Based in Brooklyn, Iowa, Manatt’s is a family-owned business that has grown exponentially during their 76 years of operation. Throughout the state of Iowa, their brand is recognized visually through their iconic logo and brand colors. In the construction industry, they are one of the state’s top construction companies. We had the privilege of being able to assist them with their digital marketing needs last year when they were looking for a company to help not only with social media management, but also with their internal newsletter, “The Mirror”, which required direction from one of our in-house designers.
The Challenge
Social Media
One of the biggest challenges Manatts’ had was determining how to use their social media channels and developing special campaigns/strategies that would increase external engagement. They also wanted to incorporate a consistent tone in their messaging as well as develop a cohesive image throughout posts.
Manatt’s “The Mirror”
What used to be a couple to a few times a year, Manatt’s prints, “The Mirror”, a publication that updates the company on goals, wins, and other applicable business information. They came to us to design a copy that could not only be used in future editions, but was special to their 75th anniversary. Their timeline was short, so this was a big overhaul with a small turnaround time.
Our Strategy
Social Media
Increase Engagement
We collaborated with the marketing department at Manatt’s to come up with ways we could increase overall engagement. From promoting relevant industry events and topics to highlighting individual employees and company outings, we made sure to post a variety of exciting content. Additionally, our team scheduled routine cross-posting amongst all of their platforms, customizing the social media channel messaging for each one.
Improve Brand Awareness
Our digital marketing team created unique graphics and post templates that were in line with their branding and came up with engaging captions to tell the Manatt’s story. They’re a company strong in their values, so we made sure to communicate that in every single post and drive traffic back to their website.
Create Unique Campaigns
As a brand with strong values, we had a lot of fun collaborating with the Manatt’s marketing team to create campaigns that showcased their company. While there were a few small campaigns throughout the year, the two larger ones were fan favorites.
“Manatt’s Means” gave employees the chance to share their personal experience working at Manatt’s, while “Where in the World in The Mini Mixer?” followed their beloved Mini Mixer as it stopped at parades and other events all over Iowa.
Manatt’s “The Mirror”
A Reversed Approach; Design to Content
At Webspec, we normally do everything with a content-first approach. However, “The Mirror” required a heavy face lift design-wise, where visual elements were the main highlights of the publication. Our designer worked to build out the layouts with lorem ipsum text, and gave our content strategist and the Manatt’s marketing team the exact word counts to fill in.
The Less, the Better
A key strategy our designer used was making “The Mirror” more minimalist, letting the high-resolution images that Manatt’s provided carry the story of each article. This strategy is also beneficial, giving Manatt’s a clean and simple “evergreen” template to use for future editions of the publication.
High-Level Organization
The Webspec team worked directly with the marketing team at Manatt’s collaboratively to ensure everything was accounted for. Our project manager, designer, and content strategist stayed in contact every step of the way, using detailed road maps and status updates shared with the client.
The Results
Social Media
Since partnering with Webspec, Manatt’s has seen steady growth on all platforms. Between all Facebook posts, there have been over 351,000 users reached and 25,000 page views. Their Facebook page also experienced a 5% increase in the number of page likes and a 6% increase in followers. Both of those metrics continue to grow. Instagram and LinkedIn also saw similar success with around a 9% increase in followers on each platform.
Manatt’s “The Mirror”
At the beginning of January 2023, Manatt’s printed their 2022, “The Mirror”. It celebrated their 75th anniversary with a special write-up, including letters from the Manatt’s brothers, articles from department heads, and so much more. This publication was a huge undertaking, encapsulating an entire year in review in just under 3 months.