How to sell newspaper subscriptions via direct mail
CASE HISTORY
“why newspapers are starting to lose circulation…”
“ways to increase newspaper subscriptions…”
“how to stop customers from canceling their newspaper…”
The search terms that bring visitors to Ideas in Circulation reflect the existential crisis confronting most newspapers, even in one-paper towns.
Crisis, meet Linda McDonald. She’s the indomitable director of circulation marketing for The Morning Call, the historic newspaper published in Allentown, Pennsylvania for Lehigh Valley residents.
If ever a person whose brains, determination, and professional experiences could turn back the tide — if not part the seas — it’s Linda.
A project recently created under her direction is an object lesson in what can be done. Maybe everything that can be done.
1. USE A VOUCHER
The idea is low cost. A proven, efficient format. Easy to print, produce, and mail. This voucher is a two-part, folded form. Each part measures 3-1/2″ x 8-1/2″. There’s a perf on the fold. It prints both sides using spot colors.
2. LEVERAGE THE VALUE OF YOUR CONTENT
Research shows readers buy newspapers as much for the price-off coupons as for they do for the local coverage. So be sure to promote the value of both.
Add up the dollar worth of the buying power of coupons found in your daily and Sunday editions. Feature that benefit prominently along side your coverage of local politics, neighborhood news, and school sports.
Mostly ignore your state and national and world coverage. Focus instead on your consumer watchdog and traffic reports along with close-to-home interests such as gardening, parenting, weddings, clubs, real estate sales, church doings, and such.
When deciding what to promote, ask your readers, not your editors.
4. OFFER A FREE SUBSCRIPTION GIFT
New subscribers expect a reward. Gifts make a dramatic difference in response, and more often than not pay for themselves in additional orders.
If you do not have the budget to offer everyone a desirable something,** then offer everyone who responds a chance to win a prize drawing with a high intrinsic value … $500 or more.
That’s what The Morning Call is doing … offering everyone a chance to win a $500 CVS gift card. It’s featured on an insert which is is 7″ x 7”, folds in half, and designed to print on one side of coated paper.
**What makes a good gift? Anything that works.
My first recommendation for The Morning Call was a free family portrait. See insert below.
This idea involves local photographers who greatly appreciate the new business. It appeals to the older readers who tend to be the predominant buyers of newspaper subscriptions. And it gains the attention of family and friends — bringing other eyes to the paper — especially if you run new reader photos as a monthly in-paper feature.
Another strong gift is a USB Flash Drive. High perceived value, yet relatively inexpensive. And if you offer an online premium available when the buyer plugs in the drive, you can capture an email address … an invaluable advantage when it comes time to renew and bill your customers later.
Here’s an example flash drive premium insert I created for The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Other classic premiums are front page mugs. Eco-friendly canvas signature shopping bags. Items like that.
5. APPLY GAME THEORY TO UP-SELL ORDERS
If your Sunday paper costs 99¢, offer Thursday, Friday, and Saturday too for a penny more. Customers will actively seek out the best value and trade up and you can renew them at a higher rate later when the time comes.
If you have an online edition (such as Texterity, Olive, etc.), try offering it for a $1.00 a week. When customers compare a 99¢ Sunday-only paper edition versus a $1.00 seven-day digital daily, a penny may be all it takes to get readers to trade expensive paper for low-cost pixels.
6. EMPLOY AN AUTO-PAY, CONTINUOUS SERVICE PLAN
This will create longer customer life cycles. And more predictable income.
7. LET CUSTOMERS CHOOSE THE TERM
Provide options. Try different combinations of weeks and months to arrive at an introductory price that works best. And think of alternative calendars. Try a school-year subscription. A summer subscription. A back-to-school / holiday shopping subscription. See image above.
8. DON’T FORCE CONTINUOUS SERVICE
It’s not a magic marketing bullet. And many customers resent the commitment. Allow an ordinary single payment. And a “bill me later” option. See image above.
9. ANSWER OBVIOUS BUYING OBJECTIONS IN AN FAQ
The two questions you most want to address are a) “What’s the catch?” and b) “What’s in it for me?” Be frank and win customers with disarming candor. See image above.
10. CREATE A SIMPLE, STRONG GUARANTEE
The more unconditional your promise, the fewer customers who will redeem it (and very few do anyway). That’s why “ALL your money back” guarantees works better than “balance of your subscription” guarantees.
11. TEST, MEASURE, EVALUATE, ADJUST, TEST
Start by testing the carrier envelope tease. And don’t be afraid of an address-only, otherwise-blank outer. They often win.
Next test the insert. Determine if you even need one to promote your free gift (you might be able to do it well enough on the voucher alone or with a bangtail BRE).
Test several different kinds of gifts.
And finally, for most impact, test prices, especially low prices.
Once you do that, you can test more “creative” ideas. One I would love to try involves partnering with a local advertiser and enclosing their price-off coupons in a subscription offer voucher mailing. And in that way demonstrate — even before the customer buys — a prime benefit of the paper. You might even be able to get the partner to share some of your promotion costs. Well, maybe.
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Case History: The Morning Call
Posted: November 26, 2010
Hi.
i am a college student doing 1 month summer internship program in “THE HINDU” newspaper. My product is “THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE”. Its a financial newspaper & my job is to sell subscription. I have to sell minimum 25 subscription. Plz help me out.
Koustav Sinha | Respond to this comment
25 subscriptions seems like an attainable goal and should not require a large scale effort
It does require that you develop three fundamental marketing assets:
• A list of prospects
• An attractive offer
• A compelling message
1. Because you only need to sell 25 subscriptions, your list could come from your personal address book. Select those who are in business or who have family members in business. Or who can forward your message to their friends in business. Ask your colleagues for names from their address books that are similar. Look to your social media contacts. If these are not enough names, see the note below.
2. A good offer gives the prospect a low-risk, high-value opportunity to subscribe and typically includes a money-back guarantee of satisfaction. It appears that The Hindu Business Line charges Rs. 926 for a 6-month subscription by post. Ask if you can create a 3-month introductory offer at a discount … perhaps 3 months for Rs. 333. If that is not possible consider adding an editorial reprint like an F+O report as a free gift with a full-price subscription. There are many ways to create attractive offers and you should work to develop several for The Hindu Business Line to consider.
3. Write your message following examples of good direct response copywriting. Here’s one “Direct Mail Copy That Sells” by Herschell Gordon Lewis. He has written several as have numerous other authors — search Amazon. Use the principles and best practices of good email messaging (brief, to the point, useful and transparent) and combine them with proven copywriting formulas like “AIDA” — writing a message that gains Attention, builds Interest, creates Desire, and inspires Action.
Once you have your assets in place, send your message to your list. However, do not mail everyone at once. Send to just 10-25% of your names and see how the campaign is performing.
If you are getting little or no response, you will need to find out why — through personal follow-up — and adjust your offer and message accordingly. You may also want to test two different offers / messages to see which one performs better. Once you are satisfied that you have made the proper adjustments, continue your campaign to the next 10-25% of your list. And proceed in this manner.
Note: If you do not have enough email names from your circle of friends, family and colleagues to reach your goal, you may need to gather more. In that case, you should consider creating banner ads to appear on The Hindu Business Line website. These banners should feature your special low-risk, high-value, guaranteed subscription offer. Prospects who click on your banner should then receive your email message.
Good luck with your assignment and let us know how well you do.
Richard Riccelli | Respond to this comment