How To Get Free Broadcast Advertising

The specific strategy we highlight in this article is applicable to other forms of advertising, but it was first developed and used in the radio & television industries, so we have written it with a slant in that direction.

If you are looking to do some broadcast advertising then you will find this article very useful, especially if you are of limited means with regard to advertising dollars. This technique is still a viable and effective one, so I hope you will keep an open mind.

Where applicable, we explain how it's possible to tie this into an online advertising system as well.

Let's get started, shall we?

It's an accepted reality in business that one of your largest expenses is going to be for advertising.

Advertising is a must. No business will grow without advertising. Advertising is the "life-blood" of any profitable business. And regardless of what methods, techniques, or strategies you use or where, when, and how you advertise, it's going to cost you something in one form or another (cash, time, energy, etc).

All successful businesses are primarily built upon a solid foundation of good advertising. The largest and most successful companies in the world have advertising budgets that number in the millions of dollars annually.

Now you may not be able to match their advertising efforts, at least not in the beginning while working from your garage, kitchen table, or basement, but there are ways you can get similar results without spending astronomical amounts of money on advertising. This technique is called "P.I" Advertising.

"P.I." means “per inquiry”, and even though this kind of advertising is mostly associated with the broadcasting industry (radio and television), it can be adapted to almost any advertising medium. Just use your imagination and be creative and you might be surprised at what you can do with this strategy.

What makes the “P.I.” strategy so attractive is that you only pay for the responses you get from your advertising message. It's very popular (somewhat akin to bartering) and is used by many more advertisers than what most people realize.

The advantage of “P.I.” Advertising for the marketer is (as stated above) you only pay for the results the advertising produces.

The advantage of “P.I.” Advertising for the provider, in this kind of advertising arrangement, is that they are able to fill unused or lower value advertising slots with cash-generating ads, creating a greater opportunity for them to see profits they would not have previously expected.

To benefit from this "free" advertising (it's not really free because you will be paying the provider a commission, but you won't have to take money out of your pocket to do it, as your clients will have already paid you before you pay the provider), start by creating a file (or by getting a loose-leaf notebook and about 100 sheets of filler paper, if you don't have a computer) and make a list of advertising providers.

1. For internet advertising providers just do a Google search for solo, classified, or emailing marketing services.

• After compiling your list, just email the providers with your proposal and see who is willing to work with you on your terms. It may be difficult to find some that will do this because of the popularity on online marketing, but if you find some new providers looking to grow their online presence, you might get a few that are interested.

2. For broadcast advertising providers visit your public library and start poring through the:

• Broadcast Yearbook on radio stations in the U.S. (this publication actually ceased publishing in print in July 2010, but the information is in digital format, generally for free, available online. CLICK HERE to get access to the last published issue of the yearbook. You will also find a great deal of information there that can help you with this step.

• Standard Rate and Data Services Directory. This publication can be accessed online (www.srds.com) but it is very expensive. Retailing for just under $900 for a one-year subscription to each database and each category is it's own database (radio being one database, television being another database, newspaper another, etc.), so the cost adds up very quickly.

Both these resources will provide you with just about all the information you could ever need to know about licensed broadcasting stations.

After you gain access to either of these publications, start with the state or states where you want to advertise first. It makes the most sense to begin in your own state and then work outward to surrounding states.

You wouldn't try to sell suntan lotion in Minnesota in December or winter Parkas in Florida in July, would you? Ok. Then, you will want to use some good, old-fashioned common sense here when planning out your marketing strategy. Think: “Who are the people most likely to be interested in my offer?”, and “Where will I find the largest numbers of these people?”.*

*Regarding online concentrations, just search “forums + your niche (like, “health”, or “gardening”, or whatever)”

NOTE: If you are marketing a “How to make money online” or “work from home” report, for example, you will probably want to target those states (or better yet cities) reporting the highest unemployment rates first before branching out to other areas.

Once you've got your target area(s) selected, go through the radio listings for the cities and towns in that area, and update your file or jot down in your notebook the names of general managers, the station call letters, telephone numbers and addresses.

Initially, you should only list one radio or television station or newspaper per city. There isn't really a limit to the internet component, whatever you are comfortable with is what you should do.

Pick out the stations where the people most interested in your product would most likely be listening. This can be determined by the programming description contained within the data column about the station in the Broadcasting Yearbook or the SRDS Directory.

On the first contact, you should treat it as a way of introducing yourself, and inquire if they would consider a “P.I.” Advertising campaign. Tell the station manager that you have a product you feel will sell very well in their market, briefly describe the product, and explain that you would like to test it before going ahead with a paid advertising program.

Quickly highlight product benefits and price point. Then tell them that during this test, you propose to allow the service provider a 50/50 split with you on each response their station generates for your product.

Let them know that you will handle all aspects of the deal for them: from writing the commercials and/or ads, to all accounting and bookkeeping, to fulfilment of all orders, to settling any refunds or complaints. Basically, all they will have to do is schedule your commercials and/or ads to broadcast and give them their "best shot."

