1) Classified Ads – This is something everyone should be testing in some form or another. It’s great for lead generations. You should still have a strong benefit driven
headline and a clear call to action. Free reports work very well with classifieds. My local paper, the Hartford Courant even has an ongoing deal of 3 lines for 3 days – for free! Even adding more lines only ends up costing a few bucks. With a price like that, there’s
no reason anyone with a website should not be testing ways to draw traffic to the site with classifieds.
2) 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.
3) 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. Like 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. A good place to go for customized postcards is http://www.usps.com (the US Postal Service website), because the USPS has partnered with a company that will print and mail your postcards for you! Best of all, you only pay for the postage (i.e. FREE printing costs). Hint: be sure to include yourself on the mailing list so you can get your own mailing as well.
4) Yellow Pages – Another great resource that is often underutilized or used ineffectively. Yellow page ads are great because when someone sees your ad, they are already in the market for your product or service. Yellow page ads need to be benefits-driven, with your
Unique Selling Proposition (USP) stated clearly and boldly (remember, this is the one place where your 101 Ways To Promote Your Business For Maximum Profits prospects will see your ad alongside all of your competitors). You want your ad to stand out from the clutter. Use a direct response type of ad, and again, free gifts or premiums work well here.
5) 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
6) 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.
7) Flyers – Who says you can’t hire 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. And I believe the US Postal Service also prints them for you like they do postcards if you want to mail them. Check out http://www.usps.com
8) Networking – Your local Chamber of Commerce, trade shows, seminars, and anywhere your prospects hang out are all good opportunities for networking. In many
cases, the hotel bar the night before the seminar is the best opportunity for making contacts. It’s usually more effective to try to capture contacts and leads than to
try to close a sale on the spot, so get your elevator speech ready and have plenty of business cards on hand.
9) Telemarketing – Remember the “Do Not Call” list only applies to consumers, so if you do any kind of business to business selling, telemarketing is a viable marketing method you can use effectively. Also, the “Do Not Call” list may not apply to you with your customers or if you already have a relationship with your prospects.
10) A Trade Show Booth – 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.
21 years ago, there was a book called, “Do What You Love and The
Money Will Follow.”
Back then, I didn’t really believe it.
What if you loved to fish?
Golf?
Hot Air Ballooning?
Watch TV?
Read?
How was the average person going to make money doing those
things?
Remember, that was back in 1987.
For most people, “Do what you love and the money will follow,”
was complete baloney.
It simply wasn’t true.
Flash forward to today and the Internet, and now that statement
is just as true as can be.
I’ll prove it to you.
Go to Google and search for any those terms (Fishing, Golf, Hot air ballooning, Knitting, TV and Books) and I guarantee you’ll find tons of sites
on all of them.
I also guarantee that many of those site owners are making money.
Some of them are even making A LOT OF MONEY.
So what do you LOVE to do?
Whatever it is, if there are other people who love it, too, then
you can make money from it.
