CONTENTS
Introduction
Where do I get my Stock?
Writing - Prime Source at its Best
The Importance of Title
Quality - The Publisher's Buy-Word
Should I Use a Business Name?
What about Stationery?
How do I Price my Stock?
Mailing Lists and Direct Mail
Where Should I Advertise?
What Makes a Good Advertisement?
What Message should my Advertisements Convey?
How do I know if my Advertisements are Working?
How do I Write a Good Sales Leaflet?
Introduction
It's one of the
most lucrative businesses ever, and one requiring
very little in
the way of starting capital; yet surprisingly, few
people have even
heard of 'Home Publishing'. Good news
indeed for
the many men and
women currently earning anything from 1000% to
3000% profit on
each and every sale they make, regularly receiving
œ20 or more for
an item it has cost œ1 or less to produce.
Just how much
these publishers make each and every week depends
entirely upon
the time and effort they put into their businesses;
time and effort
spent analysing advertising trends and techniques;
selecting
suitable items for stock; and establishing a good and
regular list of
customers, who being satisfied with past
purchases, will
continue to buy from them in the future.
Publishing,
loosely defined, is the preparing and issuing of
printed
material, usually for sale. Home
publishing, primarily
concerned with
the distribution of items not readily available in
bookshops, is
perhaps something of a misnomer, since often all
that is required
of the publisher is a process of advertising -
photocopying -
distributing. But do not be misled, for
a high
degree of
organisational ability is essential for success, and
certainly at the
very beginning the entrepreneur must be prepared
to work long and
hard for little personal reward, as he or she
builds a library
of good titles, and formulates that advertising
strategy best
suited to his or her personal business requirements.
If the foregoing
sounds like bad news, think again! True,
a
number of new
publishers will become immediately disillusioned
when their
letterboxes aren't found to be overflowing with cheques
from day one,
but 'failure' sadly is their own fault.
It often takes
weeks, even months, to gain the respectability a
home publisher
undoubtedly needs. It takes that long
too to
formulate a
successful advertising policy; sometimes it takes
several weeks to
have advertisements placed in the publication of
your choice;
even longer to build a list of customers confident
enough to buy
from you time and time again.
As a test of the
profitability of home publishing, take several
back issues of
such as 'Exchange and Mart', then study the
Business
Opportunities section. In particular
study those boxed
display
advertisements costing something in the region of œ60 a
week to
insert. Though a discount rate is
offered to regular
customers, do
you sincerely believe that any of those advertisers
whose names
appear each and every week, are not being adequately
rewarded for
their efforts, both personal and financial?
Home Publishing
can be operated on a part-time or full-time basis;
by one person,
or by a number of people in partnership.
Some publishers
deal in all manner of printed material, both
specialised and
general. Some deal profitably in
publications
relating to one
hobby or interest, such as consumer competitions
or stamp
collecting. Others deal in a wide range
of subjects from
leisure
interest, to self-improvement, and perhaps to the most
profitable line
of all, that of information relating to business
and income-boosting
opportunities.
The prudent
publisher selects his stock of 'titles' with the
utmost care,
preferring those that are both well-written and
well-produced. Not for him those manuals that are badly
written,
have little or
no quality of content, are inefficiently typed, and
presented to the
customer without even the courtesy of card covers
to protect
them. Yet it is not surprising to be
charged anything
up to œ20 for
such inferior items - a very nice profit indeed -
and a sure-fire
way of extinguishing customer interest in anything
that particular
publisher offers in the future.
Conversely, a
publisher offering quality of content and
presentation, at
an affordable price, will reap his rewards in
terms of repeat
custom and world-of-mouth recommendation between
customers and
fellow publishers. It's very much worth
the time
and trouble it
takes to achieve that standard of professionalism
which sets your
business, and its profits, way above the rest.
Where do I get my Stock?
Quality stock
can come from several different sources, far and
above the best
way to acquire new titles, if you feel able, is to
write them
yourself. Don't panic, for it isn't
anywhere near as
difficult a
prospect as it sounds. It doesn't take a
literary
genius to
present valuable information in a manner that the public
will understand
- they are buying what you write remember, not the
way you write
it. Obviously, too many spelling and
typing errors
will diminish
those standards of professionalism you set for
yourself, and
for this reason it is always best to have your work
read by someone
you trust to provide you with constructive
criticism, from
which you can amend the first draft or drafts of
your manuscript.
