Read the first 5 tips for traditional offline marketing here (tips 1 to 5).
Read the next 5 here (tips 6 to 10).
And here are the last 5 tips PLUS I’m adding 2 ‘extras’ to spice things up.
11) Blimps, Banners, and Billboards – If it’s zoned for advertising and it’s blank, you have an opportunity.
12) Door Hangers – Those same high school students can help you with door hangers as well.
13) Circulars – Again, 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. For your money, circulars are very inexpensive to print and distribute.
14) Card Decks – These stacks of index cards are mailed to targeted audiences. Each deck can contain anywhere from 50 to 200 cards or so, each with an advertisement or coupon. They may also double as a business reply card on back. Since your ad is mixed in with tons of others, it’s especially important to have a great headline and layout that will stand out from the clutter.
Card decks are inexpensive because all of the advertisers are sharing the cost of the mailing. They can cost as little as three cents a prospect for large mailings. Even for smaller mailings, they are generally cheap, which is good for testing.
Make sure you choose your audience wisely. Card decks are great for targeting a niche. Free reports or books work especially well here, because the person flipping through the cards will be attracted to the word “FREE.” As always, make sure there is a clear call to action.
Multiple methods of response usually work better than a single method. For example, they can drop the card in the mail, call a free recorded message, go to your website, etc. And you may have some options with remnant space, so always try to negotiate a lower price (how hard is it for them to stick another card in their mailing…their costs are incremental and their profit is high even on remnant rates).
A couple other tips: When you see repeat advertisers in a deck, you have a pretty good idea that the deck is working for that ad. If that ad also targets your niche market, it may be a good one to test in. Also, test with copy that you already know works.
15) Value-Paks – Similar to card decks, “value-paks” are little booklets with multiple ads. They are mostly used with coupons, rather than business reply cards.
So that’s the last 5 tips for traditional offline marketing and as promised, here are 2 more:
16) 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).
17) Catalogues – 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 catalogue:
- 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.
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