Pages Newsletter Tips
Poop from the Group, and other newsletter names we remember
A newsletter is not a newspaper. It is allowed a sense of humor.
Back in the 1970s, when company newsletters came out of serious HR and safety offices and carried names as buttoned-up as the offices themselves, one of our customers, a plumbing company, called its newsletter "Poop from the Group."
My mother, who started Pages with my father, told me about it while I was in college. She couldn’t stop laughing. Everyone else wanted dignity. The plumbers wanted readers. We’ve seen the name pop up since, but we like to think those plumbers invented it.
The lesson still holds: a newsletter is not a newspaper, and it is allowed a sense of humor. A Colorado humor newsletter could be "Boulder Dash." A plant biology group named its newsletter "The Leaflet." Pelican Publishing calls its newsletter "The Peligram."
Some names become a tradition. So many humane societies call their newsletters "Animal Tales" that it is nearly a genre. Conservation groups seem to love the word "scoop," as in the "Closed-Loop Scoop." Activist newsletters lean on action words: network, cause, mission.
One warning before you pick a name
Thinking of holding a contest? You probably won’t get many entries, and you may not like the ones you get. But you’ll still have to award the prize, and you’ll probably have to use the winning name. A better idea: make your own list of possible names, then choose.
And if nothing clever comes to mind, a plain name is fine. "Neighborhood News" has served plenty of neighborhoods well.
Need more ideas? Our guide to naming your newsletter has lists of words that suggest speed, accuracy and news, plus a name generator to get you started.
You name it. We’ll help fill it.
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