A2OC Newsletter

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Stuart_D

Past Member
Is there anyone out there who thinks that the A2OC could benefit from some form of paper newsletter sent to each member of the club?

Be honest! I need everyone's opinion...

2001 TDi SE | Cobalt Blue Metallic | Open Sky Roof | Kenwood Mask CD | Front Centre Armrest
www.Audi-A2.co.uk | www.A2Forum.net
 
Interesting one this, I like the idea of a newsletter, but why not just send it to our e-mail address in electronic format. Save on the trees, you can make it HTML format and hence interactive and the benefit of this is that you can provide sponsored links to your preferred suppliers on there which augurs well for small donations from them perhaps or continuation/increase of their good discount?

Audi A2 1.4SE
Build Wk40/2002 | OpenSky | Azure Blue | Climate | DIS | APS | Lumbar | Rear Drinks Holder | Floppy Wiper!
http://www.audi-a2.co.uk/uk24.htm | http://homepage.ntlworld.com/adriancharles/
 
I like that idea - make it a unique html link but separate to the main site.

On top of everything else, this is not something I'd be able to do on my own. Is anyone interested in being involved in this - ie helping to produce/create it using html etc?

2001 TDi SE | Cobalt Blue Metallic | Open Sky Roof | Kenwood Mask CD | Front Centre Armrest
www.Audi-A2.co.uk | www.A2Forum.net
 
Sounds a nice idea. Some comments:

It's going to be costly. Printing and postage (especially to European members) will need paying for and you can't surely be expected to pay so I presume some sort of subscription.

It would be useful for the following items:

Wordsearch/Crossword/Games etc (of course all based on Audi!)

Features on individuals cars (written by them or you)

Features on offers secured by the club

I know the internet is the modern day equivalent of newsletters, magazines and newspapers, but nothing beats having something plop on your doormat!. You can read it at your leisure with a cuppa!.

It may also persuade Audi to do some features for you-some companies prefer print.

Steve - 2002 1.4SE petrol, Silver, black/black interior, Then an identical replacement 2003 A2. Now a Toyota Corolla 1.6 T-Spirit
 
I don't mind helping. I think you misunderstood me though and came up with another alternative. You could make it a HTML web page and host it somewhere and just mail a link to it as you have suggested (I think), or you could send it as an e-mail (but in HTML format), i.e. no web page.

Think the formatted e-mails that you get from Tesco, Amazon, etc. which are basically HTML coded e-mails. This would be dependent upon the e-mail client people were using (not all may have an HTML enabled mail client).

Both would work successfully, who's to say that you couldn't do both? Once the HTML is put together, you can mail it out AND put it on a web site.

You need to think about content though. How about:

Fitting guide of the month.
Photo of the month.
Site news.
Donation plugs!
List of ALL accessories successfully retrofitted/installed by subscribers and perhaps links to the fitting guides for each/links to the supplier who supplied it.
Audi news links
etc.
More intensive would be things like
forum post of the month
Birthday greetings (would require capturing this in the profile)
Statistics like user demography, base variant purchased (1.4, 1.4SE, 1.4sport, etc.), colours chosen,
etc.

Audi A2 1.4SE
Build Wk40/2002 | OpenSky | Azure Blue | Climate | DIS | APS | Lumbar | Rear Drinks Holder | Floppy Wiper!
http://www.audi-a2.co.uk/uk24.htm | http://homepage.ntlworld.com/adriancharles/
 
Runboy - I truly appreciate the donations that people have made so far the club, but out of the 380+ members, only a handful of people have donated. So, I am considering the idea of restarting the club with an annual membership fee of £10.00 or €14.80. All profit will be reinvested back into the club in expansion or merchandise etc.

On re-joining, each person would be sent a membership pack including:
- A new membership number
- A new internal self stick car window sticker
- An exclusive A2 Owners Club pen
- The most recent club quarterly newsletter (paper or html - undecided!)

As a paid member, the benefits would include:
- Use of the A2 forum which would either involve activation of your existing user id & password or creation of a new id for your use (if you were not previously a member)
- Quarterly newsletter created for and by A2OC members
- Exclusive discounts for A2OC members completely restricted to paid up members (that includes all discounts currently enjoyed by members)
- Entitlement to enter all club raffles, contests and competitions - currently open to anyone
- Invitations and involvement in club socials (non members will not be informed of events)
- Information on the purchase of exclusive club merchandise such as the A2 armrest - shortly to be re-released


Now I don't think that £10.00 or €14.80 is a great deal of money for what is provided in return.

Does anyone have any views on this?

2001 TDi SE | Cobalt Blue Metallic | Open Sky Roof | Kenwood Mask CD | Front Centre Armrest
www.Audi-A2.co.uk | www.A2Forum.net
 
Stuart,

I agree that £10 is not alot to pay for a well run and very informative forum and web site:D.

I also agree with Ade.

quote:You need to think about content though. How about:

Fitting guide of the month.
Photo of the month.
Site news.
Donation plugs!
List of ALL accessories successfully retrofitted/installed by subscribers and perhaps links to the fitting guides for each/links to the supplier who supplied it.
Audi news links
etc.
More intensive would be things like
forum post of the month
Birthday greetings (would require capturing this in the profile)
Statistics like user demography, base variant purchased (1.4, 1.4SE, 1.4sport, etc.), colours chosen,
etc.
Click to expand...

