Niche Newsletters Attract Advertisers

Wonder why such magazines as Stuff and Cargo have taken a beating? According to this LA Times piece (requires free registration), they're being pushed out by emailed newsletters like Thrilllist.com:

Thrillist is one of dozens of electronic mailing list services. Some have been around for years but new ones have been popping up recently, godsends not only for Friedman and people like him but also for advertisers.

The services, most supported by ads, reach audiences most magazines only dream of. The median household income of Thrillist subscribers, for instance, is $107,000, dwarfing Sports Illustrated's median of $63,605 and Maxim's of $65,710.

Those demographics are startling. The LA edition is already reaching over 24,000 subscribers and they're launching a Las Vegas version. These high concept service vehicles - each providing a specific take on information, often with an "insider's" slant - have got a business model that leave magazines in the electronic dust. They don't have costs for printing and only nominal ones for distribution. There's lots of research, but high end writing isn't at a premium. They only need one advertiser in an issue, as their overhead is low, and their readers don't seem to mind the ads. And they can deliver results:

After a Thrillist e-mail mentioned Astor & Black, a tailor that makes inexpensive custom suits, $100,000 worth of suits were purchased in a matter of weeks, the company said. DailyCandy said an e-mail about a movie screening prompted 8,000 RSVPs.

The email list publishers are slugging it out and competition is strong, so don't expect to enter these particular slices of the market easily - and most of them have had years at this. But if this works for these niches, why not others? If you're going to spend time on your own interests, maybe you can find a way to develop something that, over time, could turn into a business. Here are some hints that I deduced from the article:

• You need an associated web presence so people will ask for the newsletter.


• Find a well-defined niche where the population doesn't naturally churn. For example, wealthy people in LA work as a target market. Parents of infants might not, because they grow out of that particular need quickly, so your subscribers are of limited duration.


• Be respectful of the readers and don't overload the newsletter with ads. They may not mind one, but get obtrusive and you'll lose them.


• Build the audience first and then go for advertising. If you try to make money immediately without investing, advertisers will have no reason to deal with you.


• Look for people that consider their time extremely limited - whether it objectively is or not. They'll want information in a condensed fashion.


• Market the web site first to build audience, and then go for the newsletter. An audience has to be able to find you somewhere.