Eight Steps To Increase Your Newsletter Advertising Revenue
As the newsletter market becomes increasingly more competitive, it's important to follow several key steps in your
pursuit of potential advertisers. Simple steps such as providing
basic information and practicing timely follow-up can contribute to
the success of your overall advertising revenue.
Follow these tips to quickly boost your advertising revenues.
- Contact Information
Always place contact information
toward bottom of your emails and articles. Include Company
Name, Contact Name, Tel, URL, Email, Fax, and Address.
Buyers prefer to purchase ad space from companies and
individuals that are easy to contact and have a physical location.
List an email address for purchasing advertising (Ex.
advertise@TheAdStop.com).
- Target Market
List your target market and demographics. If
you have not yet performed a survey of your subscribers, then list
your perceived target market. To gain actual demographics, email
your subscribers a simple survey. This allows you to not only
learn about your subscribers, but will also aid in efforts to
increase subscriber base. A survey will also help you to develop
editorial content geared towards your readers main concerns or
interests.
- Subscriber Numbers
Numbers are important when
considering an ad purchase. Don't hesitate to list the number of
subscribers to your newsletter as well as the average monthly
percentage of growth rate.
- Follow Up
This may be one of the most valuable steps in
increasing advertising revenue. After a sale, be sure to
communicate with your advertiser. It's a lot easier to re-sell ad
space than find a new ad buyer. If the advertising run is a
one-issue purchase, email the advertiser the day before the
newsletter goes out to remind the advertiser when it's scheduled
to run. Then telephone or email the advertiser after the ad run to
learn of the effectiveness. If the advertiser is happy, resell them on
the spot for a longer term. If the advertiser was unhappy with the
results, ask why and then encourage them to buy another
advertisement at a discounted rate. If the advertiser decides to
purchase another run, be sure they make changes to their ad
copy. The effectiveness of the ad often depends on the ad copy
itself.
If advertisement is run for multiple months or issues, email the
advertiser weekly asking their feedback. Telephone your
advertiser once per month. Also, you should always email the
advertiser to inform them of an approaching renewal time and
attempt to renew their run. If there is no answer, call two or three
days later and try to sell over phone.
- URL Tracking
Have advertisers create a tracking URL to
verify advertising was included and allowing analysis of the gains
achieved from ad placement.
- Credit Cards
Allow advertisers to purchase ad space with
credit cards. It is inexpensive and presents a very professional
organization. Better yet, it is easier to re-sell as the advertiser
only needs to say YES. The easier you make it to buy the more
sales you'll make.
- Partnerships
Increase the size of your advertising offerings
by partnering advertising sales with similar newsletters and
Ezines. Partnering allows you and partners to collectively sell
advertising space. The larger subscriber base will attract larger
advertising buyers. Provide a 15% commission to the selling
party, which could be you or your partner(s). This works well for
newsletters with under 10,000 subscribers.
- Ad Networks
List your ad offerings with one or more Ad
Networks. Gain a professional sales force with extensive
resources to sell your space. Realize, you will earn less per
subscriber, but you will most likely sell-out your advertising
space. This also allows you to concentrate on marketing and
content which is usually the main interest. Also, many Ad
Networks do not require exclusives, so you can continue to sell
your own space with an assurance that advertising sales will
occur for every issue.
Follow these eight easy steps and you'll quickly see an increase in advertising revenue. Good Luck!
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