By Alicia Orr Suman
Profile: Harvard Health Publishing
Marketing newsletters by mail requires a solid dose of promotion. But for Harvard Health Publishing, the serious subject matter of its editorial means its sales tactics have to be tempered.
The challenge for Harvard Health Publishing is to sell subscriptions to its five monthly titles in a newsletter market that's full of sometimes outrageous promotional promises: miracle cures, fast money, instant wealth. It's within this environment that the publisher must continually strive to get its sales message across clearly, effectively and with just the right amount of promotional slant.
To accomplish its marketing goals, the nonprofit publisher relies heavily on direct mail to sell subscriptions. Total circulation for the newsletters, including Harvard Men's Health Watch, Harvard Women's Health Watch, Harvard Heart Letter, Harvard Mental Health Letter and its oldest title, Harvard Health Letter, is about 700,000.
Direct Mail Says It Best
Traditional direct mail still is the workhorse for newsletter publishers like Harvard Health Publishing because it gives a publication the space to fully explain its content and mission to potential readers. Most newsletters don't have the name recognition enjoyed by many magazines, which sometimes can use self-mailers and even postcards to sell subscriptions. Explains Ed Coburn, publishing director of Harvard Health Publishing, "Mail is our bread and butter. It's still the case with most consumer newsletters."
Coburn says his long-term goal is to use less direct mail, perhaps supplement it with Web-based marketing. "But for now," he says, "our consumer audience is skewed to older Americans who are slower to adapt to the Web than other market segments."
As for other media, Harvard Health Publishing did some space advertising, but according to Coburn, it hasn't worked that well. Telemarketing is not a part of its media mix either. Coburn explains that in addition to the newsletters' price points being too low in most instances, telemarketing is not an option for another reason.
"One challenge we always have is trying to be competitive in the marketplace, but not doing something that the university is going to be uncomfortable with. And telemarketing, fair or not, to some has an unsavory reputation." He adds, "The Harvard name is on all the products, and we have to protect it."
A Dedicated Agency Gets It Done
To maintain control of its brand and have expert and consistent marketing direction, Harvard has a dedicated marketing agency. Consumer Health Publishing Group (CHPG) is a for-profit company based in Connecticut that works exclusively for Harvard Health Publishing. "They're our marketing agent," explains Coburn. "It's essential to have good marketing to get our products and messages out."
Coburn says that he and the editors at Harvard Health Publishing's newsletters work closely with CHPG on the creation of campaigns. "But when it comes to writing copy and buying lists, we leave the details to them," he says. "They're the direct marketing experts. Our expertise is on the product side--the editorial, the content."
Helen Hoart, president of CHPG, notes, "We work closely with them as a team. We're separate entities but work together on a daily basis."
An Educational Approach to Creative
Take a look at a stack of randomly selected newsletter promotions, and it's easy to see that creative approaches to selling newsletters can be "over the top." Magalog headlines scream for attention; letters make bold claims.
The executives at Harvard Health Publishing know they have to promote benefits in their direct mail copy to sell products. "We [place] the information in a more sales-oriented framework," says Coburn. "But, we still take the information seriously, and so we try to present it in an appealing yet accurate manner."
As an example, he cites a recent direct mail package featuring a prominent headline about why a certain medication can have an effect on an individual's sex life. "It's certainly eye-catching, but it's also educational."
Often, Coburn continues, readers turn to newsletters to get information on health concerns about which they prefer not to talk openly. He adds that while he'd be uncomfortable doing a magalog sensationalizing sexual health issues, it's OK to use those topics in the mailings to tell potential readers what they can gain by reading the newsletters.
Another creative challenge for Harvard Health Publishing is that consumer newsletter publishing tends to be personality-based. Readers may look to a newsletter for the advice of a particular financial advisor or doctor. Says Coburn, "One guru might be behind the publication. We have an entire medical school behind us. It's a good thing for our breadth and quality of information, but it's more limiting in our promotional sphere because we're responsible to the university and the medical-school faculty."
Therefore, says Coburn, Harvard Health Publishing can't make audacious claims. "Our biggest competitive strength is when people see it coming from us, it has the weight of the university behind it."
In determining a creative approach for a package, CHPG's Hoart says there's an ongoing tension between promotion and the serious side of what they do. "We have to promote to sell, but the publications aren't sensationalist. We have to strike the right balance every time."
The solution, she says, is to pull snippets out of an article's content that can entice readers' interests without going overboard. "These are people we're marketing to. We have to sell benefits. We have to reach them emotionally."
