Offline experts your opinions please. Would this interest business owners?

smilealot

10 years ago

It's called Welcome Wagon. They've been around since the creation of the earth or thereabouts!

Thanks
1 reply

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t297 10 years ago

Originally Posted by smilealot

It's called Welcome Wagon. They've been around since the creation of the earth or thereabouts!

What ads on a customised to a town (local scenes) calendar?
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Ron Lafuddy

10 years ago

Have you ever sold advertising, print or otherwise?

Thanks
1 reply

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t297

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Ron Lafuddy

Have you ever sold advertising, print or otherwise?

Never. Just an idea I had looking for some feedback.
I read about giant postcards etc. but no one really wants a card full of ads or a booklet full of ads. I think my calendar idea is much better as its a nice welcome gift containing pictures of the area they've moved to and a calendar is something useable and seen many times over the course of a month so won't be chucked away or put in a drawer.

Thanks
1 reply

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Ron Lafuddy

10 years ago

Originally Posted by t297

I read about giant postcards etc. but no one really wants a card full of ads or a booklet full of ads. I think my calendar idea is much better as its a nice welcome gift containing pictures of the area they've moved to and a calendar is something useable and seen many times over the course of a month so won't be chucked away or put in a drawer.

Really?

How do you know that this is true?

Do you have facts or evidence to support this?

Thanks
1 reply

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t297 10 years ago

Originally Posted by Ron Lafuddy

Really?

How do you know that this is true?

Do you have facts or evidence to support this?

Yes. They aren't for sale in stores - therefore no demand. Calendars are for sale, people buy them. People use them. I think most people would rather receive a free calendar in the mail than a giant postcard.
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- 2 replies
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- Ron Lafuddy 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by t297
  
  I think most people would rather receive a free calendar in the mail than a giant postcard.
  
  Do you have any experience, research, evidence or facts to support this?
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  t297 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Ron Lafuddy
  
  Do you have any experience, research or evidence or facts to support this?
  
  No, but I think if you were to ask 100 people if they would like a giant 9x12 postcard full of nothing but ads or a full color "welcome to *name of town* calendar 2014" containing 12 scenes of their new area I think the overwhelming majority would prefer a calendar. And no I have no evidence to support this - just a guess based on common sense.
  
  Thanks
  
  2 replies
  
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  Ron Lafuddy 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by t297
  
  And no I have no evidence to support this - just a guess based on common sense.
  
  Is this what you are basing your business model on?
  
  Thanks
  
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  Ron Lafuddy 10 years ago
  
  Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I was wondering what you were basing your conclusions on.
  
  I highlighted some of your comments below:
  
  "Unlike a booklet or flyer or a giant postcard a "Welcome to (name of town) calendar isn't likely to be seen as junk and shoved away in a drawer or thrown away."
  
  "no one really wants a card full of ads or a booklet full of ads."
  
  "And I think people will appreciate a free unique to their area calendar far more than a card full of ads or a flyer etc."
  
  Sounds like your comments are based on your personal preferences. Would that be correct?
  
  "They aren't for sale in stores - therefore no demand."
  
  Oh, but they are for sale in the stores. In fact, the demand often outstrips the supply. They are sold out in one day. It's called the Sunday Newspaper, and it is loaded with ads, giant postcard coupons, flyers, inserts of every sort. People not only buy the paper to get the ads, they pay a premium for it.
  
  The Sunday paper costs more than the daily.
  
  Nothing wrong with having personal preferences. We all do.
  
  In the world of business though, where financial investment and livelihood are often on the line, putting your personal preferences or "common sense" ahead of what the buyer wants and is willing to pay a premium for, can be fatal.
  
  Thanks
  
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- Aaron Doud 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by t297
  
  I think most people would rather receive a free calendar in the mail than a giant postcard.
  
  I just want the coupons and deals that I would use. I don't care how they come. I would not use the calendar personally.
  
