Slanting Your Ezine for Success? (Re: Steve MacLellan's Experience)

Hi all,

I read the thread responding to Kevin's problem with great interest and I thought the comments on e-zines were very informative.

I'm in the process of launching a copywriting business (and e-zine) and will be pursuing it seriously. The main thrust of my e-zine will be providing the how-to's of better business (marketing communications) writing. But like Steve MacLellan, am I providiing info they don't really care for? I already know my particular target market doesn't have time (or the expertise) to do their own writing.

So how does a copywriter slant their own e-zine? I'm about to launch my very first e-zine and I intended to fill it with a lot of how-to's on the subject of better business communication (copywriting). Basically, I'd slant everything I know for my particular target market and fill my e-zine with it. If nothing else, it proves I know what I'm talking about.

I know my target market doesn't have the time to write their own stuff and my contacts at the corporations (marketing managers) have a lot more to do than write their own promotional pieces. A freelancer with my skills will be a tremendous help to them.

But is giving them the nitty-gritty details of how to write copy the best way to fill my e-zine? Or is that the wrong approach? Do even they care???? (Probably not. They just want their marketing problems solved and who cares about HOW to write copy?)

For example, Dan Kennedy doesn't bill himself as a copywriter, though that's essentially what he is. He's a marketing consultant and shows his clients how to solve XYZ Marketing Problem for a price. His No BS newsletter doesn't tell people how to write copy per se (though he has a copywriting course derived from his seminar on copywriting).

The same applies to Marcia Yudkin. She's not a "copywriter." She's a "marketing consultant." (Though we know that they overlap so much that the lines blur considerably.)

If you have an e-zine, how have you tackled this problem? What has been your most successful approach to marketing yourself with an e-zine? What has been most helpful to your readers and in turn helped you get more subscribers?

Thanks for the input!