Effective House Organs: The Principles and Practice of Editing and Publishing Successful House Organs
A 1920 textbook by Robert E. Ramsay, then editor of Advertising and Selling and president of the Direct Mail Advertising Association, published by D. Appleton.
What it is
A 1920 textbook by Robert E. Ramsay, then editor of Advertising and Selling and president of the Direct Mail Advertising Association, published by D. Appleton. It defines the house organ as any periodical a firm issues to a chosen group, whether salesmen, dealers, employees, customers or members, to build goodwill or sales, and traces it back to Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac. Part I covers classification by form (blotter, envelope enclosure, booklet, newspaper, magazine) and by reader, then the plan, the editor, the data file for future issues, make-up, printing and mailing lists. Part II gives cases by trade: Eastman Kodak's six publications, including Kodakery at over 200,000 copies, banks, retailers, printers, public utilities and the United States government. Appendices give typical costs, unnamed answers to the question of whether house organs pay, and the story of The Houghton Line, started in 1908 for 300 salesmen.
Why read it now
This is an early manual of content marketing and internal communications, and most of its advice holds. Ramsay says a publication must serve an economic purpose, needs a plan, a named editor and a file of material before issue one, and dies when the novelty wears off; his case of a clothing house whose bulletin stalled after issue four still describes most company blogs and podcasts. His point that editorial quality is worth nothing without distribution matches how brand content performs today. He is also honest about measurement: many publishers he quotes believe their house organ pays but cannot prove it, and his fix, return cards and keyed offers, is the ancestor of tracked links and promo codes. What has dated: print mechanics, the colour-preference tables, the postage and cost figures, and evidence that rests on unnamed testimonials rather than counted results. Use: before launching a newsletter or WhatsApp channel, write down the purpose, the reader group, the editor and twelve issues of topics, and put a trackable response device in every issue.
Passages worth keeping
The only logical excuse there can be for a house organ, or any other form of advertising, is that it serves an economic purpose.
المبرر الوحيد لأي نشرة أو أي إعلان أن يخدم غرضًا اقتصاديًا واضحًا، وإلا فلا داعي له.
if you are to be the editor of the new publication, will you have time to give the house organ as much thought for Vol. I, No. 12, as you are now giving to Vol. I, No. 1?
اسأل نفسك قبل البدء: هل ستعطي العدد الثاني عشر الاهتمام نفسه الذي تعطيه للعدد الأول الآن؟
The finest printed, most elaborately illustrated, highest class of editorial material, is worth just a little less than nothing until it is distributed into the hands of possible buyers
أجود محتوى وأجمل طباعة لا قيمة لهما حتى يصلا فعلًا إلى أيدي المشترين المحتملين.
A house organ, of course, is no new thing, but nearly all of them are edited from the top down.
ينقل عن مجلة كولييرز أن أغلب النشرات تُحرَّر من الأعلى إلى الأسفل، أي تقول للموظف ما تريد الإدارة أن يسمعه فقط.
As a creator of family feeling, loyalty and as an educational proposition we believe it pays, although like most forms of advertising, we cannot prove it.
شركة آلات كاتبة تؤمن أن نشرتها مربحة لأنها تبني الولاء وتعلّم المندوبين، لكنها تعترف بأنها لا تستطيع إثبات ذلك.
What it teaches best
Read the original archive.org
If this library is useful, leave an email
We send new patterns, ads, and notes when we add them. Name and phone are optional.
You are on the list
We will write when we add more library material.