  Deals delivered to homes work.
  
  But here are my thoughts on some research you need to do before testing this.
  1. How much does Welcome Wagon charge and how many homes?
  2. How much does Valpak and other monthly coupon services charge and how many homes?
  
  My main concern is that you will not be price competitive with those services.
  
  Also I would suggest making one Calendar for the year and selling them on monthly coupons (2 or 3) plus one or two pages of whole year offers. That way you would only have to sell and print one time. Also you could do every mover not just 100. Just look at past years and get an average number of movers for the year.
  
  You would give out the 14 month calendar from Oct to Sept each year.
  
  Also you could work on creating calendars for businesses to give as gifts the rest of the year. Car dealers would be a great sell for this. After a few years you could have a pretty good business going from just the repeat business the multiple calendars.
  
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  Aaron Doud - Sales & Success
  
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wsands

10 years ago

In my experience it always looks good on paper. The best knowledge you can gain is just by executing your plan.

Just a couple of potential future problems I see.

1. You will have to re-sell this every month to 20 new companies.

2. I don't see a lot of value in 100 homes. Is the list targeted? Are we talking about 100 of my perfect customers getting this calendar? Am I the only "whatever" on there or will I be competing with the other company in town? Is my ad on every page just with a different scene? Can I put different ads on different months?

3. I'm not sure how you are arriving at your figure of $400 for outsourcing your sales or how fast you figure you will sell those spaces.

So, to end on a positive note, I think it's a fine idea and will make money, many have made money off of similar ideas in the past and many will in the future!

Thanks
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t297

10 years ago

Originally Posted by wsands

In my experience it always looks good on paper. The best knowledge you can gain is just by executing your plan.

Just a couple of potential future problems I see.

1. You will have to re-sell this every month to 20 new companies.

2. I don't see a lot of value in 100 homes. Is the list targeted? Are we talking about 100 of my perfect customers getting this calendar? Am I the only "whatever" on there or will I be competing with the other company in town? Is my ad on every page just with a different scene? Can I put different ads on different months?

3. I'm not sure how you are arriving at your figure of $400 for outsourcing your sales or how fast you figure you will sell those spaces.

So, to end on a positive note, I think it's a fine idea and will make money, many have made money off of similar ideas in the past and many will in the future!

The idea is to have recurring billing, so an advertiser will be in front of 100 brand new movers each month and only cost them $1.49 per household to advertise for a whole year. If one or two drop out then they will be replaced with new advertisers. A different ad could be placed for each of the 12 months or the same one (whatever the advertiser wants. So they could have 12 different ads for the same price of $1.49/year per household)

Any advertiser won't be competing with a similar business so I think for around 12 cents per month for an exclusive ad is a very good deal and should be an easy sell. The calendars would go out to families who had moved to the town within the last 30 days,so extremely targeted.

Unlike giant postcards every ad will be in full view for each month. With a postcard pinned to a wall the ads on the back would be hidden, and a welcome to town booklet could get filed away. And I think people will appreciate a free unique to their area calendar far more than a card full of ads or a flyer etc.

$400 for outsourcing is based on $20 per ad spot sold which I think is reasonable.

Thanks
2 replies

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jamesfreddyc

10 years ago

Originally Posted by t297

Any advertiser won't be competing with a similar business so I think for around 12 cents per month for an exclusive ad is a very good deal and should be an easy sell.

You might want to test this theory first. I think you will learn pretty quickly that price alone is not always reason for buying behavior.

Maybe get on the phone and start having some conversations with business owners to get an understanding of their world, the problems in it and how your advertising solution aligns with those issues. But I just wouldn't assume that conversation to go as you think just because of your pricing.

