We will take you through DesignHammer’s recent, two part, newsletter creation process from start to finish. First, we’ll share ideas for simple, sustainable, and scalable processes for content generation. Then, we will give a brief overview of email marketing tools currently in the marketplace. Finally, we’ll discuss our experience using MailChimp. This will include some of MailChimp’s technical features, which can aid in reaching your desired audience.

1. Newsletters in an
Hour a Week
NCT4G Conference 2017
Tuesday, June 6th
Michael Nicholson
Jeanette Larsen
@DesignHammer

2. 2
Michael
Nicholson
Project Manager

3. Michael’s spirit animal
3

4. Jeanette
Larsen
Web Designer
4

5. Jeanette’s spirit animal
5

6. DH History
6

7. Struggling with regularity
7

8. 8
• We did blog posts, sometimes
• Decent quality
• Variety of topics
• Inconsistent execution due to a lack of a detailed plan
• No real measurement of impact or frequency
Struggling with regularity

9. Cobbler’s children
9

10. 10
Have you seen any of these suspects?
• Technology companies with old computer systems?
• Stressed out relaxation therapists?
• Car mechanics with broken down cars?
Cobbler’s children

11. Problems
11

12. 12
• Lack of inspiration
• Lack of process
• Lack of time
Problems - 3 Main issues
How to generate content reliably, in a timely manner?

13. Problem - Lack of inspiration
13
“I don’t know what
to write about.”

14. Problem - Lack of inspiration
14
• How do we get new ideas?
• What's good enough?
• What is the value of repeating content that
already exists?

15. Problem - Lack of process
15
I know I've got the
file. It's right here in
storage... somewhere.

16. Problem - Lack of process
16
"I don't know what I am
supposed to be doing or
who to ask.”

17. Problem - Lack of process
17

18. Problem - Lack of process
• Who am I supposed to talk to?
• Who are your resources for review and
style guides?
• Do you have a defined set of items for a
type of content?
• Do you have a timeline for your steps?
18

19. Problem - Lack of time
19

20. Problem - Lack of time
• Lack of organizational buy-in
• Lack of individual buy-in
• Prioritization
20

21. Problem - Lack of time
Our staff always prioritized
client work ahead of our
content creation efforts.
21

22. • Is this important?
• Does both staff and leadership think it's important?
• How do we get it done?
• Why isn't it getting done already if it’s important?
22
Problem - Lack of time

23. 23
Distribute generated content

24. Distribute generated content
• Who do we want to reach?
• How do we best reach them?
• Are their multiple user segments in that group?
• What amount of time do I have to distribute content?
• Do we want the reader to take an action?
24

25. Solutions
25

26. 26

27. Solutions - Content process
Scheduled crowd-sourcing content creation:
• Structure for regular content
• Scheduled time for crowd-sourcing
• Process in place for review/support with
expected time frames
27

28. Solutions - Scheduled
crowd-sourced content
28

29. Solutions - Structure for
regular content
• Do you have style and content guidelines?
• Do you have a shared, efficient tool?
• What's a format everyone can contribute to?
• Do you have a way to keep track of your
progress?
29

30. Solutions - Scheduled time
for crowd-sourcing
• How much time a week?
• How specifically scheduled is the time? Is
this specific to a certain date or amount of
time?
• Do you schedule as a group or as
individuals?
30

31. Solutions - Process in place
for review/support
• How do people get their content reviewed
once they've completed their portion?
• How quickly should that review happen?
• Is there enough time scheduled before the
content needs to be finalized?
31

32. Solutions - Scheduled
content aggregation
32

33. • Reading
• Taking notes
• “Reader’s Corner” - weekly posting
33
Scheduled content
aggregation

34. 34
Scheduled content
aggregation - Reading

35. Subscribe to email lists that are appropriate/compelling:
• Find advocacy blogs
• Sign up for email lists
• RSS feeds
35
Reading - How are you getting
information now that is time efficient?
DesignHammer Updates List:
http://eepurl.com/cEaYHj

36. What is important about what you're reading?
• Who said it?
• Who it applies to?
• Is it time sensitive?
• What is the 3 sentence version of why this matters?
36
Scheduled content
aggregation - Taking notes

37. 37
Scheduled content aggregation
- “Reader’s Corner”

38. 38
“Reader’s Corner” Iterations -
Google doc

39. 39
“Reader’s Corner” Iterations -
Google form

40. 40
“Reader’s Corner” Iterations -
Google Sheets

41. 41
“Reader’s Corner” - Post

42. 42
Taking notes example - Google
Chrome SSL Warning

43. 43
“Reader’s Corner” - SSL example

44. Solutions - Ideas list for
more meatier posts
44

45. • Where do you track your ideas for compelling content?
• How often do you want to create ‘meatier posts’ as
part of your communication?
• How often do you review this list?
• Who has access to this list?
45
Solutions - Ideas list for
more meatier posts

46. 46
Solutions - Owner of
content generation

47. • Will there be one or multiple owners?
• Who makes final decisions?
• Should this responsibility rotate over time and
at what frequency?
• What is their responsibility?
47
Owner of content
generation

48. What does follow up look like in your organization?
• Staff meetings
• Individual assignments
• Project management
48
Owner of content
generation - follow up
• Google calendar
• List of topics that
people select

49. • What is the accountability of the owner?
• When assignments are made, how are
individuals held accountable?
49
Owner of content
generation - accountability

50. 50
Owner of content generation
- NOT a full time job

51. • How much time a week is reasonable for that person?
• How much support do they need?
• Can that support be distributed to spread out the burden?
51
Owner of content generation
- NOT a full time job

52. Solutions - What else can
you do with your content?
• Educate
• Event registration
• Donations
• Advocacy
52

53. Solution - Tools
53

54. Tools
• Google office
• Social media - tools
• SMS services
• Surveys
54

55. Tools - Google office
55

56. Tools - Social media
56

57. Tools - SMS
57

58. Tools - Surveys
58

59. • Please share your level of interest in the
following categories
• How often would you prefer to hear from DH
• Other suggestions
59
Surveys - Ask your readers
questions you want answers to

60. Surveys - Ask your readers
questions you want answers to
60

61. Surveys - Benefits readers
• Relevant information
• Schedule they like
• Methodology of how the like to be reached
61

62. • Expands your reach
• Increases brand or company awareness
• Identifies you as thought leaders
62
Surveys - Benefits organization

63. MailChimp
63

64. MailChimp - Lists and segments
64

65. MailChimp - List signup forms
65

66. MailChimp - Templates
66

67. Conclusion
67

68. Conclusion - Problems
• How do we create content? - Lack of
inspiration, process, and time
• How do we distribute our generated
content?
68

69. Conclusion - Content problem
• Scheduled crowd sourced content creation
• Scheduled content aggregation
• Idea list
• Owner of content generation
69

70. • Update list in MailChimp
• Posts on our website
• Promote through social media
• Use Hootsuite to manage social media
70
Conclusion - Distribution
problem

71. Questions?
71

72. 72
Follow us!
@DesignHammer
facebook.com/DesignHammer
www.designhammer.com/blog/
Newsletter sign-up: http://eepurl.com/cEaYHj
Feedback:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/dh-nctech4good