http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2023/06/189-times-lttrs.html
#189 Blog Post - Tuesday, 13 June 2023
Posted by Denny Hatch
The N.Y. Times
Sent Me 10 Emails in Drag One
Afternoon — Clickbaits and Dazzling Follow-ons.
I subscribe to the digital edition of The New York Times. Times’ management doesn’t know squat about me — age, career, interests, hobbies, finances, travel, family, education or income. All the Times knows about me is I am a paid-up subscriber for the digital edition.
How
Profitable is the Digital New York Times? Very!
Cost-of-goods-sold
is zip, zero, nada, niente. It’s digital. No paper, no ink, no printing,
no
delivery costs, no returns. Almost pure profit. With 7.1 million paid
subscribers that’s a juicy $700+ million a year in revenue at virtually
zero
cost. Add to that $523 million advertising income and we’re talking
$1.2+ billion dollars a year — serious
money.
Let’s call
this Times’ Direct Marketing Scheme: "Clickbaits and Follow-ons."
None
of these 10 emails contained any breaking news, hard news or interesting news à la, say,
Politico, Punch Bowl News or Vox. All were bantam-weight, so-so stories, features
or columns — basically, boring stuff for this news junkie. The 10 subject
lines of the emails:
• What to watch this weekend.
• Book Review: New Biography of Martin Luther King.
• The Great Read: A Novel About Video Games...
• It Happened Online: Bama Rush is back…
• NYT Cooking: Pasta salad with crispy cheese…
• Movies Update: Cannes Controversies…
• Paul Krugman: The Inflation Debate…
• The Interpreter: The Snob Summer continu….
• The Amplifier: Tina Turner Queen…
• Take Our Weekly News Quiz…
Why Did The
Times Bother Me with This Fatuous Selection? Ads! Especially the Eye-popping Follow-ons!
Every
article, news story, opinion piece, editorial and sports column in the
digital
New York Times arrives with several small mini-ads sprinkled
here-‘n’-there in
the text.
Example: Below
is a mini ad from one of The New York Times' ten emails — an upmarket pitch
for condos in the luxurious 200 Amsterdam building in New York City’s tony
Lincoln Center area.
If this mini ad surrounded by text were to spark your interest, you could click on it in the Times email story. Suddenly your entire computer screen is magically transformed into a dazzling world of billionaires and spectacular photographs — sublime architecture, stunning interiors, and condos that will take your breath away. Guaranteed!
Quite simply these little ads are far more exciting and compelling than the dreary contents of the Times' stories.
Here’s the
Link to the 200 Amsterdam's Dazzling Follow-on to This Little Clickbait Ad.
https://200amsterdam.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyO2sjLip_wIVfwuICR0eNAhHEAEYASAAEgL1G_D_BwE
NOTE: Be sure to go to the bottom of this screen and click on:
NEIGHBORHOOD RESIDENCES PENTHOUSES AMENITIES ETC.
What I seem to have stumbled on is an exquisite marketing concept whereby an advertiser can pay the Times to send an article containing a mini ad for his product or service. It came to me under the Times’ aegis. Many of these little ads end with actionable words to click on, such as:
LEARN MORE >
OPEN >
DISCOVER >
GET 60% OFF NOW! >
SUBSCRIBE >
SHOP NOW >
FREE GIFT >
READ MORE >
SIGN UP NOW >
Or you can
simply click on the ad, and you’ll be instantly transported to a humongous
landing page that magically pulls you into an exciting new world that offers
you irresistible sights, sounds, products and/or services.
The 39
Words That Changed My Life
Longtime
readers of this cranky marketing blog know how I launched the iconic newsletter
and archive service in 1984 for direct marketers. WHO’S MAILING WHAT!
was triggered at a New York City copywriter's club luncheon speech by US News and World Report
circulation director Dorothy Kerr. Her exact words:
“If you want to be successful in direct mail, watch your mailbox, see who's mailing what and save those mailings that keep coming in over and over again (which means they are successful and hugely profitable). Then STEAL SMART!”
Over its
20-year lifespan WHO’S MAILNG WHAT! built up an archive (a.k.a. Swipe
File) of 1671 direct mail “Grand Controls,” These were mailed over three or
more (often many more!) consecutive years — an invaluable source of proven successful creative copy and design ideas.
The quintessential discovery: a two-page letter (775 words) that was mailed for 18 consecutive
years and brought in over $2 billion in subscription revenue for the Wall
Street Journal. It was (and still is!) the most successful advertisement in the
history of the world.
(Blog Post) http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2019/01/37-most-successful-advertisement-in.html
Below Is the Start of Your Personal Swipe File
Of Dazzling Follow-ons to Little Clickbait Ads.
(With Thanks to The New York Times for sending me 10 emails in a single afternoon in May with all these nifty mini ads.)
