You are about to learn a little-known unique way to get sales leads and drive traffic to your website that converts better than most online leads.
In this post…
YOU ARE ABOUT TO DISCOVER:
- How to find leads that convert to paying customers cheaper than your competitors
- The most effective strategy to reduce the amount you pay for targeted leads
- …and much more
Now, I know what you’re probably thinking…
Jonny, why would I need to advertise in newspapers if I’m building an online home based business?
Here’s the reality…
Leads that you get from a traditional print source convert into customers at DOUBLE the rate than leads that you get online.
So…
If your business is currently focused on selling affiliate products or network marketing business, the strategy that I’m about to reveal to you, should dramatically reduce your newspaper advertising costs which will… Increase your profits!
OK, let’s get started. You have all been giving me feedback over the last couple of months and asking me to include more scenarios in my posts so that you can visualise the way these tips can be applied to your business, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do now 😉
SCENARIO:
Jenny has a home-based business selling essential oils using her blog and an e-commerce site.
She uses Canva to create beautiful images which she uses promotes using Pinterest and Facebook groups.
However, she’s becoming despondent because the majority of visits that she gets don’t result in a sale.
This would be my advice to Jenny….
STEP 1: WRITE A SIMPLE A PRINT ADVERT
The first thing that Jenny needs to do is to create an advert that attracts people who are interested in what she is selling.
This will be a simple classified ad or possibly a space ad targeted to a specific niche market or broader marketplace.
Using this strategy, Jenny will use our simple ad creation formula, that is made up of two parts:
- A Headline
- A Call-To Action
WRITING THE HEADLINE
This is really simple.
All Jenny needs to do is to write a headline using one of the formulas discussed in our headlines post.
An example could be:
“A Fast & Easy for New Mothers to Overcome Insomnia ,Sleep Like a Baby AND Wake up Feeling Re-born – without taking medication”
This ad is written using dog-whistle copy because it:
- calls out the intended audience – new mothers
- calls out the problem it is trying to overcome – insomnia
- lists the benefits – sleep like a baby, feel refreshed
- contains elements which imply minimisation of risk and ease
Make sense?
Now, the next critical element is the call to action.
A call to action is the part of a sales message that tells the reader what to do next.
It should contain an imperative statement such as:
- Call this number XXXX XXX XXXX
- Go to this website WWW.XXX.com
Now…
Jenny has a choice to make.
She can either:
- Send the people to a website/landing page to collect their email addresses or…
- Request that people call her phone number to speak to her directly or to leave their details on a voicemail.
So…
Let’s suppose she is going to use the following ad:
“A Fast & Easy Way for New Mothers to Overcome Insomnia ,Sleep Like a Baby AND Wake up Feeling Re-born – without taking medication” Visit: www.xxx.com – for more information
After creating her advert, Jenny now needs to find a home for it: a publication.
Here’s where the magic starts….
STEP 2: BOOK YOUR ADVERT WITH A PUBLICATION
Now that Jenny has her advert ready, the next step is to find a suitable publication to place it in.
I could write a 20k word post on this topic alone but some critical advice I can give you now is to…
Avoid FREE newspapers – at all cost
You need to find a respectable print-publication that is either niche based e.g Vegan Weekly or a national newspaper.
Jenny needs to do some research here because she needs to find out the circulation of the publication.
REMEMBER: Print publications often like to discuss their circulation figures.
They might say that their circulation is 200,000 but their readership is 400,000 because at least 2 people read their publication.
Don’t believe the hype!
Another key consideration here is the profit that will be made from the sale of the product.
If Jenny’s core product is a bundle of essential oils that costs $100 resulting in a $25 profit, it really won’t make sense to take out a full page advert in a newspaper or magazine for thousands of dollars unless she has higher-ticket back-end products that she can sell to the customers that buy her bundle.
So, in this instance, I would advise Jenny to place a small classified or space ad that can generate enough leads and sales to cover the cost of her advertising.
I hope this makes sense.
Once Jenny has identified the publication, the next step is going to be to call the publication’s sales team and say the following:
Hi, My name is Jenny.I run a business selling camomile-based essential oils and I would like to place an advert in your newspaper. Please could you confirm when the cut-off date is for adverts to be placed? Please send me your rate-card outlining the pricing for the different advert sizes or formats.
With me so far?
OK…
It’s likely the sales person will ask her when she is intending on placing the ad.
My advice: Do not commit to a date!
All she needs to say is that she is looking to place an add ‘soon’ and she will get in contact with them as soon as she is ready.
She also needs to make sure that the sales person has all of her contact details, thank them for their time and tell them that she will be in touch soon.
Whenever you are sent a rate-card or media pack from a publication always keep this in mind….
NEVER PAY RATE CARD PRICES !
Your goal is to aim to pay ONLY 50% off the advertised price of the advert.
So…
Let’s say that Jenny called the newspaper on the 10th of the month and the cut-off date for placing advert is the 22nd.
She MUST NOT call the publication to place the advert until the cut-off date.
The sales rep will probably call her a few times before this date to encourage her to place the ad but she must stay committed to this strategy and politely tell the rep that she’s still reviewing the media pack.
The time has finally come…
It’s the 22nd of the month and time to place the advert.
Jenny must call the sale rep between 9-9.30 am on that morning and let them know that she’s happy to go ahead and place the advert.
Jenny must let the rep know that she’s an experienced marketer and NEVER pays rate-card pricing.
There’s a reason why Jenny should wait until the cut off date before placing the advert, can you guess why this is?
Two words…
Dead Space
Remember, the sales person that Jenny has been speaking to?
Well, like most sales people in other industries, they will have a monthly sales quota that they need to hit to earn their commissions.
The reality of most print publications is that their sales people are rarely able to sell all of the advertising space in the publication, which means that there is often a last minute panic to find advertising to fill the spots before the publication deadline.
This is how you get to negotiate great prices.
Back to our scenario…
So, Jenny, has called the print publication told them that she would like to place her advert, confirmed the size of the ad and made it clear that she is willing to pay 50% of the price.
What do you think the sales rep is likely to say?
OK, yes that’s fine, I’ll give you 50% off!
Ha – unlikely!
It’s highly likely that they will launch into some tirade about why they can’t offer the discount and that’s fine.
All, Jenny has to do at this point is to say thank you and decline the offer to pay the rate-card price and bid the seller farewell.
It’s as simple as that.
But…
Jenny can be reasonably sure that as the end of the advertising submission deadline day approaches, she will get a call back offering her a discount closer to what she was looking for.
It might not be 50% but it’s highly likely to be 30-40% of the advertised price and if Jenny receives an offer, which she most likely will, she should accept.
So, it might seem like a simple strategy BUT if you can apply this to your business, you are going to get leads that will you will send to your website which convert better than online leads AND you’ll get them at a price that your competitors can’t.
Why?
Because, most people running an online business, are too busy with social media advertising to consider using offline advertising to find leads for their business.
Now that you know this – you are the member of a unique club.
REMEMBER: the less money you spend to acquire new leads the more profit you will make.
Till next time…
