How To Parlay Any Multi-Level Program Into A Million Dollars

Multi-level marketing is definitely the way to go for people aspiring to have more than just enough to get by on. Most of the world's leading economic forcasters say that by the turn of the century, fully 75% of the world's consumer business will be conducted via multi-level marketing plans.

The thing to do is to learn all you can about this method of selling how it works, and why it works--and then to get going with a multi-level marketing program that can accumulate a fortune for you. Make no mistake about it, multi-level marketing has made a lot of people very rich already, and will make a lot more people even richer in the coming years.

Multi-level marketing is based upon the idea of each person involved selling only to his or her friends, with each of these people in turn, introducing their friends into the program. It's definitely an "endless chain" idea that has unlimited money-making potential.

Theoretically, everybody knows or comes into contact with an average of 100 different people each week. If only 10 of those people were to give you $10 per week, you would have an income of $100 per week. And then, if these people were to duplicate your efforts, passing back to you, $1 for each new person they enlisted into the program, and then each person recruited perpetuated the program, you income would soon be astronomical!

Undoubtedly, you've heard the story of how you can become rich simply by saving a penny a day, and doubling it each day for 30 days. and then, there are the pyramid or chain letter schemes that we've all been offered. Multi-level marketing, in principle, works the same way, with the only difference being in the product offered for sale.

All of these programs work to some degree--because there are government restrictions and laws against the perpetuation of these ideas--most of them make a big splash when they are first introduced, and then quickly die out. However, the concept of initiating a program that sells itself via an endless chain will always be popular because it holds the promise of bringing riches if only the chain isn't broken.

So, multi-level marketing appeals to everybody because it's an opportunity for all the participants to get rich with a minimum investment, and very little time or effort or involvement.  It works because everybody wants to become rich. it's an idea that anyone--regardless of education, background or basic financial status--can perpetuate from the privacy of his or her own home.

The basic fallacy of multi-level marketing is in the number of people each individual participant can easily enlist into the program. After you've talked to all your relatives, your neighbors, co-workers, and friends across town, you're more or less stymied as to new people to bring into the program.

The bottom line is simply that you cannot recruit everybody you talk to--in fact, if you enlist 10% of the people you attempt to interest in the program, you'll be doing very well. You're going to get some rejections, and these rejections are basically what turns most people off--deflates their ego, drains their enthusiasm, and in the end, is the primary reason they drop out.

Regardless of what you sell, you must always have a gaol in mind--you intend to sell 10 units of a product or recruit 10 new people into your program between now and the first of the month. you've got to believe that you can do it--want to do it--and then get out and beat the bushes until you do it! Once you've achieved this first gaol, you should take a day off and reward yourself with a night on the town or the splurging you've always wanted.

But then, after setting a goal for yourself, and then proving that you can achieve it, you should set a new gaol for yourself-- if you recruited 10 new people into your program last month, then this month, you're going to bring in 15 new members.

You're going to make the really big money in multi-level marketing by selling "business start-up kits," and not really from spending time inspiring or motivating the people you've already brought into the program. In other words, sell the program to as many people as possible, and count on the motivational/money-making opportunities with-in your dealer start-up kit to cause them to put forth the effort to get out and try to make some money on their own. In the end, and as the old saying goes: you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink it--any time and or energy spend "calling back" on the people you've already sold, is going to cost you money and limit your gross income. To be successful in selling--and this is the secret to multi-level riches--you must present your program to as many people as possible. Close the sale with your first presentation, and let the buyer either get with it, or die from his own lack of initiative.

It's as simple as that--the more people you present your program to, the more sales you're going to make. Don't worry about the people who have already bought from you--they either will or they won't and there's nothing you can do about it.  Obviously, if you spend all your time on the telephone inviting people over to a Special Opportunity Party at your house, and then another 3 -hours presenting your program to them, it's going to take you a long time to present your program to 10,000 people and make $10,000...

And, your costs to rent a hall--advertise--and present a seminar progarm--will amount to more than you take in. If you have the initial promotional abilities, the credit and/or cash, and a really dynamic program--you can make it big, and quickly, by staging seminar-type meetings at the rate of 3 to 5 per week. Still, this is expensive and time consuming-- a lot of work on your part, and not the easiest, most profitable way to go.

The only logical way to go--to reach as many people as possible for the least amount of money and effort on your part--is via the mails. In other words, the marrying of your multi-level marketing efforts to mail order will be the least expensive and most profitable for you.

You can spend out 50,000 sales letters and multi-level program brochures in one month, and theoretically make $50,000 from an expenditure of $10,000 or less--a return of $5 for every dollar

invested, which isn't bad...

