6 new paying clients from one local newspaper ad...

9 years ago

Originally Posted by Bill Jenkins

I'm always looking for new underutilized traffic sources to expand into.

I've dabbled in the past with local newspaper ads and received good results. But then I got so busy with other ventures like niche marketing in trade publications and obtaining finder fees from public records I didn't run anymore ads for a long while.

Then, about a week ago I decided to run an ad in a local newspaper for my offline services just to mix things up. The town I targeted had a population of around 35,000. The ad cost me $175 and was small. I used direct response principles in the ads construction. I would give it a B- because I just kind of whipped it up.

Lo and behold I started receiving phone calls the day the ad ran. I guess people still do read newspapers! I received a total of 14 calls and wound up with 6 fresh paying clients. One of them actually took the most expensive option after a 15 minute phone call. No tire kickers to speak of. It was excellent.

I don't believe this method can be saturated. This was one tiny ad in a small town newspaper and it produced significant revenue. And there are literally thousands and thousands of similar places these ads could be run. I'm sure it could be done in other countries too.

I plan to roll out more campaigns in the coming weeks. If you have any specific questions you can ask them here for everyone to benefit from...

Bill

So it looks some biz owners still read the local paper.
Which biz category were you targetting?
What service were you offering?

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animal44

9 years ago

Despite the stats saying newspapers are in decline, lots of people definitely still read newspapers. We got way more traffic to a website using press releases than we've ever seen using local SEO.

If you issue a news related press release you can get such a response for free. Local papers are always looking for editorial. Just ensure you have someone ready to handle the press enquiries...

An example from my swipe file - didn't keep a note from where it came - probably Dan Kennedy or Joe Vitale:

The news headline was about a California university saying stress is robbing the economy of $51 billion dollars. So the press release to promote a book on time management was "Philadelphia man creates a single-sheet form that will save the U.S. economy $51 billion annually!"

The concept is to get an interesting headline so that your direct response ad, disguised as a news item, is published as an editorial news release...

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Adrian John

9 years ago

Did you offered something free? What was the call to action phrase?

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Steve The Copywriter

9 years ago

Shot Bill!

Takes me back to the old prehistoric days before the interweb.

Bunging Ads in the press and magazines.

No advanced degree in computer programming or coding required.

No waiting for them to work.

I realise that not all the 35,000 people read your Ad.

But I'm wondering if $175.00 spent on the web would bring in 14 good enquiries and 6 new hot shot clients as quickly and easily.

Steve

P.S. Maybe people will tell me it can or does - but to me press ads are a lot simpler that websites, blogs, seo, keywords, social media, google's ever changing algorithms and on and on and on it goes...

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Oziboomer 9 years ago

Originally Posted by Steve The Copywriter

But I'm wondering if $175.00 spent on the web would bring in 14 good enquiries and 6 new hot shot clients as quickly and easily.

Maybe more enquires if clicks is what you track but for real conversions at a cost of less than $30 each is gold wouldn't you say?.

The demographics of the traditional newspaper reader may have matched the target market well and the message may have really hit home.

It is great to hear of success stories from more traditional methods.
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eccj

9 years ago

Originally Posted by Bill Jenkins

I'm always looking for new underutilized traffic sources to expand into.

I've dabbled in the past with local newspaper ads and received good results. But then I got so busy with other ventures like niche marketing in trade publications and obtaining finder fees from public records I didn't run anymore ads for a long while.

Then, about a week ago I decided to run an ad in a local newspaper for my offline services just to mix things up. The town I targeted had a population of around 35,000. The ad cost me $175 and was small. I used direct response principles in the ads construction. I would give it a B- because I just kind of whipped it up.

Lo and behold I started receiving phone calls the day the ad ran. I guess people still do read newspapers! I received a total of 14 calls and wound up with 6 fresh paying clients. One of them actually took the most expensive option after a 15 minute phone call. No tire kickers to speak of. It was excellent.

I don't believe this method can be saturated. This was one tiny ad in a small town newspaper and it produced significant revenue. And there are literally thousands and thousands of similar places these ads could be run. I'm sure it could be done in other countries too.

I plan to roll out more campaigns in the coming weeks. If you have any specific questions you can ask them here for everyone to benefit from...

Bill

How did you buy your ad?

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Steve The Copywriter

9 years ago

Ozi,

Yes, it would be good.

If you can get the "clicks"

Without an endless faff and a fuss.

I know many can.

But if a newspaper has the target audience and the Ad hits the right "buying" emotions - isn't it a lot easier?

Steve

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Claude Whitacre

9 years ago

Originally Posted by Bill Jenkins

I'm always looking for new underutilized traffic sources to expand into.

I've dabbled in the past with local newspaper ads and received good results. But then I got so busy with other ventures like niche marketing in trade publications and obtaining finder fees from public records I didn't run anymore ads for a long while.

Then, about a week ago I decided to run an ad in a local newspaper for my offline services just to mix things up. The town I targeted had a population of around 35,000. The ad cost me $175 and was small. I used direct response principles in the ads construction. I would give it a B- because I just kind of whipped it up.

Lo and behold I started receiving phone calls the day the ad ran. I guess people still do read newspapers! I received a total of 14 calls and wound up with 6 fresh paying clients. One of them actually took the most expensive option after a 15 minute phone call. No tire kickers to speak of. It was excellent.

