Fax-back postcard carries the day.

One seasoned publisher has found a way to save big bucks in launching a newsletter.

Marlene Jensen of the Newsletter Group decided to try a postcard after a #10 direct mail package didn't work as well as she wanted.

Her postcard promotion, in terms of percentage, drew nearly as many 3-month trial subscriptions as her #10 package. She mailed 1000 DM packages and 8000 postcards. While the much larger postcard mailing was only a fraction of the cost of the conventional mailing, it drew 89 percent as many trial subscribers as did the #10.

The promotion is for her launch of Media Marketing, "an ad sales idea bank for publishers," (10x, $495/year). The first issue appears in June. The offer was the same in both the postcard and the package offers.

"Yes, I want to pick the brains of the most successful ad marketers for FREE," read the teaser headline on the postcard.

The back side of the card has seven short blurbs telling how various magazine publishers had increased their advertising revenue.

Subscribers had to fax back the front portion of the card, which contains their name and address and the fact that they would receive three FREE trial issues. It also has the standard "write cancel on the bill" if the subscriber doesn't want to continue after the trial period.

Jensen heads the Newsletter Group, which specializes in helping clients launch newsletters or improve the profits of existing ones. She had previously founded and published Ancillary Profits newsletter.