Here's our recommendation:

1) Write a short, one-page report outlining the basic Success Secrets of muli-level marketing. You can tag-line this report with an invitation for the readers to send for a complete or more detailed manual or tape relative to multi-level how-to; a directory or current listing of money-making multi-level programs; or even a listing of other reports relative to money-making home-based businesses you have for sale.

2) Once you have such a report, the next thing for you to do is advertise. Write an ad such as: FREE REPORT!... Money-making secrets of multi-level marketers. SASE to Your name, address, city, state, zip.

3) Place this ad in one of the national publications carrying lots of mail order advertisements--such as The National Inquirer, American Business, Money-making Opportunities, Entrepreneur, Income Opportunities, Speciality Salesman or any one of the hundreds of other such publications. It is our recommendation that you contract to run such an ad over three issues. This will give your ad maximum exposure, and should result in an overwhelming number of responses for you.

4) In reply to each SASE you receive, first list the name and address of each respondent, along with the date received and what you send back to them, on 3 by 5 cards. Arrange these cards in zip code and alphabetical order, and store them in an old shoe box. Then, you take your one page report and along with your multi-level marketing brochure--your program--you stuff the envelopes and drop them off in your nearest mail box.

If you ad runs in the National Inquirer, you could expect to get 1,000 or more responses each time it runs. So far, your cost is for the ad--the printing of the one page report--and your multi-level program brochures. From these 1,000 free reports you send out you should be able to convert about 300 into new members into the multi-level program you're promoting.

Thus, for an initial cost of $30 for the ad--$100 for the MLM brochures--and the time it takes you to stuff the envelopes--300 buyers at $10 each will give you a gross of $3,000... And that's how you parlay your multi-level program into a fortune, using mail order selling techniques.

One very important thing to always remember relative to starting a new business: You cannot take any money coming in from you business advertising, and use it to pay your "everyday" bills. In other words, you cannot expect to use this money to live on---you have to pour it back into your business to perpetuate that flow of income.

Whenever you advertise, in addition to replies to your offer, you can expect a "ton of mail" from other people trying to interest you in what they're selling. Basically, you should go thru all of this "junk mail' and look over, save the stuff that looks interesting, is well done, or that you can learn from, and perhaps "lift" some ideas from for use in your own selling efforts.

Compile the names of the people and/or companies sending these offers to you. Just as with those replying to advertised offer, jot down the date and a short description of the material received--and then send them a sales letter/brochure about your multi-level program. In sending out sales letter/brochures to thee people, you don't have to send them out immediately. You can list these people in an "incoming offer notebook," and then include them with your regular direct mail packages you send out. But for sure, clip the stamps and save the incoming envelopes along with those from your bona fide replies.

5) So you've spent $150 and made about $3,000 in a period of about three months. Now you want to perpetuate this income, and build it to twice that amount coming in every month. What you do is take the income from that first ad, and increase your advertising. In other words, use it to buy ad space in as many other publications as possible.

If you first $150 brought in $3,000 from exposure in just one publication, $2,000 will bring you $50,000 from exposure in 10 different publications. Continue multiplying your advertising exposure and it won't be long before you will be "snowed under" with dollar bills, checks and money orders. remember this though, you cannot really spend any of that money on yourself until the business is bringing in several thousand dollars per month on a regular basis. You have to pour it back into the business in order to allow your business to reach its full potential.

6) Make up a one-page "Money Tree" circular, similar to ours which included a reference material within this report. Be sure that you keep the cost to "find out about your program" to $2 or less. Then, with a listing of money making reports such as ours--printed on the back of your "Money Tree" circular--shotgun this out to as many people as possible.

We've had outstanding success handing them out at local shopping centers, passing them out door-to-door, and by including them as "ride-alongs" with our bulk junk mailing program. The important thing again, is to present your offer to as many different people as possible--particularly to those people with an itch to get rich quick...

In addition to circulating you "Money Tree" flyers by hand, you should rent or buy-on a regular basis--as many different mailing lists on income opportunity seekers as you can afford, and shotgun one of your circulars to each of these names. The publisher of this report (PREMIER) has names and addresses of customers for $35 per thousand, on peel and stick labels. You can also find inexpensive mailing list suppliers in just about any publication that carries mail order advertising.

For sure, you should spend the money to obtain a 3rd class bulk rate mailing permit, and then use it to send out all your mailings. Start by sending out 250 pieces per week, and then gradually increase your volume to the point where you're sending out 5,000 or more pieces per week, and you'll be in business.

7) So the secrets to getting rich in mail order have to do with presenting a free offer most people will find hard to pass up. You make your money from whatever you send out in reply to the people taking you up on the free offer.

You send them a copy of the free report, plus your multi-level marketing brochure. You can stop there if you want, but there's lots more money to be made just from these initial efforts.

Follow-up offers to people who, themselves are out beating the buses attempting to drum up extra income, is the way the game is played. So, when you receive all these names nd addresses of people interested in receiving a report on multi-level marketing, you compile the names and rent or sell them to other multi-level operators.

