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01) Classified Ads
This can be a very effective form of marketing that is often ignored by business owners. It is usually worth testing in some form or another. It’s particularly great for lead generation by offering a free report from a website. You should still have a strong benefit-driven headline and a clear call to action. As costs are often very low, it’s got to be worth trying to draw traffic to the site with classifieds.
02) Direct Mail
Nothing beats direct response when it comes to results-driven proven advertising. And messages sent directly to your highly targeted market via direct mail can deliver a terrific return on investment (ROI) when tested properly. Here are some sites where you can learn more:
- www.srds.com – The Standard Rate & Data (SRDS) List Book, a great resource to locate mailing lists of nearly any type you can imagine. You can also find it in some larger city libraries.
- www.directmail.com – Commercial site with a good range of free information and resources as well as paid-for services.
- www.usps.com – The US Postal Service website has a variety of tools and educational materials about direct mail as well.
- www.royalmail.com – UK postal service with advice and tips on using direct mail.
03) Postcards
Yes, postcards are a form of direct mail, but it warrants its own category. Postcards are cheaper to produce and mail than full-blown direct mail packages or sales letters, and they are great for generating leads.
As with classified ads, a free report or free gift often works well here. Postcards are also a great way to stay in touch with your customers and prospects, and they also work well as part of a sequence of mailings. Here are some resources to check out for customized postcards:
04) Yellow Pages
Another great resource that is often underutilized or used ineffectively. Yellow pages ads are great because when someone sees your ad, they are already in the market for your product or service.
Yellow pages ads need to be benefits-driven, with your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) stated clearly and boldly (remember, this is the one place where your prospects will see your ad alongside all of your competitors). You want your ad to stand out from the clutter.
05) Display or Space Ads
If you’re going to do a space ad, it will generally get better results if you use the same layout as the editorials. Use the same font styles and sizes for the headline, body, etc.
If the newspaper uses 2 columns per article on the page your ad will appear, use 2 columns in your ad. If they use 3 columns, you use 3. The “advertorial” approach almost always does better than traditional space ads that scream “ad.”
A great way to get very low costs space ads is to use what’s known as remnant, or standby advertising.
06) Radio/TV/Infomercials
You might be surprised how inexpensive you can get these types of slots, especially if you use remnant advertising.
Study the best infomercials, for example (the ones you see over and over again… they must be working or they wouldn’t keep airing them), to get some ideas on how they are constructed.
07) Flyers
This approach doesn’t suit all types of business but it can be a great way of getting known in your neighborhood. Why not pay a high-school student to stuff mailboxes or stick ‘em under windshields?
Obviously if you are selling a high-priced financial course, it would be better to target the windshields of a fancy hotel than your local Wal-Mart.
08) Telemarketing
If you do any kind of business to business selling, telemarketing is a viable marketing method you can use effectively.
Take care to follow the “Do Not Call” rules but this may not apply in business marketing or to your existing customers or if you already have a relationship with your prospects.
09) Trade Show Booths
A great place to capture leads. Again, a free report or gift does wonders. When you get a long line waiting at your booth, many people will stop by just to see what the fuss is about. Make your sales materials and sales people benefit-driven.
Remember what your prospects are thinking: “What’s in it for me?”
10) Banners, and Billboards
If it’s zoned for advertising and it’s blank, you have an opportunity.
11) Circulars and Door Hangers
High school students can also help you hand out circulars, post them on community bulletin boards, on telephone poles, wherever.
You can make a donation to your local church and ask them if you can leave a stack at their next bake sale or bingo event. And certainly you can arrange to have your circular included in your local newspaper or community paper.
Circulars and door hangers are very inexpensive to print and distribute.
12) Ad Magazines
You’ve seen them. Magazines that are little more than a collection of space ads. They are usually local, and the ads in them usually aren’t direct response.
By putting your direct response ad there, you stand out over all the other ads. But the downside is that these magazines tend to be less niche-focused (although there are certainly exceptions, with the real estate and automobile-themed magazines and newspapers).
13) Catalogs
Your catalog doesn’t have to look like L.L. Bean or the like to be effective. Here’s a good way to start small and work up from there in developing a good catalog:
- Try a simple double-sided flyer first and test response.
- Make sure you locate highly targeted lists, as the wasted cost of mailings is going to be your biggest expense.
- Continue to expand, test, and tweak. Test everything—your layout, your copy, your prices—until you find the best combination.
14) Package Inserts
If you’re going to mail out a product or package to a customer anyway, always tuck a sales letter for another product in the package.
It won’t cost you any more, and when your customer receives that package, he or she will be pleased with the product (assuming your product isn’t junk) and be more favorable towards another purchase from you.
You can also joint venture with other companies that target your niche market and get them to include your insert when shipping their product.
15) Newsletters
Newsletters are a great way to keep in touch with your customers, offer them special discounts and coupons, inform them of upcoming events (a wine store can tell their customers about an upcoming wine tasting event, for example), give them recipes, articles, advice, tips on making the most of your products/services, and much more.
It’s a great place to slip in case studies, success stories, testimonials, and pitches for other products and services. Here are some tips for running a successful newsletter:
- Don’t make it a straight sales pitch. You want it to be something your customers look forward to receiving. Too much advertising can turn them off and equate it with junk mail. Include quality content on a variety of subjects, not all related to your business. Don’t be boring.
- Keep it regular and consistent. Don’t send it three times in one month and then wait 2 months before sending it out again. Quarterly is fine, but monthly is much better.
- If you have trouble coming up with regular content or don’t have the time to commit to a newsletter, there are services that will do it for you.
- Proofread your newsletter. A spellchecker won’t flag “four” when it should have been “fore.” Tools like Microsoft Word also have grammar checkers. Check for factual accuracy and make sure dates, times, and places are all correct. Double-check coupon amounts and other numerical figures.
- Once you develop a layout that works, try to keep it consistent from issue to issue.
- Make it easy on the eyes to read. Avoid white type on black or colored backgrounds. Don’t use dark blue type on a light-blue background. Use serif fonts for the body text. Don’t make it look like too much work to read. Use white space liberally.
- Have a plan before you launch your newsletter. You want to have specific goals about what you want it to do for you. Should it be written in first-person from the owner? Or third person, like most newspaper articles? Do you want to have regular columns or features? Guest writers? Do your homework up front.
- Always include your contact information, perhaps even on each page.
- Feature your customers regularly. They like to see their names in print, and it’s always far better to let them sell you than for you to sell yourself.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi
I was hoping to find out about remnant advertising in the UK. Would you know any agencies who do this?
Many thanks
Alicia
Hi
Sorry I don’t know of any specific agencies doing that. I guess some of the media specialists might be a good start.
Best regards
Robert
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