Writing one's
own titles has several benefits, perhaps first and
foremost being
that of providing you with sole copyright in the
document; unless
you decide otherwise, no-one but you can release
the information
it contains into that ever-hungry marketplace.
You will incur
little in the way of financial cost for the
document you
produce; your only real outlay being in respect of
time, paper,
electricity and research material. A few
pounds at
the most is
negligible when compared to the cost of paying another
writer to
provide you with copyright, and of minor importance when
compared with
the purchase of reproduction rights which you must
nevertheless
remember you will share with perhaps a great many
other
publishers. Last but by no means least,
there is a great
deal of
satisfaction to be had from seeing your own work in print,
especially when
the orders start to arrive, often to be followed
by words of
gratitude from your work's ultimate reader.
To a
professional
writer praise is a reward that often far and away
exceeds any
level of monetary gain. We will delve
further into
the process of
writing your own material a little later on.
If you choose
not to write your own material, several other
methods exist
whereby good and saleable material can be obtained.
Sometimes your
stock will come straight from the writer, perhaps
from fellow
publishers; at other times from firms dealing
exclusively in
the sale of reproduction rights and copyrights.
Prices too will
vary, much depending upon what 'rights' are
actually
conferred. You may, for instance, be
offered simple
'reproduction'
rights, meaning that you can make as many copies as
you wish from
the master document you are provided with; sometimes
the price is set
for you, sometimes you are free to determine the
price yourself.
You may be
offered reproduction rights, with additional authority
to re-sell those
rights, enabling you to transfer the same to
fellow
publishers. With increased rights, you
can expect to be
asked a
correspondingly higher price for your stock.
Remember, with
the ability to transfer reproduction rights to your
customers, there
is a real danger of saturating the market, and
consequently
drastically reducing the lifespan of even the best
titles - a very
different situation indeed from that monopoly
enjoyed by the
writer/publisher, or publisher who has chosen to
purchase
exclusively all rights, i.e. copyright, from the writer
or his agent.
Much has been
said about buying and selling of manuals between
writers and
publishers, and between publishers and fellow
publishers, but
it is from the general public as customers that
your greatest
profits are likely to come.
Before we leave
this vitally important subject of stock
acquisition,
let's look first at just how you can go about writing
your own
material.
Writing - Prime Source at its Best
We know of
course, that it doesn't take an award-winning writer to
turn out
something customers will flock to buy, and having bought,
will derive
great benefit from.
First and
foremost try to find a subject that is in demand; not
one already
'done to death' by many others before you.
If that
subject is one
in which you have more than a passing knowledge,
perhaps one
concerned with your hobby or profession, then you
already have a
head start, in that the research for your manual
will almost
certainly take you less time to complete than would
the same subject
for a relative novice.
List all of
those points you wish to cover in your writing, taking
time at this
stage to ensure that you have covered every area of
the topic concerned.
This pre-writing stage is the most
important phase
in the production of your manuscript; anything you
miss out will be
noticed - there's always someone out there,
ready, willing,
and able to point out your shortcomings.
When you are
confident that your research is complete, and
remember it
often takes a lot of time to research those points you
wish to include,
then place these points in the most logical order
of presentation. My personal method is to have all points
produced on
small cards, then positioned in sequence, juggling
them around
until I am finally satisfied with their order.
Now comes the
process of actually writing up your work.
Whether
you choose to
get straight into it and continue typing or writing
until you are
finished is entirely up to you. If you
are new to
writing, you may
however feel more comfortable in writing each
section
individually, before collating them into manual form. You
will of course
have to make sure you don't in the process, either
leave out some
important point, or duplicate something that in
fact might not
be of justifiable importance.
Once your first
draft is completed in writing, or perhaps is typed
up in individual
sections, your next task is to have your work
typed into
manuscript form, preferably on A4 size paper.
If you
can't type or
don't have access to a typewriter or word processor,
it doesn't cost
too much to have your work professionally typed
for you.
When typed,
check your manuscript for spelling mistakes, typing
errors and such
- not something usually necessary where
professionally
produced by an outside source. Now - and
believe
it or not but
this is a vitally important part of the writing
process - put
your document to one side for a week or so, before
reading it again
with mind and talents refreshed. You'll
be
amazed what
errors and omissions come to mind.
