operate our lives in consistent, repetitive, and predictable ways.

The human brain, however, is not hardwired to perform repetitive tasks and follow the same routines for very long.  Crowder and Friess, in their extensive 2013 research on human performance and change, tell us that “people are good at change in order to master or improve their world or environment.  When people are agile they are better at being agile.”  The human brain, when allowed to rest and remain unchallenged, begins to prefer doing nothing and wants to remain unchanged and unchallenged.  This is known as Inertia.

When it comes to our software our choices may have been made for us without our knowledge.  Our education plays a large role in our choice of software preference.  What software we used as students often plays a significant role in how we use software later in life.  The same goes for our places of employment.  When schools and employers pay large sums of money to purchase computer systems and software we then, as Crowder and Friess has stated, begin to master our environment (software) through repetitive use of a single tool.  Once mastered, our brains then begin to rest and process daily activities unchallenged.  Inertia takes hold.

The decision to choose software may have already been made for you.  If your company, school, church, or organization has already purchased software then you may have to begin the process of mastering new software.  The good news is that there is no one single software program that is “the best” for creating newsletters.  There is benefit to choosing a program with which you are familiar.  Microsoft Publisher will be much easier to learn if you are already familiar with the Microsoft Suite of Programs. Luckily newsletters can be created on just about any word processing software with little trouble.  If you have had the opportunity to "test drive" different software, you will no doubt notice that most of them have similar features.  

If you have the option of choosing your software, then you are lucky.  But if the software decision is up to you, what questions do you ask to help you decide?  To begin making an informed decision for choosing your own software, here is are a few questions that will help you sort through the options:

1. Do you have productivity software installed on your computer already?  Is the version you own older or do you need to upgrade to a newer version?  Is the software cloud based?

• If you have Microsoft Office 365 you already have Publisher.  If you have an older version of Microsoft Office or the non-subscription version of Microsoft Office you may already have a copy of Publisher or you can purchase a standalone copy of Publisher.
• If you aren't interested in a Microsoft product there are several very good alternatives.  I have recently been playing around with an open source product called Scribus.  In the second half of this post I will be comparing several products including Publisher and Scribus.

2. Will you and your writers/contributors be using the same type of software or will you need software that is compatible with many types of programs?  Will the application software need to work with or function in the cloud?

• If you are going to use Microsoft Publisher to build your newsletter, you will need to make sure that all contributors have the option to export/save their materials in a Microsoft format.

3.  Will you need special training to utilize the productivity software or have you used a specific platform in the past (or currently) and will only need a refresher?

• Mainstream productivity software packages have hundreds of free training videos and step-by-step guides for you to slog through trouble spots or learn a new program.  Software that has been around for a while and is used by many people or companies is better equipped to help you use the software through free or inexpensive training options.

4. Does the productivity software have PDF capabilities?

• The end result of every newsletter typically results in making your newsletter into a PDF for several reasons.  This is actually an important feature of productivity software.

The answers to these questions will go a long way to helping you determine the software to use.  However, the best way to find good, user friendly software with all of the bells and whistles that you need/want is to talk to someone that uses these programs.  For example, if you are a church contemplating starting a newsletter why don't you ask some of the other area churches how they create their newsletters.  (BTW-many churches upload their newsletters right along with their weekly bulletins so give their websites a look and see if they have the product and skill that you are looking for.)  If you are a business, why not do a Google search for businesses with newsletters?  Give them a call and ask them for advice.  What's the worst that can happen?

In the next half of this post I will be comparing features and pros/cons of productivity software that can be used to build a high quality newsletter.  

Take Away

Choosing the type of software to use to build your newsletter is confusing.  But taking it step by step is the best way to begin.  Knowing what you have available and how much training you will need is a great way to begin looking at the options.  Know what you have.  Know what you want to build.  Know your budget.

Try This!

1.     Begin by making a list of the productivity software on your computer or licensed through your organization.  Know the software version and year.  Find out if the software needs updates from its manufacturer. Most importantly, know if they software comes with support from the manufacturer.

2.     Once you have a list of available software to use for your newsletter, do a Google search for training videos for your software.  It is very important to have instant answers for how to utilize your software without have to wait to ask an expert or go to the library for a training book.  YouTube has millions of videos.  If your software has been around awhile, chances are that plenty of how-to videos are out there.  Most are free!

3.     Ask an expert.  Do you have a tech-guy at work?  Is there a local church or non-profit that publishes newsletters on a regular basis?  There are always people to ask and for the most part people like to be asked their opinion.  Just remember:  Everyone has an opinion and you have to figure out which one makes the most sense for your situation.

Resources

Crowder, J.A. and S.A. Friess.  Systems Engineering Agile Design Methodologies.  2013, IX, 78p.

Researching for Trends in Print and Email Newsletters

Research for Trends in Print and Email Newsletters

I thought it would be a good idea to do a super serious search into the number of searches performed on Google regarding print newsletters and email newsletters over a set period of time.  I wanted to determine how many people are looking for information regarding the creation and implementation of print and email newsletters around the world.  The number of results to this simple search was staggering.  Luckily I am a professional researcher so I set about to interpret my results.  I can honestly reveal that this entire process wasn’t a cursory 5 minute Google search.  I spent hours on this.  Hours!