Besides including your "Money Tree" circular, and the mailing list rental offer, you should also include a one page circular describing and offering for sale, a listing of your money-making reports. And then, by soliciting co-op mailings from other mail order operators, you'll have a "pretty full" envelope of offers going out.

Finally, the one thing you must always bear in mind is how your mailing package looks to the person receiving it. Your envelopes should be professionally printed with your return address--your sales letters should be written to impress the recipient; no misspelled words or smudges from erasures or worn out typewriters; and the eye-appeal of your coupons or offers which are included; and by all means, the quality of your multi-level brochure. Although multiple colored printing does tend to pull better that just black and white, you can do very well starting with just black and white materials so long a the image you project is all professional. Photo-copying your offers hoping for the best, just won't do. The more affluent you appear to be, fro your envelope to each offer contained within, the better your chances of making a sale.

So, that's how it's done--you can take these methods of how we've done it, maybe even improve upon them a bit, and make tons of money--or you can set everything aside and tell yourself that you'll get started on it next week. The thing is, the instructions are valid and the opportunity is here and now--whatever you do is up to you.

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How To Make Big Profits In Mail Order Starting From Scratch

A lot of people are going to tell you that there are "no more secrets" to making the big profits in mail order. These same people will laugh at you and call you a "fool" for wasting your time chasing rainbows that don't exist.

Don't you believe or even listen to them! The opportunities for wealth beyond your wildest dreams via the direct mail sales of a product or service have never been greater!

If you have an idea, product, or service now is the time to capitalize on it via mail order selling. You can definitely start "on the kitchen table" and parlay it into millions of dollars. Others have done it and continue making themselves a success. Now it's your turn for a piece of the pie.

As with any other profitable business the procedure of making "profits" by mail has its own set of rules. Learn these rules, adhere to them, adjust them to your own circumstances, draw up a "battle plan" and work, work. Persevere, be aware of other people's marketing methods, continue up grading your own product or service, and with determination you can become a millionaire in your own right. Then YOU can look over your shoulder at those who were laughing at you, and perhaps help them in some small way!

Knowledge and the ability to use  that knowledge are the basic keys to success. You must identify the goal you want to attain, understand what it takes to reach that goal, and then dedicate yourself to getting there.

The path to the successful achievement of your goals through direct mail fall into three distinct categories; (1) Market Research and product selection, (2) The use of "targeted" mailing lists, and (3) Customer Follow Up. If you can understand the "hows and whys" of these rules then there's virtually no way you can help but succeed in the field of mail order, even starting from scratch.

Market Research has to do with the selection of the proper product, identifying your "most likely" buyers, and getting your product offer to these people. Product selection is the most basic, and thus the most important first step.

Stop and think. Look around yourself. Listen to find out what the "people"  are clamoring most. In this day and age, much of the noise in the air has to do with topics such as, "How can I find a job?", "How can I put together a resume that will get me a job when I spot an opening?" "Where are the best jobs to be found?" With these thoughts in mind, the person who writes, publishes, and gets and instructional manual or newsletter relative to these questions to the people will sell as many as he can produce.

Thus, Step One is to "listen" to what the people want and then to satisfy those wants. Do this by spending some time researching the subject. Visit your local public library, interview a number of people who have succeeded in satisfying their wants, conduct a few "dry runs" for personal experience, and then write your manual.

The "secret" to ultimate wealth is the capability of producing a product that can be duplicated an unlimited number of times for pennies and sold for dollars. A great many people get "bogged down" within this "rule" because they don't understand "time and motion" requirements. As an example, if you were to stage seminars for the unemployed in your area to help them find and land jobs, you would undoubtedly make a fortune very quickly.

But, you would be committed to a certain expenditure of time to prepare and stage a seminar. Thus you would make a lot of money for yourself, but at the same time you would sustain a loss of time that could be spent enjoying your wealth by doing the things you always wanted to do once you became rich. The only way around this would be to train and hire other people to prepare and stage the seminars, which would mean you would then be dividing your profits.

In the end, the "only way" to succeed is to write something which can be duplicated as often as necessary and sold virtually forever. Look  at it this way; you can spend a full month organizing your material and writing a manual that costs $1 per copy to produce in quantity. You sell it for $20 a copy, and over a period of three years you sell three million copies. In essence, that amounts to 60,000,000 for one month's work!!!

