You might have some questions, here are the answers:
Who is Letter-O-Matic?
Marina Martinez-Bateman (they/them) is an experienced copywriter and serial entrepreneur who spent the last 20 years writing newsletters that make money, retain customers, and grow community. You may know them from Open Signal's radical $1 membership campaign that raised $25,000 in the first six months; the East Portland Pilot Project in Portland which got 8 to 1 return on investment for East Portland small businesses, or the SAG-AFTRA merger campaign in Los Angeles where Marina's team was nominated for a PR Week award. They currently maintain membership in Business for a Better Portland, The Gresham Chamber of Commerce, and The Foster Area Business Association. You can read more about them and see what they're up to on LinkedIn, and you can get in touch with them through the contact form on this site.
Who is this service for?
This service is for freelancers, small business owners, activists, and other busy people who know how valuable and important a monthly newsletter is, but who spend their time doing their work, not writing about it.
Our ideal client will have a list they've used in the past and had positive results, they will be a person who is comfortable having a trusted third party write their newsletter for them, and they will be great at spreading the word and getting their friends in on this awesome new service.
In other words, our ideal client has been wishing they could just call someone, chat for a bit and have a newsletter at the end of it so they can live their best life and not stress about their newsletter. Because that's exactly what we do.
Who is this service not for?
In order to provide the best service, Letter-O-Mattic clients must have their own list, so please have a google sheet, excel file, CSV or other compilation of client names and emails before you sign up with us.
Letter-O-Matic is an efficient machine. In order to keep the service affordable and scalable, each client has 30 minutes per month to help outline the newsletter and 15 minutes to fix issues or add final touches before it goes out. We respect our clients time, which means that clients who require face-to-face meetings, long meetings, or who are not good at keeping to a schedule are not going to get the best results from our service.
If we're not the company for you, we will help you find someone who better fits your needs. so please reach out. Finding a newsletter writing can be stressful and time consuming and we want to make sure you're taken care of, even if you're not the right client for us.
Can I see a sample newsletter?
Yes, here it is!
Can I design my newsletter?
Yes, if you already have a Mailchimp template that has been designed for you, we will use that.
If you do not, we will use our newsletter layout, which has proven to be successful across multiple campaigns. We will apply your company colors, logo and fonts to make sure everything we send out matches your brand and your voice.
Do I need to give you pictures?
Although newsletters with original pictures perform better, we will find stock images from Unsplash to feature in your newsletter if you don’t have your own pictures. The Unsplash images will credit the photographer and provide a link to their work, because that’s what Unsplash asks us to do.
Why Mailchimp?
We know Mailchimp the best and we don’t want the confusion of multiple email services to impact client experience.
When will you expand to services other than Mailchimp?
We want to make sure that our business model works well for our clients and delivers on their campaigns before we change it. How and what we change will also be dependent on what our clients ask for.
When will my newsletter go out?
When your Account Manager sets up your Mailchimp account, they will work with you to agree on a regular day and time for your monthly call, which should be no more than 5 business days before your newsletter goes out. Your call and newsletter will recur monthly after that unless you ask for a schedule change.
Can I change or customize when my newsletter goes out?
Yes, through the magic of scheduling, your newsletter can go out any time or day you wish (we recommend Tuesday and Thursday mid-morning) but your monthly call will be scheduled around other client's calls and you may not get the exact time you want if someone else already has it.
What happens if I miss my monthly call?
That’s okay, stuff happens. We can reschedule the monthly call one time per month, provided the call is rescheduled within 3 business days of the date your newsletter is supposed to go out.
Will the price ever go up?
It already has, and we can guarantee that the price will continue to go up. As we've grow, we've been able to preserve day-one pricing for those brave and amazing visionaries who came on-board at the very beginning and we have no plans to increase your rate after you sign up. However, if it comes down to raising prices or closing our doors, we will raise prices.
What if I want more than one newsletter a month?
That’s easy, just ask! Additional newsletters are $600 each.
What time zone are you in?
We are conveniently located in Portland, Oregon, USA, Pacific Standard Time (GMT-8).