If you've contacted them by phone, and they have agreed to look over your “P.I.” material, tell them “thank you” and promise to get a complete "package" to them immediately. Then follow thru with your promise.

Include a short cover letter, placed on top of your complete “P.I.” Advertising Package, and get it to them without delay.

As responses come into the station or website, they count them and forward them on to you for fulfilment. You make out a check for payment to them, fill & deliver the orders and everybody's happy.

As explained in the previous section, where applicable, we describe how it's possible to tie this into an online advertising system as well.

Continuing...

Contacting your perspective providers by phone is certainly the quickest, least expensive, and most efficient method of inquiring as to whether those stations are willing to consider your “P.I.” proposal.

Upon your initial phone contact, naturally, you will, unfortunately, experience a few “No”s. If you should happen to get turned down, and they are not interested in undertaking any “P.I.” Advertising, simply thank them, make a notation in your file or notebook by their name, and go to the next call.

In some cases, circumstances may turn out to be less expensive to make this initial contact by letter or postcard.

If you determine that writing is your best form of contact, simply address your postcard or letter to the listed contact person. Always be straightforward and positive in tone. Ensure everything you present is complete.

Present all the details in a logical fashion on one page, perfectly typed on your letterhead paper, and mailed in a typed-address envelope. (Ink-stamped letterheads/addresses just won't work, they are rarely even read).

Ideally, include a self-addressed/stamped postcard with spaces for positive or negative check marks for responding to your questions: “Will you” or “Won't you” look over my material and consider a mutually profitable "Per Inquiry" advertising campaign to broadcast on your station?

After they look over your materials (if you have done a good job presenting your proposal) and given serious consideration for your “P.I.” program, you most likely will reach some kind of agreement. Now, you have your foot in the door.

Once you have a verbal commitment from your contact at the radio station, move quickly to get your cover letter and package off to them by First Class mail, maybe even Special Delivery if you can afford it.

Don't allow time for that interest in your program to be lost or even to cool down. Have everything put together and ready to mail just as soon as you have a positive response. You should be organizing your advertising package at the same time you organize your "radio station notebook".

The “P.I.” Advertising Package

Start with a follow-up letter, written to fit most, if not all, standard situations. Have 250 copies printed. Next, you'll want to put together at least two thirty-second commercials and two sixty-second commercials. You should write these up, and have 250 copies of these printed and organized as a part of your “P.I.” Advertising Package.

Then you should have some sort of advertising contract written up, detailing everything about your program, outlining how everything is to be handled and by whom.

• How and when payment to the radio station is to be made.

• Plus any special paragraphs relative to refunds, complaints, and liabilities.

All this can be very quickly written up. Have, a minimum of 250 copies of carbonless, multi-part, snap-out business forms printed and organized as a part of your “P.I.” Advertising Package.

And finally, include a self-addressed/stamped postcard the radio or television station can use to let you know that they are going to use your “P.I.” Advertising program. This postcard should also have them list:

• when they will start running your commercials on the air

• how often your commercials will run

• and during which time periods

Again, you simply type out these “reply postcards” with the wording and in the format you want to use. Have copies printed for these mailings and organized as the last part of your “P.I.” Advertising Package.

After you have all that done, you're ready to send out your advertising packages. All you'll have to do when you get a positive commitment is fill in the business salutation and sign it. If you discussed any different arrangements or a specific matter with your initial contact, you will want to type a different letter incorporating those specific comments or answers to the points discussed. This personal touch won't take long, and could pay huge dividends!

Now, really, the hard part is done.

Okay, Let's wrap this discussion up by doing a little review.

The first step is to do some planning and make some decisions. You have already developed a product (a physical product, book, service, training program, something you will sell).

You have an idea of who and where to find your customers.

Now, you can do some initial research by scanning through the SRDS or Broadcasting Yearbook to begin compiling a 'contact information list' of possible markets to target and the broadcasters that service those markets.

After you compile your list you will make contact with those stations by phone or mail. If turned down, simply say thanks, and go to the next station on the list. For any of those who respond positively and want to know more about your proposal, you immediately deliver a “P.I.” Advertising Package to them via the fastest method possible. Don't let that interest wane.

Your “P.I.” Advertising Package should contain the following:

1. Cover letter
2. Sample brochure, product literature
3. Thirty-second and sixty-second commercials
4. “P.I.” Advertising Contract
5. Self-addressed stamped postcard for station acknowledgement and acceptance of your program.

As we all know, everything about business changes from day to day (conditions change, people get busy, and other things come up). Having both an acknowledgement postcard and a contract reinforces your position in case there is a change in the environment between you and the station.

Consider this, the station manager may have signed a “P.I.” advertising contract with you agreeing to start your advertising on the 1^st of March. But suppose the contract was actually signed on the 1^st of January, yet when March 1^st rolls around, they may have forgotten, been replaced, or even decided against running your ad.

Having multiple pieces of paper seemingly "covering all the details" can be very reassuring and impressive to many broadcast station managers. Giving them confidence that you are serious and that they will benefit by doing business with your company.

