How much does a subscriptions copywriter cost?
A subscriptions marketing copywriter delivers far more than just copy. His marketing advice can include techniques for:
- Creating new products to sell (often from existing material, so no cost is involved)
- Increasing website visitors and sales (the more email addresses you capture, the bigger your prospect list and revenue)
- Market testing for new launches and enhancing existing products (if you are not regularly testing your market, then you simply won’t grow)
- Price testing to see what your market will bear (If you are not doing this regularly, you are not really in marketing. It’s another vital area that business owners just don’t get.)
- Promoting a business through the press or partnering with other companies that are more marketing-led (This is what companies link up with Richard Branson to achieve).
- Adding products to your portfolio that prospects want (if you are missing something, you are vulnerable to a competitor. This is how and why publishers launch new titles)
- Up-selling new and existing customers by selling ancillary products to increase customer life-time values (if you are not constantly selling products to your client list someone else will. You keep your customers alive by regularly selling to them.)
- Maintaining constant contact. Most publishers are guilty – they do not stay in contact with their readers between issues. Remember – it costs little to run an autoresponder series of messages and tips etc to current readers.
- Lifting profits by reducing unnecessary costs (this is one of the easiest ways to increase profitability and the one business owners are most blinkered to.)
Too much to do – too little time
Often, a business owner hasn’t the time or experience to do all these things. They are, after all, specialised marketing areas. People who work flat-out every day on a business can become out of touch with what new prospects want to hear. It’s only a matter of time before that happens …
An editor, for example, through day-to-day pressure, may not find the time to talk regularly to readers and investigate changes in what they want to read.
A publisher may not have time to carry out regular market testing among prospects and existing customers: only market-testing will reveal what people are actually willing to part with money for (this is where price testing really pays off.)
A managing director may be a great ideas person, a great administrator, a great ‘people person’ or a great marketer, but rarely all of them.
This is why most successful companies in any market, employ outside marketing and copywriting people – to keep fresh and ahead of the field. Unlike with the usual kind of ‘consultant’, it is clear as soon as the response comes in what kind of value your marketing copywriter can bring to your business. Those cheques, direct debits and credit card orders tell their own story.
Freelance subscriptions marketers see more
Remember – a freelance subscriptions marketing expert knows better than most what is pulling the most reponse in the market today. He works across many disciplines and is better placed to see what’s working. You can profit from that.
Here are some figures from a successful website:
Email promotion revenue
This is the response achieved from an subscriptions marketing email message sent out to new registrants:
Website receives 500,000 visitors a month
5% of visitors register = 25,000
50% of registrants open the first email promotion: 12,500
1.45% of registrants who open the email buy a subscription = 181
181 @ $70 for the annual subscription = $12,688 a month
Total annual revenue: $152,250
Supposing the subscription marketing promotion pulls half the response?
The email promotion response figures shown above are for copy created by an expert freelance subscription copywriter.
Let’s look at what happens if the promotional email you send out to your new prospects pulls in half the response, 90 subs.
This is a more typical figure and is around what a good in-house copywriter will achieve. The annual revenue will drop to:
$75,600
So you with your best in-house effort, you have $75,600 less annual revenue. Now I will turn our original question “How much does a copywriter cost” on its head:
How much would you pay an expert subscription copywriter to create copy that brings in an extra $75,600 a year?
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Subscriptions marketing: confidential information for sale
The Subscriptions Strategy newsletter publishes International case studies of ‘best practice’ marketing for the Internet, newsletters, books, websites and magazines etc.
In our particular niche we live or die by results. If a promotion doesn’t work, we lose money. If it works we record the results and use it on our own, and our clients’ websites and publications.
How you benefit by removing risk
As far as we are concerned, our testing means the difficult and costly part is over. As far as you are concerned, you can benefit from this tried and tested knowledge because the risk of failure has been removed and profitability is assured.
You can order sample issues of the Subscriptions Strategy newsletter now on free trial:
Please click on one of the options below to place your trial order. You receive:
1. 20% off the full price of an annual 6-issue subscription to the Subscriptions Strategy newsletter (a saving of £40)
2. Subscription Marketing Workbook worth £66: 15 Subscriptions Marketing Innovations Every Publisher Should Know
3. Subscriptions marketing ‘rapid update’: three special issues of the Subscriptions Strategy newsletter worth a total of £105 to bring you up to date with best practice marketing procedures for online and traditional subscription marketing
Option A: 7 day free trial by Paypal
Your first month’s payment is delayed by seven days, so if you cancel your trial subscription in the first week, you pay nothing. If you decide to continue using our marketing services, we’ll keep your subscription rate down to £12 / $20 a month for your first complete year.
Option B: Annual payment by credit card
You pay just £157, a total saving of £211. If the material does not come up to expectations, email, write or phone for a full refund. This guarantee is valid for the lifetime of your subscription and can be exercised at any time.
*Credit card: click here to order an annual subscription
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