Received this full-text, online e-book as a gift in my holiday email from John Forde, the man who heads the Copywriter’s Roundtable. With thanks and best wishes to John, paying it forward to you. Enjoy!
THE WEEK tested and repeated (with contextual changes) this 5-year / $250 renewal. As traditional print magazines become increasingly unattractive to readers in general, it’s natural to seek long-term commitments from current subscribers. And the marketing math makes it enticing:
The problem may be with your carrier. No, not your outer envelope. Your carrier.
Illustration by Mark Alan Stamaty for Slate Magazine
This idea works even better than I first imagined.
PROOF BOOK
Idea: Suspense in copy is motivating. True? Answer inside…
Sniffing around for a new circulation idea? Smells like the New York Times is on to something …
What do you need to know to beat your control? The answers to this list of questions will provide a good start when working with outside creatives. Or—and especially—if you attempt to do it yourself.
Costs are up. Response is down. Circulation is falling. Lists are exhausted. Offers are fatigued. Rules are changing. Subscribers are wary. Has there ever been a better time for new ideas in circulation? Here are some things you can do now to survive the tough times so you can positively thrive when — if ever — the going gets good.
Here’s the latest in my mail from The Wall Street Journal. Ever since “two young men graduated from the same college,” whatever The Journal mails has been the avatar of subscription promotions. As they say, if you’re going to steal, steal smart.
Here’s a list of tips, techniques, and truths to help you create winning subscription promotions. Do you know them all? Know a few more I should add? Reply before midnight.
OPEN LETTER
The myth of subscription direct mail is it gets very little response. In fact, it gets 100% response. Readers either love it or hate it. Remember it or forget it. Open it or throw it away. And to a degree far greater than you might imagine, how customers respond to your marketing is controlled by you.
© 2007
Richard Riccelli, Inc.
All rights reserved.