Try not to be too impatient to get started with your own “P.I.” Advertising campaign. Don't let your excitement get the better of your judgment, radio and television station people are just as professional and dedicated as anyone else in business, so be sure that you have developed a product or service that lends itself well to selling via a broadcaster's inquiry system.

Remember that anything can be sold, and even sold easily and by any method, you decide upon, provided it is presented in the right way.

For example: "Hello folks! Who wants to buy a mailing list for 10 cents per thousand names?" couldn't even get on the air. However, what if you had the addresses of, let's say, the top 100 movie stars, and you put together an idea that would enable people to write to these movie stars directly, you might have a winner, and might end up selling a lot of mailing lists of those movie stars.

Another point to consider is that you have a great deal riding on the quality of the content of your commercial (what benefits you offer to the listener, and the ease with which they may enjoy those benefits, etc.), so it's in your best interest to ensure that your commercials are nothing less than top notch.

Let's say, you have a new book on how to find jobs during a time when there are very few jobs available. Your market (the people you will want to talk to) are the people who are desperately searching for employment.

You must speak to them in words that not only grab their interest but also cause them to feel that you're offering them something that will solve their problem. It's the product and in the writing of the advertising message about that product that will bring in those sales responses.

If you put your sales package together properly, radio and television station managers will be sold on your idea and will be willing to work with you. Providing a reasonable number of responses come in with your first offer, you just might set yourself up for an entire series of successes.

Success has a "ripple effect," that you can build on with each new project, but only if you take action and move on that first one.

As always,

To your success!

Next time we start a new 3-part discussion series on “How To Get Free Publicity With Press Releases”

Please leave a comment below to let us know how we’re doing.

Feel free to leave any suggestions for future posts or content. Or ask any questions regarding anything you don’t understand or need help with, I would be happy to help in any way I can.

I hope you find this information helpful. Thank you for reading.

P.S. A Business doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or time-consuming. We can show you a better way. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

How To Get Free Publicity With Press Releases

It doesn't matter what kind of business you are operating, you should want, even strive for, as much publicity for your business, your products or services, as possible.

It is "free advertising" after all, isn't it? And as we have said repeatedly, advertising is essential to the success and growth of your business.

In the simplest of terms, product publicity is the most basic kind of low/no cost advertising that seems to almost always bring orders into your business.

Probably not since the advent of the printing press itself has there been a better, more effective form of generating publicity than through the use of what's known as the press or news release. The release is most usually a single page story or article about your business, your product/service, or an event related to your business that will soon happen or has just recently occurred. These publicity announcements are generally blasted out to all of the various media outlets: local newspapers, radio and TV, and trade publications.

You should have a well thought out publicity strategy, just as you should plan out any marketing campaign you implement in your business. Pre-planning these publicity efforts will assure maximum results.

The most difficult aspect of this strategy is getting the people to whom you've sent these publicity announcements, to publish or broadcast them. Which leads us right back to the issue of what's the best or "right way " of writing them and submitting them.

The absolute surest way to approach this is to send a short cover letter addressed to the person you want your material to be considered by. This usually means that you send your article to one of the following:

• the city editor of the newspapers
• the news directors of the radio and TV station
• the managing editors of the various trade publications

The most critical thing here is that you make contact with the person who has the authority to make the final decision on what is published or broadcast. Make sure you structure the article so that person's use of your material will ultimately make them out to look like the "hero" to their readers, viewers, or listeners, describing how you're a long-time advertiser, subscriber, or listener will do you no good whatsoever.

It's also important to remember to avoid sending your material to the advertising, circulation, or business managers. They rarely, if ever, have the authority to sign-off on publishing your story.

The Note

Start with your cover letter. This cover letter should be in the form of a short note.

From a local office supply store, you will want to get about a hundred or so sheets of good bond paper - 8½” X 11”, preferably in a pastel colour such as blue or ivory. Either have them cut the paper into quarters (if they can) or do it yourself so that you have a grand total of 400 sheets of this notepaper.

Stay away from those pre-printed "From the desk of..." note sheets at first, they are too elaborate to use as a cold introduction. Wait until the people you're contacting get to know you and have used your material, then you might go to these semi-formal note sheets.

This note sheet should start with the date across the top. Then skip down a couple of rows and very quickly and succinctly let the recipient of the note know that the attached material is something new and should be of real interest to their readers, viewers or listeners.

Below is an example of a note that you might send out to the editors and news directors of the media in your area (this note should be typed and double-spaced):

"Here's something brand new and truly helpful, for a change, to anyone trying to cope with the soaring costs of living while engaged in trying to build an extra income business of their own. This should be of interest and great value to your readers. Please look it over and if you have any questions, or if you want more info, give me a call at (XXX) XXX-XXXX..."

Then skip down about another three or four spaces and type:

• your name
• your business name
• your address

Then sign your name above where it's typed, and staple this note in the upper right-hand corner of your news release.

