Writing and publishing a successful
newsletter is perhaps the most competitive of all the different areas of mail
order and direct marketing.
Five years ago, there were 1500
different newsletters in this country. Today there are well over 10,000 with new
ones being started every day. It's also interesting to note that for every new
one that's started, some disappear just as quickly as they are started...lack of
operating capital and marketing know how being the principal causes of failure.
To be successful with newsletter,
you have to specialize. Your best bet will be with new information on a subject
not already covered by an established newsletter.
Regardless of the frustrations
involved in launching your own newsletter, never forget this truth; There are
people from all walks of life, in all parts of this country, many of them with
no writing ability what so ever, who are making incredible profits with simple
two-four- and six page newsletters.
Your first step should be to
subscribe to as many different newsletters and mail order publications as you
can afford. Analyze and study how the others are doing it. Attend as many
workshops and seminars on your subject as possible. Learn from the pros. Learn
how the successful newsletter publishers are doing it, and why they are making
money. Adapt their success methods to your own newsletter, but determine to
recognize where they are weak, and make yours better in every way.
Plan your newsletter before
launching it. Know the basic premise for its being, your editorial position, the
layout, art work, type style, subscription price, distribution methods, and
every other detail necessary to make it look, sound and feel like the end result
you have envisioned.
Lay out your start up needs; detail
the length of time it's going to take to become established, and what will be
involved in becoming established. Set a date as a milestone of accomplishment
for each phase of your development; A date for breaking even, a date attaining a
certain paid subscription figure, and a monetary goal for each of your first
five years in business. And all this must be done before publishing your first
issue.
Most newsletter publishers do all
the work themselves, and are impatient to get the first issue into print. As a
result, they neglect to devote the proper amount of time to the market research
and distribution. Don't start your newsletter without first having accomplished
this task!
Market research is simply
determining who the people are who will be interested in buying and reading your
newsletter, and the kind of information these people want to see in your
newsletter as a reason for continuing to buy it. You have to determine what it
is they want form your newsletter.
Your market research must give you
unbiased answers about your newsletter's capabilities of fulfilling your
prospective buyer's need for information; how much he's willing to pay for it,
and an overall profile of his status in life. The questions of why he needs your
information, and how he'll use it should be answered. Make sure you have the
answers to these questions, publish you newsletter as a vehicle of fulfillment
to these needs, and you're on your way!
You're going to be in trouble unless
your newsletter has a real point of difference that can easily be perceived by
your prospective buyer. The design and graphics of your newsletter, plus what
you say and how you say it, will help in giving your newsletter this vital
difference.
Be sure your newsletter works with
the personality you're trying to build for it. Make sure it reflects the wants
of your subscribers. Include your advertising promise within the heading, on the
title page, and in the same words your advertising uses. And above all else,
don't skimp on design or graphics!
The name of your newsletter should
also help to set it apart form similar newsletters, and spell out its
advertising promise. A good name reinforces your advertising. Choose a name that
defines the direction and scope of your newsletter.
Opportunity Knocking, Money Making
Magic, Extra Income Tip Sheet, and Mail Order Up Date are prime examples of this
type of philosophy...as opposed to the Johnson Report, The Association
Newsletter, or Clubhouse Confidential.
Try to make your newsletter's name
memorable...one that flows automatically. Don't pick a name that's so vague it
could apply to almost anything. The name should identify your newsletter and its
subject quickly and positively.
Pricing your newsletter should be
consistent with the image you're trying to build. If you're starting a
"Me-too" newsletter, never price it above the competition. In most
instances, the consumer associates higher prices with quality, so if you give
your readers better quality information in an expensive looking package, don't
hesitate to ask for a premium price. However, if your information is gathered
from most of the other newsletters on the subject, you will do well to keep your
prices in line with theirs.
One of the best selling points of a
newsletter is in the degree of audience involvement instance, how much it talks
about, and uses the names of its readers.
People like to see things written
about themselves. They resort to all kinds of things to get their names in
print, and they pay big money to read what's been written about them. You should
understand this fact of human nature, and decide if and how you want to
capitalize upon it-- then plan your newsletter accordingly.
