Print Newsletter Vs. Online

[Millard Grubb]

I am sure we've got tons of files on our computers that we just don't want to part with. I've got two separate hard drives with information I have kept along with the hard drive on my computer.

However, there are only three newsletters I have kept over the years...

They are:

The Bill Myers Letter

Business Breakthroughs by Jay Abraham

The Antin Bros. Newsletter

In the fast paced world of today, would it make sense to create a newsletter for local businesses that would be geared to help them build their customer base as well as increase sales in a printed format?

I suppose I could go to a big library and look in the directory of newsletters to see what's working now, but figured I would see what others here have experienced.

[Dien Rice]

Hi Millard,

Off the top of my head, I can only think of one printed physical paid-subscription newsletter I am aware of... That's the Doberman Dan Letter, about marketing and copywriting, by Doberman Dan...

It's paper and ink, and sent through the mail. Not cheap though... I just looked through one of his promotions, and it's $199 per month (with some other bonuses included)...

(I'm not a subscriber. But I did buy a big box of his printed newsletters once, years ago...)

I also once did a stint working for a subsidiary of The Agora. Agora consider themselves to be the world's largest newsletter publisher... I don't know the exact number of paid-subscription monthly newsletters published by all their subsidiaries, but it would definitely be well over 100 (maybe even over 200)...

However, all of their newsletters nowadays (to my knowledge) are electronic. You subscribe, and it's a kind of "membership website" type of thing, where your password gets you into the newsletters you've subscribed to...

You can read them online, or download them as PDF files...

(Each Agora subsidiary is independent of each other... They all compete with each other.)

Best wishes,

Dien

Originally Posted by Millard Grubb

I am sure we've got tons of files on our computers that we just don't want to part with. I've got two separate hard drives with information I have kept along with the hard drive on my computer.

However, there are only three newsletters I have kept over the years...

They are:

The Bill Myers Letter

Business Breakthroughs by Jay Abraham

The Antin Bros. Newsletter

In the fast paced world of today, would it make sense to create a newsletter for local businesses that would be geared to help them build their customer base as well as increase sales in a printed format?

I suppose I could go to a big library and look in the directory of newsletters to see what's working now, but figured I would see what others here have experienced.

[GordonJ]

For what my 2 cents is worth these days:

I think a local newsletter, or regional, might be of value to local businesses, although, their local groups; merchant associations, BBB, CoC, etc., may be their primary source of local news.

Just yesterday, I spoke to a printer re: A CHRISTMAS edition of Old Timey Cuyahoga Falls, complete with stories of the past, interviews, pics a lot of NOSTALGIA, and with over 35,000 grads from City high schools this past quarter of a century...it could be a nice sell to out of towners for 5 to 10 bux a pop...as well as a current advertising vehicle for today's merchants.

These type of things have been done in the past, and once an initial one goes out, the next edition can be "written for you"
from readers/contributors.

Putting together all the numbers, could be ERY lucrative, although I would probably outsource all of the selling.

A limited run, maybe 2500 or so, might do the trick.

Also, on my far back burners...I have a course COPYWRITING/MARKETING, with the first hard copy thing sent being 9x12 postcards, where one can use dry erase markers to work out headlines, preoccupational interrupters, and then once a month or every other week, they would get another "edition" of the Newsletter to build out the course.

I still like to get hard copies in the mail, talked about Scoopied before,

https://www.scoopified.net/ and some other paper newsletters.

It can be done, but I would TEST it at a very small scale before I committed to doing it.

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

Hi Millard,

Off the top of my head, I can only think of one printed physical paid-subscription newsletter I am aware of... That's the Doberman Dan Letter, about marketing and copywriting, by Doberman Dan...

It's paper and ink, and sent through the mail. Not cheap though... I just looked through one of his promotions, and it's $199 per month (with some other bonuses included)...

(I'm not a subscriber. But I did buy a big box of his printed newsletters once, years ago...)

I also once did a stint working for a subsidiary of The Agora. Agora consider themselves to be the world's largest newsletter publisher... I don't know the exact number of paid-subscription monthly newsletters published by all their subsidiaries, but it would definitely be well over 100 (maybe even over 200)...

However, all of their newsletters nowadays (to my knowledge) are electronic. You subscribe, and it's a kind of "membership website" type of thing, where your password gets you into the newsletters you've subscribed to...

You can read them online, or download them as PDF files...

(Each Agora subsidiary is independent of each other... They all compete with each other.)

Best wishes,

Dien

[Dien Rice]

I wrote (about Agora)...