Remember though to
carry out this
particular exercise before you pay someone else to
type your work,
unless that person is happy to produce a draft for
you, prior to
typing out the final product.
Now, if you can
take constructive criticism, and if you have
relatives and
friends you can trust to give just that, have them
read your work,
following which you will ask them for their views.
These views will
remember, be similar to those of your future
readers and
should highlight potential errors, irregularities, or
just things they
wish you'd explained in a little better fashion,
or perhaps more
fully. Incorporate any changes you feel
are
justified.
If you document
is now produced to an acceptable quality, i.e.
typed, word
processed, or typeset, then ensure that the pages are
numbered, and
provide a contents sheet outlining what sections and
topics your work
covers, and on what page/s the reader will find
them.
A cover, in my
opinion, is vital for any publication worthy of
reading, and
amazingly easy to produce to an exceptionally
professional
standard. you may have the title printed
with the
aid of rub-down
lettering available at almost all stationers.
You
might even
illustrate your cover by means of many of the clip art
documents
available from dealers advertising in most main mail
order magazines
and adsheets.
Your very own
manual should now be ready for marketing.
Congratulations!
The Importance of Title
Ironically, the
worst written and most garbled of manuscripts will
become best
sellers with the right title, and sadly vice versa,
for with a poor,
drab title, even the greatest of manuscripts may
never be seen by
other than their writers.
The best titles
are designed to catch the attention, arouse
curiosity,
sometimes shock, but primarily they are intended to
make the reader
need to know more, and for this privilege he or
she will buy.
Some of today's
more imaginative titles include the following:
'Make œ150 in
Ten Minutes'
'Mail Order
Blunders and How to Avoid Them'
'How to Avoid
Paying your Debts'
'The Lazy Man's
Way to Riches'
'How Mail Order
Fortunes are Made'
'œ25,000 for a
Few Hours Work doesn't Seem Fair'
'The Midas
Touch'
'How to Ask for
the Moon - And Get It'
A good title is
therefore a good advertisement for your wares;
sometimes
leaving very little else to be said in the advertising
blurb; sometimes
not. Don't though promise anything your
work
won't deliver,
if only out of sympathy with your readers and their
soon to be
shattered expectations - and faith in your products!
Repeat custom
remember, is important to the mail order operator.
Quality - The Publisher's Buy-Word
There is, as for
most other items, a vast difference in quality of
manuals offered
for sale. To gain respect, and the
repeat orders
such respect
generates, the publisher must strive to always offer
quality of
content and presentation. Content is
perhaps something
you will best be
able to judge for yourself by reading the manuals
you
acquire. Always do this, firstly to
discover any inadvertent
errors that may
have crept into the work of even the most
reputable of
writers and publishers, and secondly to assess the
quality of items
from sources you have only recently become
acquainted
with. Any source that habitually sends
'rubbish'
manuscripts is
to be avoided at all costs; they will have
purchased their
rights inexpensively, and have little or no
consideration
for subsequent buyers or the ultimate reader.
Selling such
will only give you, and the world of home publishing,
a reputation
that can well be done without.
One satisfactory
purchase however, does not mean you may forego
the need to
fully inspect future stock. Even if you
trust the
standards of
your suppliers, you owe it to your customers to
instil a process
of quality control that ensures you will notice a
suppliers'
shortcomings, long before it leads a regular customer
to suspect
yours, and possibly cause him or her to transfer
allegiance
elsewhere.
In the course of
researching subjects for the manuals I personally
write, I acquire
several items of a similar nature, from libraries
and publishers
alike. The standard of some has left me
little
short of
disgusted at the type of grot some publishers will ask
œ10 and more
for. Sometimes the quality itself is to
blame; one
list of 200 or
so 'opportunities' advertised in a British
magazine, provided
me with dozens of useful addressees - if that
is I ever choose
to live and work in the U.S.A. - absolutely
useless should I
choose instead to remain loyal to my home soil.
That same
purchase I will never forget, not for the quality of its
content, but
because the manuscript had been so 'reduced' in size
via the
photocopying process, that I couldn't read the text
without a
magnifying glass! I kid thee not!
