Ezine Advertising Tips

"Ezine Advertising Low Cost, Highly Targeted Mediums That Produce Results"

By Terry Williams

Advertising on email newsletters, known as ezines, is becoming one of the most popular forms of online marketing and is the number 1 advertising choice of the online marketing experts.

Why?

Because they're low cost, highly targeted medium's that produce results.

An Overview of Ezine Advertising

As an advertiser, you can find the ezines that focus on your market niche which puts your advertisement in front of the best possible audience, your target market!    And best of all it's very cost effective and affordable for the home based and small business entrepreneur to do so! You’ll be marketing to the ultimate of targeted lists.

While there are many more advantages than disadvantages to this type of online advertising medium, you’ll still need to take some time to consider if this is a viable medium for your advertising efforts.

EZINE ADVERTISING ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES:

The advantages of ezine advertising are many and the disadvantages are few, however, like many other online and offline advertising plans repetition is a key factor. The common fallacy about ezine advertising is that an ezine ad will generate hundreds or thousands of immediate "click-thru" viewers and sales. This is an unrealistic expectation.

Potential customers are just NOT easily moved to take immediate buying action, or action at all, regardless of whether advertising is done via print, TV, radio, or the electronic medium of the Internet. In addition to having a product or service that’s priced right, it takes repetitions to build awareness and desirability.

ADVANTAGES:

Here’s a few key advantages of ezine advertising that are inherently unique to this online advertising medium: Life-Span,  Transferability, Better Response Rates and One Of The Most Cost Effective Mediums.

Life-Span:

Many popular ezines deliver their information along with ads. Even though this type of advertising is usually a one time emailing, many ezines also send out their current issue to all of their new subscribers in-between issues, giving your advertisement additional exposure. More importantly, many of these ezines also post their ezines in an archived state for extended time periods that also include the ads that appeared in the particular issue. Now your advertisement becomes virtually immortal!

For Example: I have and currently advertise in quite a few ezines.  Almost daily I’ll still receive responses to advertisements that I’ve run 1, 3, 6, even 9 months ago because that particular ezine has archived their issues with the ads intact. So I receive advertising for months after I placed the advertisement and best of all this advertising is Free!

Transferability:

When you decide to advertise on an ezine, the cost for the advertisement is usually based on the size of the ad and the known number of subscribers. I’m sure you’ve seen in these ezines a comment from the publisher that asks it’s subscribers to freely pass the original ezine around to their friends and business associates.  This is Free Advertising!  When the ezine is passed around from the original recipient to their friends and business associates, the ad travels as well. I’ve even had a few of my subscribers ask if they can send my ezine to their MLM downlines, some numbering in the thousands, and I happily tell them YES!

While I’m not suggesting that this benefit can be tracked or used to increase the cost of advertising by the ezine publisher, it’s a well known fact that it happens and the advertiser receives the benefit of this occurrence, as well as, increased subscribers for the ezine publisher. This single fact alone adds to the overall value of the ezine advertisement, making ezine advertising a much better value for your advertising bucks.

Ezines Provide Better Response Rates:

Advertising on specific ezines, to your target market, will provide you with increased response rates from other online mediums. Those who subscribe to the newsletter have an interest in the topics covered and should also be interested in your product or service, as long as you’ve done a good job in your target marketing. Once again the ultimate success in getting responses to your advertisement is in how it’s written. Response rates of 10% to 30% have been reported using the right ezine and they’re my favorite way to advertise.

Ezines Are One Of The Most Cost Effective Mediums:

Advertising on ezines can be done for a very small charge or even for free. Many ezine publishers are very willing to offer free advertisements and sponsorships on their ezines for trade. They’re very much like newspapers, magazines, radio and television and need to fill space. When their marketing efforts have left them short of advertising they often offer free advertisement blocks to fill their dead space.

