The October edition of Milldam’s monthly newsletter marked a milestone for the publication: it was the fiftieth in the series. The latest issue focused on the longevity of PR campaigns and how to build relationships and strategy with long-term results in mind. For today’s blog, we take a step back to compare the humble beginnings of the first Milldam Monthly to the fiftieth. A lot has changed both in the content we’ve shared and what the readership wanted to see!
The List
We’ve grown our email list more than 50% since starting the newsletter! One of our favorite parts of publishing it each month is the connections we reestablish. We regularly hear positive feedback or get direct engagement from the content we produce and we’re happy to be continually growing our list of friends and colleagues so that more people can gain from our experience, knowledge and insights. If you’ve enjoyed the Milldam Monthly since issue #1, we’d like to thank you for your support.
The Reach
Alongside a larger list, we’ve also increased the social media impact of the newsletter. In its infancy, the first edition of the Milldam Monthly wasn’t shared across our social channels, nor did our email platform even include social sharing capabilities. We also did not provide a version of the newsletter that was optimized for mobile devices. The opposite is true today, enabling readers to access our content wherever and whenever they please.
The Look
A warmer theme (primarily browns and maroons) has been added to the current palate of crimson and navy blue. With the continual rise of visual engagement, we also incorporate images far more often than the first issue of the Milldam Monthly (which boasted a robust single image).
A sampling of what the first and fiftieth editions of the Milldam Monthly looked like
The Content
An Intro
We still open each newsletter with a review of what’s to come. Perhaps because of the in-depth nature of today’s Milldam Monthly, our introductions have correspondingly grown as well.
PR Tip Of The Month
Though now shortened simply to “PR Tip,” the “PR Tip of the Month” has been a staple feature of almost every newsletter since its creation, though it took until the third newsletter to really hit its stride.
Volume 1: No PR tip
Volume 50: We reviewed some blogs “by journalists, for journalists” to step back from day-to-day PR and remember to stay educated about the craft of journalism to better pitch authentic stories.
Client News
Because we always have a large variety of initiatives moving for the companies we work with, the backbone of every newsletter is our client news section. As we generate interest around these projects with journalists, analysts, and end users, we post a sampling of the resulting publicity in a monthly compilation. As you can guess, the volume of news we share has grown tremendously as Milldam Public Relations has grown since our first newsletter.
Milldam News
While not every newsletter has included this section, we regularly update our colleagues and Friends of Milldam with company news items. The first newsletter featured two big announcements:
White Paper Writing
- This is a service that we’re still proud to offer today! Our staff and expertise has grown since 2012, but our commitment to producing quality white papers for clients has remained strong since we announced the launch of our whitepaper division.
Data Center Government Relations
- While this is no longer a formal offering of Milldam, we regularly work with clients engaged in Government work to announce a related staff member, channel lead, GSA qualified product, etc.
The fiftieth newsletter didn’t feature any Milldam-specific news, but if you’re a subscriber it’s one of the first places we go to broadcast important company updates that you should be aware of. As always, stay tuned! You never know what we’ll be up to by next month.
Industry News and Events
As the Milldam Monthly evolves, we try to add content that is useful for our readers. It now covers news pieces as well as upcoming events for the industries that we work with. This handy section provides a simple guide of relevant trade shows and conferences in the coming months along with news on interesting current events that our readers might have missed.
Change For The Better
As Milldam has grown in both reach and length, we continue to evaluate the content we produce and strive to publish a newsletter that is both entertaining and informative. Just as our company has grown since the publishing of the first issue in 2012, our newsletter has also evolved to best showcase our current work, clients, and the movement of tech industries that seemingly change overnight.
See it for yourself every month!
