How To Achieve Success With Your Own Money Making Newsletter

Writing and publishing a successful newsletter is perhaps themost competitive of all the different areas of mail order anddirect marketing.
Five years ago, there were 1500 different newsletters in thiscountry. Today there are well over 10,000 with new ones beingstarted every day. It's also interesting to note that for everynew one that's started, some disappear just as quickly as theyare started...lack of operating capital and marketing know howbeing the principal causes of failure.
To be successful with newsletter, you have to specialize. Yourbest bet will be with new information on a subject not alreadycovered by an established newsletter.
Regardless of the frustrations involved in launching your ownnewsletter, never forget this truth; There are people from allwalks of life, in all parts of this country, many of them with nowriting ability what so ever, who are making incredible profitswith simple two-four- and six page newsletters.
Your first step should be to subscribe to as many differentnewsletters and mail order publications as you can afford.Analyze and study how the others are doing it. Attend as manyworkshops and seminars on your subject as possible. Learn fromthe pros. Learn how the successful newsletter publishers aredoing it, and why they are making money. Adapt their successmethods to your own newsletter, but determine to recognize wherethey are weak, and make yours better in every way.
Plan your newsletter before launching it. Know the basic premisefor its being, your editorial position, the layout, art work,type style, subscription price, distribution methods, and everyother detail necessary to make it look, sound and feel like theend result you have envisioned.
Lay out your start up needs; detail the length of time it's goingto take to become established, and what will be involved inbecoming established. Set a date as a milestone of accomplishmentfor each phase of your development; A date for breaking even, adate attaining a certain paid subscription figure, and a monetarygoal for each of your first five years in business. And all thismust be done before publishing your first issue.
Most newsletter publishers do all the work themselves, and areimpatient to get the first issue into print. As a result, theyneglect to devote the proper amount of time to the marketresearch and distribution. Don't start your newsletter withoutfirst having accomplished this task!
Market research is simply determining who the people are who will be interested in buying and reading your newsletter, and thekind of information these people want to see in your newsletteras a reason for continuing to buy it. You have to determine whatit is they want form your newsletter.
Your market research must give you unbiased answers about yournewsletter's capabilities of fulfilling your prospective buyer'sneed for information; how much he's willing to pay for it, and anoverall profile of his status in life. The questions of why heneeds your information, and how he'll use it should be answered.Make sure you have the answers to these questions, publish younewsletter as a vehicle of fulfilment to these needs, and you'reon your way!
You're going to be in trouble unless your newsletter has a realpoint of difference that can easily be perceived by yourprospective buyer. The design and graphics of your newsletter,plus what you say and how you say it, will help in giving yournewsletter this vital difference.
Be sure your newsletter works with the personality you're tryingto build for it. Make sure it reflects the wants of yoursubscribers. 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 formsimilar newsletters, and spell out its advertising promise. Agood name reinforces your advertising. Choose a name that definesthe 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 ofphilosophy...as opposed to the Johnson Report, The AssociationNewsletter, or Clubhouse Confidential.
Try to make your newsletter's name memorable...one that flowsautomatically. Don't pick a name that's so vague it could applyto almost anything. The name should identify your newsletter and its subject quickly and positively.
Pricing your newsletter should be consistent with the imageyou're trying to build. If you're starting a "Me-too" newsletter,never price it above the competition. In most instances, theconsumer associates higher prices with quality, so if you giveyour readers better quality information in an expensive lookingpackage, don't hesitate to ask for a premium price. However, ifyour information is gathered from most of the other newsletterson the subject, you will do well to keep your prices in line withtheirs.

One of the best selling points of a newsletter is in the degreeof audience involvement instance, how much it talks about, anduses the names of its readers.
People like to see things written about themselves. They resortto all kinds of things to get their names in print, and they paybig money to read what's been written about them. You shouldunderstand this fact of human nature, and decide if and how youwant to capitalize upon it-- then plan your newsletteraccordingly.
Almost as important as names in your newsletter are pictures. Thereaders will generally accept a newsletter faster if thepublisher's picture is presented or included as part of thenewsletter. Whether you use pictures of the people, events,locations or products you write about is a policy decision; butthe use of pictures will set your publication apart from theothers and give it an individual image, which is precisely whatyou want.
The decision as to whether to carry paid advertising, and if so,how much, is another policy decision that should be made whileyour newsletter is still in the planning stages. Some puristsfeel that advertising corrupts the image of the newsletter andmay influence editorial policy. Most people accept advertising asa 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 thenewsletter as a vehicle to captive audience, and well worth thecosts.
The only problem with accepting advertising in your newsletterwould appear to be that as your circulation grows, so will thenumber of advertisers, until you'll have to increase the size ofyour newsletter to accommodate the advertisers. At this point,the basic premise or philosophy of the newsletter often changesfrom news and practical information to one of an advertiser'sshowcase.
Promoting your newsletter, finding prospective buyers andconverting these prospects into loyal subscribers, will be themost difficult task of your entire undertaking. It takes detailedplanning, persistence and patience.
