An E-Newsletter that gets an “A” in Advertising

In the flurry of press over digital magazines, sometimes e-newsletters are overlooked as a viable tool for content distribution, and even as a revenue generator. Not so for those at the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr). They have not only produce a digital newsletter, they also monetized it in several smart, strategic ways.

Most notably, IUCr supports their advertisers by making it easy for niche industry readers to connect with the relevant advertisers within the newsletter. In the left side of the toolbar they’ve added an Ad Index icon. With a click, readers are presented with an overlay of advertiser information. They a list of advertisers (all hotlinked to their advertisement) as well as a thumbnail of the ad. To make things even easier, the ad index is also a form which lets readers handpick which advertisers they’d like to hear more about. The target audience for the newsletter is already interested in products for this industry: the ad index makes it that much easier to allow for immediate reader response. It’s a commodity worth monetizing with your advertisers.

Of course, IUCr doesn’t stop there. They are also using three key sponsorship areas: the loader, the left of cover position, and the toolbar. In this instance, each sponsorship spot is used by the same advertiser. They animated the left of cover position to attract attention as the reader is first presented with the newsletter.

Deeper in the issue, on page 12, is an ad sporting the Ad-Gen. This animated form grabs readers’ eyes and gives them the option to immediately respond to the ad and ask for more information.

Each option used by the IUCr connects readers to advertisers to capture highly targeted, exceedingly valuable leads. As such, each option can be a source of revenue for the business.