Lee and Sheridan,
TDI SE, Dolphin Grey,
50% Brighter Bulbs : Original Audi 6 CD Changer (Fitted in proper location by me): Rear drinks holder
http://www.audi-a2.co.uk/uk18.htm
 
£10 is a small price to pay considering the help this forum has provided me over the last 5 months. In making sure the floppy wiper was replaced (which I would have never known about) I saved more than that alone.

p.s. Not quite sure about the pen though, I have hundreds of them (albeit not A2OC of course). I'll put my thinking cap on. Wouldn't it be great if we could get a bulk order of a very small expense item to go in-car. Although a little costly for this example perhaps, but how about aluminium effect tax disc holders, I'd pay £15-£20 membership to get one of those, e.g. (http://www.thehappymotorist.co.uk/r...ordset1=41&Category_ID=7&Submit=View+Products)?

I wonder what kind of discount you could get for a bulk order?



Audi A2 1.4SE
Build Wk40/2002 | OpenSky | Azure Blue | Climate | DIS | APS | Lumbar | Rear Drinks Holder | Floppy Wiper!
http://www.audi-a2.co.uk/uk24.htm | http://homepage.ntlworld.com/adriancharles/
 
Ade - I've already seen them cheaper on another site.

But to be honest anything supplied as part of the membership package would have to be branded by the club otherwise I don't see the point of saying it is club merchandise. Pens are easy to produce in bulk and are a also easy to send enclosed in an envelope with the initial welcome to the club pack.

The best option for those tax disc holders is for me to purchase a load of them and just sell them as accessories through the site.

I think £10 is a fair figure that most people will be willing to pay. The main thing to remember is that if this membership fee comes into effect, you will no longer have access to this forum until payment has been made.

2001 TDi SE | Cobalt Blue Metallic | Open Sky Roof | Kenwood Mask CD | Front Centre Armrest
www.Audi-A2.co.uk | www.A2Forum.net
 
Like Steve, I'm minded towards a paper newsletter, it's just a little more tangible than an email newsletter - but then I've no idea what the costs of printing/distribution would be... On the whole, the idea of a newsletter is a good one - back issues would also generate regular content for the website - not that I'm complaining about the current content, you understand ;)

I think the membership fee is a sensible idea - since Stuart posted the spreadsheet breakdown of the costs of running the two sites I have been scratching my head as to how they could possibly break even.
quote:On re-joining, each person would be sent a membership pack including:
- A new membership number
Click to expand...
Could I pay extra and keep the one I've got? I've got a poor memory and I can just about remember my number...[:I]


--
m. Azure Blue 2003 1.6 FSI SE | OpenSky | ECC | DIS | Isofix | ERW | Symphony II (even more duff than it was before!) | Space-Floor-Box | Winter Pack | Auto-Dimming Rear View thingy...
 
Sounds like a good idea to me.The membership fee suggested sounds fair, but I imagine there would be a lot of work involved (for Stuart). I'm a member of a couple of clubs; BMW m/cycle club with approx 6000 members and a monthly mag- annual fee £24 (running for 50 years or so); and a small club for Rotary engined vehicles, 4 mags a year produced by one person- annual fee £10.
What I'm trying to say is that if you are prepared to run this thing, I'm more than prepared to pay for it. Just to be awkward though I'd prefer a key fob to a pen!!!
Regards JohnW. 2002 TDI SE.
 
A membership fee seems OK to me. I've got pens coming out of my ears, key fob sounds good. A club mag.could be part funded by advertising. It all gives you a lot of work though.
 
I've been racking my brain as to what would be the easiest to produce in terms of a newsletter. To do one on paper not only costs time and money having to photocopy it and buy stamps on a quarterly basis but also in terms of actually doing a mailshot to 400+ people is a lot of effort with address labels/stuffing of envelopes etc.

The solution I have in my mind is to produce a Microsoft Word based document and attach it to an email. That way it will be easier to lay out in Word than to produce an html based document, it avoids any incompatibility problems with sending out an html based email and also means that users have the choice of printing it themselves or just reading it on screen.

Easier all round for everyone...

What do you think?

2001 TDi SE | Cobalt Blue Metallic | Open Sky Roof | Kenwood Mask CD | Front Centre Armrest
www.Audi-A2.co.uk | www.A2Forum.net
 
P.S. Are there any volunteers out there interested in getting involved in producing the newsletter? What I am looking for is a group of individuals preferably from different geographic locations who will talk amongst themselves and put something together quarterly and I will subsequently distribute.

Also anyone wishing to write a review on any topic relating to the A2?

2001 TDi SE | Cobalt Blue Metallic | Open Sky Roof | Kenwood Mask CD | Front Centre Armrest
www.Audi-A2.co.uk | www.A2Forum.net
 
quote:Originally posted by Stuart_D

P.S. Are there any volunteers out there interested in getting involved in producing the newsletter?
Also anyone wishing to write a review on any topic relating to the A2?
Click to expand...
Yes and er... maybe ;)

--
m. Azure Blue 2003 1.6 FSI SE | OpenSky | ECC | DIS | Isofix | ERW | Symphony II (even more duff than it was before!) | Space-Floor-Box | Winter Pack | Auto-Dimming Rear View thingy...
 
I guess my preference is for HTML based, but that's all it is, a preference. No problem with Word docs, although it kinda limits you with formatting options if people have to view in Wordpad or the like (where they don't have Word).

I have a fairly decent array of publishing software available so might be able to help in the 'production', I'll help where I can Stu.

Audi A2 1.4SE
Build Wk40/2002 | OpenSky | Azure Blue | Climate | DIS | APS | Lumbar | Rear Drinks Holder | Floppy Wiper!
http://www.audi-a2.co.uk/uk24.htm | http://homepage.ntlworld.com/adriancharles/
 
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