You'll need a sales letter. Check the sales letter you receive inthe mail; analyze how these are written and pattern yours alongthe same lines. You'll find all of them---all those worthy ofbeing called sales letters---following the same formula:Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action on the part of thereader---AIDA.
Jump right in at beginning and tell the reader how he's going tobenefit from your newsletter, and keep emphasizing right on thruyour "PS", the many and different benefits he'll gain fromsubscribing to your newsletter. Elaborate on your listing ofbenefits with examples of what you have, or you intend toinclude, in your newsletter.
Follow these examples with endorsements or testimonials fromreviewers and satisfied subscribers. Make the recipient of yoursales letter feel that you're offering him the answer to all hisproblems on the subject of your newsletter.
You have to make your prospect feel that "this is the insider'ssecret" to the success he wants. Present it to him as his ownpersonal key to success, and then tell him how far behind hiscontemporaries he is going to be if he doesn't act upon youroffer immediately.
Always include a "PS' in your sales letter. This should quicklyrestate to the reader that he can start enjoying the benefits ofyour newsletter by acting immediately, and very subtly suggestingthat he may not get another chance to get the kind of "successhelp" you're offering him with this sales letter.
Don't worry about the length of your sales letter---most are fourpages or more; however, it must flow logically and smoothly. Useshort sentences, short paragraphs, indented paragraphs, and lotsof sub-heads for the people who will be "scanning thru" yoursales letter.
In addition to the sales letter, your promotion package shouldinclude a return reply order card or coupon. This can be either aself addresses business reply postcard, or a separate coupon, inwhich case you'll have to include a self-addressed return replyenvelope. In every mailing piece you send out, always include oneor the other; either a self-addressed business reply postcard ora self-addressed return reply envelope for the recipient to useto send your order form and his remittance back to you.
Your best response will come from a business reply postcard onwhich you allow your prospect to charge the subscription to hiscredit card, request that you bill him, or send his payment withthe subscription start order.
For makeup of this subscription order card or coupon, simplystart saving all the order cards and coupons you receive duringthe next month or so. Choose the one you like best, modifyaccording to your needs, and have it typeset, pasted up andborder fit.
Next, you'll need a Subscription Order Acknowledgment card orletter. This is simply a short note thanking your new subscriberfor his order, and promising to keep him up to date witheverything relating to the subject of your newsletter.
An acknowledgment letter, in an envelope, will cost more postageto mail than an simple postcard; however when you send the letteryou have the opportunity to enclose additional material. Acircular listing items available through you will produceadditional orders.
Thus far, you've prepared the layout and copy for yournewsletter. Go ahead and have a hundred copies printed, undated.You've written a sales letter and prepared a return replysubscription order card or coupon; go ahead and have a hundred ofthese printed, also undated, of course. You'll need letterheadmailing envelopes, and don't forget the return reply envelopes ifyou choose to use the coupons instead of the business replypostcard. 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 theimprinted reply envelopes if you're going along with the idea ofusing a note instead of a postcard. This will be a basic supplyfor "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 localnewspaper. You should place your ad in an weekend or Sunday paperthat will reach as many people as possible, and of course, doeverything you can to keep your costs as low as possible.However, do not skimp on your advertising budget. To besuccessful--- to make as much money as is possible with youridea--- 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 advertisingcampaigns. We always ran new ads for a minimum of three issuesand kept close tabs on the returns. So long as the returns keptcoming in, we continued running that ad in that publication,while adding a new publication to test for results. To our way ofthinking, 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 readpaper, and with the profits or returns from that ad, go to theregional magazines, or one of the smaller national magazines, andcontinue plowing your returns into more advertising in differentpublications. By taking your time, and building your acceptancein this manner, you won't lose too much if one of your ads shouldprove to be a dud. Stay with the advertising. Do not abandon itin favor of direct mail. We would not recommend direct mail untilyou are well established, and your national classifiedadvertising program is bringing in a healthy profit for you.
Do not become overly ambitious and go out on a limb withexpensive full page advertising until you're very wellestablished. When you do buy full page advertising, start withthe smaller publications, and build from those results. Havepatience keep close tabs on your costs per subscriber, and buildfrom the profits of your advertising. Always test the advertisingmedium you want to use with a classified ad, and if it pulls wellfor you, go on to a larger display type ad.
Classified advertising is the least expensive way to go, so longas you use the "inquiry method". You can easily and quickly buildyour subscriber list with this type of advertisement.
We would not recommend any attempts to sell subscriptions, or anyproduct 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 willnot bother to inquire for the full story.
When you do expand your efforts into direct mail, go straight toa national list broker. You can find their names and addresses inthe yellow pages section of your local telephone directory. Showthe list broker your product and your mailing piece, and explainwhat 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 asampling of 5,00 names. If the returns are favorable, go to10,000 names, and then 15,000 and so on through the entire list.
