Unleash the Power of Newsletters
Ron Liechty
Samsung Developer Relations
What is a Marketing Newsletter?
In business school, I learned that a business's primary objective is to generate revenue to sustain its existence. I also learned that a business can only generate revenue if it provides a service or product that consumers are willing to pay for. Additionally, I gained the understanding that consumers are more willing to pay for a service or product from a company they have empathy for.
A marketing newsletter is a direct engagement with consumers. Newsletters provide a means to send information to a targeted group of users and potential buyers that improve brand awareness, inform them of product changes and include items of interest. A marketing newsletter has four goals.
🏎️ To increase customer loyalty which can be measured by subscribers of the newsletter
🏎️ To increase interest in a product which can be measured by open rate of the newsletter
🏎️ To generate traffic which can be measured by click-through rate to your web site from the newsletter
🏎️ To increase income which can be measured by attributed revenue of direct purchases via the newsletter
A previous winner of the “Best of Galaxy Store Award,” Persona, uses a marketing newsletter because they believe that “the more communication channels you have with users, the easier it is to achieve brand loyalty.”
A newsletter is not a sales brochure; it is not meant to list your products and prices. When newsletters are of no interest or sent unrequested to recipients, the newsletter will only tarnish your customer relationship.
The same due diligence used to ensure there is no intellectual property (IP) infringement in your product or store description should be used in your newsletters. Samsung has created an IP infringement guide for app submission that, along with the references used for the guide, may also be a useful for your newsletter composition.
Start Communicating to Your Consumers
I used to go to a lot of trade shows; it is a great way to learn about your competition as well as ways to improve your product. I’ve noticed that it isn’t always the big corporate booths that have waiting lines, but the smaller companies with free SWAG will also draw interest. Before you can publish a newsletter you need customers to send it to.
Smaller companies who can’t afford a marketing team still need to get information out to current users and potential customers. Without big budgets to interest customers, a company can still create initial interest for a newsletter from a product web site, Galaxy Store product description, social media groups, as well as word of mouth from satisfied customers. A way to entice customers to sign up or continue receiving the newsletter is with coupons, giveaway contests and special discounts. Sharing those in the newsletter first is an excellent way to retain your users and build brand loyalty.
Persona’s marketing team is using all the social media tools. Their goal is to be found on every social media platform: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Reddit, Telegram channels, and others. However, one of the most important digital marketing tools is their well-designed website, persona-wf.com.
Use the Right Tools for the Job
There is an old saying that when you only have a hammer, every screw looks like a nail. While this is true, having a screwdriver available makes for a much better end product. The same should be said for a marketing newsletter. While having a word processing program and a mail account allows you to initially create and publish a newsletter, it is not as effective as using a proper emailing tool, especially as your business grows.
A good customer relationship management (CRM) tool will have both operational and analytical systems. This makes it easier to not only organize and send newsletters, but also analyze and create reports as well as provide information that is used to target your audience. They usually include a dedicated email service provider.
A couple of methods to measure the effectiveness of your newsletter are open rate as well as clicks from the newsletter. For their mailing program, Persona uses MailChimp so they have access to various reports that helps them tailor their audience. However, there are many mailing companies, such as Mailer Lite, Sendinblue or others, who can fulfill your business needs. Of course you can create your own mailing lists using basic office tools. Even if the mailing list is small, keep in mind that domain accounts that include email services, both free and paid services, have limits to how many emails or recipients can be sent in a set time period.
I believe an advantage of using a CRM mailing program is the ability for unsubscribing. It is much better to have an unhappy reader hit the unsubscribe button than flame you on social media. Trying to handle removal of readers manually can be a very time consuming operation.
Select the Right Style of Newsletter
Annually I get a two-page recap from my aunt about her family’s prior year. I am often amazed to learn how productive my cousins are and that the new dog is such a scamp. However, I read it and toss it away. Her letter is just words and there is no engagement with me. It is telling and telling, but isn’t selling. A good newsletter needs more than just words and it needs a format that engages readers.
The format of the newsletter will make a difference, so tailor your newsletter to your target audience. Some newsletters are a recap or summary with a links to content with more details. That format is easy to scan through and find topics of interest. It is a great format if your target is a manager or representative who is busy. The reader can skim or skip parts of no interest and deep read what they find important.
Other newsletters may have a story about one topic with links throughout the story to more detailed information. If your target is detail oriented, these how-to newsletters will engage the reader. If your app is a game, giving users tips and tricks while taking them on a journey through the game draws them in.
Another style of newsletter is mostly visual. Telling a story in images is especially useful if you have an international audience as it removes translations and has visual interpretations. Also if your target audience is more creative, you may want to go with a newsletter with more visuals. Adobe inDesign is a useful tool for creating a heavily imaged newsletter. There are many low- priced or free alternatives, such as affinity-publisher, if you are on a budget.
Dominus Mathias, a Case Study
Watch face designers like Persona or game developers with in-app purchases depend on repeat customers. I interviewed Dominus Mathias watch face design studio and their success story shows what you can achieve. You may find it interesting how a small designer company, Dominus Mathias, uses email marketing newsletters to increase their sales.
Dominus Mathias cooperates closely with the company Vienna Studios for marketing and started collecting email addresses in 2019 for the purpose of sending a newsletter to subscribers. The reason was a way to alert customers to ongoing discounts with the end goal to increase repeat sales. Initially they used the Google Groups service for their newsletter.
With the increasing number of subscribers, they were forced to look for alternatives that could automate the whole process. Ultimately they chose to use Fluent Forms, as well as the FluentCRM plugin for WordPress, in connection with their website, viennastudios.com. Using Fluent Forms gives them the ability to send newsletters, on average, about one per week depending on planned activities. Vienna Studios newsletters may include coupons, giveaway contests or special discounts in their newsletter, to entice readers to purchase products or visit the web site.
The use of newsletters by Dominus Mathias and Vienna Studio has increased the number of recipients who read the newsletters and fulfill the desired action of purchasing a watch face design. Almost every newsletter has some success; the rate depends on various parameters such as the intensity/frequency of sending, the time of sending, the topicality and attractiveness of the promoted watch faces, etc. Dominus Mathias and Vienna Studio have continued to innovate to increase sales and downloads.
In February 2023, in order to make the business more attractive for their customers, they introduced a new app called Watch Face Arena. This app not only provides current information about products that are on sale or for free, but also enables customers to actively participate in a playful way. For example, consumers can vote for their favorite watch faces that are in competition with another one and follow the ranking of the most attractive ones. The app is available on the Google Play Store.
The Time to Start is Now
The time to start your marketing newsletter is now, because you can. You don’t need to spend a lot of money for tools to start, you can use your business email address and a word processor. Starting small can be a big advantage. Even if you have ten names on the mailing list, they can be your alpha group. Don’t wait for a new product or updated version release. Start gathering names and contact information. If you don’t do it now, when will you do it?
