Actionable UX insights that increase impact for nonprofits
Email Newsletters
Creatives and small business owners hire me to grow their brands and increase sales with email newsletters.
Visual artist email newsletters
Sound familiar?
JB Burke is a visual artist who mainly uses Instagram to share updates about her work with followers.
She has a full-time job and doesn’t have time to design and write a newsletter, but understands the value of having alternate ways to build a fan base so she’s not subject to the whims of social algorithms.
“I just want to send you some links and images each month and have you magically create my email newsletter for me. “
My approach to artist newsletters: ghostwriting + brand consistency
JB sent me a few images, links to her website, socials, and current and upcoming shows, which I used to design and write a newsletter for her in her voice and matching her brand (colors, fonts, etc).
I also created a signup form for her website and social bios, and a welcome sequence for new subscribers. I used Campaign Monitor as the email platform.
Results, baby!
73% open rates for newsletter, 93% for the welcome sequence
55% click through rates
Links in emails drive traffic back to gallery websites for purchasing
Signup form linked on website & social to capture new followers
Welcome sequence keeps new subscribers engaged between newsletters
Mark W. sends event announcements to a mailing list of 500+ multiple times a year. He keeps their email addresses in a spreadsheet and copies them into the email’s CC or BCC line to send. Many of those emails get marked as Spam automatically by email service providers like Gmail and Yahoo.
Plus, he has no way of knowing how many people even saw or opened the email or how many were invalid and bounced.
“I’ve got a postcard and website for the event already. Can you use them to create an event email?”
My approach to event emails: prevent spam + design for attendees
My top priority was to make sure his emails didn’t end up in Spam, so I set Mark up with an email marketing platform (Campaign Monitor). The platform also tracks email performance so we can optimize them over time. Then I imported and cleaned up his mailing list to improve deliverability.
I designed an email newsletter to match his event postcard and website, so recipients would recognize the brand.
Light copywriting made the email easier to scan and highlighted the new venue’s free parking, an important point for people deciding whether to attend.
Looks great on both desktop and mobile devices.
Results, baby!
Invalid and bounced email addresses automatically removed
0 emails marked as Spam
45% open rates
Reusable mailing list for future events + ability to segment by location or interests
Email newsletter services
Email marketing solutions for creatives and small business owners
Set-up and create custom templates
Choose a platform (MailChimp or Campaign Monitor are recommended). I’ll set it up for you, create 1 or 2 custom email templates, and import your list if you have one.
You’ll write and send your own emails.
Benefit: You need help setting up a sending domain and other technical stuff.
Great for: emerging artists on a tiny marketing budget.
Ghostwrite and send monthly
I’ll write your email newsletters for you, matching your voice and brand so it’s seamless to your audience. You’ll have a chance to review them before they go out to your subscribers.
Benefit: Consistently sending email newsletters is the key to successfully building your brand and audience.
Great for: busy mid-career artists who are willing to invest in marketing help to connect with and grow their audiences.
