The
opportunities for getting free advertising for your product or
services
are limited only by your own imagination and energies.
There
are so many proven ways of promoting your own objectives
without
cost that it literally boggles the mind just to think of
listing
them.
One
way is to write an article relative to your particular
expertise
and submit it to all the publications and media dealing
in
the dissemination of related information.
In
other words, become your own publicity and sales promotion
writer.
Get
the word out: establish yourself as an expert in your field,
and
"tag along" everything you write with a quick note listing
your
address for a catalogue, dealership opportunity, or more
information.
Another
really good way is by becoming a guest on as many of the
radio
and television talk shows or interview type programmes as
possible.
Actually,
this is much easier to bring about than most people
realise.
Write
a letter to the producer of these programmes, then follow up
with
an in-person visit or telephone call.
Your
initial contact should emphasise that your product or service
would
be of interest to the listeners or viewers of the programme
-
perhaps even saving them time or money.
Other
ways of getting free or very inexpensive exposure include
the
postage of advertising circulars on all the free bulletin
boards
in your area, especially the coin-operated laundries,
grocery
stores, and beauty and barber shops.
Don't
discount the idea of handing out circulars to all the
shoppers
in busy shopping centres, especially on weekends.
You
can also enlist the aid of the middle school students in your
area
to hand out circulars door to door.
Some
of the more routine methods include having a promotional ads
relative
to your product or service printed on the front or back
of
your envelopes at the time you have them printed with your
return
address.
Be
sure to check all the publications that carry the kind of
advertising
you need.
Many
mail order publications just getting started offer unusually
low
rates to run your ad.
And
there are some that will give you Per Inquiry (PI) space - an
arrangement
where all orders come in to the publication, they take
a
commission from each order, and then forward the orders on to
you
for fulfilment.
Many
publications will give you a contract for "stand by" space.
In
this arrangement you send them your ad, and they hold it until
they
have unsold space, and then at a price that's always one
third
or less than the regular price for the space you need to
insert
your ad.
Along
these lines, be sure to check in with the suburban and
neighbourhood
papers.
If
you send out or publish any kind of catalogue or ad sheet, get
in
touch with all the other publishers and inquire about the
possibilities
of exchange advertising.
They
run your ad in their publication in exchange for your running
an
ad for them of comparable size in yours.
Finally,
there's nothing in the world that beats the low cost and
tremendous
exposure you get when you advertise a free offer.
Simply
run an ad offering a free report of interest to most people
- a
simple, one page report with a "tag line" inviting the readers
to
send money for more information, with a full advertisement for
your
book or other product on the back.
Ask
for a stamped addressed envelope, and depending on the appeal
of
your report, and the circulation of the publication in which
your
ad appears, you could easily be inundated with responses!
The
trick here, of course, is to convert all of these responses,
or
a large percentage of them, into sales.
This
is done via the "tag line" which issues an invitation to the
reader
to send for more information, and the full page ad on the
back
of the report, and the other offers you include with the
complete
package you send back to them.
As
mentioned at the beginning of this article, it's just a matter
of
un-leashing your imagination.
Do
that, and you have a powerful force working for you that can
help
you reach your goals.
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