One very simple yet overlooked tool many businesses overlook is the classified ad. This simple and inexpensive little marketing tool is a great piece to test and add to your company's marketing plan.
We're not just talking about basic printed ads though. It's more than that.
The best way to use classified ads is to offer a Free Report, How To Guide or Consumer Awareness Guide as the primary promotion in the ad. Don't just advertise your business like everyone else does. Then, well... You'll just look like everyone else and you won't get much of a response.
You need to make your ad stand out and give them something that will catch their attention.
Let's say you are skimming through the newspaper and you happen to need a handyman to fix up a few things around your house. You see two classifieds about handyman services but the first is pretty basic. It says what they do, their price and a phone number.
Ok, so you'll keep that information because you do need to call someone soon. But...
The second ad reads “Don't risk your home to any handyman service until you've read this FREE report on “7 Things you should know BEFORE hiring any handyman service!” with a website to download the free report.
Don't you think that it might be important to know what those 7 things are before you call the other guy? It won't hurt anything and you might save yourself money or remove the risk if the other guy doesn't make the cut after reading the free report.
Now, if you are offering that report, you have the advantage over the other guy. You now control the information in the prospects mind BEFORE they even talk to anyone else. And overall, by the time they've read your report, they'll be more likely to call you even if your price is a little higher because you educated them and saved them from making a mistake and hiring the guy that isn't as good or honest with their customers.
See how powerful this can be? Classified ads are simple and easy little ads that are inexpensive to run and can create a great way to build a list of prospects. Be sure to check with some of the smaller local publications. You'll be surprised how inexpensive this can be to test a 3 day or 5 day classified ad.
Now... don't just think of classified ads at the ads you see in small local newspapers. Did you know that Craigslist is also a classified ads system? You can post your same printed ad online on sites like Craiglist and other online classified ad systems. Some for very cheap and many for free. Just search Google for classified ads and you'll come up with a few ideas. See if you can find directories that are local to your area in order to keep your listings to your local area.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment