Client: Character Visits 4 U

Challenge: The overall challenge of the newsletter was to build relationships with email subscribers and begin a consistent email presence. The company owner wanted to both grow and refine their current email subscriber list, as she suspected many subscribers’ children had “aged-out” of the company’s services. Challenges for specific sections within the newsletter included: driving purchases for the Enchanted Christmas Ball, increasing party bookings of a less popular character and of the Cumberland Carolers group, and increasing membership of the VIP Facebook group.

Solution: This inaugural monthly newsletter for Character Visits 4 U was a mix of content writing and marketing copy. In order to grow the company’s events email list and tailor it to adults with children within the targeted age range, I suggested she add the emails of parents who had booked parties with the company recently to the events list. She did and the email list almost doubled, with about 10-15 people unsubscribing.

The introductory section of the newsletter is meant to warm up the reader with all the benefits they will get out of receiving this monthly email. I put them into bullet points to make this section more skimmable, bolding the big benefits of each point. I included a highlighted section for the VIP Facebook group, as that was launched at the same time as this newsletter. For the Facebook group, I focused on the benefit of building community with other parents and guardians of small children, honing in on the desires of the target audience.

The company owner wanted a section for the holiday offerings, which included their event the Enchanted Christmas Ball, as well as their caroling group, The Cumberland Carolers. The introductory paragraph for this section highlights the brand voice and personality of CV4U while painting a picture of what the reader’s holiday season could look like if the company is involved.

The Enchanted Christmas Ball section carries a sense of urgency (“reserve your seat now”, “early access”) alongside vivid but clear descriptions of what the reader would get out of the event. I used the CTA “Get My Early Access Tickets” to imbue a sense of ownership and not wanting to miss out for the reader.

I had originally written a description with more detailed benefits for the Cumberland Carolers section, but the owner wanted to keep this section short, so I cut it to the basics.

The Character of the Month section headline highlights the main benefit which is a discount off a party booking with CV4U. Because this offering was new with the newsletter, the main purpose here was to give the reader clear instructions on how to claim their $15 benefit. I gave the reader two opportunities to click to book their character and step by step instructions so that completing this CTA was easy for them to do if they were ready to book.

The next two sections, “Proof that CV4U Magic is Real” and “Ask a Magic Maker” leaned more toward content than copy, but still contributed to the marketing goal of building relationships and trust between the company and their email subscribers. The first section is dedicated to a recent testimonial that demonstrates the company’s mission of high-quality character performers and character attendants. The second section is an interview with a company employee that showcases how invested the employees are in the company and in what they do. This gives the reader a sense of belonging, getting a look inside the company’s inner workings, and also gives them a real human from the company relate to.

Finally, the last section invites readers to engage with the company at even more events, some of which are free to attend. This gives the potential consumer opportunities to “try out” the company before purchasing event tickets or book a party. It also gives the reader value in being able to interact with the company without necessarily purchasing anything.

Throughout the entire newsletter, I matched the brand’s magical but professional voice and imbued the tone with a sense of wonder and excitement.