[epub] Re: Is this why ezine advertising will die out?

["Paul Myers" <paul@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mani,

> A touch of nostalgia while replying to your post!  Seems
> like 1996 all over again :)

The wheel of Karma...

Funny timing. This past Sunday was the 7th anniversary of my 
first issue. Doesn't seem that long, in some ways. In others, 
it seems like... well... a lot more than 7 years. <g>


> I guess the theme underlying my entire contribution to this
> topic is:  "Ezines are the ultimate relationship building
> tools, and ezine marketing is the sublimest form of
> relationship marketing"

If you're talking about building relationships with large 
groups of people, there are two primary means to do that. 
Ezines and blogs.

Others will develop over time, I'm sure. Internet radio and 
interactive video are the next up-and-comers, I think.


> Superficially, it may appear I'm bashing ezine advertising.
> Not true.  I'm only giving evidence to support my
> contention that, as things stand, ezine advertising isn't
> going anywhere.

Depends on how you define it.

If you're talking about classified ads, you're probably right. 
If you're talking about YOUR products to YOUR list, you're 
not. But you knew that.

Endorsements of other people's products to your list are where 
the real test lies. Those are going to become more dependent 
on targeted original copy, as opposed to the "emailing the 
same copy the product creator sent to 42 other ezines."


> Why go to all the bother of building lists and keeping in
> touch with them, if the best response you can pull is a
> measly 1% or less?!  It's far easier, less expensive even,
> to go with any of the 100+ other marketing avenues
> available.

If it's profitable, it's sales you wouldn't have made, meaning 
customers you wouldn't have had otherwise, who can buy more 
from you later.

Gotta look at the long term, Mani.


> Here are 2 more good examples - Phil Wiley's "Letter from
> Phil" and Allan Gardyne's "Associate Program newsletter".

Yep.

BTW, anyone know what's going on with Phil? I haven't heard 
from him in ages.


> It's no accident these great e-pubbers make a living from
> their ezines.  There are many hundred others who do it - but
> also almost a million other ezines that are little more than
> ad sheets (or e-rags!)

It doesn't have to take years. You can do it in days, if your 
content is good. That's what follow-up autoresponders have 
done to change the market.


> I fully understand it isn't either quick or easy.

It can be.

If I were starting today, with no resources but what I know 
now, I'd be able to do more next year than I have in the past 
8, simply by knowing how to make things happen MUCH more 
quickly, and by designing my systems differently.

I don't regret the time I've spent learning, mind you. I've 
done okay, and I have a lot of friends from this business and 
have had a lot of fun in it.

But I wouldn't advocate taking years to get up to speed. Of 
course, we didn't have the same tools back then, so there were 
less options.


> And then, suddenly (it appears), they decide you're ok!

All of them? At once?

I suspect it's more a matter of the publisher having learned 
the last ingredient they needed to make that relationship more 
personal and credible.

Lots of things can change your marketing response. The number 
one thing is your offer. Then the context, which is heavily 
affected by your own style. Your readers don't really change 
that much over time.


> This is the point at which every list member becomes worth
> $35 a year, or $150 or even $10,000 every year.

I've worked with some of the very best lists available, and 
I've never seen one (other than a customer list) that was 
worth even $100/subscriber/year, much less 
$10,000/subscriber/yr.


> I vividly remember the day an announcement to my list drew a
> 23% clickthrough response to a sales letter that converted
> 6% of the visitors! It was promoting Joshua Shafran's $569
> NPOD System!

At 50% commissions, that's still less than $4/subscriber. 
Extremely good return, absolutely, but hardly in the higher 
realms you're describing.

Consider, though... If you could do that once per month, and 
had a list of 20,000 people, that'd approach a million dollars 
per year. Not horrible. ;)

The point is that you don't NEED to focus on unrealistic 
numbers to make serious money.


>  and I'll eat my hat - and yours as well :)
>
> See it (Paul's hat, I mean) at http://www.TalkBiz.com

I don't know, Mani. That hat's kind of old and tough. ;)


Paul
-- 
Editor, TalkBiz News
"Hard Core How-To For Business"
Subscribe at http://www.TalkBizNews.com



         Please support our sponsor: EmailUniverse.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
--> Get the Best Minds in the Business for under $1000! <--

Put your email-publishing product or service where 25,000+ pros
  in e-publishing and e-marketing will see it with a flexible
     ad package on the EmailUniverse.com Resource Network.
     Make CONTACT, Build INFLUENCE or Get MAXIMUM IMPACT.
      Enlist EmailUniverse.com in your next ad campaign!
       http://opt-influence.com/nl/pl.cgi?emailuniverse
-----------------------------------------------------------------