Offliners/Local Portal Owners Steal this Tactic From a Top Yellow Pages Directory Playbook
Fellow Warriors,
If you do offline gold and/or own a local portal site I'd like to share some tips and tactics that worked very well for the phone book I used to work for.
If you buy a yellow page ad, even if you renew the same exact ad with no changes whatsoever, the following year you would pay more for the ad.
Why is that?
You see, the phone books use something called "rate." Every year the price of the ads would increase anywhere from 5-10%+ depending upon the size of the city.
We would often have incentives for a company to use. For example, if you upgrade or were a first time buyer and you bought a Full page ad you could get a half page ad or two quarter page ads in different headings for half off.
The following year, those ads they got the special on, would be increased by rate. The rate wouldn't take the cost up to the full price but the rate for incentive offers like that would go up higher than a typical rate increase.
Here's an example:
I bought a full page ad and got a half page ad for half price. We'll say normally a half page ad would cost $2500 per year. So I had to pay $1250 in addition to what I paid for the full page ad to get it half price.
The following year, if someone wanted to buy just a half page ad, it would cost them $2625 (5% rate kicked in) the person who bought it the previous year for $1200 would now have to pay $1850 (15% rate)
They would keep increasing the rate every year on the ad until eventually the special deal payer caught up to what everyone else for that same ad was paying.
It would take a few years, but it was worthwhile, because the yearly rate increase on the full page ad they bought would help offset the "loss."
It would take a few years, but it was worth it, because don't forget they paid full price for the full ad and would have rate applied to that full page ad the following year and every year after, as mentioned above.
How does this fit into your offline business?
If you own a portal site don't be afraid to increase the price of the listing every year by a few percent. If your advertisers have a yellow page ad, they're used to this happening to them anyway. Newspaper, radio, television, etc.. advertising rates often go up too.
If you offer some type of service to offline clients that you do for a year, if you can offer them a second service for a special price if they buy something more expensive, don't be afraid to do it.
Then the following year, you can then re-new the contract and charge them more for the premium service rate, and the secondary service they got at a discount.
Keep it at a discount price than what someone who would just buy that service separately would pay, but don't be afraid to increase the rate of that service price 3x+ of the normal rate you increase your other services by. Remember you'll be making more from the premium service if they renew because of rate than you did the previous year anyway.
Yes, some of the business owners would growl and grumble about rate. However, they knew damn well that it was worth it to be there because their competition was. Even though some of them bitched and moaned a little, they often did it while signing the check, seriously.
Others, it didn't even phase them about the rate. They just expected it, and would just ask "How much this year?" With their check book in hand.
Even if you try this and lose a few advertisers, it doesn't matter, because the ones you lock in at a higher rate will more than make up for it. Not to mention, you'll be bringing in new clients at the higher rate too.
Any questions, feel free to ask.
If you do offline gold and/or own a local portal site I'd like to share some tips and tactics that worked very well for the phone book I used to work for.
If you buy a yellow page ad, even if you renew the same exact ad with no changes whatsoever, the following year you would pay more for the ad.
Why is that?
You see, the phone books use something called "rate." Every year the price of the ads would increase anywhere from 5-10%+ depending upon the size of the city.
We would often have incentives for a company to use. For example, if you upgrade or were a first time buyer and you bought a Full page ad you could get a half page ad or two quarter page ads in different headings for half off.
The following year, those ads they got the special on, would be increased by rate. The rate wouldn't take the cost up to the full price but the rate for incentive offers like that would go up higher than a typical rate increase.
Here's an example:
I bought a full page ad and got a half page ad for half price. We'll say normally a half page ad would cost $2500 per year. So I had to pay $1250 in addition to what I paid for the full page ad to get it half price.
The following year, if someone wanted to buy just a half page ad, it would cost them $2625 (5% rate kicked in) the person who bought it the previous year for $1200 would now have to pay $1850 (15% rate)
They would keep increasing the rate every year on the ad until eventually the special deal payer caught up to what everyone else for that same ad was paying.
It would take a few years, but it was worthwhile, because the yearly rate increase on the full page ad they bought would help offset the "loss."
It would take a few years, but it was worth it, because don't forget they paid full price for the full ad and would have rate applied to that full page ad the following year and every year after, as mentioned above.
How does this fit into your offline business?
If you own a portal site don't be afraid to increase the price of the listing every year by a few percent. If your advertisers have a yellow page ad, they're used to this happening to them anyway. Newspaper, radio, television, etc.. advertising rates often go up too.
If you offer some type of service to offline clients that you do for a year, if you can offer them a second service for a special price if they buy something more expensive, don't be afraid to do it.
Then the following year, you can then re-new the contract and charge them more for the premium service rate, and the secondary service they got at a discount.
Keep it at a discount price than what someone who would just buy that service separately would pay, but don't be afraid to increase the rate of that service price 3x+ of the normal rate you increase your other services by. Remember you'll be making more from the premium service if they renew because of rate than you did the previous year anyway.
Yes, some of the business owners would growl and grumble about rate. However, they knew damn well that it was worth it to be there because their competition was. Even though some of them bitched and moaned a little, they often did it while signing the check, seriously.
Others, it didn't even phase them about the rate. They just expected it, and would just ask "How much this year?" With their check book in hand.
Even if you try this and lose a few advertisers, it doesn't matter, because the ones you lock in at a higher rate will more than make up for it. Not to mention, you'll be bringing in new clients at the higher rate too.
Any questions, feel free to ask.