"Time is currency".

Ira Mayer, president of EPM Communications Inc., gave a wide-ranging keynote address to the NEPA conference--wide-ranging in that it was titled "21 Forces Shaping the 21st Century Subscriber."

EPM's newsletters go to marketers--Youth Markets Alert, for example, and Marketing to Women, Entertainment Marketing Letter, and Research Alert--so Mayer's become an authority on our society and our behavior.

One point he made that has particular relevance to newsletter marketers is, "Time is currency."

He noted, "In the newsletter promotions I've seen I don't think the time-saving factor is stressed enough." He suggested reviewing your promotions in light of "easing your subscribers' time deficit."

"What has emerged in the late 20th Century is that people will buy time whenever they can. How do you 'buy' time? By purchasing convenience--so-called 'home replacement meals' at the supermarket. Theater or movie tickets over the phone, for a fee of anywhere from $1 to $7 each. A faster computer or modem. Someone to do the grocery shopping for you."

He told the newsletter publishers, "We're selling time. Collating information, digesting it, interpreting it. That equals 15 minutes well spent reading your newsletter."

Remind your prospects that they're not only buying valuable information. They're buying time as well.