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The Subscriptions Strategy newsletter

It’s not easy to stay up to date with what’s working in subscriptions marketing and this is where our advice can make, and save you, a great deal of money.

We spend almost every day checking out new techniques and tactics. If it’s making money, we’re interested. We test it ourselves and then publish it.

For most publishers the web as a source of new subscriptions revenue is growing, but it is still not significant. However, for the clever few, the Internet has brought in a great deal of new revenue in all kinds of ways. You’ll discover who the few are and how they are doing it in the Subscriptions Strategy newsletter.

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Some of the best marketers now work online
Over the past couple of years we have seen some of the best marketers move to working online, with some impressive achievements. They have found ways to:

*Increase the number of web site visitors who subscribe — by eight times: for one publisher Internet orders were less than 2% of total subs in 2003. By early 2005 the figure had risen to 16%.

Anyone can use this technique to lift online orders, but as far as we can see there is only one publisher doing it; the others haven’t noticed! This simple device can be easily inserted into your website pages, but your Webmaster will never suggest it because he’s not the one counting the subscriptions revenue.

*Show prospects a sample issue without killing the sale: how do you overcome that age-old problem of prospects saying, “I’d like to see a sample copy before subscribing”?

Mailing a copy of your publication with a sales letter is expensive and can lead to financial disaster because no orders come back. This publisher has found a way to show a sample issue without reducing response. His innovative technique means he no longer needs to offer his magazine to new readers on free trial, but on a payment-with-order basis. Orders have not declined, and pay-up is now 100%.

How he did this is a closely guarded secret (except to our subscribers) worth a great deal to most publishers.
Boost annual income without increasing expenditure
The ‘deal’ or offer you present is crucial to long-term revenue building. One publisher, using our techniques, has perfected this and now has more than 10,000 new subscribers joining each year; and all this from nil revenue just three years ago. He achieved this in four stages:

1. A re-design for his home and landing pages to capture more email addresses

2. Powerful home page and email marketing copy to build confidence, using an auto-responder to deliver a series of free newsletters to those who register

3. A new kind of offer, enticing the reader into taking out an ‘almost free’ trial while locking him into a continuous subscription

4. Generating more visitors: by Search Engine Optimising his website, he attracts more visitors, increasing his prospect list to more than 150,000.

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The four stages to maximising subscription revenue *Design: leaving the design of your website to your designer or IT expert is folly. They have the wrong mindset. To create a profit machine you need an automated lead generating and conversion centre, with you in control.

*Email marketing and copy: in most cases (there are important exceptions) the most effective way to convert visitors into subscribers is to build confidence through emailed newsletters or downloadable reports. Professionally created copy has been shown to convert around ten times more visitors into subscribers.

Constant contact through email is probably the most effective way to exponentially increase revenue year-on-year.

*The offer: how you construct your offer is a vital part of the sales process. Do you offer a two-year, annual or six-monthly subscription? How about quarterly or monthly? Our tests show that none of these pull as well online as our own invention, the star performer.

*Generating visitors: once the design, marketing, copy and offer are right, it’s time to generate more leads. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) will increase your prospect list, bringing thousands more visitors to convert into paying subscribers.

*Upgrading, up-selling and renewing your subscribers
We understand your subscriber file is a precious commodity – it’s your most valuable asset. Increasing the amount of revenue you receive from each subscriber is how top marketers make their money.

Upgrading subscribers isn’t easy, so most publishers forget about renewals until expiry time. But once you’re in the know you can run tests to see how they respond to the kind of offers we know are working elsewhere. We show how to test small samples before you roll out to the rest.

Don’t wait until subscribers come up for expiry to renew them! This is a classic mistake. (If you were running a shop, would you refuse to serve returning customers until their first purchase needed replacing?) Start upgrading and up-selling your subscribers now; it costs very little and the cash really rolls in.

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Yes, but where does traditional marketing come in?
This is a trick question. After the early Internet excitement dispelled, it became clear that the successful web marketers were using traditional direct marketing methods:

*Compelling content on every page

*Lead-generating tactics to build quality prospects

*Regular contact, with powerful copy and offers to convert prospects into paying subscribers

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We explain the principles behind all effective promotions and how traditional subscriptions marketing techniques transfer to the Internet:

*Direct mail packs become email marketing messages and website home pages

*Order forms become landing pages

*Mailing houses become auto-responders

*Loose inserts become email capture boxes

*Advertisements become inbound links

*Renewal series become continuous payment orders

Our mission is to increase the profitability of your website and publications. Our case studies apply to all markets and all kinds of publications online and off, so you can adapt and use the tips yourself.

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The Subscriptions Strategy newsletter has been published since July 1993 and is read by most leading publishers and many smaller ones too. Your editor is Peter Hobday. Contributors include Mark Nunney of the Website Marketing Company; Sylvester Stein, Chairman of Electric Word plc; and Mike Chantry of Hilite Direct Marketing. You’ll hear from publishers big and small: New Internationalist, Dennis Publishing, Fortune magazine, The Daily Reckoning; The Gary Halbert Letter and The Business Know-How Letter.

Much of the content described here appears in the current issue. Place your order this week and I’ll include it in your subscription package.

Peter Hobday
Editor

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