The number of
pages contained means absolutely nothing if one
delivers 100
pages of absolute garbage. Such a
massive document
has nothing on
10 pages of valuable, useful and legible text.
Many manuals you
take reproduction rights in will arrive with a
covering sheet,
usually indicating the title, author, and
sometimes
bearing an illustration. That cover may
arrive purely
on standard
paper or it may come in the form it is intended to
reach the
ultimate customer, perhaps on card, thicker paper, often
coloured,
sometimes highly attractive. No matter
how it reaches
you, I truly
believe the contents of the manual are reflected in
the quality of
the cover. If it's worth presenting
attractively,
perhaps with
protective card covers and a plastic strip to house
the spine, then
subconsciously that manual acquires respectability
long before it
has even been opened. As discussed
earlier, for
those titles you
write yourself, or those that arrive without
covers, it's an
extremely easy task to produce attractive covers
by means of
Letraset and other rub-down forms of lettering and
transfers
available at almost all stationers.
Your
newly-acquired manuscripts will most likely arrive
camera-ready,
that is, suitable for immediate photocopying.
If
finances allow,
you may consider having the manual 'typeset' for a
better finish,
especially if you intend having large quantities of
copies printed -
nice, but by no means essential!
Should I Use a Business Name?
Much akin to the
perennial question 'How long is a piece of
string', there
are many people who will swear the answer is 'Yes'
and possibly as
many who will disagree vehemently with them.
My
own opinion is
that a business name often instils a degree of
faith and
confidence in your enterprise; those unwilling to send
hard-earned cash
to 'Billy Bloggs' will prove perfectly happy to
send it to
'Supremo Publications'. A degree of
permanency is
accorded to a
business name, even though the actual choosing and
using of such is
an extremely straightforward exercise, that in no
way, shape or
form makes one publisher more creditable than
another. There is now no need to register a business
name, but if
you use an
address different to your own, for instance a
relative's
address to accommodate your post, you are required to
disclose your
own address on business stationery.
What about Stationery?
As in almost all
other areas where people come into contact with
one another
either physically, or via the auspices of the postal
services, there
is a great psychological tendency for first
impressions to
greatly colour all subsequent communications.
Your stationery
is likely to be the only contact some customers
will ever have
with you - if you are to obtain and retain their
custom, make
their first impressions of you good ones, by using
the very best
stationery you can afford. Don't use
plain paper
with handwritten
address appended; don't cut costs by having a
perfectly good
letterhead poorly photocopied. A
well-printed
business heading
on good quality paper will pay handsome
dividends, and
really isn't going to set you back too much
financially.
If you can use a
typewriter and your finances will stretch to
actually
acquiring one, this is far better than writing your
business
letters, orders, invoices, and so on. If
however you are
an atrocious
typist, then have someone else do it for you, or
really make a
concerted two-fingered attempt to plod out your
message as
neatly and professionally as you are able.
It really
will be worth
that often painful effort.
Incidentally, if
you find yourself in the enviable position of
owning or being
able to afford a word processor or typesetting
facilities, then
regardless of how bad a typist you are, your
communications
need never contain errors of typing or spelling,
for the inbuilt
programmes of most machines have spell-checking
facilities, and
all allow you to view, check, and if necessary
amend your words
before you work appears in print - marvellous!
Such machines
also allow you to keep copies of all communications
on disc as
opposed to hundreds of bulky pieces of crumpled paper
jammed into
tatty cardboard files. For around œ500
new,
considerably
less second-hand, it may be a more than worthwhile
investment to
consider making for a business in which the printed
word is of
paramount importance.
How do I Price my Stock?
Sometimes the
price will be set for you and you will not be able
to deviate from
it, primarily so as not to undercut your fellow
publishers. On other occasions you are free to charge
what you
wish. That price may well be in line with what
others are asking
for the same
publication; it may instead be lower, in the hope of
attracting more
custom your way.
On occasion you
might offer manuals half-price, especially if they
have proved slow
movers, or else have been on the market for quite
a while. You may wish to offer a 'buy 2 get 1 free' or
'2 for the
price of 1' for
similar reasons.
Your pricing
policy will largely depend upon your advertising
costs, costs of
production, newness or otherwise of title
concerned, and
what rights of reproduction you actually possess.
With sole
copyright of a valuable title, you will most likely ask
a much higher
price than that for a manual of similar size which
is available
from a number of other sources.
