By Jessica Albon

Bev: Thanks for being here with us today, Jessica. We can’t wait to learn more about how to create newsletters that are genuinely profitable.

When you have a client who’s just starting out, creating a newsletter to promote their business, what do you recommend they do first?

Jessica: It’s crucial that a promotional newsletter start with a plan. You’ll want to set goals, decide on just the right subject, and define your audience.

Actually, that’s the first step for any type of newsletter–whether the newsletter itself is the business (for a subscription-based newsletter), or if the newsletter is designed to promote a newsletter.

Once you’ve set up your plan (and, if you need some help with that, you might want to check out our report “15 Days to a Polished, Professional Newsletter or Ezine”), you’ll need to make some decisions.

Bev: What kinds of decisions?

Jessica: Decisions on everything from design to content. The most important decision for a promotional newsletter is to decide how you’re going to promote. Are you going to run actual ads for your products or services? Are you going to merge content and advertisements? Are you going to use lots of testimonials to get people to buy?

You need to set up your approach. And you’ll want to give that approach at least three issues before you change it.

Bev: What’s the biggest mistake newbie publishers make?

Jessica: Not being consistent! It’s absolutely, 100% crucial that you send your newsletter reliably, every time it’s scheduled.

Bev: I’ve seen you talk about consistency before–why is it so important?

Jessica: First, a newsletter is a relationship-building tool. You’re demonstrating to readers why they want to do business with you. Would you want to do business with someone who promised a monthly newsletter but only published once a quarter?

Clearly it’s a credibility issue.

But, it’s also especially important with email newsletters for another reason–spam.

If you publish only sporadically, your readers are likely to forget subscribing. And that means they may report you to your website host (which can get your site shut down). By publishing reliably, most readers won’t forget you–and that’s crucial in today’s email environment.

Bev: That’s great advice, Jessica.

Now, what about subscription newsletters. What should people do to make those really profitable?

Jessica: Again, that foundation is the crucial first step. But, this time, when choosing your subject and audience, you have to evaluate each on the profit potential. You must find a group of people who are being under served or who can’t get enough information.

Then you have to figure out precisely how to differentiate your newsletter from others out there–for instance, let’s say you want to publish a paid-subscription newsletter on dog care.

There are lots of newsletters out there on dog care–from training to diet to travel. In order to really build your list, you’ll need to come up with a unique slant to set your newsletter apart from others.

So, perhaps you make your newsletter about “Caring for your dog in natural ways,” or “Caring for your pregnant dog.” You want to really define a focus that’ll be of intense interest
to a specific group of people.

Bev: It sounds like the key to subscription newsletter success is to offer information readers’ can’t find elsewhere, is that right?

Jessica: Absolutely. You don’t want them to feel like they can get the same stuff for free elsewhere.

Bev: Now, Jessica, some of my readers are going to think it’s clear how there’d be money in a paid subscription newsletter (after all, many of them subscribe to newsletters or magazines themselves), but they’re going to wonder if they can really make money with a promotional newsletter.

Can they?

Jessica: Absolutely.

A newsletter that promotes your business is a great way to do two things:

1. 1) Capture all those sales that you didn’t make on a visitor’s first trip to your website; and,
2. 2) Sell new products/services to existing clients and customers.

Personally, I don’t think an unprofitable newsletter is worth the time it takes to put together.

Now, how much money the newsletter makes will vary. I have clients who regularly make $6000 or more with lists under 2000 subscribers, and others who make just a few hundred
dollars for each issue.

But, just because your newsletter itself isn’t raking in thousands doesn’t mean it’s not *making* you thousands.

So much of supporting someone in becoming a first-time buyer from you is about the hand-holding phase. The time when they waffle back and forth and hem and haw. You have to give them plenty of support in this phase. And, when you do, they’re likely to turn into profitable repeat buyers.

That’s the real power of a newsletter–that it keeps you in front of people for a lifetime of business.

Bev: Well, Jessica, you’ve certainly given us a lot to think about! Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us.