NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Email sponsorship/advertising
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Email sponsorship/advertising
e/y/e/s/c/r/e/a/m (ab_at_eyescream.com)
Fri, 20 Feb 1998 08:39:44 -0800
At 08:39 PM 2/19/98 -0500, Jason Ellis wrote the following
regarding Email list sponsorship:
>The thing you really have to consider is this: how much
>does it cost you to run your mailing list?
Actually, no. If you are thinking of generating *revenue*
from your discussion list or newsletter you should not base
your prices strictly on how much it costs you to produce
it. You mentioned that it cost you $25 per month for list
hosting fees. That says nothing of the hours you put into
your list each month if it is moderated or edited. Nor does
it reflect the hours you spend each month manually
unsubscribing people who are not competant enough to
follow the simple removal instructions listed at the bottom of your
list posts. There is a *lot* of time involved in running a list
and production costs should reflect much more than a
monthly list hosting fee.
The main criteria you should use in setting rates for your
list are two factors in addition to how much production
costs are:
1. What is the perceived value of your list to those
wishing to advertise on it? In other words, how much will
a legitimate company pay to target a specific audience
effectively by E-Mail?
When you price the sponsorship for a quality E-Mail
newsletter at $5 CPM or below you are devaluating it in the
eyes of your advertisers. If your list, such as Richard's
list here, targets a specific type of audience then you can
charge a much higher CPM and people will pay it if they
want to specifically target that audience. Like any other
advertising medium, premium placement and premium targeting
to a specific demographic audience is worth far more to
advertisers than general untargeted impressions.
2. What can you offer your advertisers? Put yourself in
their shoes.
Is your list simply faceless subscribers? Or do you have
actual demographic information (job titles, geographics,
etc.) that you can offer your advertisers about your
listmembers? If you were they would you want to
pay only for *unique subscribers* or would you want to
pay for every impression?
What type of advertisements can you offer sponsors? An
html banner in the message as in ClickZ
http://www.clickz.com/ or a text based ad?
Is it a quality list or is it infiltrated with messages
that say only, "Yeah, I agree with what Joe said. --
Phil." ? All of these factors will determine what people
will be willing to pay to advertise on your list.
Don't associate the sponsorship prices of targeted E-Mail
discussion lists or newsletters with the low prices of bulk
email to "Send your message to 30 million people for only
$29.95 !!!!" They are apples and oranges.
The placement of an ad or sponsorship of an E-Mail list
such as Online Ads is far more targeted and worth paying
much more for because:
1. Members of this list actually SUBSCRIBE to receive it
on a daily basis. You all ASK to receive the content and
accordingly, the sponsor ad as well since it is imbedded in
the content and you understand that without sponsors this
list would not exist.
The sponsors PAY for you to participate and gain from this
discussion, so you are much more likely to pay attention to
the sponsor ad than you would be if you received a single
ad by email announcing that The latest Thigh-Reducing Cream is on
sale for $79.95 at: http://www.jaring.my/biz/mog/e0125.htm
2. They read it thoroughly for the content and look
forward to it in their boxes as opposed to receiving an
unsolicited ad.
3. The sponsor ads are imbedded in with the content, so
they are more likely to be read
4. Sponsor ads have the ability to target much more
finely in a discussion list or email newsletter than they
would in a bulk mailing.
Unless your newsletter or list is untargeted, unless you
have no demographic information at all and can't offer much
to advertisers, don't price it like it's the same thing as
sending an email ad out to your subscriber base in bulk.
It's far more valuable as an advertising tool and
legitimate advertisers are willing to pay for that fine
targeting.
So, what if you have 100,000 list members? Won't that mean
that a $30 CPM will be $3,000 to buy a sponsorship for a
mailing?
And your point is....?
$3,000 is the minimum buy on most sites for banner
advertising. While it may seem high for targeted E-Mail
advertising on a discussion list, it's not for a list of
100,000, and if companies want to be in front of that
audience, then they'll gladly pay it. If you're not
getting sponsors then you need to approach a different
audience of media buyers who are willing to pay
those rates or you need to reevaluate what you are offering
your advertisers and perhaps offer more value to them.
A mailing by opt-in email _at_ 15 cents per person to
100,000 would cost you $15,000, so $3,000 is certainly
reasonable if it is a targeted list and if you have the budget for it.
If you have a valuable list that targets a unique audience,
then price it accordingly or offer sponsors some value adds
such as overdelivery or volume discounts to make it more
worthwhile to them.
Adam Boettiger, List moderator
The Internet Advertising Discussion List
http://www.exposure-usa.com/i-advertising/
mailto:ab_at_eyescream.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's Online Advertising Discussion List sponsors:
Marketwave, ICONOCAST, and HotBot
** Analyze impressions, click-throughs, visitor quality and sales! **
*** Get Hit List - The Ultimate Web Traffic Analysis Software ***
Marketwave Corporation http://www.marketwave.com info_at_marketwave.com
---
"ICONOCAST is without question, the coolest, shortest,
best written Internet thing I read every week."
Seth Godin, CEO, Yoyodyne http://www.iconocast.com
---
HotBot, rated the #1 search engine by CNET, has keywords available now
in these categories: computers, software, shareware, Internet, games,
music, and more. Contact Rick Boyce at 415.276.8440 or rick_at_wired.com.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Online Advertising Discussion List To Unsubscribe send UNSUBSCRIBE
http://www.o-a.com/ to online-ads-request_at_o-a.com
