Question

Topic: Strategy

How Do I Get More Subscribers?

Posted by Anonymous on 12/15/2010 at 3:23 PM ET 1000 Points
My newsletter needs more subsribers. The ones I have are loyal, the churn rate is five per cent and I never have undertaken any kind of promotion. I am thinking of doing a get a subscriber contest and am willing to offer people money, say up to $500 split three times - $300, $125 and $75. Or I could use the money to provide them with various gift certificates. Every current subscriber who would get a new one for us (we can track that) would get one entry into the prize jackpot and for every other new subscriber they would get an additional entry. Contest to run for 2 weeks after the hols and winners chosen randomly. Any thoughts or other ideas. Here is the link:
www.savvyinsider.ca
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  • Posted by george_froehlich on 12/15/2010 at 5:23 PM Member
    The share feature is already there. The privacy and not sharing or selling their info also is there and they also get a confirmation email and they can unsubscribe easily, in fact it is on every newsletter.

  • Posted by george_froehlich on 12/15/2010 at 5:26 PM Member
    thanks for that, why dio you think $600 would make a difference between $500?
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 12/15/2010 at 8:16 PM Member
    (Aside: I would've thought that your Twitter & Facebook pages would've focused messages on savvy deals and Vancouver-based information. By cluttering up your pages with non-relevant information, you dilute your message.)

    Why not advertise your contest on Craigslist (https://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/)? It seems like the natural place for people seeking deals to go.
  • Posted by george_froehlich on 12/15/2010 at 8:51 PM Member
    okay so u're saying on my facebook and twitter pages i should only use the content from the newsletter, that would be five items a day. is that the way to go?

    also i do use craigslist for the savvy deals portion of the newsletter that runs every wed. and for "what to do" in town that is part of the newsletter every Tuesday.

    we did a research study and those were the number two and three most popular items in the newsletter; restaurant reviews placed first which run at least once a week or often twice a week.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 12/16/2010 at 8:40 AM Member
    Are you crystal-clear on who are raving fans of your website? Do you know who has the most click-thrus? Do you know why they look at the articles? Do you know if they buy because of your tips? Have you segmented your list based on type of savvy deal (food, for women, for men, for children, events)? Have you co-marketed with vendors you've featured to share your newsletter (on their website)?

    Also - how do you make money with your website? Are you getting a referral fee? Selling your email list to others? Ad revenue?
  • Posted by george_froehlich on 12/16/2010 at 7:19 PM Member
    At this point I am not making money. But I have started looking for an ad person to sell ads. And of course I would never sell my list to anyone, that is a guarantee people get when they sign up. Our research shows the following - they are highly educated, income levels on average are 75k, they have been subscribing for more than 2 years, in order of what they like - restaurant reviews, savvy deals, what to do in the city or beyond. Those are the top three. So far I have posted various newsletters on Craigslist with some good results. But as I said i need more subscribers. We also have a good following on facebook and twitter and on our RSS feed.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 12/16/2010 at 7:44 PM Accepted
    Dear George,

    Rather than offering cash as a prize, why not offer
    an iPad or an Amazon Kindle? The cost might well be cheaper than the cash outlay and the devices have
    more crowd appeal.

    I'd also be tempted to overhaul the look of your mast head. At the moment, all that black and white makes the whole site look a little gloomy. Why not approach local photographers and showcase their work in exchange for better images?

    Your masthead currently occupies A LOT of visual real estate that could serve you better by slicing it up into four chunks, each one of which is clickable: think food and drink; shows and movies; what's on this week; what's on this weekend.

    To make money ... to bring in revenue, you might want to partner with local bars, restaurants, clubs, museums, sports teams, and event organizers and offer them ad space in exchange for their message getting in front of your readership.

    To spread the message of your iPad/Kindle content, consider fliers handed out at bars and restaurants, consider press releases to local radio stations, newspapers, TV, magazines and other vehicles that have a wide audience.

    I hope this helps.

    Gary Bloomer
    The Direct Response Marketing Guy™
    Wilmington, DE, USA
  • Posted by george_froehlich on 12/16/2010 at 7:53 PM Member
    Hi Gary

    A blast from the past I love the idea of what you are proposing the iPad or/Kindle. It's a good thing and so contemporary.

    As far as the changes are concerned I hear you lound and clear. But I want to postpone that, we have just introduced the new look and it has brought forth the usual reaction, people love it, others don't like it. We made a lot of the changes based on a readersip survey we did. What do you think about waiting on any changes?
  • Posted on 12/17/2010 at 4:31 AM Member
    You can also modify you contest by simply saying whoever brings the most subscribers will get the highest price- whatever you are willing to give-. You can give some money to the top three. and if you desperately need new subscribers you can also give out free subscription during the xmas season lets say. You can define any kind of time period for free subscriptions.

    Hope this helps you some with you ideas,

    Kansu
  • Posted by george_froehlich on 12/17/2010 at 12:41 PM Member
    hi kansu
    the newsletter is free
  • Posted by george_froehlich on 12/19/2010 at 11:13 AM Member
    anyone, with anything else on this topic? i am about to close this off and award the points. tomorrow is the deadline for that.

    thanks everyone for your contributions.
  • Posted on 12/19/2010 at 11:15 PM Member
    Email blast would be great !! send them information about the benefits of reading newspaper. in addition, you may want to cooperate with other companies, do the trade marketing,i.e. bundling promotion? so people would be more interested reading your newspaper. Good luck!
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