Marketing

Most Probus clubs produce monthly newsletters which they distribute to their members or also make available on their website. This is a wonderful way to promote the club’s activities!

Format

A popular method of creating newsletters is using Microsoft Publisher or Word. The documents are then saved in PDF and distributed as email attachments.

Unfortunately, PDF files are difficult to read on small devices such as iPhones. Yet, we often see more than 50% of our members using such small devices when accessing our websites. Clubs should therefore review if they could change to a method that is kinder to old eyes.

For example, the Probus Club of Cambridge distributes its newsletters in the body of bulk email messages. The formatting automatically adjusts for screen size using so-called responsive design. An example is shown in the Appendix. Tools like WildApricot or MailChimp can be used to create such responsive messages.

Privacy

It is important to respect the privacy of our members even if the newsletter is only distributed by email. Once sent, club management has no control over who gets ahold of a copy.

• Newsletters should only depict members with their consent. 

• It is advisable to never use full names. Good alternatives are short forms like Jane D.

• No personal email addresses should be included, unless express consent was given. It is easy to create free, generic email addresses such as membership_club_123@gmail.com.

Images

To make newsletters more appealing, editors sometimes download from the Internet and then insert photos, cartoons, and clipart (images). This is problematic, as several Probus clubs have found out. There is at least one Canadian company (PicRights.com) that claims to represent the copyright holders of certain images. They scan the public Internet - including PDF files - for unauthorized use and then demand stiff penalties (several hundreds of dollars per image) while threatening legal action. Newsletter editors need to ensure that any images they add are

• Original content produced and authorized by club members, or

• In the Public Domain, or

• Released under Creative Commons license with appropriate accreditation, or

• Licensed via purchase or other agreement, e.g. from istock.com or similar services

Mail Delivery

When newsletters are distributed to the membership using bulk email then there is a risk that email services consider this as spam. To minimize this risk:

• Make sure that your email service is properly configured. Companies like Google and Yahoo have recently increased their security requirements (article). This is a highly technical task so clubs using a custom domain may need help from their domain or email providers. This is not needed if sending from consumer domains like gmail.com or outlook.com.

• Ask your members 

  • to look for missing emails in their Spam folder

  • to add your sending address to their contact list

• Limit the number of images and hyperlinks

• Provide recipients a way to unsubscribe

Probus and PROBUS are both in widespread use and there seems little appetite for enforcing one over the other. The version using title case (Probus) can be found in publications from the United Kingdom, its original home. The all-caps version (PROBUS) appeals to many who see it as an acronym.

As such, it is in the hands of our independently operated clubs to decide how they prefer to write the name of our wonderful organization.

However, our federally registered non-profit organization is to be written as PROBUS Canada.

Short answer: Probably not, sorry!

Long answer: Here are the main sources for photos and other images found on https://probuscanada.ca, all with their own limits.

• Member-generated content like the recent background image on the homepage which was the winner of a photo competition. Here the photographer, a Probus member, gave publishing rights to PROBUS Canada. If your club wanted to use his creation as well then that would need to be agreed to between your club and him.

• Images provided by the website builder, Google Sites, such as the typewriter image in the News page. It stands to reason that the content owner would limit their use to the website builder.

• Stock images acquired from istockphoto.com for our themed photos such as on About Us. The license agreement does not allow PROBUS Canada to use content in any way that allows others to download, extract, or redistribute content as a standalone file. However, that service offers a certain number of free images and videos for your club to download and then add to your website.

• The official Probus logo can be used by active, accredited Probus clubs. Any use outside of normal club activities must be approved, in writing, by the Board of Directors of PROBUS Canada.

Question: We have an opportunity to go on the community welcome sign at the entrance to our area. Is this permissible?

Answer: The only provision is that you must not be placed in a position which would indicate or give the impression that you are a service club. As much as we appreciate the work that these organizations do, and many of our Members do belong to one or more, we are chartered as a "fellowship" organization....we are not a Service Club and must not give the impression to the community or the general public.