Why A Newsletter Strategy is Important

From prospecting to purchase, modern technology has provided us so many opportunities to access and connect with our customers throughout the sales funnel process. Marketing, is an essential piece of the process, but often, those endeavors can be costly, with ROI’s that are not always easily measurable.

Newsletters are a simple and cost effective solution to raise interest in your brand and deliver timely marketing messages to your audience. Dollar for dollar, few marketing tactics deliver more value than newsletters. While they shouldn’t be the only piece to the strategy, they are a low hanging fruit of the mix.

So what are the advantages of newsletters beyond being cost effective?

Strengthening the Connection
Your subscribers have already shown interest in your product or service at least once, so staying in touch with them by delivering regular and useful content to their inbox will continually keep you at the top of their minds when the need (or want) arises. 


Providing Value
Most potential customers don’t want a hard sell. Hard sales are focused on the product or service, and not the customer. There will be times when this tactic is appropriate—more on that later, but this approach does not provide the opportunity for a relationship to be built on trust. Providing engaging and valuable content is the best way to connect on what the customer is actually looking. It will also keep the competition at bay, because you understand them on a deeper level. You know what your customer’s preferences and interests are, so you can address these topics without overtly asking for a sale or contribution. Again, building on that trust.

Customer Insights
Many newsletter platforms also provide an eyeful of useful information to any newsletter sender. By regularly monitoring campaign clicks, and conversion, you will gain insight on your customers’ preferences and motivations, and have the information for future marketing and business strategies.


Removing Pain Points

Relate to and take the pain away by speaking to legitimate industry pain points. Come from a place of empathy and understanding, and don’t be afraid to take a stance. Your audience wants to align with your brand because you see the world in a similar way, so talk about issues that they are facing. And to make it come full circle, you should be sure to mention and connect how your product or service’s capabilities help resolve said issues.


Upcoming Events

And lastly, to occasionally tease your customers about an upcoming release or sale will result in an immediate sale if you have done a sufficient job at consistently resonating and connecting with your audience. After all, you are a business and selling matters. But remember if you have promotions and sales regularly, your audience may never purchase at full price, and your brand may never gain long term value.

Now might be a good time to look at your current marketing strategy and determine if a newsletter tactic might be the low hanging fruit you should act on. 

Marae Events

DOWN TO DETAILS.

Pulling off a successful event can be extraordinarily difficult, whether personal or corporate. It all comes down to details. Paying attention to the minutiae of event planning and execution is exactly how modern8 and the founders of Marae approached the creation of their new brand identity. We crafted new letterforms in an elegant thick and thin typeface without serifs, but not a san serif in the conventional understanding. The layout of their business card echoes the layout of elements at an event—exquisite but understated, clean yet rich. We love their services and their identity.

modern8 website

Without very much trouble at all (just 3 redesigns) the modern8 website has quietly launched with our new logo, color palette, look and feel, portfolio reel, case studies, new work, team photos, and a very extensive thought library filled with about any topic you can think of on branding and design. 

Want to find that newsletter about Randall talking about his car? You can search for all 50 of those here. Want to see how we have created a magazine, a brand, a website or a super cool die cut print piece? You can check out our case studies here? Want to see the m8 team in clothing that matches the color background in the photo? You can see that here.

Big thanks and shout out to our partners over at DVLOP who coded our site beautifully and responded ever so graciously to our very specific requests. And re-requests.

Ditch the Clipboard

Have you ever pondered on how those door to door salesman keep track of all those knocks? Or why you seem to see the same salesmen over and over despite the fact you are pretty sure you made it clear you weren’t interested? Canvass—a new app we just wrapped up creating an identity and website for makes sure you only hear that knock once. This app works for just about any industry that hires hungry and able canvassers. The logo we created for this tech company gives a subtle nod to that personal connection needed in sales and from a birdseye view the interlocking “ca” looks almost like two people about to “do business” shaking hands.  The website that launched just a month ago is a fun extension of the brand incorporating a fresh color pallet, subtle graphics and gradients, and custom illustrations.

color ways

With a new logo, a new website (launching soon), and an extended color palette for modern8, an opportunity for new employee photos arose. We took a cue from our new website design (coming soon), and went with a monochromatic approach, each choosing our favorite of the modern8 brand colors to wear from head to toe.

You might have seen a sprinkling of these photos on our social media channels, but soon, oh so soon, you’ll see them in context on our website (launching soon).

wear your website

Your website is essentially the face of your company. But that isn’t even right. Your website is actually the model of your company. It isn’t just a face. It is walking down the runway with all eyes staring at every part of the high fashion (or ready to wear clothing) draping over it and judged constantly from all angles. So let us talk about those angles.

ANGLE 1. FORM.

What is the aesthetic of your company? If we stick with the clothing analogy, are you high fashion? Customized for a specific purpose and event? Are you ready to wear? Does your style hang on the rack at a department store? Do you not need to look unique or different?

ANGLE 2. FUNCTION.

What is the purpose of the website for your company? Brand awareness? Sell a product? Sell a service? Does the function, function? To go back to the analogy, can you walk in it? Does it cover all the places that it needs to cover? Does it expose all the places that it needs to expose? Does the fabric breathe? Stretch? Fray? You get the idea.

WHERE 1 & 2 MEET: FORM & FUNCTION.

Ok. Let’s get away from the analogy. You get it. So let’s talk about actual websites. You have a goal to drive more sales in some form or another. And there are an infinite number of road blocks to stop people from giving you money. From the page load times, to the confusion your product offerings, to the very perception of your brand from the time they click on your link in a Google search result.

The form and function have to work together to make this transaction happen. And so maybe the ready to wear options that are out there are what you need? But my guess is that you did not pull your business model off the rack. So why spend time putting it on display in something everyone else is wearing.

tailor built homes

We designed the Tailor Built logo four years ago, when the fledging Utah builder was just beginning. With their homes now popping up all over the Wasatch front, we were engaged to update all of their marketing materials. We took them through our 5d Emotional Branding Process to help us understand how things had changed.

We proposed the simple tagline, “We build. We design.”, which positions the company in a unique space, because most of their competition either builds or designs, but rarely do both. The website design is a progressive, modern solution, keeping their emphasis on modern homes. A hint of tradition is reflected in the slab-serif Clarendon typeface, which is mixed with the more modern Gotham.

nush website

The online site for nush foods came together after we designed the packaging. Picking up colors, style and strategy, we designed and developed a site that capitalizes on the growing interest in eating less sugar and fewer carbs. The nush Discussion page posts essays and comments with social media links to engage on mutual topics that drive the community.

we impartner together

We helped our client Impartner with the design of a tradeshow booth that correlates with the brand identity and website we created for them recently. At the beginning of this year, the 17 year-old company acquired new capital and management, and has been on a growth spurt ever since. Impartner provides enterprise web portals to manage indirect sales relationships.

impartner: the site

A few months ago, our friends at SnappConner PR referred us to a new potential client: Treehouse Interactive. The company had been around for 15 years—great technology, bad marketing. New money and new talent were brought in and we were asked to help rebrand. With a tight timeframe, we pulled of a mini-version of our famed d5 Perception Branding process, interviewing the new executives and researching competitors. With the selected Brand Concept Board and a new name, Impartner, we designed a new identity (see above) and a new website, repositioning them as provider of partner portals for companies that rely on indirect sales. The home page lays claim to our “only, only” strategy of the first PRM solution built from the ground up. We are now working on a motion graphics video for an upcoming tradeshow.