Say Yes: How W Type Foundry grew their revenue with Monotype.
W Type Foundry says yes to opportunities. After building a strong business through talent and hard work, the team saw potential to grow even more through a partnership with Monotype. The decision paid off, with revenue growing from five to six figures over the years of steady, reliable teamwork.
WTF partnered with Monotype in 2016 and over the past few years have seen considerable growth due to their high-quality font catalog and consistent, proactive approach to marketing. In this new article, we talk with co-founder Magdalena Arasanz about the studio’s growth, how they made the most of their partnership, and suggestions for making marketing your fonts less daunting.
The value of collaborating
Originally all located in Santiago, Chile, founders Diego Aravena, Magdalena Arasanz, and Patricio Gonzalez started WTF in 2015 with a love of type design and a passion for teaching others. Collaboration has been part of the studio’s DNA since day one: They’d host educational workshops, teach graphic design students the mechanics of type design, and open their studio doors as a community space for consulting and coworking.
Over the past 10 years, they’ve grown beyond their original smaller market in Chile and added offices in London, and Barcelona. “This broadened our vision of what we could do,” says Magdalena. The new audiences brought more opportunities to host workshops, plus customers with larger budgets and a better understanding of font licensing. “When you’re around that ecosystem, it gives you energy.”
“Every opportunity, I take it!”
After moving to Barcelona, Magdalena was the curator of Type Around the World feature, which she says was a fun partnership opportunity with Monotype that allowed her to stretch creatively, recruiting a friend with video skills as a collaborator. She gave others a glimpse into Barcelona and to flex her font knowledge while shining a light on WTF’s mission and catalog. “Every opportunity gets our name out there and clients can see our fonts, see our personality, who we are, and what we do. Every opportunity, I take it!”
Says Magdalena: “Building a good relationship with Monotype is super important, it really is a collaboration. The foundry feature email was the action that got the ball rolling regarding positioning ourselves and gaining more visibility, from then on just being consistent and present, reaching out and looking for opportunities.”
Consider your craft your business
Magdalena has a background in advertising, so it was natural to transition from type designer to a more strategy-focused role at WTF—one that supports business growth, including taking on marketing projects for the foundry.
Marketing can be a friction point. Magdalena explains that there’s inherent tension between the creative, emotional side of a business and the actual business side. “If you want to make your living through this work,” she says, “make time to see your craft as your business.” She shared a few tips:
- Plan ahead: use a calendaring system to help create a marketing strategy.
- Looking at the year or quarter ahead helps create structure and gives you a broader view of the business.
- Start small! Write one email, offer two promotions per year.
A fruitful partnership
WTF has increased their revenue in the past few years by proactively partnering with Monotype on marketing projects. We brought in Client Services Manager Kelci Elliott to weigh in on what makes the collaboration effective. Says Kelci, “WTF reaches out with specific marketing questions or ideas and then provides strong assets that are correctly sized so they can be used across different platforms.”
To help deliver those high-quality assets, Magdalena takes inspiration from what others are doing in the industry and then looks for a slightly different way to do it, keeping in mind the best way to show their fonts. “Follow guidelines but also bring your own point of view. Observe, do, and then evaluate what’s working.”
Following their “say yes” attitude towards new opportunities, Magdalena joined us for an episode of the Creative Characters podcast and attended Monotype’s Foundry Business Summit. She said initially she experienced imposter syndrome at the event, but quickly found it fun, easy, and valuable. She even joined Kelci for a fireside chat where they discussed giving their brand a refresh and taking steps towards becoming a Premier partner.
We invite you to consider adding some of these practices to your strategy, as these have helped WTF achieve their steady growth:
- Regularly attend webinars
- Participate in marketing campaigns & projects
- Attend in-person foundry events
- Share feedback about pain points
WTF’s journey proves that consistently investing time in different parts of your business pays off.
We’re better together
They’re also proof that our partnership is what you make of it. When we collaborate on marketing initiatives, your foundry gets increased visibility, while providing us with insightful content that can help fellow foundry partners or customers. If you’re ready to invest in your business, Monotype is there to support you in achieving your goals. Let’s grow your creative business together!