Almost as important as names in your
newsletter are pictures. The readers will generally accept a newsletter faster
if the publisher's picture is presented or included as part of the newsletter.
Whether you use pictures of the people, events, locations or products you write
about is a policy decision; but the use of pictures will set your publication
apart from the others and give it an individual image, which is precisely what
you want.
The decision as to whether to carry
paid advertising, and if so, how much, is another policy decision that should be
made while your newsletter is still in the planning stages. Some purists feel
that advertising corrupts the image of the newsletter and may influence
editorial policy. Most people accept advertising as a part of everyday life, and
don't care one way or the other.
Many newsletter publishers,faced
with rising production costs, and viewing advertising as a means of offsetting
those costs, welcome paid advertising. Generally the advertisers see the
newsletter as a vehicle to captive audience, and well worth the costs.
The only problem with accepting
advertising in your newsletter would appear to be that as your circulation
grows, so will the number of advertisers, until you'll have to increase the size
of your newsletter to accommodate the advertisers. At this point, the basic
premise or philosophy of the newsletter often changes from news and practical
information to one of an advertiser's showcase.
Promoting your newsletter, finding
prospective buyers and converting these prospects into loyal subscribers, will
be the most difficult task of your entire undertaking. It takes detailed
planning, persistence and patience.
You'll need a sales letter. Check
the sales letter you receive in the mail; analyze how these are written and
pattern yours along the same lines. You'll find all of them---all those worthy
of being called sales letters---following the same formula: Attention, Interest,
Desire, and Action on the part of the reader---AIDA.
Jump right in at beginning and tell
the reader how he's going to benefit from your newsletter, and keep emphasizing
right on through your "PS", the many and different benefits he'll gain
from subscribing to your newsletter. Elaborate on your listing of benefits with
examples of what you have, or you intend to include, in your newsletter.
Follow these examples with
endorsements or testimonials from reviewers and satisfied subscribers. Make the
recipient of your sales letter feel that you're offering him the answer to all
his problems on the subject of your newsletter.
You have to make your prospect feel
that "this is the insider's secret" to the success he wants. Present
it to him as his own personal key to success, and then tell him how far behind
his contemporaries he is going to be if he doesn't act upon your offer
immediately.
Always include a "PS' in your
sales letter. This should quickly restate to the reader that he can start
enjoying the benefits of your newsletter by acting immediately, and very subtly
suggesting that he may not get another chance to get the kind of "success
help" you're offering him with this sales letter.
Don't worry about the length of your
sales letter---most are four pages or more; however, it must flow logically and
smoothly. Use short sentences, short paragraphs, indented paragraphs, and lots
of sub-heads for the people who will be "scanning through" your sales
letter.
In addition to the sales letter,
your promotion package should include a return reply order card or coupon. This
can be either a self addresses business reply postcard, or a separate coupon, in
which case you'll have to include a self-addressed return reply envelope. In
every mailing piece you send out, always include one or the other; either a
self-addressed business reply postcard or a self-addressed return reply envelope
for the recipient to use to send your order form and his remittance back to you.
Your best response will come from a
business reply postcard on which you allow your prospect to charge the
subscription to his credit card, request that you bill him, or send his payment
with the subscription start order.
For makeup of this subscription
order card or coupon, simply start saving all the order cards and coupons you
receive during the next month or so. Choose the one you like best, modify
according to your needs, and have it typeset, pasted up and border fit.
Next, you'll need a Subscription
Order Acknowledgment card or letter. This is simply a short note thanking your
new subscriber for his order, and promising to keep him up to date with
everything relating to the subject of your newsletter.
An acknowledgment letter, in an
envelope, will cost more postage to mail than an simple postcard; however when
you send the letter you have the opportunity to enclose additional material. A
circular listing items available through you will produce additional orders.
