Why having a newsletter is crucial

In the tattoo industry, communication with our clients is essential. It is risky to rely solely on social media, even though it plays a crucial role in our career. This is where having a newsletter comes into play, because it offers a direct connection to the people who follow us and like our work. Paired with your Bookme.ink website, it becomes a very powerful and relevant tool.

Advantages of a Newsletter

Control: With a newsletter, we have total control over the creation, distribution and management of our content. No algorithm dictating to whom our content is shown. A newsletter allows us to have a much more direct line of communication with our clientele.

Personalization: Thanks to the advanced customization options provided by most newsletter platforms, your aesthetic and branding vision can really come to life, be reinforced, and remain consistent across all platforms.

Increased visibility: In our line of work, we are very often connected to our phones (and social media), but in real life, people who have a 9 to 5 job and a family life, for example, don’t use them nearly as much. Which is another reason why so few people who match our target audience, actually see our posts. Which is why a newsletter is such a powerful tool for reaching these people. 

Depending 100% on social media for your business is dangerous

Although we can all agree that social media is a valuable tool, depending on it too heavily can pose significant risks to our careers.

Unpredictable Algorithm Changes: Social media platforms frequently change their algorithms, which affects the visibility of our posts and decreases the organic reach of our content. The algorithms determine who they show our content to, so we have no control over “who sees what”. Our new designs will only be shown to a tiny part of our clientele.

Vulnerability to account closures: Sudden closure of an account on a social media platform can result in the immediate loss of our audience and online presence, and is far from being unheard of. Safe to say we all know someone who’s had issues with this! Not to mention the increasing number of hacked accounts. Quick tip: we recommend using complex passwords, activating two-factor authorizations and making a backup of all your photos/images regularly.

Using Bookme.ink with your newsletter

Pairing your Bookme.ink website to your newsletter is a big time saver, not only for us but also for our clients. When preparing your newsletter with images of your latest flash, you can include the link to the Bookme.ink page of that specific flash. The person interested can click on it and be immediately redirected to the page of your site, with all of the details concerning this design, such as the description, the deposit price, your availability etc. It only takes a couple of minutes for the person to book their tattoo, without you having to do anything. Personally, my clients love it, and I always get positive feedback. Many of my clients did not see my latest flash drops on Instagram, and I have a lot more bookings following sending a newsletter, than a post or a story on Instagram. For context, I have 47k followers on Instagram, and 2,500 subscribers to my newsletter, which I have been sending out for 3 years.

The principle is to “reduce friction”, to make the booking of your flash as smooth as possible for your clients.

The Best Tools for Creating a Newsletter

For those who want to fully embrace the power of the newsletter (I love this phrasing, haha), here are my top 3 favorite options. I could easily have included a dozen as there are so many, so I took ease of use as a top criteria but especially those which have free versions that you can start with.

Mailchimp: https://mailchimp.com/ Very well-known and effective platform, it may seem a little complicated for people who are just starting out. In the free version, you can send 1000 emails per month. This means that if you have 100 people registered, you can send 10 newsletters per month. If you have 500 people signed up, you can send 2 etc… you get the idea. This is a good place to start. Also available in French!

MailerLite: https://www.mailerlite.com/ THE easiest and most inexpensive option, perfect for beginners. The free version is very interesting because you can have up to 1000 subscribers and send 12 000 emails (which equals to about 12 emails per month with 1000 subscribers, for example) . Only available in English. 

Cyberimpact: https://www.cyberimpact.com/fr A Quebec-based company that I used for a while, I liked the fact that it was in French. It allowed me to familiarize myself with the process of creating a newsletter. The free version allows up to 250 subscribers and you can send an unlimited number of emails. Great for starting from scratch!

It’s important to keep in mind that you’re never obligated to stick with any newsletter platform, you can always take your email list and try a different option!

How to get subscribers?

For the number of people subscribed to your newsletter to increase consistently, you will have to talk about it often and get your clients to want to subscribe. Here are several ways I went about increasing my number of newsletter subscribers:

– Share the link to sign up wherever you can (website, Instagram bio, Facebook profile, etc.)

– If it is possible, depending on the option you’ve chosen, offer a digital gift upon sign-up. For example, I sent a high definition illustration to my clients upon sign up, so they could print it at home and frame it.

– To encourage people to sign up, I send all of my new flash through my newsletter first, and then I post the ones that have not been booked on Instagram (or other social networks). It can be helpful to also post what has been booked (by marking that it’s been booked) so that those not signed up can see what they’re missing out on!

– Post stories talking about your newsletter. For example, “my new designs are coming out in 2 days, subscribe to my newsletter to be the first to see them”

– Last, and the most importantly, I think, ask your clients after having tattooed them if you can add them to your newsletter. These people obviously like your work and will be delighted to receive your newsletters in their inbox.

Keep in mind that some people may become uninterested and will unsubscribe. It can be for a wide variety of reasons, it’s not personal, it’s life!

Conclusion

The marketing work required to keep our social media accounts up to date can be exhausting and time-consuming, and everything we have built over several years can disappear overnight. To lighten our work and mental loads, the newsletter is an essential tool offering a direct and effective way to reach our clients without the constraints. 

In combining your newsletter with your Bookme.ink website, you will streamline the process for you and your clients. At first, I missed the dopamine hit from posting flash drops to Instagram. Now, thanks to my newsletter + Bookme.ink combo, I get my fix from seeing my bookings !

I will update this article regularly, so if you know of other interesting options. If you know of any, please contact me and I will share them here 🙂