I am thinking of starting a newsletter, do anyone have any experience starting up a newsletter? I am hoping to make it a biweekly publication. Content is not the issue, its the clientele (or to be correct, trying to get clients). Any Advce would suffice. Thanks in advance. Fish
I have a small distribution newsletter-200 subscribers-once a month. What you need... 1.Cred- Who are you and why should someone buy your advice. 2.Integrity-the most important quality in any small business person 3.A hook-theres lots of newsletters, what makes you different 4.Mass Appeal-broaden your target market thru simple language 5.Marketing- I wrote a book several years ago and gave people the opportunity to subscribe..... I hope this helps. Kaya
My biggest problem is that I do not have credibility. But I believe whole-heartedly in my "product." The method and analysis are very labor and capital intensive, but the output can be readily used by fiduciaries and investors alike. The "aim" of the product is to outperform indices with minimum amount of risk. My method has successfully been backtested . On average it is expected to outperform the S&P by 250 basis point on a risk-adjusted standard with costs and other nuances factored out. One of my "employee" used to program for a hedge fund, and they use the crude version of our "technology." In sum, they short the respective Indices and use the proceed to replicate a portfolio using this technology. Our problem is that we're academics and have little credential and experience. How do I sidestep this? ---Fish
Risk adjusted standard takes into account risk free security. (ri - rf) as numerator. And denominator can be of variant type: Sharpe, Treynor, W-adjust, Calmor, etc.
Well, as for getting credibility...two thoughts for you.. 1) You can always do the trial route...I've trialed dozens of services over the last 3 or 4 years and those with merit I either used for some period of time then as a paying customer or at least passed on the recommendation to others who could use them. 2) Approach someone else with credibility...i.e. maybe some of the brokers or chat room mods that advertise on ET, (Risk Less, or BrandonF) or some of the bigger guns in the business, a Vic Niederhoffer or Larry Pesvanto (Just throwing out names that are in my head tonight, but there are hundreds of guys with name recognition and client bases already) or even MarketSurfer from the ET board here who has some credibility among this population, etc and seek either an endorsement, or a reciprocal referral type deal. dunno if there's any merit, just some food for thought
Your offering sounds interesting.... ...but totally different from what I do! I write for punters saving for their retirement, not traders. In fact I discourage people from trading heavily, even though I do it all day. But it is my "full time job...." Tuscian is quite right when he suggested what marketers call the "try me". Giving away your product, free of charge, for a couple of weeks is probably necessary, and at the very least will bring you some referrals. As for your credibility...your academic back ground may be sufficient. The best mechanical systems are usually designed by folks with advanced degrees in physics, mathematics, engineering, drama (just kidding)... Best of Luck--Kaya
This isn't especially related to newsletters but.... I once joined a stock picking service's free one week trial. I figured I'd track their results and see if I could glean any insights from their picks. I got the first night's picks and looked at the charts. I couldn't see how they expected to make money on ANY of the picks they'd offered, but figured the least I could do was track their efforts and see if anything came of it. The first full day of the trial began on September 11, 2001 and lasted for 7 days....
Trade your system first, preferably with cash. Be ready to provide actual results to prospective clients, a brokerage statement, not a "Metastock" style backtest result printout. Do not rely on backtest performance only, especially if you use "optimization". Basically "put your own money where your mouth is", you may decide to increase your subscriber rates or abandon the project. Good Luck