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 a 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 whatsoever, 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 to 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 styles, 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 for 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
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impatient to get that first issue into print. As a result, they
neglect to devote the proper amount of time to market research and
distribution. Don't start your newsletter with out 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 from 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 your
newsletter as a vehicle of fulfillment to these needs, and you're
on your way!
You're going to be in trouble unless your newsletter has a
real point of difference that can be easily 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 skim on design or graphics!
The name of your newsletter should also help to set it apart
from similar news letters, 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 primate examples of this type of
philosophy - as opposed to the Johnson Report, The Association
Newsletter, or Club-house 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
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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 - for 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 facet 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 a 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 a captive audience, and well worth the
cost.
The only problem with accepting advertising in your newsletter
would appear to be that as your circulation grows, so will your
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 letters 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
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- AIDA.
Jump right in at the beginning and tell the reader how he's
going to benefit from your newsletter, and then keep emphasizing
right on through your "PS", the many and different benefits he'll
gain from subscribing to your newsletter. Elaborate on your
listing of benefits with examples of what you have, or you intend
to include, in your newsletter.
Follow these examples with endorsements or testimonials from
reviewers and satisfied subscribers. Make the recipient of your
sales letter feel that you're offering him the answer to all his
problems on the subject of your newsletter.
You have to make your prospect feel that "this is the
insider's secret" to the success he wants. Present it to him as
his own personal key to success, and then tell him how far behind
his contemporaries he is going to be if he doesn't act upon your
offer immediately.
Always include a "PS" in your sales letter. This should
quickly restate to the reader that he can start enjoying the
benefits of your newsletter by acting immediately, and very subtly
suggesting that he may not get another chance to get the kind of
"success help" you're offering him with this sales letter.
Don't worry about the length of your sales letter - most are
four pages or more; however, it must flow logically and smoothly.
Use short sentences, short paragraphs, indented paragraphs, and
lots of sub-heads for the people who will be "scanning through"
your sales letter.
In addition to the sales letter, your promotion package should
include a return reply order card or coupon. This can be either a
self-addressed business reply post card, 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 make up 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
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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 a simple postcard; however, when you send the
letter you have to opportunity to enclose additional material. A
circular listing other items available through you will produce
additional orders.
Thus far, you've prepared the layout and copy for your
newsletter. Go ahead and have a hundred copies printed, undated.
You've written a sales letter and prepared a return reply
subscription order card or coupon; go ahead and have a hundred of
these printed, also undated, of course. You'll need letterhead
mailing envelopes, and don't forget the return reply envelopes if
you choose to use the coupons instead of the business reply
postcard. Go ahead and have a thousand mailing envelopes printed.
You also need subscription order acknowledgment cards or notes;
have a hundred of these printed, and of course, don't forget the
imprinted reply envelopes if you're going along with the idea of
using a note instead of a postcard. This will be a basic supply
for "testing" your materials 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
newspapers. You should place your ad in a 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. How
ever, do not skimp on your advertising budget. To be successful -
to make as much money as possible with your idea - you'll need to
reach as many people as you can afford, and as often as you can.
Over the years, you'll launch several hundred advertising
campaigns. Always run new ads for a minimum of three issues
and keep close tabs on the returns. So long as the returns keep
coming in, continue 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
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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 5,000 names. If the returns are favorable, go for
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 conducive 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 publisher 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 from 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
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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 100,000 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 where you supply a charge
card company or department store with your subscription offer as a
"statement mailing suffer." 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 Trial Subscription offers, such as Select
Information Exchange and Publisher 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 trial subscription to those of his choice.
The publishers received no money from these inquiries - only a
list of names of people interested in receiving trial
subscriptions. 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 fund 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
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expensive and works better in generating sales at the newsstands
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
"Products 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 15
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 endorsement
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 going that
might be of especial help, etc. This can be a very good source of
new subscriptions, and certainly the least expensive.
Running ads in the Mail Order Ad Sheets is not very
productive, either in terms of inquiries or sales. About the best
thing that can be said of most of these ad sheets (and there seems
to be a million of them with new ones cropping up faster than you
can count them) is that your ad in several of them will let other
people in on what you're doing. You will be able to keep track of
a lot of the people trying to make a place for themselves in the
mail order field.
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 be come 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
ongoing 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
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succeeded in making money via the mails; by subscribing to several
of the better periodic journals and aids to people in mail order,
and by joining some of the mail order trade associations for a
free exchange of ideas, advice and help.