Never be afraid
to reduce your prices - it's all a matter of trial
and error, but
something which happily will become easier with
experience. In the early days look at what your
competitors are
charging, and if
you have authority to do so, charge sufficiently
less to attract
a share of the custom, whilst still retaining an
adequate profit
margin. Lower prices in the beginning of
your
career in mail
order will attract customers who may well stay
loyal to you for
many hears to come; not a bad return for the
leaner times of
your early days in publishing!
Mailing Lists and Direct Mail
The market for
good titles, well-presented, is vast.
The only
limit placed
upon you is that which your advertising policy
dictates; good,
regular, extensive and well-analysed advertising
policies will
attract many customers. Publishing is
something of
a
self-generating business activity since a great many customers
continue to buy,
whether in respect of a hobby, special interest,
or because they
are continually seeking opportunities for making
extra money, or
advancing their careers.
There is no
substitute for that list of customers you build for
yourself,
retaining and recording the names and addresses of
people who have
responded to each of your advertisements.
Sometimes you
will be offered lists of opportunity seekers, or
perhaps of
fellow publishers, either from firms specialising in
the provision of
such lists, or from individuals in much the same
position as
yourself but seeking to supplement their income by
selling their
own lists. If you decide to operate from such a
list, choose it
with care, preferably from a reputable and
specialist firm
with a reputation to protect, which will therefore
be more likely
to supply up-to-date, genuine names and addresses.
You will then
provide those named with details of your manuals,
perhaps a
selection of advertising sales leaflets, or a list
briefly
describing what you have to offer.
Sometimes you will be
able to use this
list of names as often as you wish; on other
occasions it is
for once only use, subsequent use requiring you to
pay a further
rental fee.
On occasion one
sees advertisements placed by people wanting
suitable manuals
for their own use, often under the Opportunities
section. Always respond to these advertisements, for
these are
amongst the
keenest of buyers you are ever likely to meet.
Many of the mail
order specialists' magazines carry advertisements
from fellow
publishers and opportunity seekers. If
you are able
to offer re-sell
of your reproduction rights, and if you in fact
wish to do so,
then a good and eager market could well be awaiting
your titles,
particularly if they are new and the price
attractive. Think carefully though - remember the
advantages of
monopoly!
Alternatively,
if you have a range of material suited to those
with a common
interest, for instance consumer competition
enthusiasts or
writers, then try to obtain details from clubs or
societies of
their members' names and addresses, and forward
details of your
publications by direct mail.
Advertisements
placed in
special interest magazines can draw high levels of
interest. Ask your local library to let you view their
'Willings'
and 'Benns'
directories wherein are entered all publications
available in the
United Kingdom.
Where Should I Advertise?
In deciding
which publications are best to advertise in, the
answer
ironically is first of all to try those in which your
competitors
regularly advertise. They don't do so
for the good of
their health; if
they advertise in a particular publication each
and every issue
you can bet it's a good one. Join them!
'Exchange
and Mart'
incidentally, is almost universally regarded as the best
medium for Job
and Business Opportunity publications.
For those keen
to expand their businesses in as many directions as
possible, there
are other opportunities for advertising, including
shop and post
office windows, either locally or by having agents
working to
commission to place them in other areas of the country.
Your agents
usually take the order, and forward to you the
customer's name
and address, together with an agreed amount of
money after
their commission is deducted.
You can also
advertise in local and national magazines, in local
freesheets,
direct to club secretaries in the case of special
interest titles,
even by having your leaflets distributed for you
by firms
specialising in such a service.
What Makes a Good Advertisement?
Words themselves
can make or break your chances of a sale; good
words can make
the worst document seem highly attractive, and
sadly vice
versa. You must of course, for financial
reasons, keep
words at a
premium whilst retaining your intended message.
Your
advertisement must stand out from the rest; it may be in
competition with
hundreds of others! Sometimes the
presentation
of the
advertisement will make it stand out from the others. look
at those display
advertisements in any popular advertising
publication;
look too at the attention-grabbing qualities of
'impact lines'
and bold lettering. If not too
financially
prohibitive, it
may be worthwhile trying one or two of these
techniques for
yourself, remembering of course to carefully
analyse the
results of such in terms of response attained.
