Question

Topic: Strategy

Getting Subscribers/monday Morning Business Mentor

Posted by Anonymous on 11/2/2008 at 12:17 AM ET 500 Points
I have a new newsletter called the Monday Morning Business Mentor Weekly, (example below.) I need some wisdom/strategies for getting the word out, getting subscribers. It is a free newsletter, my objective is to help others build their businesses and in turn find subscribers, clients and in the future, users of my services and software.

Here is a sample of the type of content.

Here is your Monday morning coaching session. Read the principle and use it to develop your companies growth plans. Then use the expected results to anticipate how implementing the principle in your business will help.

1 • Establish Your Personal Objectives

“Objectives are not fate; they are direction. They are not commands; they are commitments. They do not determine the future; they are means to mobilize the resources and energies of the business for the making of the future.” ~ Peter F. Drucker



Implement This Principle: Establish Your Personal Objectives; your business exists to serve your objectives, not the other way around.

To Get These Results: Planning to meet your personal objectives assures you are working toward goals that will keep you on track both at work and at home.

Thoughts to Ponder: What are your five and ten year objectives, what do you want to accomplish in your life. If you want to travel, make it an objective the business is designed to support you in. If you do not develop personal and actionable targets for the future that are powered by a sustainable passion for what you love, chance will be your taskmaster; you have a choice, make your business serve you, or you serve your business.



We trust you find the Emerald Business Master Weekly helpful, please visit our website for more information on how these same business mastery principles and concepts can be systematically implemented in your company through Emerald's V3 Management System.

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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/2/2008 at 8:32 AM Accepted
    From a strategy perspective, I'd first start with your desired subscriber/client. What industry are they in? Where are they located? How big is their company? How much do they make annually? How old are they? Male or female? Will they work with you face-to-face or remotely?

    Once you've identified WHO, then you need to figure out WHY they need you. What specific problem are you targeting? More revenue? More free time? Hiring? Startup angst?

    Then, HOW do you help them solve their problem. What are you offering that's unique and (ideally) proven to solve this problem? The more proof, the more trust.

    Once you have some of these basics, then it's time to figure out where your target market is. Do they read the same blogs, magazines, eZines, etc.? Do they attend certain conventions, watch same TV shows, webinars, etc.? Where they are is where you want to pitch your newsletter.

    Finally, if your newsletter articles are 250+ words, write articles and publish them. Ideally, exclusively publish them in magazines that your target market read. Alternatively, publish them in article banks (see: https://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=26248)
  • Posted by Mikee on 11/2/2008 at 8:56 AM Accepted
    Is this service a free subscription or paid? That may make a big difference on how it is approached.


    If it is free there is a better chance you will be able to get others to spread the word. Start small with connections you have in companies. Be sure to include a link in all of your emails that allows others to subscribe. Encourage your subscibers to forward this email on to others. This way if information is found usefull and forwarded on people will be able to easily subscribe.

    The trick is to get those first subscriptions. This will take some work. Searching for relevant blogs is a great place to start. You can see if you can send one of your articles to the blog author and see if they will write about it and provide a link to your subscription service.

    Hope this helps,
    Mike
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 11/2/2008 at 10:05 AM Accepted
    You need to find sources to reach the mass media. I suggest signing up for Help A Reporter. There are dozens of opportunities to provide your expertise and be credited with a pithy quote. this drives people to your website.

    Further, I suggest you look to drive time radio and local TV business programming for where you could be a guest.

    Read Wacky Days by Tom Peric ... He outlines great strategies for getting free press.
  • Posted by saul.dobney on 11/2/2008 at 2:36 PM Member
    Dilbert comes to mind.

    Can you add humor and make it something worth sharing?
  • Posted by mgoodman on 11/2/2008 at 7:25 PM Accepted
    Jay is giving you the right advice.

    How much is it worth to you to create an audience? How many subscribers do you need/want?

    If you can settle on the answers to those questions, then you'll know how much you can afford to spend to spread the word to your target audience.

    If you come up with a number that can be reached within budget, then you simply advertise to the target audience up to the budget level. Start small to be sure the economics work. Then expand as you prove to yourself that the ROI is there.

    If the economics don't work on paper to begin with, then you probably don't have a viable business model, and you'll need to go back to the drawing board.

    Remember that the success of your business is as dependent on your marketing plan (to attract subscribers) as it is on the quality of your content or the frequency of the newsletters. It's not that those are not important considerations, but that it won't matter if you can't attract real subscribers at an affordable cost.

    Once you have your business plan and marketing budget in place, then you can start testing a few alternative approaches to building your subscriber list.
  • Posted by matthewmnex on 11/4/2008 at 7:52 PM Accepted
    My first question is,

    WHY MONDAY MORNING????

    Honestly, nobody has the time for a coaching session on Monday mornings :)

    I don't know about other people but personally Monday mornings are swamped for me, following up emails and planning sessions for the week etc.

    As a rule, I never call customers or business partners on a Monday morning unless it is an emergency because I know that they won't have time to speak with me.

    Why not deliver it in a Friday so that your subscribers can take their time to look through it in more detail oer the weekend.

    I would shoot out a mail with bullet points of what is in store for this week's coaching session with links through to the full session online or let them download a PDF to read at their leisure.

    Just some thoughts off the top of my head to help you get the product positioning right :)

    Hope it helps,

    Matthew



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