Sponsoring Mailing Lists
how...@rvclub.com
-----------> This message was posted to the ONLINE-NEWS list. <-----------
At 12:55 AM -0700 12/19/97, Suzanne Lainson wrote:
>>Sorry for being defensive, but I would hope the industry supports my work,
>>and the list of companies that has chipped in deserves to be thanked.
>>No, they didn't chip in for the whole year and the amount is much lower
>>and shared with my partner, Scott Carter, who has done much of the software
>>development for things like the Web archive and member's directory -- and
>>deserves to be compensated.
>
>I would love to see a discussion of sponsorship because I am in the process
>of looking for sponsors myself. Based on the feedback I have received, I
>know I have made a valuable contribution in my area, sports career
>education. But I have never assumed that this alone would generate income
>for my online efforts. (But since I have yet to send out any sponsorship
>soliticiations, I may be wrong about this.)
>
This subject was actually the focus of a lengthy discussion of the
ListMom's mailing list a few months back. The questions raised were:
How do I get sponsorships/advertising?
What's the difference between advertising/sponsorship?
How do I package advertising?
Will advertising/sponsorship destroy the credibility of the list?
How big must a list be before it is an attractive advertising vehicle?
Can a small list with a good membership roster (demographically) be
attractive to advertisers?
How much is my list worth?
Will anybody advertising on a mailing list?
Of course, given the nature of mailing lists, no conclusion was reached on
any question.
What's the best way to deliver advertising via e-mail?
One of the problems we all agreed that exists is that the idea of
advertising on a mailing list is so foreign to most companies and ad
agencies that it would be a very hard sell. They can relate to banner ads;
it's visual and is sort of like traditional advertising, but the idea of
sticking an ad message on the end of an e-mail is still an unproven, avante
garde concept.
There was also some concern that users, especially of established mailing
lists, would balk at the sudden appearance of advertising on a list. I
think it's all a matter of how it's presented to the users.
Online newspapers should really be looking at mailing lists as a form of
community building. Any online newspaper that thinks it's in the business
of delivering information as opposed to community building is probably in
the wrong business.
I think mailing lists built around specific topics that have a good
subscriber base can generate revenue for the owner of the list. The
necessary size of the list to be a money maker is proportional to the size
of the potential market. A national mailing list about baseball with 1,000
subscribers probably has no commercial potential. But a mailing list
dedicated to the Toledo Mudhens with 1,000 subscribers from Toledo might be
of interest to the local sports bar or a local sporting goods store or the
baseball team owners.
Why shouldn't a newspaper run such a list?
Then the question becomes, how do you deliver advertising? You can put
messages at the top or bottom of the list. You can send out a "Sunday
Supplement" ... a weekly all advertising message (specials, coupons, etc.
over e-mail). You can have just one main sponsor with a weekly promotional
message. You should be on safe ground with users so long as you don't let
advertising get out of hand. You certainly don't send a bunch of single,
stand alone commercial e-mail, which will look a lot like spam. If you ran
a list for the discussion of the local music scene and it became popular,
don't you think local night clubs and/or music stores and/or dance-lesson
studios might want to reach that audience?
If you're an online newspaper that recognizes the need for multiple revenue
streams, mailing lists is certainly an option you should be looking at.
And, as I said yesterday, if you need some help managing your lists, drop
me a line.
Happy trails,
H.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Howard Owens // mailto:how...@rvclub.com
The RV Club // http://www.rvclub.com/
President // #L-CHAR-00001
ICQ# // 5400300
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Check out: http://www.buddyblue.com/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-> ONLINE-NEWS uses Lyris mailing list software. http://www.lyris.com <-
-> Change your list settings: http://www.planetarynews.com/online-news <-
-> Online-News is archived: http://www.social.com/cgi-bin/online-news/ <-
You are subscribed to online-news as: [fou...@teleport.com]
To unsubscribe, forward this msg to unsubscribe...@clio.lyris.net