 So writing something "the people want" is the only way to go. But be careful. Make sure you've done your homework and that what you write about is what the majority of the people "will stand in line to buy". Listen to what the people want, and then give it to them. This is the product selection part of your market research. By listening to the cries for help, and catering to them, you will not only have "discovered" the proper product, you will have also "identified" your buyers. Do not try to interest the people in something that does not specifically fulfill one of their desires. Don't mistake a casual interest or complaint as "the voice" of the masses. Spend some time "listening",  and then write to satisfy that need.  Once you've got your product ready for customers to buy, you should spend some time creating the proper sales letter and circular to use in presenting it to your potential customers. Above all else, your sales materials must present an image of professionalism and sell, sell, sell.

Use quality paper and printing in presenting your sales message. Present what you have to say, not in a manner that tells the prospect who you are, how well qualified you are to write on the subject, or how much work you put into the project, but from a stand point of how the customer is going to benefit from buying a copy of your manual.

As an example; General Motors doesn't advertise cars by telling you how they were designed and engineered, built by college graduates or union workers, nor have you ever heard of someone walking up to a car in a dealer's showroom, kicking the tire, and exclaiming "Boy, this sure looks like a safe one!". In fact, new cars are sold by the image of the prospective owners sitting in the driver's seat and showing off by driving through his neighborhood. "Just climb in there behind the wheel and see how she feels to you. Go ahead and take it for a test drive. Drive it home and see what your neighbors think..."

The benefits the prospective buyer is going to receive are the starting point from which all "winning" sales letters are written and circulars designed. It is the "secret" of getting people to spend money on a product or service. Students form the advertising classes at your college, freelance advertising agency personnel,and believe it or not automobile dealership advertising managers are the people to turn to for ideas and help.

Next, consider your follow up piece. This is a simple one page listing of other "related" materials for your customers. Assuming you've sold him a manual on how to land a job, your follow up piece might list manuals on how to dress to project a winning image, how to breeze through job interviews, and what to do after the interview (perhaps an opportunity for your buyer to subscribe to  quarterly newsletter listing job availabilities).

It's important that you have your  follow up piece put together and ready before you make your primary offer available to the public. Then, when you start receiving orders simply enclose your follow up listing of other materials available along with the manual the customer has ordered. Thus you make one sale and as a result you make further sales of related materials. These are the kind of "back end" sales that will keep you in business and your profits multiplying. Don't neglect the follow up piece.

Getting you offer to your most likely buyers is going to cost you money, and here is where most direct mail beginners drop the ball. Do not try to save money and send your offer out to just any old list of names. Contact a reputable mailing list broker. Visit your public library and ask the librarian for a copy of the Standard Rate & Data Services Directory pertaining to mailing list brokers. Find one in your area or one that looks appealing. Tell the mailing list broker you contact about your offer and ask for his help in choosing a mailing list that will be profitable to you.

You'll probably have to rent a minimum of 5,000 names at a cost ranging between $65 and &90 per thousands, but in the end you'll save a lot of time and money because with a good offer and good mailing list you can count on a tremendous response. For instance, the one time rental of a good mailing list may cost you $475 at 795 per thousand. However, a 20% response from such a list on a &20 manual would mean $20,000 in your pocket.

To spend your time compiling names and addresses from  incoming mail order offers, or to rent and use a mailing list from any source other than a reputable broker, is not only foolish but a shortcut to the poor house! Identify your most likely buyers, contact reputable mailing list broker, match your buyer profile to his most responsive list, and you'll make money lots of money every time. Anything less is just a exercise in futility!

There you have it. short and sweet. Cut and dried. The "easy way" to the big profits in mail order starting from scratch. these are the basics, the secrets to how other have done it, and how you can do it too. Organize yourself, follow these guidelines, and it'll be next to impossible for you not to succeed. Remember though, your best product will be "how to information. Something the people want to learn. Something you can research, write about, produce for pennies, and then sell for dollars.

And don't forget, once you're ready to start taking orders, make sure that you get your offer to the most likely buyers. Get out of the mail order circle and out to the people who want to spend money for your product.

It's easy, simple, and it can be very rewarding! Understand the requirements, position yourself to succeed, and go after it! This time next year you could be a millionaire!!!

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How To Start & Successfully Operate A Correspondence Club

All over the country, in fact--all over the world, there are lonely men and women eagerly seeking confidential introductions to other people--for friendship, companionship, even marriage. They're in every village and hamlet, in every town and city, at every crossroads and every rural route; up in the mountains and down in the valleys, on ranches, in factories, mills, stores, offices, churches--They're everywhere!

You can help these people ease their loneliness, and make a very good income for yourself as well, with a Correspondence Club. If you enjoy people, and have an imagination for the world of business, then this is for you.

The first step is to find out what the other correspondence clubs are doing. Your purpose will be to design your own format, and look for ways to improve upon what they are doing. So, check out the tabloids on sale at your supermarket and write a letter to as many of the advertising correspondence clubs as you can afford. Simply state that you're thinking of joining a correspondence club--but you don't want to get "ripped off," so you would appreciate a sample copy of their latest club bulletin/newsletter and a listing of everything the club endeavors to do for its members. It isn't an absolute necessity--but it wouldn't hurt to include a loose stamp with your letter inquiry.