Okay, now you've finished putting together your cover letter, and you know who to send it to. It's time to change our focus to the Press Release itself. It should go without saying that it must be neatly typed, but for the sake of clarity I've gone ahead and stated the obvious.

The page format should look like this:

• One inch margin from the top and bottom of the paper
• One and a half inch margin on both the left and right sides of the paper

The text should be as follows: From the left hand margin on the top line, typed in all capital letters and underlined: “PRESS RELEASE:”, then immediately following the colon, but not in all capital letters, type in the date (always set the date forward by at least one day after the day you intend to mail the release).

On the right-hand side of the page also on the top line, and in all capital letters and underlined, type the words, “FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:” Immediately below that, but not in all capital letters, type your name - your address - and your phone number.

Skip a couple of rows down from the top line and type a story headline centred between the margins. Skip down the page another couple of rows and from the left-hand margin, type the words, “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:” in all capital letters.

After that, it's the news or publicity story itself.

It really doesn't matter whether you write the headline to fit the story or the story to fit the headline, either way, you should think of it as the same as writing a space ad or a sales letter. You attract attention and interest with the headline and fill in the details using the story.

Here's an example of some headlines we have used on publicity blurbs for promoting our products:

THE FREEDOM LIFESTYLE

FREE REPORT: “SIMPLE AFFILIATE MARKETING”

You should use this opportunity to continue to sell and engage the editor. Their readers are always looking to them for better ways to make life easier, and these editors are specifically interested in what our promise involves. They will want their readers to "think confidently" of the information they provide to them so they will read deeply into the story to find out who, what, where, when, and how.

The person you send your press or publicity release too, must quickly see and understand how your product or service will benefit their readers (making the editor a hero to their readers in the process) and the editor must absolutely be assured your product will do what you promise in your headline.

Your headline and the story you present to the editor is what you will use to accomplish this. This point is so critical that it bears repeating, the headline and story must be written in such a way as to impress the editors on the benefits your product or service delivers to their readers, and unless it specifically does this, they will not use it.

Don't beat around the bush or try to be coy or slick in your writing. Always come right to the point and sell the benefits of your product, whether that means that your product is lower in price or more convenient to use or whatever it may be. Describe in what way your product or service is useful to these people in general.

You will also want to include a complimentary sample of your product or an opportunity for the editors to sample your services.

If you have been following along with this discussion the advantages and concepts here should be clear by now, however, there is more yet to come, so let's get right into it.

The people you are engaged in these business discussions with are not in the least bit interested in you or your credentials. Don't forget, the editors looking at your information are fully aware of it's intent - Free Advertising! If you've sold them on the benefits of your business to deliver value to their readers, and they want more details, they will call you.

That's why you list your telephone number and address and that's why you need to focus on the benefits your business can offer.

Editors are very busy people. They just don't have the time, nor the interest in reading about your trials and tribulations or your plans for the future. They're only looking for "a heads up" alert, notifying them to something new and of possible real interest to their readers.

Sell the editor first. Convince them that you've built the better mousetrap. Show them that your product or service (aka - your business) fills a need and will be of interest to a large segment of their readers, viewers, or listeners.

Be sure that you always follow-up with a short thank you note to an editor that uses your publicity release.

If your first publicity effort is unsuccessful, then try reviewing your materials; maybe you can write it from a different perspective. You should also make sure you're sending it to the proper person – and then try again!

Never, and I mean never, send a publicity release to an editor and then call or write demanding to know why they didn't use it, didn't use it as you wrote it, or only gave you a quick mention. Do this only once, and that particular media will "file 22" (trashcan) any further material received from you, unopened! This is very unprofessional and will get you and your business blacklisted in a hurry.

As we stated earlier, these people are very busy, with hundreds of publicity releases passing across their desks every day and they only have so much time to read & consider them and only so much space to publish them, therefore your material has to immediately jump out at them and in some significant way, fit with the information the editors want to pass along to their readers, viewers or listeners.

Irrespective of your business or product/service, you have to write your press release from a perspective or about a feature that makes it beneficial or of interest to the readers, viewer or listeners of the media you are wanting to run your press release. Without this special ingredient, you've lost the war before you've even fought your first battle!

And as with many things in business (as-well-as marketing) timing of your press release can mean everything. Associating your press release with current events in the news, i.e. A story on job layoffs and increased unemployment carried in the newspapers, on TV and radio, would prompt us to get a publicity release out to all the media outlets around on the help and opportunity offered by “SIMPLE AFFILIATE MARKETING”!

Another example might be that there's a flood of chain letters and pyramid schemes spreading through the community, which the media picks up on it and attempts to warn the people to beware! If you had a product to answer this issue, you could get a publicity release out, explaining the availability of your product that deals with this problem on chain letters and pyramid schemes within 3 to 5 days – perhaps a report that explains everything from “A to Z - who're the winners and who're the real losers”.

There's yet another kind of timing you must also keep in mind...and that's 'Publication deadlines'. For best results, it has always been our experience to try to time it so your materials reach the editor in time for the Sunday paper. This seems to work better because that's when the papers have their greatest circulation and the most space is available.

