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Six rules for a successful newsletter launch. (How to Start a Newsletter).


You can successfully launch a new newsletter even in the middle of an economic slump. Here are six ideas to help you succeed:

1. Do your editorial homework. Make sure your topic fills a true need for the reader. If it's a repetition or provides information no one cares about, nothing else matters.

2. Always test at least two, if not more, packages to launch. And make sure they're genuinely different--don't just change the opening paragraphs or the outer envelope or the second color. Those are all valid tests, but they're not "big enough" moves to truly multiply mul·ti·ply
v.
1. To increase the amount, number, or degree of.

2. To breed or propagate.
 your odds of hitting upon a winning package.

What you may first think as the "killer" approach might not be the one that works best. It'd be a shame to fold what might have been a great product based on the results of a single package. Do two packages and double your chance to hit the mark.

3. Test significantly different prices. You never know where price resistance shows up. $199 may beat $249. But would $149 beat both of them? If it brought in the same or even a little less money, would the greater number of subscribers allow you to make more money on ancillary Subordinate; aiding. A legal proceeding that is not the primary dispute but which aids the judgment rendered in or the outcome of the main action. A descriptive term that denotes a legal claim, the existence of which is dependent upon or reasonably linked to a main claim.  sales or cross promotions, or to have more people renew and so build your subscriber base more quickly?

4. Check the competition--and not just the usual places. Besides other publishers, make sure you look at online resources and industry associations. They may be providing information that's "free" and so take the wind out of your USP USP - unique sales point  (unique selling proposition The Unique Selling Proposition (also Unique Selling Point) is the marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. ).

5. Talk to your target audience. Before completely defining the product and writing your launch packages, make sure you interview as many of your target audience as feasible. Ask them what keeps them up at night, what they read and why, the golden question about their business they'd love answered if they could get an hour with a renowned expert, their three biggest business concerns, and so on.

Make them explain the answers to you. Ask open-ended questions A closed-ended question is a form of question, which normally can be answered with a simple "yes/no" dichotomous question, a specific simple piece of information, or a selection from multiple choices (multiple-choice question), if one excludes such non-answer responses as dodging a  and probe with follow-up. Such efforts often turn up topics you need to write about that you didn't even know about.

Listen not only to what they say but how they say it. Pick up on the tone to know where the hot buttons are. Learn the jargon jargon, pejorative term applied to speech or writing that is considered meaningless, unintelligible, or ugly. In one sense the term is applied to the special language of a profession, which may be unnecessarily complicated, e.g., "medical jargon.  so when you write you can use it and sound like you truly know what they're going through. Such efforts help establish a bond between writer and reader.

6. Test a cross-section of your best lists. If it doesn't work with them, it won't work with others. Try to include lists that you can roll out to higher volumes if they work. If feasible, don't just use the house files; test outside lists to know if you'll be able to reach beyond your current database.

David Palmer David Palmer may refer to:
  • Dee Palmer, (born David Palmer in 1937), a British arranger and keyboardist
  • David R. Palmer (born 1941), an American science fiction author
  • David Palmer (American football), a former NFL wide receiver
 heads Palmer Consulting Services Noun 1. consulting service - service provided by a professional advisor (e.g., a lawyer or doctor or CPA etc.)
service - work done by one person or group that benefits another; "budget separately for goods and services"
, 3536. Gloucester Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18020, 610-814-3381, dpalmer@fast.net
COPYRIGHT 2003 The Newsletter on Newsletters LLC
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2003, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Article Details
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Author:Palmer, David
Publication:The Newsletter on Newsletters
Date:May 31, 2003
Words:491
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