The aim of an
advertisement is:
To attract
ATTENTION
To arouse
INTEREST
To create a NEED
OR DESIRE
To get the
reader to ACT OR RESPOND
Attention may be
attracted as we have already discussed by one's
choice of words
and methods of presentation - more about words
later.
You must also
arouse and retain the interest of the reader,
usually by means
of the words you choose to convey your message.
The desires we
seek to fulfil are usually those of wealth,
security,
success, etc.
Various methods
exist whereby we can encourage the reader to act
or respond. Our sales leaflets sent in response to
enquiries, may
include a
tear-off slip and address reply envelope - anything to
make the task of
replying just that little easier on the intended
customer! Make it too long or arduous a task and you
might lose
him!
What Message Should my Advertisements Convey?
Basically, as
far as classified advertisements are concerned, one
should say as
much as possible in as few words as are possible.
For financial
reasons you are limited in the number of words at
your disposal;
every word must count; every word must work.
Your
words must be
chosen with care and must arouse and retain the
interest of the
reader, leading him or her to need that manual or
further
information you offer.
If you offer a
wide range of money-making guides, your
advertisement
might read:
'I have lots of
moneymaking guides for sale'.
Actually you've
just said in so many words exactly what is claimed
by fellow
publishers who regularly earn hundreds of pounds for
their
efforts. BUT I bet you don't earn the
cost of your
advertisement
this week! Why? Well, just look at it, what have
you said? What promises have you made? You've made a very basic
statement, and
one which will become totally lost in the midst of
those
advertisements over which the originators have taken a
little more time
and trouble. So what's wrong with it?
For a start
there's nothing there to arouse anyone's interest, is
there? The words are entirely devoid of impact or
emotion; it
amounts to
nothing more than a plain, bald and boring statement.
So what could
you say instead? How about:
'œ000s each and
every week, working for yourself'
Not perfect, but
much, much better! We'd all like to earn
hundreds of
pounds every week, and most of us would like to earn
it working for
ourselves. Good, there must be at least
a few
readers'
curiosity rates hurtling into overdrive.
Research has
shown that to be effective, an advertisement should
take on the form
of a 'headline' much like those in the daily
tabloids. Shock, surprise, - play to your readers'
fears,
emotions,
motivations and desires - and do it within your first
six words. These six words it seems, will make or break
your
chance of
response, so choose your words with the utmost care.
The most emotive
and attention-grabbing words include:
FREE MONEY
EASY SECRET DON'T
œ STOP
So how about:
STOP WORKING FOR
SOMEONE ELSE! Let me show you how. Hundreds of
opportunities
for self employment.....'
Yes, it's
getting there, and notice how we have made the first
words stand out
by having them printed in capital letters.
This
will sometimes
be an option, but in some publications those first
words would
instead be printed in bold lettering as is the case in
'Exchange and
Mart'. Let's try impact lines now:
____________________
STOP WORKING FOR
SOMEONE ELSE!
Let me show you
how.
____________________
Yes, much
better!
Study well the
advertisements placed by your competitors,
especially those
with a few years' experience behind them.
Study
too any books,
reports or articles on effective advertising
techniques. Most importantly of all, study your own
advertisements;
analyse the effect of a subtle change to wording,
a different
layout, different publications and so on.
Never be
afraid to change
an advert that in the past has served you well -
the mail order
market never stands still!
How Do I Know If My Advertisements are Working?
Sometimes an
advertisement in one publication will work amazingly
well; in another
publication it won't even bring one enquiry.
If the same
advertisement in several publications yields a poor
response, it is
most likely the advertisement that is wrong, as
opposed to the
choice of medium. Re-check your
advertisement;
could you use
bolder, more striking or emotive words; might you
have benefited
from the use of some technique by which to make
your
advertisement stand out? What about
impact lines? Bold
print
perhaps? If the advertisement concerned
is very much
different from
those of your competitors, analyse those
differences;
could yours be wrong; are your words confusing; too
complicated
perhaps?
Conversely, if
the same advertisement works in one publication but
not another, it
is likely that the medium itself is at fault.
Is
yours the only
one of its type in that publication?
Remember,
ironical though
it may seem, it's far better to advertise exactly
where your
competitors advertise - the must have good reason for
their allegiance
to that particular publication.