I’ve advertised on quite a few ezines with very large readerships by just asking if they needed space filled or by offering a trade of links to web pages, one of my products or a number of other options. You’re only limited by your imagination and the worst possible response will be a no. If you do receive the benefit of some free advertising space it’s also a very good idea to submit a paid advertisement, sometime in the future when your advertising budget allows you to, with a thank you note for the free advertisement space.

DISADVANTAGES:

There’s two distinct disadvantages to ezine advertising: Advertising  In The Wrong Ezine and Ezines With 90% Ads & 10% Content.

Advertising On The Wrong Ezine:

Can you advertise on the wrong ezines? Absolutely! When you want to advertise on a particular ezine, I strongly recommend you first subscribe to that ezine and look very carefully at a few of the previous issues to make sure it’s going to be a good source for your target market.

For Example: If you’re advertising fishing lures on an ezine that caters to new mothers, you’re not going to be very happy with your response rate. The subscribers won’t be interested in your product and the only one who’ll win will be the ezine publisher who you paid for your advertisement.

Always evaluate the ezine you’re planning to advertise on for the target market it’s designed to reach. Every ezine will usually provide a definition or declaration of exactly who their ezine is targeting or who they believe their target market is. If they don’t, ask the ezine publisher about their subscriber base.

Ezines With 90% Advertising & 10% Content:

I’m sure you’ve seen this type of ezine I’m talking about. These ezines are very easy to spot because not only do they have a large number of advertisements, but the advertisements seem to be the focus of the ezine. You’ll also notice very little content besides the advertisements. These are commonly known as advertising mailers or opt in advertising lists. With these types of ezines, you’ll usually find the subscriber base to be very transient and your advertisement gets lost in the pack.

On the other hand, if these types of ezines are marketed as being an advertising mailer or opt in advertising list, they can be excellent mediums to advertise on because the subscriber base has not only asked to be on the list but are looking for opportunities, products and services. Just make sure you’re advertising to the right target market!

KEY EZINE EVALUATION POINTS BEFORE YOU ADVERTISE:

Before you go out and purchase advertising space on an ezine, you’ll want to do some evaluation of the ezine. Here’s an evaluation short list to look at before you advertise.

Check Out The Ads On The Ezine Before Advertising:

Always look at the type and frequency of the advertisements on the ezine. If you find the ads never seem to be repeated, you can pretty much deduct the advertisers on the ezine are not producing results. You’ll also need to consider that responses to ads are not only based on the medium used, but also on how their written.

Check Out The Advertising Rates & Run Time:

Make sure that you can afford the advertising rates the ezine charges as compared to their run time. If the advertising costs are very high per issue, you might want to ask about reported response rates from advertisers and if the ezine offers any guarantees of satisfaction.

Reply To A Couple Of The Advertisers:

Be very careful when doing this. Your goal here is to ask the advertiser about their response rates from their ads and how many times they’ve advertised in the ezine. You want to be up front with the advertiser and tell them you’re considering advertising on the XXX ezine and would appreciate any information about their experiences. Remember, advertisers are business owners just like you and you don’t want to waste their time. Be brief, to the point and only ask once! If you do this correctly, you should receive responses, as business owners love to discuss their successes and
warn others of their failures.

Communicate With The Ezine Publisher:

This is a very effective way to find out quite a bit about the ezine you’re thinking about advertising on. Ask questions that’ll provide you with the specifics you’re interested in. A few standard questions are: number of subscribers, feedback from current and past advertisers, advertising policies, what type of ads they accept and do they have any special offers for longer running ads.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Over the past couple of years I’ve done a considerable amount of online advertising and the most profitable medium I’ve found is in advertising on ezines. The key to success is in your evaluation of the ezine to find the right ezines that caters to your target market. I believe in ezine advertising and I do think it offers businesses an excellent way to reach prospective customers on a cost effective basis.

Enjoy!

Copyright 1998 By Terry Williams & Associates. All Rights Reserved