Could your control package sell in the international market?

Could your newsletter sell internationally? As Mark Eversman said about his Paris Notes, "800 million people in India, there 'has to' be 100-200 who want to know more about Paris."

Recently I noted with interest a package from Sports Injury Bulletin in my mail box. "Noted with interest" because several years back I worked extensively with them on a project to bring this title from the U.K to the U.S. market.

But, in the end, they abandoned the project, evidently deciding to be statisfied with just the U.S. subscribers who came in over the transom from their website.

I do know they were disappointed with the response rate from packages sent to world wide web inquires from the U.S. I wasn't surprised. The "level of commitment" required to respond to "Send me a FREE sample issue of ..." is pretty low.

(Plus, I think, they had also gotten listed on one of those "Lots of wonderful stuff you can send for FREE" sites--www.tirekickers.com?)

It does seem that in every country but the U.S. the paid conversion rate from all variations of "Just write cancel on the bill" offers is much, much higher than here.

U.K. package sent to U.S.

However, what I received now appears to be the present U.K. package. It's 9x12, or rather the slightly taller and slimmer British A4, with window envelope, two-page salesletter, four-page brochure, one-page Editor's Note, order form, and reply envelope.

I say "what appears to be the present U.K. package" because the address, phone, fax information is U.K. only, and the price is quoted in pounds (115 pounds, about US$214, fairly steep for a 10x/year title). And the reply envelope is a British postage-paid BRE.

Well, OK, I thought, I'm still on a house list and got mailed. And then I looked more closely at the outer envelope. It appears to be standard Royal Mail, no reference to International, and here is the complete address as shown through the window:

   Sir or Madam
   PO 67
   Ogdensburg
   New York
   13369
   United Kingdom

You have to salute the folks at the post offices, U.K. and U.S., for getting this from London to upstate New York.

I like the Editor's Letter. It begins with one of my favorite openings, "If you're anything like me, your working life ..." And I especially enjoyed the third graf:

"At this point, if I were a marketing expert, I'd probably want to tell you that Sports Injury Bulletin is 'essential,' 'required reading'--that you simply cannot do your job without it. But a year on from becoming editor of Sports Injury Bulletin what I really think is that it is actually a real treat of a read. You'll always find new things to try out, but above all it'll make you think, wonder and even laugh."

With the articles featured in the brochure including "A three-stage, 6+ week programme for combating patella-femoral pain" and "the female triad, a combination of three dysfunctions--disordered eating, amenorrhoea and osteoporosis," it does sound like a hoot to read.

You have to love "But a year on from becoming editor ...." I'm pretty sure I know what she means, but it's illustrative to those who believe that "English" and "American" are the same language.

Contrarian view

However, there is no apparent reason that many titles, like Sports Injury Bulletin, cannot be marketed internationally. My view is that you don't need to worry about spellings or locutions such as "programme" and "a year on from becoming editor." Anyone in the U.S. who is inclined to subscribe to a British title will probably like them.

That view is contrarian, since most marketers say to write as much as possible in the prospect's own language or dialect. There may be many prospects all over the world that are specifically attracted to one or the other of American, Canadian, or British dialects.

It's worth a test.

But I would cater to prospects' own currency. Give them a convenient way to pay you, greatly preferable in their own currency.

And use a Courtesy Reply Envelope, with no pre-paid postage, rather than a BRE.