Always test the
response to your advertisements, particularly with
regard to the
publications' effectiveness, since an advertisement
that is
inherently wrong will reveal itself without any need for
research. You simply won't get any enquiries whatever
your choice
of publication;
unless of course all of your publications are
equally
unsuitable and the advert is in fact quite satisfactory.
If you suspect
the publication is at fault, run the advertisement
in 'Exchange and
Mart', or one of the small independent magazines
and newspapers
catering specifically for the mail order trade.
If
it still draws
no response, unless some hidden factor is at work,
change the
advert!
To test response
to advertisements in particular publications, you
must of course
have some means of knowing to which advertisement a
potential
customer has responded. Without your
contact specifying
to which
advertisement he or she is responding you have very
little to go
on. The answer then, is to key your
advertisements,
giving each a
symbol to indicate the wording used and the magazine
or publication
in which the advertisement was placed.
If
advertising in
something called 'Opportunities Unlimited' you
might use the
initials of the publication's name incorporated into
your own name
and address, thus:
Avril Harper
(O.U.) O.U. = Opportunities Unlimited
You might
instead, particularly if your advertisements are few,
make subtle
changes to your name or address, by which to analyse
the response to
your advertisement. But exactly what are
we
analysing? Is it the number of replies received, even
though none
produces a sale,
or is it instead the number of replies which do
in fact result
in sales? If you are requesting cash
with order
then it is the
latter, i.e. sales per advertisement which you much
analyse. The cost of the advertisement must also enter
into your
calculations,
since vastly increased sales might result in an
overall loss
where unit advertising costs are too high.
For my
purposes I find
the following calculation perfectly adequate in
deciding whether
allegiance to any particular publication is
cost-effective:
COST OF
ADVERTISEMENT
____________________
NUMBER OF SALES
With such a
formula you have of course to decide what level of
advertising
expenditure you are prepared to accept in respect of
each sale you
make.
Sometimes you
will invite readers to apply for further details of
what you
offer. You will most likely then send a
selection of
advertising
leaflets or perhaps a list or booklet of what you have
available. What are we analysing now - the response to
our
advertisement,
or the number of sales your literature brings
about? Remember, even if you make no actual sales on
one
occasion, you
have a list of names to which you may send details
of future
titles. You may also have the option to
sell or rent
those names to
fellow publishers; so even without sales on this
occasion, there
is hope for profit in the future. Sale
and rental
of lists of
opportunity seekers, publishers, those sharing a
particular
interest, is big business in the mail order world.
Never overlook
the possibility of selling your list to other
dealers, unless
of course you prefer to offer exclusively to them
in the
future. Names lists though, can provide
a useful sideline,
inviting many
repeat orders from satisfied mail order colleagues,
if that is, you
keep your list 'fresh', i.e. you remove those
names that the
postal services indicate as 'gone away'; and those
which have been
around for long periods without showing any
interest in
anything you have offered.
If you receive
several replies to your advertisement, but a low
sales level
ensues, it may well be that your sales literature is
at fault. Again, much depends on what level of response
and sales
you personally
view as unacceptably low. Generally
speaking, if
selling from
sales leaflets sent out in response to customer
enquiries, you
will receive something in the region of two
enquiries for
every œ1 your advertisement has cost; from these
enquiries you
should average a 10 - 40% sales ratio.
The nearer
you are to 40%,
the better is your sales literature; too near 10%
or even lower,
and something is wrong - check it out!
Your formula is:
Sales
_____
x 100
Number of
enquiries
Of course the
foregoing is highly generalised; you might be quite
prepared to
accept a much lower profit margin than do your
colleagues in
mail order. If this is the case then
fine, simply
work out what
are the margins of profitability below which you
will not go,
then continue to monitor your response and sales
ratios,
continuing with those advertisements that meet your
requirements,
and dropping or modifying those that don't.
It must be
pointed out that people being what they are -
individual and
highly changeable, it is possible that some other
factors are at
play, causing your sales to drop suddenly or
drastically. Don't immediately assume that your
advertising
policy needs
reviewing; even the time of year has a bearing on the
tentative
enquiries and actual sales you can expect to obtain.
And the
individual can be very changeable indeed - what he or she
desperately
wanted in January is not given even a passing thought
in June. Holidays, Christmas, personal matters - all
have a
bearing on how
much response your advertisement will achieve.
