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.
1. 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).
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 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.
5. URL Tracking - Have advertisers
create a tracking URL to verify advertising was included
and allowing analysis of the gains achieved from ad placement.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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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