The biggest trouble with my research was the translations of the word “newsletter.”  The words pamphlet, brochure, leaflet, booklet, annual, or periodical are used regularly in conjunction with the American English translation of newsletter.  However, the term “magazine” is by far the most common translation or used phrase, especially in English speaking countries outside of the U.S. 

Several difficulties arose around the interchangeability of the phrases “email newsletter”, “e-newsletter”, and “digital newsletter.”  The preferred phrase is specific to a county but in the case of countries such as the U.K., Canada, Australia, or the U.S. where English is the primary language; the three phrases in these countries are used interchangeably.  Sometimes the phrases are used interchangeably within a single article discussing email newsletters.  The flip-flopping is maddening.

I prefer the term email newsletter so throughout this article and, in fact, this entire blog I will use the term email newsletter to refer to all three.  Read my discussion about the definitions of print, email, and digital newsletters here:  https://teachforgood.blogspot.com/2019/01/newsletter-what-type-do-i-want.html

If you conduct a Trend Search on Google you will discover that Print Newsletters are very popular.  The trend line over the last five years is very strong with a line indicating a strong interest in print newsletters that are currently surpassing interest in e-newsletters.  A google search of print newsletters will return 462-million results that include print services and some template based newsletter construction opportunities as well as examples for building newsletters.  Google searches for email newsletters will net you almost a 590-million results, with a large portion of those from businesses wishing to help you build the perfect email newsletter to send to customers/members but also many (many, many, many) links to email newsletters to subscribe to as a customer/member.

The result differences between print and email newsletters are huge but the trend line for email newsletters over the last five years is almost identical to print newsletters.  The five year trend line image above shows a prevalence of searches for email newsletters five years ago than that of print newsletters.  However, if you follow the line the lines of email and print newsletters are matching up as we get closer to today.  In fact, the print newsletter begins to show greater strength as what I can only assume is the “newness” of email newsletters wears off.  This isn’t to imply that email newsletters are going out of vogue, but rather tech-savvy businesses are finally figuring out the differences between email and print newsletters and are using them appropriately.  Syndicated columnist and author Don Sadler wrote an article to explain the differences back in 2005 (https://www.smallbusinessadvocate.com/small-business-article/print-vs-e-newsletters-1405).  By the looks of the image above it took almost 10 years for newsletter writers to get with the program!

In a search from December of 2018, I found that worldwide interest in email newsletters is dominated by Italy, Australia, Canada, Germany, Brazil, UK, India and the U.S.  Data from other countries is inconclusive due to the statistically small numbers.  Also, countries other than Canada, Australia and the U.S. cycle in and out of the trend line with Canada, Australia, and the U.S. having the largest interest in newsletters in general.  This doesn’t mean countries other than these aren’t interested in newsletters but rather the Google searches regarding this topic is so small it is comparatively non-existent.  This makes sense in light of censorship in countries where Google is banned or tightly governed.  Information found on the World Economic Forum website shows the level to which Internet censorship is prevalent in a county.  In the following image the darker the color red the heavier that government censors Internet communications within that country.  I am fairly certain that this doesn’t come as a surprise to many of you.

 

Print newsletters, if Google Trends is to be believed are only measurable (in terms of Google searches) in the United States.  A knee-jerk reaction would assume that the rest of the world isn’t using print newsletters.  However, just as the Google data isn’t showing results in most of the world regarding print newsletters, it is unable to take into account the translations of “print newsletters” discussed above.   A Google search of print newsletters in Italy, Australia, Canada, Germany, Brazil, UK, and India finds results similar to a U.S. only search:

Country	# Searches
United States	300 million
United Kingdom	214 million
Italy	111 million
Brazil	56 million
Australia	162 million
Germany	114 million
India	175 million

It is interesting to note that all of the top email newsletter countries have a healthy number of Google results for print services and newsletter print templates available.  Translation was a bit tricky, but print newsletters (called so many different things) for government agencies, religious organizations, schools, and clubs are still very popular around the world.

The difference, I have found in the research, is that email newsletters have a global presence so that organizations can keep in touch with customers/members the world over and print newsletters tend to stay within a defined location inside a county/state/region.  Of course, there are always outliers and exceptions to this observation but this observation seems to hold true for email and print newsletters.

Take Away

The print newsletter and the email newsletter are two completely different entities and are meant to appeal to different demographics of people.  If you were to do a Google search for print and email newsletters, each camp would try to convince you that they are the best choice for your business/organization.  Worldwide print and email newsletters are used with equal frequency although they are typically referred to under other names such as leaflet, brochure, or magazine.

Try This

1. Go to www.Google.com/trends and do a few trend searches of your own.  This tool is useful for determining how several words/phrases/terms relate to each other.  Search anything.  It’s fascinating.
2. If you are dead-set on a print newsletter or an email newsletter try to convince yourself to switch camps by using trend line data in Google Trends. Does this data help you to change your mind or is your first choice still the best for your business/organization?
3. Lastly, send me an email (dr.daniel.robinson71@gmail.com) and let me know how the trend line has changed between print newsletters and email newsletters over a 12 month period.  Every time I check it the lines change.  Are they dramatically different from what I have presented here?  Why do you think that is?