Yet another idea-need feedback

jwatkins

I am one of those serial idea gatherers. I get ideas but never seem to be able to see it through. Anyway, here`s the scenario. A business owner wants to start a newsletter (ezine, email, or print), but they can`t seem to find enough content on a constant basis to make it successful. Or another, the business owner wants to start a newsletter but doesn`t have the time, resources, or knowledge.
 
My idea is this, I create a monthly newsletter  (it can be on any subject, probably homeowner, remodeling, tips and tricks etc to begin with.) I do all of the content writing for the newsletter and make it available by subscription, say $39 a month. If you own a business that has customers that could benefit from this information, then I`ll give you all the files needed to either print or email the newsletter. It can even be custom branded. Now you have a monthly newsletter to send out to your customers without doing any of the work and for only $39.00 per month.
 
Here`s how I make money. I give the same newsletter to several other businesses to send to their customers. Since they aren`t using it for mass mailings to unknowns then the probability of someone getting it twice is slim.
 
Knock holes in this idea please...I love the abuse.
 
Also, I can create a newsletter for any industry or niche...the possibilities are endless.

MdcnMn

The idea is good, but most medium to large companies have marketing departments that take care of this sort of stuff.  I think small businesses would possibly benefit from your service.  You mentioned a customer receiving the same letter twice is slim...this would mean you cannot cater to more then one company in a niche market.

jwatkins

I wouldn`t market it to coca-cola, i understand they have a marketing department. But the hairdresser on the corner could beneift from having a beautiful, full-color, content-filled newsletter,with beauty secrets, trends, etc. branded with her pricture, logo, contact information, etc. Now, if that hairdresser is in Georgia and another hairdresser is in NC, they would not have the same customers, that`s the type of niche I am referring to. I can now sell the same content to hundreds of hairdressers and just change the branding info.

AdsMaster

It seems that as long as you stick to a small business area the idea can work. Writing newsletters does take time and your customers will benefit by outsourcing this to you.
How did you come up with the $39.00/month price? Have you researched others that provide the same service? Do they charge more?

jwatkins

Actually It was off the top of my head and then I thought that if I could get 100 customers and make $3900 a month that sounded like a real good number. After doing some research I found other companies charging $19 to $39 but after seeing the newsletters they offer I could probalby get triple that amount (although I won`t).

barbhd34

How are those small businesses going to deliver the email version of newsletter that you create?

jwatkins

I will give them a tiff, png, or jpeg file for printing, a text version for text emails, and the html code for html emails. I will host the images myself.

jwatkins

I was thinking last night that maybe I would have a way for clients to securely upload email lists and then with a click of a button have them sent to their cutomers. It could even be done automatically. They could even upload a list of addresses and have them automatically printed and mailed. One stop, a couple of clicks, and they are done.

jwatkins

Thanks CampSteve for your brilliant instight (as usual). No, I wouldn`t pretend to know about the history of poster design nor would I insult those who do by trying to put out the information. But this is not what this idea is about. Let`s say you own a drycleaners and you decide you would like to put up a website and try to draw in some local business. You call a local website guru who does just that. You`re now online. The website guru sends you a newsletter every month with marketing articles, articles about how to get the most from Google, search engine strategies, etc. General stuff that may would interest him. Its a general web marketing newsletter, full color, 8 pages, (or an ezine) and its branded with the website guru`s logo and contact information. Here`s the business model. The newsletter was written by me. I sell it to the website guru on a per month subscription basis AND I sell it to 100 other website gurus to give to their customers.
 
Here are a few more ideas...
 
Real Estate agent-General home improvement, design, how to newsletters for homeowners
Car dealerships- General car maintainance and car care
Dentists-General tooth care, problems
Landscapers-Gardening and landscaping tips
And on and on and on it goes...
 
It`s not meant to be an indepth look and an industry like most "newsletters: are but more of a general information "brochure" that keeps the website guru`s name in front of the customer while giving helpful tips and advice
 
However, if the website guru were to write this newsletter every week he would spend a lot of time (which equals money) doing it. By purchasing it from me he only spends a few dollars a month.
 
This model is actually already being done but the newsletters look like crap and you know (better than most)that people like beautiful color and design and they love that "poster smell and feel`.
 