Most of the established clubs will respond quickly, because the very least it means to them is another address they can sell. Don't use business letterhead paper, or a business name. Just inquire as an ordinary interested person.

Once you have your game plan organized--what you will offer your members, the fees you'll charge, and the related services or items you want to offer as sources of added income--your next move will to begin advertising. Start small, go slowly...This is mainly to allow you to handle the ever-increasing number of members while still maintaining firm control over the time required to keep up with the business.

Your first advertisements should be in the "nickle or classifieds" newspapers in your area. An advertisements such as the following, inserted once a week for a month, shouldn't cost you more than $25 while filling your mailbox...

Young woman, just divorced, wants to meet eligible men thru correspondence. Tell me about yourself with SASE to: Box number, and Your name or nickname. (Most people just use a tag-line such as: Judy, Box 123, Anywhere (USA).

At the same time this ad is running for men to inquire about the available girls, run an ad such as the following in about five or six of the national mail order sheets...

Young business executive--Little Shy--wants to meet right women thru correspondence. Will answer all letters. Sherm, Box 123, Everywhere USA.

Certainly you should vary the ads--study the ads the other clubs are running, and adapt what and how they're doing it to your own needs.

Hopefully before you began, as a result of the "sample bulletins/newsletter" you received from all the correspondence clubs you wrote to, You've prepared your own bulletin and can send it off in reply to all of your inquires, with an invitation to pay for a membership in your club. Another important "rung up the ladder" you're going to get from these samples is a list of names and addresses of both men and women seeking correspondence. Some do include names and addresses with their bulletins, and some don't either way, they all sell names to each other so you can send a sprinkling of those names and addresses with your own, until you become well established and with a mailing list of your own.

Important to remember--Do not begin advertising until you have your first club bulletin/newsletter prepared, along with your membership application. Then, just as soon as you receive each inquiry, you can send out your answer--the faster your service the more credibility you'll impart to your prospects. Also, always watch what the older, more established correspondence clubs are doing--You'll want to duplicate their methods, but with more flair and better service for your members.

After about three months in business, you should be pretty well established and showing a good monthly profit. Then you can begin running advertising on your own in the "check-out counter" tabloids, and several of the monthly subscription magazines such as True Story, True Confessions, Modern Romances, etc.

One way of getting started with a built-in supply of names is by contacting Metrapala--Box 4091, Sunnyside Station, Long Island City, New York 11104... They have several sources of good names of people wanting introductions to members of the opposite sex, and will gladly supply you with price lists for 25 to 500 names of lonely people in every state in the union, plus most countries around the world.

Another important organization that can be of tremendous help to you is Destiny Syndicate--P.O. Box 5637, Reno, Nevada 89513...Headed by R.J. Williams who directs the office of the World Federation of Correspondence Clubs, they can set you up with a quarterly newspaper that has built-in membership forms, and advertising possibilities as well. In fact, with destiny Syndicate affiliation, you need do nothing more than a little bit of advertising, and then mail out club news bulletins every three months or whatever you enlist a new member. It would be well worth your effort to investigate.

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The Selling Secrets Of Million Dollar Sales Letters

Regardless of what you're trying to sell, you really can't sell it without "talking" with your prospective buyer. And in attempting to sell anything by mail, the sales letter you send out is when and how you talk to your prospect.

All winning sales letters "talk" to the prpspect by creating an image in the mind of the reader. They "set the scence" by appealing to a desire or need; and then thet flow smoothly into the "visionary" part of the sales pitch by describing in detail how wonderful life will be and, how "good" the prospect is going to feel after he's purchased your product. This is the"body or guts" of a sales letter.

Overall, a winning sales letter follows a time-tested and proven formula: 1) Get his attention 2) Get him interested in what you can do for him 3) Make him desire the benefits of your product so badly his mouth begins to water 4) Demand action from him-tell him to send for whatever it is you're selling without delay- any procrastination on his part might cause him to lose out. This is called the " AIDA' formula and it works.

Sales letters that pull in the most sales are almost always two pages with 1 1/2 spaces between lines. For really big ticket items, they'll run at least four pages- on an 11 by 17 inch sheet of paper folded in half. If your sales letter is only two pages in length, there's nothing wrong with running it on the front and back of one sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 paper. However, your sales letter should always be letterhead paper- your letterhead printed, and including your logo and business motto if you have one.

Regardless of the length of your sales letter, it should do one thing, and that's sell, and sell hard! If you intend to close the sale, you've got to do it with your sales letter. You should never be "wishy-washy" with your sales letter and expect to close the sale with a color brochure or circular. You do the actual selling and the closing of that sale with your sales letter- any brochure or circular you send along with it will just reinforce what you say in the sales letter.