It is also best because it's when people have the most time to read the paper, so there is a greater possibility of more people seeing your release.

If you would like your article to appear in the Sunday paper, you'll generally have to get your release in at least nine days prior to the date of publication, but it's a good idea to call and ask about the deadline date, just to be sure. This will allow you to plan so you can react quickly to any developing opportunities you see arising. Responding faster than anybody else can, gives you a definite advantage over your competitors

IN SUMMARY:

Choose the media most likely to carry your press release. Select those that carry similar write-ups on a regular basis.

Always use a cover letter of some kind. It pays to call ahead to find out the name of the person you should be sending your press release to and the publishing deadline dates.

Use the proper press release form, complete with a headline that will interest the person deciding whether or not to use your item.

Be sure your press release is letter-perfect - no typo's or misspelled words - and don't photo-copy - always have each letter or press release individually typed or printed.

When your item is used, send a thank you note or call the editor on the phone and thank them for using your press release.

Never, and I mean never, call or write an editor demanding to know why they didn't use your press release, why they had it rewritten or cut it short - just try, and try again!

It should be obvious to you by now at just how effective this strategy can be and it's not really all that complicated to implement within any business model.

Next time we start a new 2-part discussion series titled “Classified & Display Advertising, What You Should Know.”, you won't want to miss.

Please leave a comment below to let us know how we’re doing.

Feel free to leave any suggestions for future posts or content. Or ask any questions regarding anything you don’t understand or need help with, I would be happy to help in any way I can.

I hope you find this information helpful. Thank you for reading.

P.S. A Business doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or time-consuming. We can show you a better way. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Classified & Display Advertising, What You Should Know.

Advertising isn't all that difficult to do. You should write or prepare an advertisement/classified ad to sell your product or generate interest so people ask you to send them more information, usually in exchange for their contact information. Most people make the mistake of either sending their content to be published in the wrong place or not properly developing their ability to write effective ad copy.

Here are some pointers to follow:

Pricing:

• Anything selling for $5 or less, you can advertise using a small display or classified ad. If you are marketing something selling for more than $5, it will require a more significant size of advertising real estate. The bottom line is that using a small classified ad for bigger ticket items simply doesn't give you enough space to adequately explain to the prospect everything they need to know to entice them to order.

• The "Two-Step" method of advertising can be far more effective in such situations. Have the prospect send you $2 or 4 first-class postage stamps and a self-addressed envelope for more information. When they respond, you send them a brochure, flyer, order form with a cover letter so they can place an order for the real product.

• For online prospects, you can have them submit their name and email address in exchange for a free product that is related to or “leads into” the real product (a FREE REPORT, EBOOK, or CHECKLIST, etc). This will allow you to market to these prospects over and over again. Which could lead to even greater profits because you can offer other products/services to them later regardless if they bought your first offer or not?

Writing Effective Copy:

• Now that we've set our pricing guidelines, let's discuss writing the ad copy. It may seem a bit over-simplified but in my opinion, the best way to learn how to write effective advertising copy is to read the ads other people have written. Focus both on what you read that is working and what isn't working, that way you can possibly avoid making some mistakes while developing your advertising copywriting skills.

• You don't want to copy other advertisers messages word-for-word, instead, use them as a guide or template to write your own ads. Before you know it, once you get some experience, you'll be writing effective ad copy just like the pros.

Advertising in the Right Publication:

• Even though you might think this is only common sense, there are still people who will often overlook this factor when choosing where to advertise.

• The factor most people look at first is cost, They will look for the lowest price for the amount of circulation their ad could receive. Unfortunately, this turns out to be a major mistake because, for example, if you are advertising baby clothes in a men's magazine, regardless of the cost, your ad is probably not going to generate any interest or, more importantly, any sales.

• You need to pre-qualify any publication(s) you wish to advertise in before you make your decision on where to spend your advertising dollars. Even though it's generally a good idea to look for good deals that make it easy on your bank balance, you will just be throwing your money away if you don't pre-qualify the publication(s) you consider.

• A great way of pre-qualifying a publication is to send for a sample copy. Most publishers will gladly send them to you free of charge for the asking.

• Study the publication(s) to see what kind of products/services other people are advertising and how they are advertising them. Particularly, you will want to pay attention to their ad copy, headline, graphics (if any), format/structure, slant, etc.

• Contact some of the people who sell items similar to your own and offer to network with them. You might be surprised at just how much free publicity you can get simply from the corresponding, calling, and networking with others.

• Once you have decided on a publication you want to advertise in, give it a try and run your ad(s) for 3 months. If your response rate is low (only a few orders) or non-existent, try another publication. There are literally millions of them out there and eventually, you will hit upon the right target market that will be interested in what you have to sell.

• Don't Stop With One Publication. The more eyes you can put on your ads, the greater your chances of making a sale. Just because you locate the target market of people who are interested in purchasing your product in one publication, that is certainly no reason you shouldn't advertise in other publications. In fact, you would be remiss if you don't, and besides your ad will most likely become stale by being limited to a single reader base. If the same people continue to see your ad every month they will probably grow tired of looking at it. Chances are if they wanted the product they would have ordered it by now anyway, so don't tire them out! Make sure you alternate different size ads and get rid of ones that don't work well.

