Creativity with Purpose

Every month you are invited to welcome our newsletter into your inbox.
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What you may not fully appreciate is that we carefully choose what to share with you.
 
For us, each newsletter is an opportunity to deepen relationships with our clients and readers. We view it as a conversation, an opportunity for us to learn together.
 
Each month we draft one new blog post and choose additional content that we think might be valuable to you.  We also publish because it encourages us to process and learn from the projects we are working on or completed.
 
Writing about lessons gleaned from our work makes our newsletter more meaningful and purposeful. We want to give you a chance to learn from our experiences. This feels more authentic than writing about a random topic.
 
We share our observations and ideas in the spirit of improving together. Our knowledge grows deeper when you, our readers, offer your own insights on the subject. There is connection as we learn together.

Artist Revealed
One element of each blog post is a beautiful watercolor illustration that visually represents the post’s topic. You may or may not know that Rachel is the artist.
 
She has been creating these images since the middle of 2020. At the start of the pandemic, Rachel, like us all, had more hours at home and decided to learn and grow through painting.
 
Not only did this allow Rachel to flex her creative muscles but it also filled a need for original art for our newsletter. Finding an appropriate photograph that aligned with the blog topic and our brand each month was not easy.
 
So far, Rachel has painted 41 illustrations for our blog posts. She spends two to seven hours each month creating the image, and the final art is priceless. Her work is beautiful and reflects our brand perfectly.
 
Process
Creativity on its own will not produce a newsletter. A thoughtful process does.
 
To help us track the tasks, we use a free version of Trello (a project management tool) to organize the timeline and deadlines for each step:

1. Ideate blog post ideas with our accountability partner.
2. Update or add addresses to our email distribution list.
3. Draft blog post.
4. Create illustration.
5. Ask contract writer to edit blog post, curate the newsletter, and draft social media posts.
6. Review newsletter.
7. Distribute the newsletter.
8. Schedule social media posts.
 
Within each step, there are multiple tasks. For example, we have a process to keep track of newly added email addresses and how we invite people to join our newsletter. Another example is that once Rachel completes the illustration, she photographs it and creates the sizes needed in Canva.
 
Our process is fairly simple, but don’t assume that means it’s easy. A simple process allows you to focus on the tasks at hand instead of trying to master the process. With all projects, keep it simple.
 
We also utilize hired resources, like a writer and a marketing business strategist who assists with the ideation and key messages. Seeking outside resources who excel at their work is always a good business decision.
 
Set Deadlines
To keep ourselves accountable, we set deadlines each month. It’s important to be nimble and with a timeline laid out, we can see when we need to alter it to accommodate other client deadlines.
 
There are some months when we think to ourselves, didn’t we just do a newsletter? Yes, we did, but the time is here again. If we don’t brainstorm ideas at the beginning of the month, we never would have the blog post written by the time the newsletter goes out.
 
We hold each other accountable by tracking the progress and deadlines for each task. We all need deadlines. I don’t know about you, but when I give myself a deadline for a task I’m much more likely to get it done.
 
We know that you are likely not waiting at your computer for our newsletter to show up. And yet, we love when you comment on a blog post or share your own reflections after reading our newsletter.
 
Purpose
Beauty is one of our Reach Partners values. Yes, beauty is demonstrated in Rachel’s gorgeous illustrations, and it’s also found at the intersection of our ideas and solutions. In every newsletter and blog post, we find beauty in our process and in our purposeful creativity.
 
– Anita