Ther's been a great deal of discussion in the past few years regarding just how long a sales letter should be. A lot of people are asking: Will people really take the time to read a long sales letter. The answer is a simple and time-tested yes indeed! Surveys and tests over the years emphatically proven that longer sales letter pull even better than the shorter ones, so don't worry about the length of your sales letter- just make sure that it sells your product for you!

The "inside secret" is to make your sales letter so interesting, and "visionary" with the benefits you're offering to the reader, and he can't resist reading it all the way through. You break up the "work" of reading by using short, punchy sentences, underlining important points you're trying to make, with the use of subheadlines, indentations and even the use of a second color.

Relative to the brochure or circulars you may want to include with your sales letter reinforce the sale- providing the materials you're enclosing are the best quality, they will generally reinforce the sale for you. But, if they are of poor quality, look cheap and don't complement thing, it will definitely classify you as an independent home-worker if you hand-stamp you name/address on these brochures or advertising circulars.

Whenever possible, and so long as you have really good brochures to send out, have your printer run them thru his press and print your name/address- even your telephone number and company logo- on them before you send them out. The thing is, you want your prospect to think of you as his supplier- the company- and not just another mail order operator. Sure, you can get by with less expense but you'll end up with a fewer orders and in the end, less profits.

Another thing that's been bandied about and discussed from every direction for years is whether to use a post office box number of your street address. Generally, it's best to include both your post office box number, AND, your street address of your sales letter. This kind of open display of your honesty will give you credibility and dispell the thought of you being just another "fly-by-night" mail order company in the mind of the prospect.

Above all else, you've got to include some sort of ordering coupon. This coupon has to be simple and easy for the prospect to fill out and return to you as you can possibly make it. A great many sales are lost because this order coupon is just to complicated for the would-be buyer to follow. Don't get fancy! Keep it simple, and you'll find  you prospects responding with glee.

Should you or shouldn't you include a self-addressed reply envelope? There are a lot of variables as well as pro's and con's to this question, but overall, when you send out a "winning" sales letter to a good mailing list, a return reply envelope will increase your response tremendously.

Tests of the late seem to indicate that it isn't that big of a deal or difference in responses relative to whether you or don't pre-stamp the return envelope. Again, the decision here will rest primarily on the product you're selling and the mailing list you're using. Our recommendation is that you experiment- try it boh ways- with different mailings, and decide for yourslf from there.

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How To Start A Pen Pal Club

Pen pal clubs are very easy to start, and can provide a very comfortable "by mail" income for the sharp operators.

The best way to operate is via monthly newsletter, and listing of new members. We've found that a simple one page, typewritten sheet is all you need to get started.This should be, or should include a quick run-down on what your members are up to..ie: Janice C is planning to vacation at Tahoe next month; Lisa S is attending night classes for a real estate license; John R. is thinking of changing jobs-he wants something more involved in advertising sales; Bob L. is setting up his own Carpet Cleaning Service; Dave A. is wanting to move to Denver...

This kind of reader membership involvement will get your "newsletter" off to a running start, and keep your members loyal to you because of the "gossip" you pass along in each issue.

You follow up your "gossip story" with either a question and answer session or letters from readers a-la Ann Landers or Dear Abby. Complete the newsletter with a short story on how to meet men or women, what to say and how to develop a friendship. The back page, or extra page, is then a listing of men and women--including a short description of each, and their addresses--wanting to correspond with or meet people with similar tastes.

You'll need a typewriter, paper, and names of people interested in writing and receiving Pen Pal letters. You can quickly secure a start with names answering ads(classifieds) placed in local papers, and several out-of-town papers you are familiar with, and by checking your news stand for the magazines that carry such ads--it won't take long to get a basic "100" to begin your operation.

You should have letterhead and imprinted mailing envelopes and return envelopes 1000 of each for $100.

Next, make up a sample copy of your newsletter, and an application sales letter that will explain your membership fee of about $10 per year for the newsletter, plus $1 per month each time you carry a member's name & address in your "correspondents wanted" section. Be sure to ask for reports on what members are doing, and encourage them to bring up to date from time to time---this keeps the "personal touch" gossip supplied.  Now, you send out your newsletter samples, with your sales letter/membership application, to the list of names we've supplied you with, or you may have purchased from other sources.  At the same time, you should run an advertisement in as many small mail order publications, with names and addresses of publishers, order Directory #3709 for $3 from your distributor. your ad read something like this;

Pen Pal Listings! nationwide circulation!  $1 to: Your name, address & zip code.  Tom's pen Pal letter! Monthly club news and membership      listings! $1 to : your name, address & zip code.