• Let your ad(s) run for as long as they continue to bring in orders for you, while advertising in 5, 10, 20 or 50 other publications at the same time, to also generate a steady stream of orders and to reach more people.

Display and classified advertising can open up an entirely new source of prospects and customers to a business if done properly. In the first part of this article, we discussed a few of the important aspects of this method of advertising.

In this part, we will complete our exploration of this method by discussing a couple more critical elements to consider before implementing this into your business, so here we go.

Key Your Ads:

• The biggest mistake many beginners make when starting out in the mail-order business is that they fail to key their ads so they know what publication people saw their ads in. They just don't understand the importance of it and/or they just don't want to take the time to learn and incorporate this element into their advertising methodology.

• The term “Keying your ads” just means tracking your sales by linking them to specific ads based on the insertion of a code of some sort in your address so that when people write and order something from you, you immediately will know where they saw your ad.

• Online advertising is much simpler, the tracking can be accomplished easily by inserting a small bit of unique programming code (conveniently called a “tracking code” or “tracking pixel”) into the digital ads that will automatically tell you which ad the sale or opt-in came from.

• You should keep a record of every name and address of every publisher you send an advertisement too. Also record the date you sent the ad and the date you received a checking copy, proving that your ad appeared. Lastly, and probably most important, record the "code" you used so you can immediately identify where it came from.

• Here is an easy way to do this for your mail order sales: If your address is "123 Anytown St," it could become "123 Anytown St, Suite A" for one publication and "Suite B" for another. The postman will still deliver your mail to "123 Anytown St." Of course, if you live in an apartment complex and there are apartment numbers you could turn "111 Johnson Apt A" into "111 Johnson, Apt A-1" for one publication and "Apt A-2" for another. Post office box addresses are also simple. Turn "PO Box 585" into "PO Box 585, Dept A-1" for one publication and "Dept A-2" for another.

• Another method of “keying” is to change the name on the ad. You might see the name "Harry's Hunting Guide" instead of Harry Johnson. Harry might also use "Harry of the Great Outdoors" or even "Harry's Field Guide to Big Game" on his ads relating to these products. You can see the endless possibilities, so just use your own imagination and soon, keying your ads will be a normal part of your business.

• At the same time be sure to keep track (on your Record Sheet or computer spreadsheet) of how many responses you receive from each publication. After 3 months, look over your Record/Spread Sheet and get rid of the publications that didn't do well.

• You'll go broke if you spend $10 per month advertising a 2-inch ad if you only receive $1 back in orders. After a while, you'll be able to see where it pays you to advertise your particular product and then you can test some larger ads in those publications. Continue using this method and you'll always get orders in your mailbox/inbox. It's a win-win situation for everybody!

Tabloids -vs- Adsheets:

• One question concerning advertising that many people ask has to do with whether it's better to advertise in tabloids or adsheets. Both Tabloids and AdSheets are fantastic advertising vehicles. Sometimes people feel a small 1" camera-ready ad gets lost in a tabloid filled with 100's of them. This may be true in some circumstances and not true in others.

• Do you look at 1" ads in tabloids? Of course, you do. You scan the pages and your vision is always directed to one or two on the page that might catch your eye. Ask yourself "why" they caught your eye. Was it because the ad was placed in a specific area on the page? Was it because of the headline or the word "free"?

• Sometimes classified ads work well in Tabloids and AdSheets and sometimes they don't, just look in the back of the Globe or Enquirer. They have page after page of classified ads, don't they? If nobody were reading those ads and responding to them, the advertisers wouldn't keep submitting ads to the Globe or Enquirer. So evidently, people ARE still reading and responding to classified ads - even if there are 100's of them. Test it for yourself to see and do what works the best for you.

Keep in mind that many people will try to sell you information on “What's the best day to mail?” and “When is the best time of the year to advertise?”. These people think they have it all down to a science and they will work hard to convince you of the righteousness of their methods.

However, Don't be fooled, there are NO set rules that can be employed by everyone. That's because there are a number of ways to approach the marketing of various products. If you sell travel services and read a report that told you not to advertise during the summer months, you'd go broke. The summer is the travel industry's biggest money-making season!

Don't get hung up on claims made by people who sell themselves as being expert researchers. There is no better way to determine what is best for your business than for you to try it for yourself and see what works. You are the person in control of your business and you have to be the one where the buck stops. Take advantage of your authority and consider every angle you can think of until you determine what's best for your company's product and/or service.

Well, that pretty much wraps-up our discussion on Display & Classified Advertising. We hope you take-away some value from it.

Please leave a comment below to let us know how we’re doing.

Feel free to leave any suggestions for future posts or content. Or ask any questions regarding anything you don’t understand or need help with, I would be happy to help in any way I can.

I hope you find this information helpful. Thank you for reading.

