This is the second in a series of articles that takes you through the process of setting up an e-Marketing program.  We’re using our newsletter, Informed Marketer News, as an example and through guidelines and how-tos, we’ll share with you what we’re doing.  Last issue, we discussed strategy development and today we’ll take you through the steps of building a team that will implement your newsletter.

1.      Define the roles. 

Your newsletter will require a group of people that have certain skills and expertise.  This may vary from company to company, depending on your size and structure, but there are some common roles that most likely will be important to you in the execution of your newsletter.  Here are the team players that we found we were going to need for Informed Marketer News:

• An editor/project manager who is tasked to pull the project together, from A to Z.  This is the person that creates an editorial list, keeps everyone on track, and makes sure issue after issue gets out the door on a timely basis.  It can be a daunting task, but in the hands of the right person, the job will get done. 
• A designer who, if you’re working on your first issue, will create the initial look, feel and navigation of the newsletter in the form of a template.   You’ll also need someone to load the text of each article into the template after the design is created for the initial issue and for each one thereafter.  This could be the designer, or in the case of services like IMN’s, any person can be easily be trained to do this task. 
• Knowledge contributors are the people that have the expertise in the areas you want to cover in your newsletter program.  These may change from issue to issue, depending on the topics you cover in each, or you may have a certain knowledge area that you want to discuss in every issue. If the expertise you want to convey is of the opinion nature, you can create a column and include a byline and/or photograph of the author.  The contributors can either write their own articles and submit them to the editor for review, or if they prefer, a writer can interview them.  In our case, we have both – people who like to write up their information and others who best convey their thoughts through an interview process.  
• If you can include a writer – or even several writers – on your team, that is great.  This could either be an internal resource or a freelance copywriter.  Our writer provides various services for us:  she serves as a copyeditor for all the contributors’ articles; she interviews and writes articles for the contributors that prefer this process; and she researches and writes independent articles.  

2.   Select the people to fill the roles.

Once you determine the roles that are critical to your newsletter execution process, it’s time to find the people that can fill those roles. Here are a few key questions to ask yourself – or those you want to be part of the team – as you develop your potential team. Remember, you’re asking them to commit time and energy to you to fulfill your strategy and the project you are ultimately responsible for, so select wisely.

1. Who has the knowledge or expertise to execute your strategy?
2. Are they good communicators? 
3. Are they reliable and truly willing to be part of your team?
4. Is her/his manager open to them participating?
5. Do they actually have the time to contribute?
6. Will they take this assignment seriously?
7. Are they someone who readily meets – or misses – deadlines?
8. Do they communicate well and are they willing to keep you apprised of their progress so you know in advance if a deadline is in jeopardy?

3.      Be nimble and flexible.

The last piece of advice we can offer you on building your team is to remain nimble and flexible, because even with the best laid plans, good intentions fall to the wayside, deadlines will be missed, people will start avoid you, and you have to be ready with a Plan B in case you are in a bind.  Here are a few tips along these lines to help you keep sane!  

• Choose your team wisely. If you work with someone who's a great contributor but unreliable with deadlines, you have a couple of options. Give that person her own, much earlier deadline. Talk with her frankly and ask her to tell you whether she's too over-committed to participate. If she claims she isn't yet continues to miss deadlines, even after a prod from her manager, you'll have to politely, but firmly, kick her off your team.
• Be willing to be the not so nice guy.  You have a deadline to meet and a promise to your readers to fulfill.  Don’t let others sabotage your marketing program.  Have an alternative choice or a backup article waiting in the wings in case someone is suddenly out ill on the day they were going to turn in your article.
• Adjust as necessary.  For the next issue, review your team.  Find out what worked well and what didn’t and adjust accordingly. 

Next issue:  we’ll talk about how to develop an editorial list of great content that keeps your readers coming back for more.