Thus far, you've prepared the layout
and copy for your newsletter. Go ahead and have a hundred copies printed,
undated. You've written a sales letter and prepared a return reply subscription
order card or coupon; go ahead and have a hundred of these printed, also
undated, of course. You'll need letterhead mailing envelopes, and don't forget
the return reply envelopes if you choose to use the coupons instead of the
business reply postcard. Go ahead and have a thousand mailing envelopes printed.
You also need subscription order acknowledgment cards or notes; have a hundred
of these printed, and of course don't forget the imprinted reply envelopes if
you're going along with the idea of using a note instead of a postcard. This
will be a basic supply for "testing" your material so far.
Now you're ready for the big move...
The Advertising Campaign.
Start by placing a small classified
ad in one of your local newspaper. You should place your ad in an weekend or
Sunday paper that will reach as many people as possible, and of course, do
everything you can to keep your costs as low as possible. However, do not skimp
on your advertising budget. To be successful--- to make as much money as is
possible with your idea--- you'll have to reach as many people as you can
afford, and as often as you can.
Over the years we have launched
several hundred advertising campaigns. We always ran new ads for a minimum of
three issues and kept close tabs on the returns. So long as the returns kept
coming in, we continued running that ad in that publication, while adding a new
publication to test for results. To our way of thinking, this is the best way to
go, regardless of the product, to successfully multiply your customer list.
Move slowly. Start with a local,
far-reaching and widely read paper, and with the profits or returns from that
ad, go to the regional magazines, or one of the smaller national magazines, and
continue plowing your returns into more advertising in different publications.
By taking your time, and building your acceptance in this manner, you won't lose
too much if one of your ads should prove to be a dud. Stay with the advertising.
Do not abandon it in favor of direct mail. We would not recommend direct mail
until you are well established, and your national classified advertising program
is bringing in a healthy profit for you.
Do not become overly ambitious and
go out on a limb with expensive full page advertising until you're very well
established. When you do buy full page advertising, start with the smaller
publications, and build from those results. Have patience keep close tabs on
your costs per subscriber, and build from the profits of your advertising.
Always test the advertising medium you want to use with a classified ad, and if
it pulls well for you, go on to a larger display type ad.
Classified advertising is the least
expensive way to go, so long as you use the "inquiry method". You can
easily and quickly build your subscriber list with this type of advertisement.
We would not recommend any attempts
to sell subscriptions, or any product from classified ads, or even from small
display ads. There just isn't enough space to describe the product adequately,
and seeing the cost of your item, many possible subscribers will not bother to
inquire for the full story.
When you do expand your efforts into
direct mail, go straight to a national list broker. You can find their names and
addresses in the yellow pages section of your local telephone directory. Show
the list broker your product and your mailing piece, and explain what type
people you want to reach, and allow them to help you.
Once you've decided on a list to
use, go slowly. Start with a sampling of 5,00 names. If the returns are
favorable, go to 10,000 names, and then 15,000 and so on through the entire
list.
Never rent the entire list based
upon the returns from your first couple of samplings. The variables are just too
many, and too complicated, and too conductive to your losing your shirt when you
"roll out an entire list" based upon returns from a controlled
sampling.
There are a number of other methods
for finding new subscribers, which we'll explore for you here, detailing the
good and the bad as we have researched them.
One method is that of contracting
with what is known as a "cash field" agency. These are soliciting
agencies who hire people to sell door-to-door and via the phone, almost always
using a high pressure sales approach. The publishers usually makes only about 5%
from each subscription sold by one of these agencies. That speaks for itself.
Then, there are several major
catalog sales companies that sell subscriptions to school libraries, government
agencies and large corporations. These people usually buy through these catalog
sales companies rather than direct form the publisher. The publisher makes about
10% on each subscription sold for him by one of these agencies.
Co-Op Mailings are generally
piggy-back mailings of your subscription offer along with numerous other
business offers in the same envelope. Smaller mail order entrepreneurs do this
under the name of Big Mail Offers. Coming into vogue now are the Postcard
Mailers. You submit your offer on a business reply postcard; the packager then
prints and mails your postcard in a package with 40 or 50 similar postcards via
third class mail to a mailing list that could number 100,00 or more. You pay a
premium price for this type of mailing---usually $1000 To $1500 per mailing, but
the returns are very good and you keep all the incoming money.