P.S. A Business doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or time-consuming. We can show you a better way. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

5 hacks to Grow Your Facebook Page Fans

Building Facebook fans and ‘Likes’ can be quite a challenge. Yet these fans are the core of your Facebook Page being successful. Let’s take a look at 5 hacks to grow your Facebook Page Fans.

Hack #1 Facebook Fan Page Fridays

On Facebook, there are some Pages that host what's called Fan Page Friday events. If you are participating in one of these events, you will be encouraged to visit the page on a specific date to introduce your business to everyone else that’s participating in the event and then you tag their page in the post. The idea here is that you will work through all the comments and ‘Like’ each of the participating pages who will in turn ‘Like’ your page. A word of to the wise, only participates in local events, because if you acquire tons of international fans, it could actually lower your EdgeRank score. Additionally, if others hide your news feed posts because they only wanted the ‘Like’ from you and aren’t interested in your business, this could hurt you. 

Hack #2 Use Signage

In the real world, when customers visit your brick and mortar business, you can create in-store signage for customer benefits, in the virtual world you can create signage that allows customers to ‘Like” your page using a text message. Your signage would look something like this. “Text Like" (insert Facebook Page name) "to 34587" (insert your text number). Make sure you test this on your cell phone first before you commit your budget to this. You can also develop signage that includes your social media icons.

Hack #3 Take Full Advantage of Public Events

Often overlooked, yet powerful tools that can be a great way to "spread the word". If you attend network meetings this is a great time to encourage members to ‘Like’ your Facebook Page and become fans. If you are doing public speaking be sure you include your Facebook Page URL in the slideshow, as it makes it easy for people to connect. 

Hack #4 Utilize Social Media

The use of multiple social media channels like LinkedIn, Google+ or Twitter is a great way to encourage people to visit your Facebook page. These channels are free marketing tools that you should be taking advantage of. In addition to direct posts, make sure that you occasionally cross post from one to the other. Twitter recently expanded its character limit so make full use of it. 

Hack #5 Encourage Check-Ins on Your Facebook Page

For anyone with a brick and mortar business, you should enable check-ins on your Facebook page, and then remind customers to check in when they are on your premises. You can even include an incentive like offering a discount. 

These 5 hacks work great to grow your Facebook Page fans.

To Your Success,

Christopher Gibson

P.S. I hope you find this information helpful. Thank you for reading. A Business doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or time-consuming. We can show you a better way. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

"Info-Loading" Will It Increase Your Ad's Pulling Power?

Info-Loading is a technique defined by over-populating an advertisement with information about the product or service. The thought is that if you give the customer more information than they could ever possibly need to know about the product/service, then they will feel confident enough about you and your offer to buy.

Additionally, any customers who actually take the time and make the effort to read through the material all the way to the end, are probably the ones who are interested enough to buy what you are offering.

The verdict is, it works!

There are many differing opinions on how to write a successful direct-response ad, letter or brochure. From all the varying camps, some say you need to be subtle, some say to be harsh, while others argue you should be round-about, and yet another camp says to be direct.

But out of all these schools of thought, there is one technique that is coming to the forefront as one of the most successful to employ. And that technique is Info-Loading.

This is what you do. Suppose you are thinking about running a quarter-page sized magazine display ad and instead of leaving a lot of empty white space, making it look lean & open or in place of setting an eye-catching photograph, you fill the entire space with text. Packing as much information into space as you can, while of course maintaining readability.

You don't want it to look like a grey blur when the reader's eyes scan over the ad area. It is also recommended that you put a bold, black box around the ad, a bold headline, and emphasize any important words and phrases with a bold print.

This works for a print ad mailing as well as a digital ad. Try putting together a three or four-page sales letter loaded with copy, then add a brochure/flyer that re-emphasizes the important points in even greater detail.

Remember these keys when using this technique:

• First, don't be afraid to be judiciously repetitious. The objective here is to present as much information as you can.

• Focus on BENEFITS instead of features.

• Use emotional language. Try to draw upon as many emotional triggers as you can.

• Build the VALUE. Using emotion and benefits in conjunction with expressing the value the prospect can expect to receive.

You may want to consider giving this technique (Info-Loading) a try. You could discover that, depending on your audience and what you're trying to sell, this info-loading strategy is a diamond-in-the-rough that will increase your sales and fill your bank account!

Please leave a comment below to let us know how we’re doing.

Feel free to leave any suggestions for future posts or content. Or ask any questions regarding anything you don’t understand or need help with, I would be happy to help in any way I can.

I hope you find this information helpful. Thank you for reading.

To Your Success,

Christopher Gibson

P.S. A Business doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or time-consuming. We can show you a better way. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Linking – How It Can Help Bring Targeted Traffic to Your Website

Suppose, you’ve paid to have your website developed for your online or offline business by the pros and now you need to start driving customers to your site. If you are like most business owners, regardless of whether you have a virtual business or a brick-and-mortar business, you undoubtedly depend on your website to play a role in generating income for your business. For this to happen, you need to have targeted traffic, making their way to your website.