Of course, you'll want to keep records on all your members, and continue to up-date the listings you carry but basically that is all there is to getting started. You could even run ads of this kind in your local newspapers expect a good response. We definitely recommend that you send for sample copies of other Pen Pal bulletins to see how they operate and what ideas of theirs you can adapt for use in your newsletter. By all means, become a "brower" and look thru all the magazines related to pen pals and mail order introductions everytime you pass a magazine display rack.

Be sure to get your newsletters out regularly, and don't stop advertising. keep up your efforts to sell as many issues of each publication as you can, expand your membership list, and get as many new listings for each issue as you possibly can.

Something you might want to consider--3 back issues of your publication for 3 dollars, or as a free bonus to all new subscribers. You could carry this idea as a free bonus in your advertising, and as a special offer in your newsletter.

You might also want to expand your income potential by offering booklets, books, tapes, motivational and informational. As the dealer who supplied this report to give you all his listings.

By keeping good records of all the mail you receive, you can also sell or rent name lists of people who have responded to your offerings to other mail order dealers. Real opportunities exist for sales mentioned in the paragraph above---the opportunities limited only by your imagination.

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Secrets Of Success With Chain Letters

Chain letter programs will not make you rich!  All those claims about the sender pulling in $20,000 the first time around; $80,000 the second time; and $180,000 the third time; are just outright lies!

It's best not to get involved in ANY kind of chain letter scheme because they ar ALL illegal, and sooner or later, the postal authorities will close you down.  If they find that you are, or have been a willing participant, you could be fined, imprisoned, or face a penalty of both as punishment.

Don't get involved!  Chain letters do not, and will not solve any of your money problems.  Anyone, and everyone, with any experience in direct mail - and a sense of integrity or pride in their business - will either quickly toss your letter into the trash or else send it on to the postal inspectors for action on their part.

Probably the biggest reason why chain letters don't work, is the continuing efforts of reputable mail order dealers in snuffing out these schemes.  Any money actually made or collected by a chain letter is pocketed by the perpetrators.  Sometimes the person starting, and promoting a chain letter is able to pull a hundred dollars or so before the postal authorities "nail" him - but getting in as the "third name" on a list has never brought in more than $5 or $10 total - even after such participants have gone to the work and expense of sending out 1,000 letters.  Chain letters do nothing except cost you money!

However, many people are foolhardy enough to "try anything once", chain letter schemes being no exception.  So if you're one of these people, and you think that by offering some sort of product, you can get around the postal authorities, listen:

Do NOT mail your chain letter to any established business.  Especially, do NOT mail to any "known" mail order dealers.  Instead, take your phone book and pick out every tenth name or so, front to back, and send your letters to these people.  An even better way would be to pull the names from a city directory - available at your public library - and concentrate on people living in the less affluent section of town.

Generally speaking, these people are more "money-hungry", less educated and completely naive to the "truths of mail order".  These will be the people "most-likely" to take you up on anything with chain letter connotations.

When you receive a chain letter opportunity in the mail check the names and addresses against those you already have on file, and then discard.  Do NOT get involved in or perpetuate incoming chain letters!

IMPORTANT:  Should you receive a chain purporting to sell books or money-making reports, do as advised in the paragraph above.  If there is a book or report listed that does interest you, write to the dealer who supplied you this report.  You will be able to secure it, or one that better fits your needs.

Whenever you get a chain letter suggesting the names of companies selling mailing lists, turn it over to your local postmaster.  The only time you would ever want to rent or buy names from those companies listed in a chain letter, would be when you already have "tons of money" and you're doing research to determine how many nixes you can accumulate from any one list.  Most of the mailing lists from any of the firms I've seen listed as mailing list sources in chain letters, run about 80 - 85% undeliverable, and some of the companies listed aren't even in business anymore!

Any kind of letter, but specifically chain letters, that require you to send money to a "printing headquarters" for so many copies of the letter you received in order for you to get in on the "big deal", with your name and address imprinted - is selling you printing services!  They don't care whether you ever make a sale, or even if you never mail out one of the letters they're so willing to print up for you - they make their money up-front by furnishing you with printed paper!

What about multi-level programs by mail?  Most are simply "people pyramids".  Organizations that make their profits from new member fees.  Before you get taken in, determine if YOU would like to have the product they're offering - if YOU want it, send for it.  And before you start sending out letters to recruit new members, do some common sense market research - what's the real value of the product;  how many people will stand in line to buy it;  and how much of your time and money is it going to cost you in order to make a hundred dollars a week in clear profits,,,

Success with anything is simply a matter of having something DIFFERENT that APPEALS to the WANTS and/or DESIRES of the greatest number of consumers  possible - TARGETING your sales efforts to reach the people wanting it badly enough to STAND IN LINE TO BUY IT - and then, make it as PAINLESS as possible for them to achieve SATISFACTION by purchasing that particular item that fulfills THEIR NEEDS from YOU!

