Targeting Your Newsletter Audience Tips

Published.com

Published.com is "The Free Internet Directory of Independent Writers & Artists." There is no charge for placing a listing in their directory, but they do ask that you stop by there first "the next time you're looking for a book, zine, video, or just looking for cool sites to surf. Then, Published.com will become the useful resource and valuable promotional tool for independent writers & artists that it was designed to be."

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Research Your Competitors

If you`ve already decided on your topic, but you`re not sure if there`s a market for it, one of the best places to start your research is through Ulrich`s International Periodical Directory. You can usually find a copy in your local library and the titles from all magazines and periodicals are listed in alphabetical order by subject. There is a vast amount of specific information included in each listing and you can even view the list of publications that have ceased publishing since the previous edition of the directory. For example, while keeping in mind there may be hundreds or thousands of publications on Gardening, if you can reach an untouched niche audience, perhaps, Growing Roses for Beginners, you`re on your way to success!

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Establish an Awareness

The audience you want to target has a need for information - whether it is consciously or sub-consciously. Your job is to tap into their minds and present them with a solution to a problem or create a valuable opportunity for them to act upon.

This is one of the reasons, newsletters from lifetips.com tip sites work so well. Every niche site consists of short, immediate "help" for a specific problem - "tips." They are snippets of valuable information that are easily digested by subscribers.

Consider this example:
You are setting up your newsletter and there are a few simple instructions you want your printer to remember (i.e., order of the pages). What is the best way to bring this to his attention? By using non-repro blue pens or pencils.

Your "problem" is solved.

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Determine Demographics

As the publisher of a newsletter, you must get to know who makes up your audience. You should find out specifics including their locations, ages, and preferences, etc. As soon as you can put together a composite profile of your end user, you can research market studies based this information, and target your newsletter directly to them.

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What, Really, Is Retention Marketing?

While customer retention and its goals haven't changed, the entire customer retention business is busy reinventing itself from what it was just a few short years ago. Whether new technologies drove new thinking or vice versa it's hard to say. But one thing is for sure, what retention is –is really different.

Rise and shine, Marketing Directors. It's a new day for Online Customer Retention thanks to significant advances in customer information and relationship technologies. Finally, the reality is catching up to the promise of mass individualization and its power to glue customers to brands.

E-marketing has become such a common element of today's communications plans that most marketers don't even bother with the "e" anymore. But the way it's deployed and measured is still woefully rudimentary given its unique powers for building and tracking customer relationships. The online world is the only platform that puts both parties, customer and company, on the same footing by giving them equal access to each other and equal say in shaping what happens next in the brand experience.

Moreover, sophisticated online customer intelligence technologies can now deliver metrics that track customers' interactivity with content - a far more meaningful way to gauge, respond to and build on their brand loyalty. The online marketing guru Seth Godin has a mantra. Online content must religiously adhere to 3 criteria: it must be expected, valuable and relevant. Expected in that customers should not be surprised (read: annoyed) by receiving content they haven't asked for.

Valuable speaks to the quality of the content itself. It must contain real information, not just a sell-job transparently presented as information. In other words, it should put customer interests at the center of its development, not the company forecast. Relevant means that it is sliced and served according to customer intelligence and timed according to where customers are in the buying cycle.

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Spam: A Definition

Do you find your online mailbox filled with unwanted junk from people and companies you've never heard of? Well, welcome to the world of "spam." And, if you're thinking about doing a mass mailing of your newsletter to people who didn't subscribe, think again. This unsolicited email, usually involving advertising for a service or product, can get you into trouble.

Spam, not only takes up a considerable amount of network bandwith, but in most cases, just wastes people's time. Some ISPs, such America Online, have even instituted policies to prevent spammers from spamming their subscribers. In a nutshell, spam is "an endless repetition of worthless text."

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RankWrite Roundtable

The RankWrite Roundtable is a unique search engine optimization email newsletter and SEO reference website featuring answers to questions about achieving high search engine rankings, successful copywriting for search engines, directory submissions, and the latest SEO news and alerts. Moderator SEO experts Jill Whalen (http://www.highrankings.com) and Heather Lloyd-Martin (http://www.successwks.com) are a pair not to be missed!

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Vary Marketing Strategies

If one of your marketing strategies is not working, you must change it. There is no sense continuing to do something if you are not getting positive results.

Specifically, "don't put all your eggs in one basket," and focus on only one strategy. Successful online promoting includes signing guest books, submitting your website URL (if you have one) to search engines and directories, self-publishing articles, and using email signatures.

You can also promote your newsletter offline by attending trade shows, submitting press releases to local newspapers, printing business cards and stationery, and offering to speak at public events.

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Hitsnclicks.com

Hitsnclicks.com
http://www.hitsnclicks.com

UK's largest online marketing and content portal!
Hitsnclicks.com is a subscription based online marketing knowledge bank that enables members to drive traffic, value and revenue to their website using proven, traffic generating techniques. Free submission of site URL.

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I Need Ideas!

First, ask yourself why you read particular newsletters. What are you looking for in content? As you begin to think about the features that attract your attention, you'll realize that those are the very same features that you can use to capture your audience.

Some examples are: recent product or service developments and advancements, introductions to new employees or sponsors, company awards, testimonials from your clients/readers, and fun things like coupons, contests and free stuff!

(Messages or letters from the president or manager of the company are okay, but they won't really pull your readers in to your newsletter.)

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Frequency

How often and when should you publish your newsletter? To determine this, consider how much information you will be providing (and whether your newsletter is being published online or offline).

The minimum frequency for an offline newsletter is quarterly - once every three months. A monthly publication works best for small companies (usually published on or before the first of the month). For online newsletters, or for businesses and organizations with weekly events, subscribers are generally happy with short weekly issues.

Whatever schedule you choose, be consistent! (If you will not be publishing due to vacations or holidays, etc., be sure to tell your readers ahead of time!)

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Spam: How Spam Got Its Name

One school of thought maintains that the term, Spam, came from a computer group lab at the University of Southern California because it has many of the same characteristics as the lunchmeat Spam:

Nobody wants it or ever asks for it.

No one ever eats it; it is the first item to be pushed to the side when eating the entree.

Sometimes it is actually tasty, like 1% of junk mail that is really useful to some people.

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Give Readers What They Want

Why do people "read" newsletters; more specifically, why they should read "your" newsletter? To be brief, they are looking for information; to be practical, they want to be entertained as well. It`s not enough to give them a boring 8-1/2x11" page full of 10 point text that explains every detail of your business. You must present this information to your readers using different design techniques (including typefaces, graphics, and photos) and creative copywriting.

Subscribers are looking for something of interest...of value...and you must be the one to satisfy their individual needs via your newsletter. At the same time, you also need to convince them to make choices - they must "act now," "buy now," or "join now."

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