Never rent the entire list based upon the returns from your firstcouple of samplings. The variables are just too many, and toocomplicated, and too conductive to your losing your shirt whenyou "roll out an entire list" based upon returns from acontrolled sampling.
There are a number of other methods for finding new subscribers,which we'll explore for you here, detailing the good and the badas we have researched them.
One method is that of contracting with what is known as a "cashfield" agency. These are soliciting agencies who hire people tosell door-to-door and via the phone, almost always using a highpressure sales approach. The publishers usually makes only about5% from each subscription sold by one of these agencies. Thatspeaks for itself.
Then, there are several major catalog sales companies that sellsubscriptions to school libraries, government agencies and largecorporations. These people usually buy through these catalogsales companies rather than direct form the publisher. Thepublisher makes about 10% on each subscription sold for him byone of these agencies.
Co-Op Mailings are generally piggy-back mailings of yoursubscription offer along with numerous other business offers inthe same envelope. Smaller mail order entrepreneurs do this underthe name of Big Mail Offers. Coming into vogue now are thePostcard Mailers. You submit your offer on a business replypostcard; the packager then prints and mails your postcard in apackage with 40 or 50 similar postcards via third class mail to amailing list that could number 100,00 or more. You pay a premiumprice for this type of mailing---usually $1000 To $1500 permailing, but the returns are very good and you keep all theincoming money.
Another form of co-op mailing is that where you supply a chargecard company or department store with your subscription offer asa "statement mailing stuffer". Your offer goes out with themonthly statements; new subscriptions are returned to the mailerand billed to the customer's charge card. The publisher usuallymakes about 50% on each subscription. This is one of the mostlucrative, but expensive methods of bringing in new customers.
Direct mail agencies such as Publishers Clearing House can be avery lucrative source of new subscriptions, in that they mail outmore than 60 million pieces of mail each year, all of which arebuilt around an opportunity for the recipient to win a giganticcash sweepstakes. The only problem with this type of subscriptionagency is the very low percentage of the total subscription pricethe publisher receives from these subscriptions, plus the factthat the publishers are required to charge a lower subscriptionrate than they normally charge.
There are also several agencies that offer Introductory, SampleCopy and Trail Subscription offers, such as Select InformationExchange and Publishers Exchange. With this kind of agency,details about your publication are listed along with similarpublications, in full page ads inviting the readers to send $10or $20 for trail subscriptions to those of his choice. Thepublishers receive no money from these inquires list of names ofpeople interested in receiving trail subscription. How thepublisher follows up and is able to convert these into full term,and paying subscribers is entirely dependent upon his ownefforts.
Most major newspapers will carry small, lightweight brochures oroversized reply cards as inserts in their Sunday papers. Thepublisher supplies the total number of inserts, pays thenewspaper $20 per thousand for the number of newspapers he wantshis order form carried in, and then retains all the moneygenerated. But the high costs of printing the inserts, plus the$20 per thousand for distribution, make this an extremely costlymethod of obtaining new subscribers.
Schools, civic groups and other fun raising organizations work inabout the same manner as the cash-field agencies. They supply thesolicitor and the publisher gets 25% or less for each newsubscription sold.

Attempting to sell subscriptions via radio or TV is veryexpensive and works better in generating sales at the news standsthan new subscriptions. PI (Per Inquiry) sales is a very popularway of getting radio or TV exposure and advertising for yournewsletter or other publication, but again, the number of salesbrought in by the broadcast media is very small when comparedwith 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 "ProductShows". This is the kind of show where the originator of theproduct or his representative appears on TV and gives a completesales 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 fordifferent products. They operate on the basis of the productowner paying a fee to appear and show his product, and also froman arrangement where the product owner pays a certain percentagefrom each sale generated from this exposure.
Newsletter publishers often run exchange publicity endorsementswith non-competing publishers. Generally, these endorsementsinvite the reader of newsletter "A" to send for a sample copy ofnewsletter "B" for a look at what somebody else is doing thatmight be of especial help etc. This can be very good source ofnew subscriptions, and certainly the least expensive.
Last, but not least, is the enlistment of your own subscribers tosend you names of people they think might be interested inreceiving a sample copy of your publication. Some publishers asktheir readers to pass along these names out of loyalty, whileothers offer a monetary incentive or a special bonus for names ofpeople sent in who become subscribers.
By studying and understanding the information in this report, youshould encounter fewer serious problems in launching your ownsuccessful specialized newsletter that will be the source of ongoing monetary rewards for you. However, there is an importantpoint to remember about doing business by mail---particularlywithin the confines of selling information by mail---that is,Mail Order is ONLY another way of doing business. You have tolearn all there is to know about this way of doing business, andthen keep on learning, changing, observing and adapting to stayon top.
The best way of learning about and keeping up with this field ofendeavor is by buying and reading books by the people who havesucceeded in making money via the mails; by subscribing toseveral of the better periodic journals and aids to people inmail order, and by joining some of the mail order tradeassociations for a free exchange od ideas, advice and help.