Larry Chase Reveals The Secrets To His Email Marketing Success
By Anna Johnson on April 22nd, 2010Larry Chase, the publisher of email newsletter Web Digest For Marketers recently revealed 10 keys to his email marketing success. Larry has built his email newsletter from just 50 subscribers in April 14, 1995 to over 51,000 subscribers today. Employing an advertising-revenue based business model, the newsletter has also been profitable throughout this time.
Not all Larry’s tips may apply to the kind of newsletter or emails you send your list. They don’t necessarily align with the objectives of our Internet marketing newsletter, Kikabink News. For the most part, however, they are on the money. And, hey, you can’t argue with Larry’s success…
To read Larry’s article in full, where he describes in greater detail how his newsletter makes money, go here.
For now, here are 10 keys to the success of Larry Chase’s profitable email newsletter:
1. Keep ‘editorial units’ brief
Larry Chase defines ‘editorial units’ as distinct editorial items. These could be reviews of marketing-oriented websites or they could be tips. Either way, Larry aims to keep them to just 100-300 words.
2. Provide evergreen content
Rather than publish news (which can become outdated) Larry opts to provide tips and reviews that readers can keep for later reference. He says this benefits advertisers since “click-through rates have a much longer tail with evergreen content.”
3. Generate pass-along
Larry aims to write about hot topics, which encourages readers to pass his emails to others and attracts more subscribes. Indeed, Larry gets the highest number of new subscribers on the day he publishes his newsletter.
What kind of content results in a high level of ‘pass along’? According to Larry, it’s hot new tools and resources, timely and provocative interviews, and ‘do it now’ tips and tricks.
4. Target opinion leaders and practitioners
Larry aims his email newsletter at ‘peers’ rather than, in his words, “the lowest common denominator audience”. He indicates that targeting opinion leaders and practitioners will result in them influencing others to subscribe. Larry also notes that advertisers prefer an advanced audience, since such an audience tends to work for large firms or have large-firm clients – the types of companies Larry’s advertisers want to reach.
5. Base topics on what’s hot… and what WILL be hot
In choosing articles for his newsletter, Larry refers to search results on his site, Google Trends and the ‘Social Media zeitgeist’ in order to find out what his audience is interested in. He also aims to address issues that may not be hot right now, but which he expects WILL be what people want to know next.
6. Take risks
Larry reckons email marketers should take some risks – do things that, at first glance, might go against conventional email marketing wisdom.
For example, Larry cites a case where he ran an email that intermingled lots of links to external resources with a sponsor’s ad and link.
Would the advertiser’s offer and link get lost in the crowd? Would subscribers click away from the email in droves, ignoring the ad?
Not in this case. Larry found that the issue got a lot of pass-along and the advertiser’s offer performed well, despite the risk presented by lots of competing links.
7. Be creative with ad sales
Larry sells ad space on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis that he extrapolates from a projected CPL (cost per lead) – the basis on which most advertisers buy. As a result, Larry’s CPMs are noticeably lower than those of other newsletters in his category, and his newsletter ads and sponsored solo email drops tend to sell out many weeks and months in advance. While conceding that he might be leaving money on the table during ‘fat times’ Larry Chase avoids having to discount prices when advertising expenditure is generally down.
8. Act in the best interests of subscribers (and your business)
Regardless of the money on offer from an advertiser, if the advertising offer lacks substance or is misleading or deceptive in any way, Larry won’t hesitate to walk away from the deal.
9. Provide an incentive to new subscribers
Larry entices new subscribers to optin to his list by offering a free report. At Kikabink News we offer a free ebook and free audio interviews with Internet marketers. You might offer a free ebook, report, whitepaper, audio interviews, video, etc.
10. Save some content exclusively for your email newsletter
Since blog ads don’t make nearly as much money as email ads and solo mailings, Larry doesn’t place all the content from his email newsletter into a blog or RSS channel. Essentially, he saves some of his content for the newsletter in order to keep readership and advertising response rates high.