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

However, all of their newsletters nowadays (to my knowledge) are electronic. You subscribe, and it's a kind of "membership website" type of thing, where your password gets you into the newsletters you've subscribed to...

You can read them online, or download them as PDF files...

That was true about the subsidiary of Agora I worked for... But as I wrote, the subsidiaries of Agora all operate independently of each other (and compete with each other)...

I just found out that "The Oxford Communiqué" - published by the Oxford Club (a wholly owned Agora subsidiary) - is both printed, i.e. in paper and ink, and physically mailed out, and it can also be downloaded electronically too, according to their website...

https://oxfordclub.com/publications/communique/

Best wishes,

Dien

[Dien Rice]

Hi Gordon,

There is something wonderful about a printed newsletter, as opposed to a purely electronic edition...

For some things, it's superior - such as if graphics are important...

A lot of (copywriter) Denny Hatch's books reproduce example sales letters, and it's nice to see the crisp, readable image on a printed page... rather than squint at a blurry image on your computer screen...

I do think a hybrid is the best - both printed, and downloadable. Though printed of course costs a lot more money, both to print it and also to distribute...

Best wishes,

Dien

Originally Posted by GordonJ

For what my 2 cents is worth these days:

I think a local newsletter, or regional, might be of value to local businesses, although, their local groups; merchant associations, BBB, CoC, etc., may be their primary source of local news.

Just yesterday, I spoke to a printer re: A CHRISTMAS edition of Old Timey Cuyahoga Falls, complete with stories of the past, interviews, pics a lot of NOSTALGIA, and with over 35,000 grads from City high schools this past quarter of a century...it could be a nice sell to out of towners for 5 to 10 bux a pop...as well as a current advertising vehicle for today's merchants.

These type of things have been done in the past, and once an initial one goes out, the next edition can be "written for you"
from readers/contributors.

Putting together all the numbers, could be ERY lucrative, although I would probably outsource all of the selling.

A limited run, maybe 2500 or so, might do the trick.

Also, on my far back burners...I have a course COPYWRITING/MARKETING, with the first hard copy thing sent being 9x12 postcards, where one can use dry erase markers to work out headlines, preoccupational interrupters, and then once a month or every other week, they would get another "edition" of the Newsletter to build out the course.

I still like to get hard copies in the mail, talked about Scoopied before,

https://www.scoopified.net/ and some other paper newsletters.

It can be done, but I would TEST it at a very small scale before I committed to doing it.

[Millard Grubb]

I'm with those who like the feel of an actual print edition of a newsletter (or book).

Being able to sit down in an easy chair and read instead of looking at a computer screen, even if you own a tablet of some sort, is comfortable. Perhaps it is just the "old school" way of things that I appreciate.

I also like the fact that something in print seems to add value to what is in print. As an example, for me, is that whenever my favorite author comes out with a book, I ALWAYS go for the print book, not digital.

With that in mind, wouldn't it be interesting to have a local newsletter for businesses that would help them get more customers and create more revenue? This newsletter would be specific to their area, yet give some hard-hitting information that could apply to just about every business.

[GordonJ]

This is a good idea.

Creative Crowd xpress (Adobe)
https://www.adobe.com/express/discov...tes/newsletter

Canva
https://www.canva.com/newsletters/templates/

Visme
https://www.visme.co/templates/newsletters/

Lucidpress
https://www.lucidpress.com/pages/templates/newsletters

Are just a few of the many places which offer free templates

Why not lay one out, flesh out the idea, see what it looks like, print it out, think about the distribution, the articles, the frequency of printing...and the reason WHY any local merchant would want it.

And of course, the back ends. The ads. All the revenue streams and the effort it would take to bring it to life.

I suspect once you had one in your hands, you might get a better feel about the idea. If it works in your area, there you go, a franchise like business that can replicated hundreds of times over.

GordonJ

Originally Posted by Millard Grubb

I'm with those who like the feel of an actual print edition of a newsletter (or book).

Being able to sit down in an easy chair and read instead of looking at a computer screen, even if you own a tablet of some sort, is comfortable. Perhaps it is just the "old school" way of things that I appreciate.

I also like the fact that something in print seems to add value to what is in print. As an example, for me, is that whenever my favorite author comes out with a book, I ALWAYS go for the print book, not digital.

With that in mind, wouldn't it be interesting to have a local newsletter for businesses that would help them get more customers and create more revenue? This newsletter would be specific to their area, yet give some hard-hitting information that could apply to just about every business.