One form that can make that happen is through linking. There are two kinds of links - reciprocal links and referral links, and both are critical for bringing more traffic to your site.

While this might seem to be a different form of marketing, the same basic marketing principles continue to apply. Whether it’s your offline business or online business the secret to landing clients is in the relationships you build and getting to know people who will learn to trust you. Once you have built that trust factor they are far more likely to become your loyal customers.

Reciprocal links are the exchange of links between websites. Reciprocal links can play a limited role in bringing targeted traffic to your website, but the referral links really hold the power. Let's look at an example of how they work, Site A places your link on their site and you place Site A’s link on your site. These can definitely hold some relevance in the search engines, especially when they industry relevant. That means they can help you do better in the search engines.

Even more relevant, you are likely to get visitors that visited the other site as they find their way to your site through the link. It’s a good form of advertising that has already built-into it targeted traffic because the link clicked was on a related site. According to a recent survey, more than 50 percent of Internet surfers have visited websites using a referral link.

Referral links are links sent to you usually by someone you know personally or through the internet like from social media websites and can also be very useful. They can also be a link on another website that doesn't require you to exchange a link for and these can most certainly help to bring targeted traffic to your site. These are the kind of referral links we are focusing on in this post. Here, another site will place your link on their site. This is a one-way link and so the search engines really like this and it can help you place much better in the search engines.

Additionally, these relevant, referral links can do a great job of driving targeted traffic to your website. Some companies pay for clicks (aka PPC) on referral links that are on another website. You might look at using such a program for your business.

Both reciprocal and referral links play a vital role in helping to bring targeted traffic to your site which should mean bring customers to your online or offline business.

Please leave a comment below to let us know how we’re doing.

Feel free to leave any suggestions for future posts or content. Or ask any questions regarding anything you don’t understand or need help with, I would be happy to help in any way I can.

I hope you find this information helpful. Thank you for reading.

To Your Success,
Christopher Gibson

P.S. A Business doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or time-consuming. We can show you a better way. CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW.

Controlling The Mind Through Guided Relaxation

Controlling the mind, first requires that you learn to manage your stress. Once you learn to manage your stress you will feel good about who you are. Are you visiting the doctor frequently? Feeling ill most times? Daily you may wander the earth wondering what is your purpose, as you feel hopeless. Stress can weigh you down heavy. However, you have the ability within you to take control and stop that stress right in its tracks. Ultimately, you can allow stress to take control of your life or you can take control of your stress. If not controlled, you will likely need mental counseling, in time, to get a handle on your stress and the damage it can cause on your mental status.

How To Manage Your Stress:

There are numerous ways to manage stress. Take a deep breath. Slow down and "smell the roses" (so to speak). Take a close look inside your mind. Study your life. Do you see demands bearing down on you more than you feel you can handle? If so, do you see ways to ease or remove some of those burdens? Are there resources that can guide you to relaxation by helping you release those demands? Once you have reviewed those demands on you, how's your attitude? Do you have a positive or negative attitude? Can you adjust a negative attitude so that it is more positive? There is scientific proof that positive attitudes make winning people. Are there negative influences in your life? Are you around people who bring you down? If so, can you separate these people from your life and replace them with positive influences?

Now let's look at how stress affects your health. How does stress affect your mental well-being? Next, decide if you need this stress? Do you feel stressed to the point your health and mental status is constantly diminishing? Next, determine if you eat healthy meals? Do you go on junk food binges? If you eat healthily, you should have no problem managing stress. If you go on binges, you need to find ways to control your habits so that you can guide yourself to relaxation.

How Writing Helps You Relax:

One, among your many, resources to relax is writing. Writing is the ultimate tool that can guide you to relaxation. You can write about your feelings, or you can write your autobiography, or you can write fiction works. Whatever you choose, it will help you relax. Who knows, you may even write a best seller.

Writing is a great conduit to guided relaxation when you write to express emotions, which might include anger, fear, joy, concern, and so on. Reread what you write so that you can discover "the you" and what makes you feel stressed.

What You Can Control:

You can control "you". You have the power within you to find what makes you relax. If you cannot discover your powers within, check out resources online to give you new ideas. Look for books, tapes, audios, CDs, videos, as-well-as wallpapers, screensavers, sound effects, and so on, that might help you relax.

Dealing With The Problems:

How you deal with problems is totally up to you. If you have developed good coping mechanisms, then dealing with stress should not be an issue for you. On the other hand, if your coping skills are lacking, you may want to find some learning guides to train your coping mechanisms to work for you. Sometimes you will have to turn to outside sources to build your coping mechanisms. Online you will find lights that help you relax the mind. Use soft lights rather than brilliant lights. The colorful lights often give you a feeling of romance or relaxation. You can find pink rose, black lights, green lights, red lights, and more online.

Finding what works for you is the key, so don't be discouraged if it takes several tries before you discover your answer. Good luck.

Be Well My Friends,

Christopher Gibson

P.S. Getting healthy and supporting our members is what we're all about here, get all the information HERE if you would like to be a part of our special community.