Although an undisputed key player in marketing strategy, email campaigns and newsletters are often seen as a means to an end. But what if they weren’t just for advertising? Paid newsletters can be a subscription service that provides a specific set of customers with such amazing content that they’re willing to pay for it, and it’s already working for hundreds of different companies.
Why Might a Paid Newsletter Work for You?
Unlike some forms of social media, and contrary to many predictions, email campaigns and newsletters are here to stay.
Emails are used the world over, so if you have access to or can curate premium content, finding a way to monetize it should be a priority.
5 Ways to Help Monetize Your Email Campaign
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Unique Content for a Unique Audience
The only reason people will pay for a service that is usually given to them for free is the added value of top-notch quality content. If the information provided is available as a page full of results after a quick Google search, a subscription newsletter is unlikely to work.
The data and content that an audience will resonate with should be targeted at a niche market and be able to offer them unique insights that are not commonly accessible. Newsletters should be both original and have a distinct customer base in mind.
And so the first question companies should be asking themselves when starting out is who their target audience might be. By having a limited group in mind, it’s much easier to provide high-value ideas and information that will be desired to the extent that people are willing to pay for it.
This research should be an important function of sales and marketing teams, if they are currently wasting time on laborious admin work, then sales automation should be a priority for your company.
2. Privileged Access
Customers are looking for privileged and exclusive access to information that makes a newsletter worth their money and time. The best kind of paid newsletter will be one that lets the customer peer behind the scenes, and introduces them to materials that they believe would otherwise remain unseen.
Not many companies can pull this off, and that’s why knowing your target audience is a crucial aspect of curating a paid newsletter. Concentrating on the VIP aspect of your content and offering them new features and products first can help, as well as providing readers with a space (forum or otherwise) where they can share their thoughts and network with other customers.
3. What Content?
It’s all well and good saying that you have the goods that would make a premium service worth it, but knowing what sort of content this might be is the next consideration. Taking a look at your own business is the best place to start, as well as what other companies offer in their paid newsletters.
Podcasts, interviews, market reports, and live updates can all fit into the bracket of exclusive content. The knowledge of industry experts also constitutes quality material, and if your company operates in a new and innovative field, this kind of information will be especially useful and easy to monetize.
Another area that makes for a great newsletter is that of data specific to your industry. Data is the gold dust of the digital age, and being able to share, break down, and offer opinions on specific industry statistics makes for a great email marketing campaign that business insiders will want access to.
4. Engaging Emails
With the content sorted, the newsletter needs to look amazing. These campaigns need to offer a memorable service that leaves the customer wanting more, and one of the best ways to do this is with dynamic content. From embedded videos to surveys and quizzes, an interactive experience is going to result in higher customer engagement and sales.
Top-quality visuals are one thing, but a personalized experience is another way to make an impact on the reader. Pushing the boundaries of what’s available by using cutting-edge technology will make your emails unforgettable. If a newsletter is an eagerly anticipated arrival in someone’s inbox, it makes sense that they’d be willing to pay for it.
This doesn’t have to be a time-consuming process either. A good deal of automation is possible in the area of email marketing. With no-code and low code solutions, too, you can implement the automation as a citizen developer, rather than having to employ an expert.
5. Converting Customers
Once you know who your newsletter is for and what it might contain, the next step is to find customers!
One way to convert and engage would-be customers is to have a free version of the campaign made available. Not only will this free offering act in much the same way as a traditional email marketing campaign for the company, but it can additionally act as a taster for the paid version.
Customer support is a key area of any business, so if you’re a B2B firm, offering insights in that area could help your conversions. For instance, you could share an article on the phonetic alphabet in a paid newsletter to add value for the recipient and show them your expertise in customer support.
An early adopter pricing strategy is another way to entice customers, particularly as the kinds of customers likely to pay for an email newsletter are also likely to want to be the first to have access (tying back into the exclusivity point from before).
As the targeted audience is likely to be niche and specific, it is also worth considering a discounted referral system. Word of mouth is the best way to entice new consumers, and the pool of people interested in what you have to offer might be limited, making referrals a great way to increase readers.
The Future of Your Email Strategy
Email campaigns have always been seen as an essential part of a marketing strategy, but there is absolutely no reason these emails cannot be monetized. With the right content and the right audience, customers will line up for specially curated information. If the content a company provides is worth paying for, then their subscription service will most certainly be worth the money.
