$2,000 ad budget...where would you start?

by Rachel Embry

Posted: 16 years ago 16 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Hi everyone

I am working with a small group of local businesses/professionals who deal with people going through forclosure. They came up with an idea of partnering together & offering some sort of local community "guide for foreclosure" to their clients. They want to offer a simple lead capture site online where they can direct traffic...specifically people in our local & surrounding areas who are on the brink of loosing their home...collect their contact info in exchage for the "free guide"...and then be able to email these leads or possibly direct snail mail to them also.

All very basic stuff....

But, here's my question: This is a local site & they want traffic from our city & cities within a 60 mile radius. They have a $2,000 monthly advertising budget for the site, and would like to get about 300-500 leads or opt-ins each month.

If you had $2,000 a month to buy traffic for a site like this...and your goal was to get 300-500 new opt-ins a month...where would you start?

Thanks for the help,
Rachel

#budgetwhere #start

khanarms

16 years ago

With adwords you can target specific areas, cities, states, etc. I would also think about purchasing a list for specific zip codes and by income level, then do a direct mailer. Possibly a flier that has a promise for information and contact info for your company. You can always do the prerecorded message to capture contact info.
Also on Google Trends you can research keywords and see what states, cities, etc have the highest searches for these keywords. So see if the people you are targeting are actually online trying to find info on how to save their houses.

Originally Posted by Rachel Embry

Hi everyone

Thanks
1 reply

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Internet Income

16 years ago

There is a company who will send out millions of emails for only $800 (can't remember their name), these are double opt in and highly responsive. I have and would use them in the future to kick start any online opprotunity.

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Zach Booker

16 years ago

I'd go with adwords...you can zoom in directly to your city.
Another option may be to have a big billboard with the name of your website on it.
Or just get some kids to pass out flyers? That's always a good one

Zach

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testaccount1234567 16 years ago

With adwords you are getting a reliable source of traffic. With others it can be a bit of a gamble, but make sure you educate yourself on adwords because it is very easy to blow a lot of cash.
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ariyes

16 years ago

maybe i go for Google adword then Yahoo. Google have the area based ad system.

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KaiWei

16 years ago

Hey Rachel,

I have a question...do majority of folks at your target city surf the net regularly? Now I cannot say I know anything about your market, but I'm suggesting you find out if the people you are targeting within that 60 miles actually go to the net to find about foreclosure (I don't even know what's that btw...LOL)

If you have reliable stats showing that your target prospects don't really surf online for foreclosure, I suggest you set up a lead capture page, and then invest some of the $2,000 for a ad in the local papers.

Be sure that your ad has good copywriting...great headlines...powerful call to action...the like. Find out what works.

Another small tip is to check out if there are any competing ads in the papers? Just make sure your ads are more appealing than what's in there.

But if you have stats showing that your target prospects do surf online about foreclosure, then I too suggest Adwords. The latter allows you to target your ads to a specific area.

Please do your due diligence on keyword research!

Thanks
1 reply

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Ricter

16 years ago

Originally Posted by KaiWei

Nearly the answer I was going to make. I'm not thinking the internet is the best medium for advertising to this group. Radio. Local cable. The paper. Flyers at "necessity" locations, like grocers. Etc.

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Rachel Embry

16 years ago

Thanks for all the help so far. People in my area are definitly searching online for "foreclosure info"...so I suppose I could use part of my ad budget on Adwords targeted towards my city.

I definitly thought about going the offline route with direct mail, bandit signs, flyers, etc...

$2,000 a month goes quick & I just want to make sure I can provide them with an adequate number of leads.

Thanks

Rachel

Thanks
1 reply

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Glenn Newsome

16 years ago

Originally Posted by Rachel Embry

Thanks for all the help so far. People in my area are definitly searching online for "foreclosure info".

$2,000 a month goes quick & I just want to make sure I can provide them with an adequate number of leads.