Thanks

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wsands

10 years ago

Originally Posted by t297

The idea is to have recurring billing, so an advertiser will be in front of 100 brand new movers each month and only cost them $1.49 per household to advertise for a whole year. If one or two drop out then they will be replaced with new advertisers. A different ad could be placed for each of the 12 months or the same one (whatever the advertiser wants. So they could have 12 different ads for the same price of $1.49/year per household)

Any advertiser won't be competing with a similar business so I think for around 12 cents per month for an exclusive ad is a very good deal and should be an easy sell. The calendars would go out to families who had moved to the town within the last 30 days,so extremely targeted.

Unlike giant postcards every ad will be in full view for each month. With a postcard pinned to a wall the ads on the back would be hidden, and a welcome to town booklet could get filed away. And I think people will appreciate a free unique to their area calendar far more than a card full of ads or a flyer etc.

$400 for outsourcing is based on $20 per ad spot sold which I think is reasonable.

The reality is simple, you can analyze it to death or you can get on the phone with some potential buyers.

However, In further analysis! Who cuts coupons out of their calendar?

It would make more sense to decide that you are going to launch a calendar, put 20 ad spaces per month (page) on it, sell the spaces individually at like $30 each and triple the money made. Throw a local high school football team on the front with their upcoming schedule on the back page (you could even highlight game days on the calendar with their team color, game time, and location) do one large print run, mail some out over a 3-6 month period and give each football player like 10 to pass out to friends and family.

20 ad spaces X 12 Months X $30 per space = $7200 Gross

BUT! I digress, I have never done this specifically so I'm pretty much just guessing here.

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joe golfer

10 years ago

Could be a great idea. The only way to know is test it. It doesn't matter what anybody thinks, including you. Only the market's opinion counts.

Let the market give you the answers you seek, grasshopper.

Print a few, try to sell them and see what people say, and more importantly, do they buy? Do they give you money? If not, ask why not, and try again.

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Sean DeSilva

10 years ago

Your primary objection will be the high cost per door relative to the competition. Most small businesses have been pitched by ValPak at some point, and they have an idea that they can get in front of 10,000 houses for three cents apiece. What they don't understand is the difference from an impression on an already open display media like a postcard, versus being tucked away on page 9 of some ValPak coupon. Help them understand the difference, and you may have a shot.

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Matt Lee

10 years ago

Originally Posted by t297

I was thinking of designing a full color "Welcome to town" calendar online which would be sent out to 100 new movers to the area each month.

For each month of the year I'd buy a stock image of a scene of the city/town (or hire someone to take 12 photos in the area of different scenes) and I'd have 20 ad spots around each picture (5 along top, 5 down each side, 5 along the bottom)

For a full 12 months a business owner could be in front of one new homeowner for just $1.49 (equivalent to just 12 cents per ad per month) (100 new homeowners a month for $149).One ad per business so they get exclusivity.

Unlike a booklet or flyer or a giant postcard a "Welcome to (name of town)" calendar isn't likely to be seen as junk and shoved away in a drawer or thrown away. You wouldn't go out to store to buy for example a postcard full of ads but you would buy a calendar. So if you received a free color "unique to your area" calendar you would most likely hang it up and use it.

20 ad spots @ $149 = $2,980
100 A4 wirebound semi gloss color wall calendars = $360
100 new movers addresses = $50 at leadsplease
cost to mail 100 calendars = $300
Outsourcing the selling of ad spots = $400

$2980-$360-$50-$300-$400 = $1,870 profit per month.

The business owner will be happy at the very cheap exclusive advertising rate ($1.49/year per household) to be in front of newcomers to the area. I'd be happy at the huge ROI and the new mover will be happy as what he/she is getting in the mail is a nice free gift and not junk.

Rinse and repeat in another town. What do you think?

It's a good idea but needs tweaking. Especially more value for the advertisers. You need to send out way more than 100 calenders. I don't specialize in this area but I know there's lists that provide names & addresses of new homeowners - I would use that list as my leads list. You could also work with condo associations & higher end apartments and provide the calender to them for their new tenants.

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Offline experts your opinions please. Would this interest business owners?

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