Link to AmEx's Dazzling Follow-on to This Little Clickbait Ad:
Link to Ooni
Pizza Ovens' Dazzling
Link to Leak Dynamics' Dazzling Follow-on to This Little Clickbait Ad:
https://www.americanleakdetection.com/savannah/
Link to
Specialty Metals' Dazzling Follow-on to This Little Clickbait Ad:
Link to
Epson Pigments' Dazzling Follow-on to This Little Clickbait Ad:
https://ecorushink.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxdf5_b6p_wIVXAaICR3JrQB6EAEYASAAEgLMmPD_BwE
Link to
Charleston New Homes' Dazzling Follow-on to This Little Clickbait Ad:
Link to
Quality Health Care's Dazzling Follow-on to This Little Clickbait Ad:
Link to Lemur
Vanilla Products' Dazzling Follow-on to This Little Clickbait Ad:
https://www.knowde.com/stores/lemur-international?utm_source=google&utm_medium=display_cpc&utm_campaign=gdn_store_lemur&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-abx5b2p_wIV1fOzCh3QYQxNEAEYASAAEgKCrPD_BwE
Link to Ultra Fab
& Machine's Dazzling Follow-on to This Little Clickbait Ad:
https://www.ufmachine.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlLW-qrSp_wIV4Q2ICR2DugfXEAEYASAAEgKju_D_BwE
Link to Custom,
Handmade Rugs' Dazzling Follow-on to This Little Clickbait Ad:
https://www.perennialsfabrics.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuqOumb2p_wIVD_KzCh3CkAZnEAEYASAAEgI9V_D_BwE
Link to Saks Fifth Avenue's Dazzling Follow-on to This Little Clickbait Ad:
Takeaways to Consider
•
I confess this little swipe file of follow-ons is a
helluva lot more fun and action-packed than my 14 clunky WHO'S MAILING WHAT! file cabinets stuffed with many hundreds of junk
mail samples.
• This Dazzling Follow-on technique is non-traditional direct marketing. For example...
• In the good ole days (sigh) of direct marketing, the linchpin was direct mail. Direct mail is personal — always, always, containing an attention-grabbing outer envelope (OSE).
• Also always included was a personal letter ("you copy") describing the benefits, benefits, benefits to you of the product or service being offered.
• Plus a brochure or circular ("it" copy all about "it") — the product or service.
• Often a short, pithy little lift note designed to "lift" response. (Example: "Frankly, I'm puzzled..." first used by Paul Michael of Greystone Press).
• Then you invite the customer to have his or her say with an order device using "me" copy. ("Yes, please send me the such-and-such. Enclosed is my check, money order or credit card number, blah, blah, blah.)
• The final element was the BRE — prepaid business reply envelope — that brings the order home.
• All these impedimenta were always written in a folksy, down-to-earth style. “One writer whispering directly into the ear of one reader,” is how copywriter Harry Walsh phrased it.
• Dazzling follow-ons are totally non-personal. They are more like interactive
infomercials or videos.
• The extraordinary advantage of e-commerce v. direct mail is the providing the ease and convenience of consummating the sale right then and there: 1) placing the order, 2) arranging for payment and 3) delivering the order to the vendor by simply clicking SEND.
P.S. I just started receiving emails from a new website built on the "Clickbates and Follow-on's" model.
https://www.interestingfacts.com
###
Word count: 1189
The Hear.com landing page is particularly well-made. They have 5 other articles at the bottom of the lander that are all sales-pieces for the same device, tackling different objections. That's much more attention to detail than most.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the link contains '&utm_source=liveintent' shows that you are being targeted. https://www.liveintent.com/ is buying and reselling that ad-space in real-time when you open the email. The fact that it chose to show hear.com is a pretty good list-selection, no?
(I've been in the 'real-time advertising' space for many years, feel free to ask me anything)
Thank you, thank you Jen Brannstrom…
Delete… for you fascinating comment. Me being targeted? ('&utm_source=liveintent') This is delicious information and brand new stuff to me.
It would be great if you would share your extraordinary know-how with my readers with one or more guest blog posts about ‘real-time’ advertising space… what you do and how you do it?
Do keep in touch.
Thank you again.
dennyhatch@yahoo.com
From the legendary Bob Hacker in Seattle (who gave me the okay to share with you his email:
ReplyDeleteTo:dennyhatch@yahoo.com
Tue, Jun 13 at 11:33 AM
You forgot one of the main reasons they can afford to spam you ten times in an afternoon — the cost per spam is nearly free. If each spam cost $500/M or so like direct mail, there wouldn’t be much spam, assuming performance is measured accurately. Unfortunately, measurement isn’t what it used to be.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
DH reply:
Bob,
Thanks for your input. Yeah, email/Spam is basically free vs. Direct Mail.
One stat I have collected over the years:
"According to a 2008 study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and UC, San Diego, spammers get a response just once for every 12.5 million emails they send — a response rate of 0.000008%. Despite that, though, spammers are still able to turn a profit."
https://www.sitepoint.com/spam-roi-profit-on-1-in-125m-response-rate/