A Marketers Guide to e-Newsletter Publishing

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Bring in the Money with an E-Newsletter

It costs only three Cs: content, consistency, and customer service

by Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound

Content, consistency, and customer service.

Those are what I call "The 3 Cs"—the three most important things that contribute to my success as an e-newsletter publisher.

Other publishers might have their own favorites. But those are the things that create not just happy readers, but happy readers who buy my products and services.

When I started publishing "The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week" three years ago, I and many other e-newsletter publishers didn’t have to worry about whether everyone on our list actually received the newsletter. Many of us delighted in the fact that, if we worked hard at it, we could grow our lists by several hundred names each week. And which list management company to choose wasn’t a big issue.

Now, everything has changed. An estimated one of five recipients never receive the e-newsletter they to which they subscribe, mostly because of spam filters. Publishers are reporting shrinking mailing lists because of high unsubscribe rates. As for list management companies, I’m not satisfied with the one I use. This year, I’ll spend more time researching this topic in the next few months than I will spend on any other decision regarding my business.

Here’s the good news. My newsletter, which teaches people how to get thousands of dollars in free publicity, has become a major source of revenue for my business and has allowed me to market the easy way. That is, by positioning myself on the Internet so people who need me can find me. That’s different than what the way I used to market—finding people who I thought needed my services, pitching them, then waiting for them to decide whether or not to buy.

My list of almost 9,000 names has brought in up to $12,000 a month in revenue—a paltry sum compared with other e-newsletter publishers. But I’m on track with my revenue estimates, and I know exactly what to do to boost that number during 2004.

Back to the 3 Cs.

Offer Great Content

Pack your e-newsletter with helpful content that teaches readers how to solve their biggest problems. My readers can smell hype from 20 paces. So I make sure that each of the six items in every newsletter gives them at least a few valuable tips they can use immediately, even if they choose to buy nothing.

Often, a featured item focuses on the same topic as one of my products. That doesn’t happen by accident. This week, for example, the e-newsletter featured six tips on how to get free publicity by sharing with the media ways in which you or your business is affected by the weather. Then I told readers about "Special Report #37: How to Tie Your Product, Service, Cause, or Issue to the Weather." I included the cost of the report and provided the link to the product page at my Web site.

Another item offered the number one secret to getting your survey statistics featured in the "Snapshots" box in the lower left corner of the section fronts of USA Today. I offered more tips on how to get into "Snapshots" in an issue of The Publicity Hound newsletter. Then, I included a link on how to order the newsletter.

It’s perfectly OK to have fun with your content. Each issue includes a "Hound Joke of the Week." It’s a clean dog joke—sometimes corny, sometimes cute, sometimes a knee-slapper. That part of the newsletter has become so popular that many readers say they read the joke first, even though it’s at the bottom.

Not all content has to be original. Ask your readers for their contribution. Just make sure you give proper attribution. You can also link to other interesting things such as articles you find at other Web sites.

One of the biggest mistakes e-newsletter publishers make is abandoning the newsletter after only a few months when they don’t see immediate profits or because it’s too much work.

"I quit only after five months because it was too big a burden," one publisher told me.

The solution to that problem is simple. Either write a shorter newsletter, or publish every other week instead of weekly. Or both. But whatever publishing schedule you choose, keep it consistent. I publish 52 weeks a year and I think I’ve only missed one or two issues in the last three years because of computer problems.

Other publishers I know publish sporadically, or whenever they feel like it. What they fail to understand is that many of the readers they are trying to court already are spending their time with other, more valuable and more reliable newsletters. If you offer readers value, they will love you. And if they love you, they will want to read what you have to offer on a regular basis.

Consistency is important when it comes to content, too. Pick a template and stick to it. Don’t experiment with a variety of formats, hoping readers will tell you which one they like. They won’t bother. Eventually, they will unsubscribe out of confusion.

Remember that every e-newsletter reader is a potential customer. So treat each reader the same way paying customers expect to be treated, even if they are getting your e-newsletter free.

Months ago, when a reader would ask me to resend an issue of a certain newsletter that he accidentally deleted, I’d retrieve it from my files and email it to him while silently cursing. Now that it’s more difficult to build my list, I’m glad to get those requests. It shows I’ve build a loyal circle of readers. And if I can delight them with great customer service, they will be more inclined to buy from me—maybe even become a lifetime customer.

Good customer service means answering every email from readers, even from someone who wants a quick answer to a question without necessarily wanting to buy consulting time. It also means refraining from sending snotty emails to people who criticize me for whatever reason.

I include hand-written thank-you notes on Publicity Hound notepads with each product that goes out the door. So many readers have told me they appreciate this little touch that I’d be crazy to quit doing it. No vendor sends me hand-written thank-you notes. And I’d fall over if they did. This is a way of differentiating myself from my competitors.

Tips for Building Your List

• If you’re planning to start an e-newsletter, put a sign-up form on the home page at your Web site. You can start collecting names long before you start publishing.

• Put information on how to subscribe on the back of your business cards.

• When you do public speaking engagements, collect business cards and draw for door prizes. Tell audience members that if they want your free tips, they should write "tips" on the back of the card. Then subscribe them when you return to the office.

• Be sure you include subscribe / unsubscribe information in each issue of your e-newsletter, preferably at the beginning or the end. If someone forwards your e-newsletter to a friend, you want the friend to know how to subscribe.

• If you have a Web site, be sure every page of your site has a sign-up form for your e-newsletter.

• In your email signature, include a hot-link where people can subscribe.

• Make sure your newsletter explains other ways you can help readers. Each week, for example, I list all my public speaking engagements. This accomplishes several things. It plants a seed in the mind of each reader that I am a professional speaker. If a meeting planner sees the schedule, it will tip her off that I am available for hire. It also helps meeting planners who already have hired me because readers who see that I am speaking in their town often sign up for the event, even if they are not a member of the sponsoring organization.
  

• Make your newsletter interactive. Ask readers to submit questions and comments. Ask for their advice on a particular problem other readers are having. Include quizzes, polls, surveys and other features designed to get their feedback. One of the most popular features of my e-newsletter is called "Help This Hound." It features a reader’s question, usually about how to publicize a business or an upcoming event. I ask readers for their feedback, print two or three the following week, then hotlink to a page at on the Web site where all the responses are listed. Readers like this feature so much that I have a backlog of questions.

• Sub-brand what you do. One way to do that is by creating your own language. For example, I refer to people who are not Publicity Hounds as Media Mutts. Some of my readers are now starting to use that same language when they email me.

• Don’t try to be all things to all people. Rather than publishing a "business" e-newsletter that focuses on marketing, sales, customer service and public relations, pick just one of those topics, and discuss the topic in-depth.

If you’re thinking of starting an e-newsletter or you’ve already started one and hit a snag, feel free to contact me for help. Who knows? You might get a publicity tip or two.