Consumer newsletter expert Jeff Greenberg has seen the future and it's "healthy".

Jeff Greenberg, a leading consumer newsletter consultant and launch expert (and member of NL/NL's Editorial Advisory Board) recently spent three weeks in Florida meeting with a dozen publishers. He checked in with us with the following report.

"Just about everybody says business is up. People are back in the mail, mailing lists are up, and a number of people are looking to launch," Greenberg said.

"Mailings are going up because lists are going up. The more publishers mail, the more money they bring in to spend on more mailings. It's an upward spiraling cycle."

Greenberg said the three hotest areas for newsletter growth are investments, health, and opportunity-seekers.

"I project a 25 percent increase in mailings in 2004," Greenberg said. "Internet income will probably increase by one-third. I see a very healthy 2004 for newsletter publishers.

"But people have to put more money into the creative side. While consumers expect free stuff on the internet, spending will be up because people are clicking through to purchase products and services. Once they have regularly read the free stuff and felt the website is credible, they are willing to spend money," Greenberg said.

The next hot spot

Never one to shy away from prognostication, Greenberg described what he calls "the next hot spot." "Online publishers will begin to drive their readers to places to drink and socialize. People are already highly interactive in chat rooms--investment clubs, health clubs, that sort of thing.

"The next step is to get together physically in local bars and coffee shops. Publishers will organize regular meetings in places like Applebee's, Starbucks, T.G.I.Friday's, even Hooters, and people will come together to discuss similar diseases, investment strategies--similar to the dating clubs that chat rooms have spawned," Greenberg said.

"For publishers, there will be two sources of revenue: The big chain restaurants and bars and coffee houses will pay publishers to get them to drive readers to their establishments. And publishers will start to charge membership fees."

RELATED ARTICLE: "The biggest newsletter in the history of the industry"

Jeff Greenberg told NL/NL that the popular television shrink Dr. Phil (as in Dr. Phil McGraw) is in the process of launching a newsletter in association with American Express.

"On television he's #2 next to Oprah, and his newsletter is going to be #1--the biggest newsletter in the history of the industry," Greenberg said.

And this comes from the strategist who helped launch Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street and Richard Simmons & Friends--both overwhelming successes.

We'll report on this new newsletter in a future issue.