Behind the scenes of our interactive advertising newslett…

As you in all probability know, certainly one of Rock Content material’s primary targets is to offer related content material for entrepreneurs and model homeowners.

We’ve been doing this for over ten years by way of our weblog, social media, programs, and different content material codecs like Rock Content material Journal and Advertising Backstage.

Two years in the past, we determined to ship not solely high-quality content material concentrating on our persona’s primary search intents but additionally weekly information in a advertising publication: The Beat.

This week, The Beat reaches its one centesimal version, and it’s protected to say we’ve discovered a factor or two alongside the way in which.

To have fun this milestone, we’re pulling again the curtain on The Beat to disclose all the main points of our publication, from our manufacturing course of to the numbers we’ve achieved over time.

One other advertising publication?

Advertising newsletters will not be precisely a brand new idea. There are a whole lot accessible, a lot of that are fairly good.

So, earlier than The Beat even considered seeing the sunshine of day (or our readers’ inboxes), we needed to reply the query: how can we guarantee our publication stands out from the remainder?

We selected to make The Beat stand out from the group with two particular options:

1. The Beat is an interactive publication (sure, Rock Content material is critical about content material expertise). Readers can work together with numerous parts and luxuriate in an expertise that goes past written content material.

If you wish to know extra about The Beat’s interactive design course of, I extremely advocate you learn this text.

2. It’s extra than simply “information for the sake of reports.” Moreover masking the whole lot that occurred throughout the week, we focus on how every subject impacts your methods—with insights from our specialists on every topic.

Now that you simply and The Beat have been launched, let’s begin our behind-the-scenes tour.

An summary of The Beat in numbers

To kick off our tour, we’ve gathered a number of the most fascinating info from these 100 editions that can assist you get accustomed to our publication:

• 2 years of publication
• 100 editions in complete, all the time printed on Fridays
• 10,836 subscribers, gained 100% organically

An summary of The Beat in subjects

We additionally analyzed essentially the most incessantly lined subjects in The Beat and created a phrase cloud. Right here’s the end result:

The themes “Search engine optimization” and “Advertising” have been essentially the most lined over these 100 editions, for apparent causes. However we’ve additionally talked lots about social media, information, and, in fact, Synthetic Intelligence.

💡 Enjoyable reality: Google updates have been talked about in 17 editions of the publication. That’s lots of updates!

Finest editions thus far, in keeping with our viewers

We may be biased as a result of we love each version of our publication, however our viewers has notably loved three:

#1. Welcome to The Beat: The very first version at its official launch. We made lots of noise in regards to the venture’s inauguration, leading to probably the most accessed editions thus far.

#83. Influencer Advertising in 2024: This version featured a complete article with information on Influencer Advertising in 2024, mentioned Google updates, and included a full interview with the VP of Advertising at Aircall.

#24. Natural cellular site visitors is dropping: This version was filled with interactive parts like charts, quizzes, and response buttons.

Editor’s picks: Finest editions of The Beat for Rock Content material

I do know, I do know. In relation to outcomes, our opinion won’t matter a lot. However because the editor of The Beat, I do have my favourite editions. Listed here are a few of them:

#21. We examined the new Instagram feed prematurely: I’m biased not solely as a result of I’m the editor of The Beat but additionally as a result of I wrote the principle article of this version. It’s actually superb: interactive parts, a brand new podcast episode with the Senior Market Analysis Supervisor at SemRush, and unique interviews… it turned out glorious.

#28. TikTok now threatens Google: Bear in mind the controversy about Google’s personal information displaying that Gen Z most well-liked looking out on TikTok over Google? After all, we lined it.

#50. Our first look into Google Analytics 4: One other version I tip my hat to. The duvet story reveals Rock Content material’s behind-the-scenes have a look at how we have been adapting to GA4, whereas the remainder of the version covers the launch of Bing Chat and the TikTok ban concern in the USA.

#68. 30+ questions, answered: How AI is altering Search engine optimization: Lastly, the version the place we introduced within the Head of Search engine optimization at Wix to speak with our VP of Advertising about the way forward for Search engine optimization with the AI growth, answering over 30 questions from our viewers. Tremendous informative.

It’s nice to look again and see how The Beat has served as an info channel for advertising professionals on key subjects over the previous few years.

The Beat course of: step-by-step for creating an interactive publication

As we proceed our tour, let me stroll you thru the step-by-step strategy of our routine with The Beat.

In the present day, the publication is created by two folks on our group: myself, accountable for writing, modifying, and distributing the publication, and Artistic Designer Nayara Medeiros, who designs the publication and its visible supplies.

This was the preliminary course of we designed, and it has remained just about the identical till as we speak:

Step 1. Collect the content material for the version

Each Tuesday or Wednesday, I resolve which content material can be included within the version.

💡 Essential: We even have a selected course of for creating content material masking sizzling subjects and tendencies for the weblog (which follows a distinct rhythm than Search engine optimization-focused content material). With out any such content material, it could be unattainable to maintain the publication operating because it does as we speak.