Thanks

Rachel

$2000 month seems like a very big budget to me for local stuff. Well, let's say it should be enough for the job.
Website (lead capture) adwords targeted at local,(should be free or cheap for you to do-if you know website building etc.even targeted toward "foreclosure city state name for generic google searches) classifieds in the local paper and online sites, craiglist,etc.,
maybe radio spot or two (questionable), maybe get with banks and realtors, to send out or have available a phamphlet etc. or flyer for customers behind on payments etc. (of course would have to be done discretely and legally).

Thanks

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scottglover 16 years ago

I have been in various local businesses over the years and have found that letterbox dropping is very affordable, you reach 1000's of people everyday. Although my businesses have been in Australia, I've found that for the $2000 a month you could get a very good response from radio and paper advertising working together. I could be wrong but I would suggest that the higher percentage of people listen to radio and read the paper over surfing the net, although the net is very much catching up.
Both of these are quite broad audience based but, so I would suggest a list marketing company should be approached to research the businesses you are looking for and they will supply you with a list for a couple of hundred dollars. I have found over the years this to be the best B2B advertising.
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- lakshaybehl 16 years ago
  
  Ad words traffic if done correctly can get you that kind of list pretty easily.
  
  Though I am strong believer in getting a list of 50 customers as compared to 500 freebie downloaders. And with 2000 dollars, I would have someone get a list of 100 buyers at least. But that depends upon the niche you are in.
  
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  2bwealthy 16 years ago
  
  since the the guide is free and offers valuable info then call your local newspapers and radio station to try to get an interview. basically say that you are a community based group wanta to offer free info to those facing forclosure and lead the poeple back to your option page.
  if you can get an interview done, then upload a recording of it and also use that in your ads to drive traffic to your option page. simple say "listen to the interview that was on XYZ etc" your traffic and optin rate would increase if there was a interview around it.
  
  targeted postcards could work as well
  
  Thanks
  
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  logocheckout 16 years ago
  
  Wow, good advices.
  
  Thanks
  
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  Mark Riddle 16 years ago
  
  There's not enough info to give a complete answer.
  
  Is this a rural area, is the a metro area ?
  
  Many areas have foreclosure listing services that give complete details on properties and generally the costs are about the well below what you are looking to invest. What I have seen is anywhere from $60 - 150 a Month
  
  Pick up the area's Legal Notice Publication and advertise for leads.
  
  Many a would be investor, would like to get paid for just leads as to work the leads themselves.
  
  Newspaper / Classifieds
  
  Advertise a recorded message dealing with foreclosure help and tips, at the end of message send them to a website.
  
  And the multimillion dollar insiders only answer is.......
  
  Make a donation to your areas food pantry's and faith based organizations with complete media coverage, letting those who deal with social services in your area, know that you invest in the community and do what you can to assist those who are in need.
  
  Mark
  
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  Rachel Embry 16 years ago
  
  Wow, lots of great responses!
  
  Yes, it's a metro area...Tampa....big city & from what I've heard in the news it's also one of the hardest hit areas for foreclosures. I was concerned that $2,000 a month wasn't going to be enough, but after reading all the responses I'm more optimistic about it. Thanks so much everyone!
  
  Rachel
  
  Thanks
  
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  Droopy Dawg 16 years ago
  
  I did some comparisons between adwords and 7search. On average... I paid about $0.38 more for keywords on adwords than I did for 7search. My keyword density for the article was a little over 4%, and I got more clicks for less money from 7search than I did for Adwords.
  
  I checked my stats (analytics) to make sure I wasn't getting screwed. I had also started a campaign on (paid search from a site that starts with an "M"... can't remember), but they charged me for clicks that I never got. I cheked my dashboard and they claimed I had $33 worth of clicks in about 2 hours, but I checked my stats and I hadn't gotten ANY clicks ... and NO referrals from that site, so I was able to get my $$ back because I sent them a screenshot of my web analytics.
  
  I'm sure there's more, but Adwrods and 7search are real cool... and in my experience... 7search was a little cheaper.
  
  Thanks
  
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$2,000 ad budget...where would you start?

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