Another form of co-op mailing is
that where you supply a charge card company or department store with your
subscription offer as a "statement mailing stuffer". Your offer goes
out with the monthly statements; new subscriptions are returned to the mailer
and billed to the customer's charge card. The publisher usually makes about 50%
on each subscription. This is one of the most lucrative, but expensive methods
of bringing in new customers.
Direct mail agencies such as
Publishers Clearing House can be a very lucrative source of new subscriptions,
in that they mail out more than 60 million pieces of mail each year, all of
which are built around an opportunity for the recipient to win a gigantic cash
sweepstakes. The only problem with this type of subscription agency is the very
low percentage of the total subscription price the publisher receives from these
subscriptions, plus the fact that the publishers are required to charge a lower
subscription rate than they normally charge.
There are also several agencies that
offer Introductory, Sample Copy and Trail Subscription offers, such as Select
Information Exchange and Publishers Exchange. With this kind of agency, details
about your publication are listed along with similar publications, in full page
ads inviting the readers to send $10 or $20 for trail subscriptions to those of
his choice. The publishers receive no money from these inquires list of names of
people interested in receiving trail subscription. How the publisher follows up
and is able to convert these into full term, and paying subscribers is entirely
dependent upon his own efforts.
Most major newspapers will carry
small, lightweight brochures or oversized reply cards as inserts in their Sunday
papers. The publisher supplies the total number of inserts, pays the newspaper
$20 per thousand for the number of newspapers he wants his order form carried
in, and then retains all the money generated. But the high costs of printing the
inserts, plus the $20 per thousand for distribution, make this an extremely
costly method of obtaining new subscribers.
Schools, civic groups and other fun
raising organizations work in about the same manner as the cash-field agencies.
They supply the solicitor and the publisher gets 25% or less for each new
subscription sold.
Attempting to sell subscriptions via
radio or TV is very expensive and works better in generating sales at the news
stands than new subscriptions. PI (Per Inquiry) sales is a very popular way of
getting radio or TV exposure and advertising for your newsletter or other
publication, but again, the number of sales brought in by the broadcast media is
very small when compared with the number of times the "invitation
commercial" has to be "aired" to elicit a response.
A new idea beginning to surface on
the cable TV scene is "Product Shows". This is the kind of show where
the originator of the product or his representative appears on TV and gives a
complete sales presentation lasting from five minutes to fifteen minutes.
Overall, these programs generally run between midnight and 2 AM, with the whole
program a series of sales presentations for different products. They operate on
the basis of the product owner paying a fee to appear and show his product, and
also from an arrangement where the product owner pays a certain percentage from
each sale generated from this exposure.
Newsletter publishers often run
exchange publicity endorsements with non-competing publishers. Generally, these
endorsements invite the reader of newsletter "A" to send for a sample
copy of newsletter "B" for a look at what somebody else is doing that
might be of especial help etc. This can be very good source of new
subscriptions, and certainly the least expensive.
Last, but not least, is the
enlistment of your own subscribers to send you names of people they think might
be interested in receiving a sample copy of your publication. Some publishers
ask their readers to pass along these names out of loyalty, while others offer a
monetary incentive or a special bonus for names of people sent in who become
subscribers.
By studying and understanding the
information in this report, you should encounter fewer serious problems in
launching your own successful specialized newsletter that will be the source of
on going monetary rewards for you. However, there is an important point to
remember about doing business by mail---particularly within the confines of
selling information by mail---that is, Mail Order is ONLY another way of doing
business. You have to learn all there is to know about this way of doing
business, and then keep on learning, changing, observing and adapting to stay on
top.
The best way of learning about and
keeping up with this field of endeavor is by buying and reading books by the
people who have succeeded in making money via the mails; by subscribing to
several of the better periodic journals and aids to people in mail order, and by
joining some of the mail order trade associations for a free exchange of ideas,
advice and help.