For
moneymaking and
business manuals for instance; it seems the best
time of the year
to advertise is during those months immediately
before and after
Christmas, but excluding December itself -
potential
customers are far too busy making arrangements for
spending money
to be bothered with ideas for making it!
After
Christmas
they're in need of ideas to bolster their flagging
finances. In the summer months response tends to drop
along with
the readership
sunning itself on the Costa del whatever.
Do don't
worry if the
advertisement that drew 200 enquiries in October
suddenly draws
only 120 in May. Your response rate
shouldn't fall
below 50% of
your best though, for more than a month or two at a
time without you
considering the need for a little amendment.
Rates may of
course drop suddenly and drastically in respect of
those
publications also in the hands of too many of your
competitors. The demand for such a manual will be as
strong as
for the same
manual in which you have exclusive copyright; all
that is
different is the method of supply - it's quite simply
shared, perhaps
by a great many publishers. Try for sole
copyright if you
wish to avoid such saturation of the market.
How Do I Write a
Good Sales Leaflet?
When requested
to send further information about a particular
title, always
take the opportunity to send details of as many
other titles as
you are able. Some publishers have a
separate
sales leaflet
for each title, often copied onto both sides of each
sheet. If you choose to save costs by having your
sheets copied
on both sides of
the paper it may be as well to have them printed,
top and tail
fashion, thereby allowing the customer, if he or she
wishes, to
complete the tear-off strips for both titles.
Whether you ask
for a stamped addressed envelope in which to send
your leaflets is
entirely up to you; research seems to indicate
that no fewer
replies are received when one is requested, and it
will go some way
to offsetting your costs.
Sales leaflets
generally take the form of printed A4 leaflets on
which are set
out the details of the title concerned, its price,
and a tear off
slip on which the customer enters the name and
address to which
correspondence will be sent. Sometimes
the
details are
merely typed onto the leaflet; sometimes the leaflet
is typeset; some
bear illustrations, some don't. Again
it's a
question of
deciding what works best for you. Always
try as many
variations as
you are able before deciding which form of sales
leaflet to
adopt. Certainly first impressions will
be highly
important - a
tatty, badly typed leaflet full of ambiguities and
errors, will
lead the reader to suspect that your manual is
similarly
defective. Typesetting can alleviate
most problems of
presentation and
really isn't an expensive option to consider.
Some sales
leaflets are completely self-explanatory; everything
the potential
customer wants to know about the document is set out
for him. But it is by no means unusual to find a
leaflet in which
there is no
indication at all of what the document will reveal.
On many
occasions the reader is made grand promises, and his or
her curiosity
aroused to such an extent, that purchase is the only
way to obtain answers
to those questions which simply must be
answered. Even the title of the publication gives no
indication
of what will be
forthcoming.
Again it's
entirely up to you as to how you approach the matter.
My preference is
not to confuse the customer into buying a
document which
he or she subsequently discovers no need for - will
that person buy
from such a source in future, I wonder?
I ask you
this not
sarcastically, for some publishers are quite happy with a
once off sale
and that is entirely for them to decide.
I though
am not happy
with such a situation, and once a customer is
satisfied with a
title purchased from me, I feel happy to approach
that person
again with similar titles in reasonable confidence of
a sale.
Always have any
photocopied sales leaflets produced onto as good a
quality paper as
you can afford; preferably no less than 80gms in
weight. The quality of photocopying machines varies
drastically
too; some offer
grey grainy reproductions, whilst others offer a
standard so high
it's often impossible to identify the original
from the
copy. Some machines offer colour
printing facilities -
worth
considering for a professional, eye-catching leaflet.
Some publishers
have their leaflets printed on coloured paper
ranging from
pastel shades to vivid penetrating shades to attract
the
attention. Personally I favour white or
subtle pastel shades,
with words to do
the task of securing a sale.
Send out your
leaflets and goods as carefully and neatly packaged
as possible, and
if your finances will stretch to first class
mail, there's
every chance you will get in there before your
rivals.
Strive to
provide as professional a service as you can and make
all impressions
of you as favourable as the first. In so
doing
you will succeed
in building a large and regular clientele.
Always offer a
money back guarantee and don't quibble, as long of
course as your
customer returns the goods in the same condition as
they reached
him!
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