Neglected in recent years in favour of social media, the newsletter is making a remarkable comeback among the major traditional media as well as construction brands: manufacturers and distributors alike. A direct, privileged way of building bonds with your customers, it offers many advantages — provided, however, that certain rules are followed.
The newsletter is the essential tool for creating and nurturing a solid, non-artificial bond with tradespeople, specifiers and housebuilders.
The newsletter: an outdated practice?
Once (almost) the only digital communication channel available to brands, the newsletter has in recent years become a second-tier tool, forgotten — even made to look passé — by the emergence and rise of social media. While Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn absorb all of companies' communication efforts through an addictive sense of immediacy, the newsletter is often left to languish. Indeed, over the years it has come to be seen as “junk”. Too numerous, too frequent and lacking any real added value, newsletters often end up in the email bin before they have even been read in full. And that is a shame!
But here's the thing. The excesses of social media, ubiquitous advertising and the constant flow of information are prompting more and more people to cut down their consumption on these platforms. In a “slow content” spirit, they now seek access to quality information that is chosen and personalised.
And what holds true for each of us also holds true for the construction sector! Tradespeople, distributors, specifiers, housebuilders and project owners fully intend, they too, to access quality content! For that, they count on the sector's brands to support them in their necessary upskilling.
Against a backdrop of profound digital transformation in the construction sector, accelerated in particular by the health crisis and changing online behaviour (2020), the newsletter emerges as the ideal “new” communication channel for addressing all these audiences, a little removed from the daily hubbub of social media.
Why create a newsletter in 2021?
To restore the newsletter to its former glory, you have to look beyond its image as an “ultra-basic” tool. Designing a newsletter is not just about sending it: this medium must be crafted by the book in order to unlock its full potential.
The relationship tool par excellence, the newsletter most often sits within the brand's content strategy, since it serves objectives that complement the other channels activated in parallel (social media management, a blog or the production of white papers, for example). And it occupies a central place there!
An editorial object rather than a marketing one, its primary vocation is to create and nurture a solid, non-artificial bond with the various audiences: tradespeople, distributors, architects, developers, engineering consultancies, quantity surveyors or housebuilders.
It thus allows the brand to:
- talk about something other than its products or services (or do so indirectly!)
- showcase its achievements, projects and news
- give a voice to its customers or its ecosystem
- promote related communication media (catalogue, webinar, video, etc.)
- build its audiences' skills by providing high value-added content (opinion pieces, articles, case studies, podcasts, white papers, web series…)
- create brand preference by developing closeness
The newsletter is a genuinely privileged, high value-added space that deserves a carefully considered strategy. And by entrusting this medium to a communication agency specialising in construction, brands such as Isover, Placo, Rehau and Schneider Electric have clearly understood this!
Is the newsletter stronger than social media for building bonds?
There is no point in pitting the two channels against each other, as they serve different objectives! As everywhere, the omnichannel nature of the customer journey remains fundamental and, in this respect, the complementarity of approaches is paramount.
One of the newsletter's main advantages is that it does not depend on the algorithms which, with each successive change, make it ever harder for brands to reach their audience on social media. Every person who subscribes to the newsletter receives (in theory!?) your message, and you thereby develop a relationship-driven approach around your brand by creating a genuine community.
To be sure they read it, it is important to foster a sense of loyalty. Beyond the technical aspects (ergonomics, visuals, configuration), you need to invest in storytelling and offer content that gives pride of place to quality information. The big trap to avoid is talking only about yourself, your products or your solutions. The aim, rather, is to build a bond with your audiences by supporting them. By showcasing your customers and best practices, you adopt a discourse of proof that establishes a sense of trust — often absent from social media.
What should you say in your newsletter to deliver real added value?
If you are not talking (directly) about your products, what do you talk about in a newsletter? As a building, construction or housing brand: you must deliver real added value to your readers!
You therefore need to be useful to them. By offering solutions to their problems or opening up perspectives on their market (challenges, regulations, pain points, etc.), rather than presenting them with the latest product, you bring the customer an additional service. They feel privileged and reassured about the brand's legitimacy in supporting them. The newsletter thus becomes a long-term investment, a tool for connection.
Creating content: yes, but how?
Interviews, articles, case studies, white papers or social media: creating high value-added content means stepping back from your traditional product pitches to address your audiences' real interests and problems. Because the stakes are high, a communication agency specialising in the building, construction and housing markets will be able to support you in this endeavour.
07 November 2022
Paul R.
6minThe newsletter is a genuine rendezvous with your audiences: it must be short, clear and sent regularly. Integrated into the brand's content strategy, the choice of themes is made in a cross-functional way and follows a precise editorial line. It thus fits into an annual editorial calendar.
When should you send your newsletter?
By communicating simply and regularly on high value-added subjects, you create a rendezvous for your audiences around the brand. So do not send a newsletter just to tick a box on your list of communication tools. Without a real strategy or quality content to share, it is better not to send out a medium that could cost you your audiences' attention and trust!
Depending on your objectives, it may be monthly, bimonthly or quarterly. Driven by the editorial calendar, it will draw on market news (for example: the recovery plan, RE2020...) and the company's key moments (for example: the launch of a new product, a catalogue).
Amid the many communication channels available, the newsletter thus emerges in 2021 as a tool for connection and value that should no longer be neglected! Shall we talk about it over a coffee?