To create the publication content material, I contemplate just a few factors:

• What subjects have we lined on the weblog this week?
• Do now we have any audiovisual materials value together with? For instance, podcasts, social media content material, or movies.
• Are there any further fascinating content material items for this version? For instance, interviews or case research.
• Is there any wealthy materials that could possibly be featured on this version?

Step 2. Writing the content material for The Beat

With that in thoughts, on Wednesday, I begin creating the publication content material. The Beat has a hard and fast construction, so I all the time work inside that framework, dividing the content material into three components:

Interactive Expertise:

• Title
• Publication introduction
• Content material: title + creator + introductory paragraph
• Interactive parts
• Closing

The content material usually follows this sample:

E-mail: In contrast to most newsletters, The Beat’s content material will not be offered within the e-mail however throughout the interactive expertise. So, the e-mail serves as an extra distribution level, inviting subscribers to learn the total content material. It follows this construction:

• Title
• Introduction
• Abstract of what the subscriber will discover within the version
• CTA for the interactive expertise

We’ve carried out many exams on how this e-mail ought to look and are all the time testing adjustments to extend open charges and, in fact, CTR. In the present day, this format works nicely.

Copies for distribution: Lastly, I additionally create the copies for selling The Beat on social media (Instagram, LinkedIn, and Telegram) and by way of push notifications, together with pointers for captions and creatives.

Step 3. Creating the interactive expertise

With the content material prepared, it’s now within the palms of our Designer.

On Thursday, Nayara builds the complete interactive expertise for The Beat (she detailed the method right here) and in addition creates the playing cards we’ll use for selling the version. The end result appears like this:

As soon as the whole lot’s prepared, we evaluation each bit, check the hyperlinks, and I schedule the e-mail and social media posts.

And that’s it! By the primary hour of enterprise on Friday, The Beat is contemporary in our subscribers’ inboxes!

Company Publication: The methods which have labored finest for The Beat

Final however not least, let’s discuss some methods we’ve examined over the previous two years which have delivered the very best outcomes for us (in any case, I do know you may need to replicate them in your organization, too).

Right here we go:

1. Have a couple of distribution level for the publication

This may shock you, however e-mail will not be the principle distribution channel for The Beat as we speak. As I discussed, every time a brand new version is launched, we distribute it throughout numerous Rock Content material channels.

One of many primary ones is correct right here on our weblog: a micro-interactive expertise the place you possibly can subscribe to the publication with out even leaving the web page. By the way in which, have you ever subscribed but? 

2. Create a particular month-to-month version for the final leads base

Initially, in the event you’re fascinated with creating a company publication on your model, don’t assume your leads base will mechanically be your subscribers.

This error can severely hurt your publication’s efficiency and even your e-mail area.

Subscribers must opt-in to obtain your publication and genuinely need to obtain it. So, ship editions solely to those that have truly signed up on your content material, agreed?

Nonetheless, this doesn’t imply you possibly can’t invite your leads base to take a look at your publication and, if they need, subscribe for extra content material. We did this for some time with “The Month-to-month Beat,” a particular month-to-month version of The Beat, summarizing crucial occasions of the month.

The month-to-month publication was partially accessible (that means the reader may solely see the start of the content material. To learn the remainder, they needed to subscribe). This motion alone doubled our variety of new month-to-month subscribers.

3. Incorporate visible and interactive parts that complement the article

That is the principle motive why The Beat is not any unusual publication, and I merely love the potential for creating content material that subscribers can work together with.

4. Particular editions

We’ve had just a few themed editions of The Beat, normally to advertise particular materials that Rock Content material was launching.

Two examples:

#30. Okay, variety sells. However how about altering the world? A whole version on Advertising, Variety & Inclusion, created to advertise the sixth version of Rock Content material Journal with the identical theme.

#94. AI Digital Influencers: We would have liked to advertise the State of Advertising Report, a partnership between Rock Content material, HubSpot, and different firms, so we created a particular version of The Beat with insights from the report.

In each circumstances, The Beat helped enhance progress advertising outcomes with out dropping its essence and goal of offering high quality content material to subscribers.

Which brings me to my closing level…

5. The primary and non-negotiable precept: Be related

No one needs a company publication that solely talks in regards to the firm and its merchandise.

The Beat has by no means been, and by no means can be, about Rock Content material.

It’s about bringing the highest advertising and content material subjects of the week, explaining how every subject instantly impacts the lives and methods of promoting professionals and model homeowners, from the angle of our specialists as content material advertising leaders.

Sure, it speaks lots in regards to the model. It brings consciousness, authority, and even progress outcomes. However its content material won’t ever be about that. It’s about being actually related to our subscribers.

And that’s what makes The Beat so distinctive, for the previous 100 editions, and for a lot of extra to return.

And since we’re speaking about The Beat, how about subscribing now? There, you’ll discover all of the tendencies that matter within the digital advertising panorama. Get pleasure from!