With this report, you've got the answers to all your questions, and most of your dreams - Good luck in all your money-making ventures.

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How To Succeed With Your Own Money-Making Ad Sheet

Publishing and distributing a mail order ad sheet can be very profitable.  They are simple and easy to produce, with most quick print shops able to handle the printing at fairly low cost.  The  important consideration is that you can use them to pull in advertising dollars for yourself, as a free advertising media for your own products, and as an exchange medium with which to get greater exposure for you own ads. 

Before starting an ad sheet, you should plan it all out - decide on an interesting, informative title, choose a masthead, lay out your columns for size, determine if it is to be a simple 8 1/2 x 11 single sheet of paper or an 11 x 17 sheet folded in half.  you'll also need to know your production cost for the number you intend to have printed, and the postage cost to mail them out. 

Most of the ad sheets start out as single sheets of paper, 8 1/2 x 11, printed on both sides.  Usually, the front side is divided into three equal columns about 2 1/4 inches wide, with a 1/2 inch margin from the edge of the paper on both sides and top and bottom. 

Assuming that the space occupied by your title, masthead and listing of rates for advertisers interested in placing an ad with you is two inches deep, this leaves you about 24 inches of advertising space to sell on the front side.  Figuring a cost of $50 for 1,000 copies of such an ad sheet, printed both sides, and a third-class bulk-rate postage of $110, this means that your 24 inches of ad space will have to be sold at a rate of $6.25 each in order to break even. This means:  You have to sell all of the ad space on the front of your ad sheet at $6.25 each in order to break even.  This means:  You have to sell all of the ad space on the front of your ad sheet at $6.25 per ad - and then expect to make your profits from the sale of the back side of your ad sheet.  Actually, it would be feasible to charge $7.00 per inch for the space on the front side, and carry you own full page ad on the back side.  At any rate, don't box yourself into a loss situation where you can't afford to place your own ads in your ad sheet. 

You get ads by making up an advertising solicitation sales letter and sending it out to as many mail order dealers as you can find.  You can also run ads in other people's publications, inviting the readers to check with you regarding placement of an ad in your publication.  And of course, you'll be wanting to work out some exchange advertising deals (whereby another publisher runs your ad in his publication, and you run his in exchange).  From the experience of many, many publishers, this can be one of the most effective ways of getting your ads run, at low/no cost, and it is recognized to be successful in the field of Mail Order. 

You probably won't be able to fill up all of your available ad space with paid ads until you're well established - but no problem - first you fill your ad space with paid ads, and then you fill in the empty space with ads of your own.  Some beginning advertisers fill a part of their empty space with complementary ads for other mail order operators, send them a copy of the issue in which the complimentary ad appears, and invite them to continue the ad on a "paid" basis from there.  Many of them will appreciate the favor and send you a check or money order to continue running the ad. 

If you undertake the publication of an ad sheet, be sure to consider the possibilities of sending out 100 to 1,000 copies of your ad sheet to other mail order operators to rubber stamp their names/addresses as co-publishers and mail out for you.  Thus, if you had 50 other mail order operators sending out 100 copies each of your ad sheet, you'd be talking about a circulation of 5,000 copies plus the number of copies you mail out.  If you can get this kind of program going, you'll quickly build your reputation as well as your circulation, and at the bottom line, your profits. 

Some ad sheet publishers, once they've established themselves and are putting out an impressive publication, set up distributor networks.  Generally, they run ads calling for distributor/dealers and asking for a $5 to $10 registration fee.  In reply to the registration application, they send out a letter explaining that each distributor can buy at half price, so many copies of each issue of the ad sheet, rubber stamp their name on each copy, and send them out as their own. In return, the distributors usually get 50% of the incoming advertising orders, a half-price ad for themselves, and an opportunity to sell subscriptions. 

The bottom line relative to becoming a successful ad sheet publisher has to do with keeping your production costs - printing and mailing - as low as possible, while putting out a quality product that other people in the mail order business will want to advertise in - while at the same time using it as a advertising/selling vehicle for your own products. 

My advice is that almost everyone involved in mail order selling should have some sort of ad sheet - if for no other reason than as a means to an end - an advertising vehicle for your own products, an extra income form advertising revenues, and as an exchange media with which to gain greater exposure for your own products in other people's publications.  Once you've got an ad sheet, or any kind of publication set up and being seen by other mail order operators, you'll quickly gain stature and a certain amount of prestige. 

As with any business, your ultimate success depends on your own feasibility studies, and your "sharp-pencil" planning completed before you order your first issue printed.  Think about it, weigh the pro's and con's, then go with your decision.

� g a b Ѐ_ 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.

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How To Achieve Success With Your Own Money Making Newsletter

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.

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