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 fulfilment 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 thru 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 thru" 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
acknowledgement 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 od ideas, advice and help.