The Creative Process
At times, the process of getting a package created and approved can be a battle, admits Hoart. "We sometimes have to fight for what we know will work," she says. "But our goal is to get the right tone and message into every mailing. That's the job of our copywriters. We go over the letter drafts with the newsletters' editors and the doctors. There's a dialogue until we get it right."
Coburn expressed his confidence in the process. "We start with the content and then let the creatives do their jobs. We review it and rein it back in when necessary. We end up with a mailing we're all comfortable with and that works."
To create copy that works on both fronts, CHPG turns to a stable of talented freelancers, among them some direct mail veterans: Barbara Harrison and Ken Scheck. Hoart says, "We look to match the copywriter to the product. Then we give them access to information about the product. Donna and her team take it from there."
Donna DeWitt is CHPG's vice president, circulation marketing. According to DeWitt, "The newsletters cover issues that are of concern to people, so we need to communicate that in the mailings." On the promotional side, she admits that the copy has an element of fear to it. But, she's quick to add, "We have to play off of that very subtly." The company does not claim miracle cures.
To come up with the right message and tone for the copy, individual copywriters talk with the editors to discern the newsletters' unique selling proposition. "Then they'll focus on that, drawing from past issues for inspiration and examples," DeWitt says.
Once a package is written, headlines are chosen and the direct mail design is completed, Coburn and the editors at Harvard Health Publishing review everything. "The editors are very good at recognizing that they still have to sell their product," Hoart says. "We'll make our best case and then work collaboratively with them to make any necessary revisions."
Testing of new creative often is key to getting the OK from the people at Harvard. Hoart says, "We try to use an evidence-based approach. If we can test a package and show it pulled, then we have some leverage to continue with that creative approach."
One example she cites is the use of free happy face stickers in the mailings (see page 40). "These may seem like a silly enticement, but they work. If the folks at Harvard can see that something lifts response X percent, then they'll usually say to us, 'OK, you've made your case.'"
Mailing Lists: Recent Challenges
Finding lists to which to mail the promotion pieces has become more of a challenge in the past year, says Hoart. Not only are hotline names down, she says, it's simply getting harder to find new lists. "We've got our tried-and-true stable [of lists]. And beyond that, brokers are very important to us in bringing new lists and recommending segments to test. They know the lists best."
DeWitt notes another plus to working with good brokers: The broker will know when a list owner makes some enhancements to a file that may make it worth retesting. Similarly, she says, "The broker will know if a list owner has significantly changed its marketing or offer, which could have a positive or negative effect on response to that list."
Among the brokers CHPG works with are Names in the News, Concept One, MKTG Services, ClientLogic and Direct Media.
Online Opportunity
Online marketing is looking more appealing to Harvard Health Publishing. One reason: Direct mail costs have continued to rise. "Postal rates are a killer now," Hoart says. And, she notes that response rates are lower than several years ago.
As a result, Coburn says Harvard seeks to slowly replace some of its direct mail marketing with Web-based marketing and e-mail. "But this will happen over time. It's a market readiness issue for us. Our target group is primarily age 50 and older, so we have to wait for them to be ready."
DeWitt adds that as the aging baby boomers move into its marketplace, the publisher will have more opportunity to use e-mail marketing. Boomers will be more comfortable with the medium than some of the company's current group of older subscribers. As such, Harvard Health Publishing is gearing up for more of an online presence by improving its Web site and testing some online marketing. "The Web is a means of cost effectively distributing information," Coburn says.
While existing customers get full access to all of the newsletter information on the site, non-customers can see a summary and choose to subscribe electronically if they want immediate access to the information. Other Web features include free sample newsletter content that's rotated and the ability to sign up for a free e-mail newsletter.
Harvard Health Publishing uses the free e-mail newsletter as a means of disseminating information and selling products. "E-mail newsletters absolutely are a marketing function," says Coburn. "But we don't expect to ever be overly aggressive in online marketing." The monthly e-mails include summaries of some new articles on the Web, information on new features of the site, and highlights of the special reports with a link to buy.
In deciding what's next for Harvard Health Publishing, Coburn says, "There's no shortage of ideas, no shortage of experts, and no shortage of great content to create great consumer publications like these." The difficult part, he says, "is it's very expensive to promote them."
List prices for most titles are about $32 a year, though introductory offers range from $16 to $24. Explains Coburn, "Where our introductory price is $16 or $18, the economics of getting the word out is the challenge. At the start it can take four to five years to cover expenses. It's difficult for a nonprofit organization to compete on an even playing field with some of the limitations we have."
However, he adds, "We also know that what we're doing is important. This information can help people lead better, healthier lives."
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