You may ask just how I intend to write all these articles? I don`t intend to write them all. I will have writers do that on a per article basis.
 
 
jwatkins3/14/2008 5:51 AM

jwatkins

Steve, after I wrote the last post it dawned on me what you were talking about "wiki-newsletters". So the premise is you who obviously know a lot about poster design, history, etc. would colloborate with others who do and write articles that would then be sent out in newsletter form. Interesting idea.
 

jwatkins

The gist of this idea is using newsletters to market your company. Ok. My thoughts in the above post went from me doing the one newsletter I am working on now to the future in which there will be other types of newsletters offered. i didn`t do a good job leading you along and I apologize for that. However, whether I write all the articles or not doesn`t matter. What matters in this business model is that there will be a finished product available to those who want it without them having to do any designing or content writing. That is what I am trying to convey. A complete, well designed newsletter available by subscription that can be branded specifically for your company.
 
Can I ask what purpose your travel posters serve? Is it marketing? If so then a company such as yours who are experts in travel poster design probably wouldn`t send out a newsletter about travel poster designing. The people who buy them don`t care. However, they obviously care about promotion and marketing. Now you could spend your time writing articles about promotion and marketing or you could simply buy a subscription to a promotion and marketing newsletter and then have it branded with your logo and company information. You may want to include a few examples of your latest work and maybe an article about how your company is doing or the latest projects completed. This is what this company will offer. Making sense yet?
 

jwatkins

First, the company that wanted a newsletter about nebulas (in this business model) would sell telescopes. Now nebulas may be beyond my mental capacity if I were talking to an astronomer but if i am talking to an amateur then they would want pictures, coordinates, general facts, all of which are readily available. I could write that content or have a writer do the research themselves and write it for me easily. I understand exactly what you are saying. I couldn`t write articles on cell mutations in blue baboons and sell that to anyone. However, I could sell a newsletter featuring blue babbons to a zoo so that they could send it to parents of six year olds. We`re talking general information, readily available to the average consumer, not techincal newsletters.
 
What i really need to do is coin a phrase for what I am proposing. I can see where the word "newsletter" can sidetrack you especially if you get subscriptions to technical newsletters written by professionals in a certain field.
 
Here are three article examples for a real estate newsletter I am working on.
1. Ten tips to a perfect interior paint job.
2. Staging tips that will help sell your home.
3. What does the mortgage crisis mean for housing prices?
 
All of these articles will offer good information to the general homeowners. The information is easily researched and I can write the articles myself. I do not have to dissect the mortgage industry, work for a painter, or take home staging classes to write this. So my answer to your question is, I will stay with non-technical subjects or make those subjects non-technical and I will write the content myself or hire a writer to do it for me.
 
Keep making me think CampSteve...
jwatkins3/14/2008 3:49 PM

AkemiGaines

Another potential income source, which at the same time make your writing job easier, is to get blog writers send their articles to you for inclusion in your e-zine, for a small fee.  They benefit from the backlinks and the traffic, provided your e-zine is sizable.

dhutchis

I think you have a super idea here. BUT...your plan to make good money selling to 100 businesses at $39 each might be optimistic and pessimistic at the same time. Optimistic? That`s tough slogging finding 100 small businesses that will benefit. Then you`ll need various newsletters as they are in different industries in all likelihood. Tough. Pessimistic? Well, I think you are seriously underselling yourself at only $39 to turn it around to all their customers. I understand you want to keep it low enough to entice small business though. What about pricing it in relation to their subscriber count? What about handling both the content and sending the newsletter to subscribers...make it more turnkey for the business.

jwatkins

Thanks for the reply dhutchis. Creating and sending the newsletter is what I am currently researching. Turrnkey is the way to go.
 
As a small business, if i start by offering one or two different types of newsletters, say a marketing newlsetter with articles for small hometown businesses that would be sent out by marketing companies, web development companies, etc., or a homeowner newsletter that would be sent out by real estate agents, then getting 100 isn`t so difficult. Say 50 web companies and 50 agents.
 
The price I mentioned was off the top of my head (where a lot of crap resides. lol). I will need to research a pricing strategy as I go along.
 
Thanks again.

jwatkins

I just recieved my e-newsletter from SuN and they had the audacity (actually they hit it right on the head) to call my idea crazy. Well Thomas Edison was called crazy, Issac Newton, Gallileo, Columbus, Ford; i`m in great company!
 
It just might be crazy enough to work...