I don't believe this method can be saturated. This was one tiny ad in a small town newspaper and it produced significant revenue. And there are literally thousands and thousands of similar places these ads could be run. I'm sure it could be done in other countries too.

I plan to roll out more campaigns in the coming weeks. If you have any specific questions you can ask them here for everyone to benefit from...

Bill

Bill; Congratulations! Could you please post the ad, or at least what it says? Thanks.

Thanks
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Bill Jenkins

Banned 9 years ago

The service I was offering was SEO/PPC as well as general marketing. This could include copy for their website, direct mail letters, PURL postcards, email follow up sequences etc. They can pick and choose what they want or get a bundle for a better value.

I did get good results the last time I ran a local newspaper ad a while back. I just got so busy with other projects it kind of fell off the radar.

In my opinion, anyone could fill their offline marketing business to the point where the problem becomes having too many clients as opposed to not enough. The scalability of this is simply enormous.

And once you get your ad dialed you can run it in larger cities to get significantly more responses. This would cost more upfront, but your copy is proven. Or you could simply continue targeting small/midsize towns which offer cheap ads and spread it to multiple areas.

I think a lot of people fall into a kind of hypnosis where they get locked into only the current marketing trends. The thing about trends is that competition follows them like a shadow. So nowadays the trends are towards PPC/SEO/Facebook ads/Media buys, etc...

You'll notice you don't see a lot about newspaper ads. But they're highly effective if done properly. Same thing with PURL postcards, trade publication magazines, dollar bill letters, finders fees from public records, and other off the radar money makers.

These are more obscure and offer many benefits compared to the common trends. This is what I'm rediscovering with the results from this small newspaper test.

Bill

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joe golfer

9 years ago

Originally Posted by Bill Jenkins

The service I was offering was SEO/PPC as well as general marketing. This could include copy for their website, direct mail letters, PURL postcards, email follow up sequences etc. They can pick and choose what they want or get a bundle for a better value.

It did sound a little dubious when he said he mentioned SEO, PPC and general marketing in the same little ad but had tremendous results. It almost never works that way. IMO, with little ads it's better to focus on one product or service at a time.

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AmericanMuscleTA 9 years ago

Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre

Bill; Congratulations! Could you please post the ad, or at least what it says? Thanks.

I'm with Claude.

Could you show us your ad?

Also, did you advertise in the "services" section of the newspaper or did you have an ad that just floated around on one of the pages?
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IMAnthony

9 years ago

That's great.
I'd never imagine you could get clients using the old, extinct newspaper ads...
how could I miss it?
I don't understand why are print newspaper companies yet if clearly everybody read only digital versions and NOBODY buys newspaper anymore. A complete mystery.

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Steve The Copywriter

9 years ago

Sobs, the demise of the printed newspaper - the readers seem to prefer the digital versions where you wear out your fingers scrolling down the magnificent HD 4 inch screen.

Whispers…thing is... a good few people STILL prefer print (and with less Advertising your exquisitely written Ad can get a rather juicy response).

Picking up a physical newspaper... well it's a bit getting a real letter instead of countless emails.

Kind of like a pleasant surprise.

A bit of nostalgia… and a lot of people crave for it.

Steve

P.S. There is a bitter sweet irony to this - Bills newspaper Ad was selling interweb technology.

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Joe J

9 years ago

With the same ads being run in some of the local newspapers around my neighborhood,

I'm guessing they do well because I see the same ads year after year after year.

Joe

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Freebiequeen1999

9 years ago

Here in South Florida there are still ads that run consistently.....mostly geared to the (large) older population....

chiropractors, podiatrists, hearing aids, medicare supplements, investments, stuff like that,
oh and early bird specials and such

You would have to know your demographic

Our local newspaper has gotten slimmer and smaller every few months it seems. They did try an online directory - coupons and such - and it failed

They have local "hip" free newspapers, with many ads for hookah, e-cigs, nightclubs, bands, and then ...yeah....massages, and sex stuff ads in the back

NewTimes

they have local editions which still have some ads for car repair, home stuff etc...and sometimes "sections"...

but a LOT less ads than years gone by

so ....the right offer...in the right paper could work

Actually all forms of advertising and marketing can work - it just depends on the cost, the roi
and the target

If you want to sell cemetery plots in South Florida the Sun Sentiel newspaper is the way to go

A SMALL very local paper with low ad cost can still be viable if you have a specific offer for that area IMHO

However, thinking out your marketing and advertising is key - what I have seen (in real word) is many small biz jump from one thing to another, don't really track it, have confusing and confused graphics, several logos,
a couple different facebook etc pages (some they lost the password to LOL)
this is just real world

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Joe J

9 years ago

Besides noticing the same ads over and over again by actually seeing them yourself, maybe someone knows how to find out how long an ad has been running and use that to your advantage.

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animal44

9 years ago

Originally Posted by Joe J

Besides noticing the same ads over and over again by actually seeing them yourself, maybe someone knows how to find out how long an ad has been running and use that to your advantage.

It's not just that an ad runs for a long time. As FreebieQueen says, small business owners don't track their ads, so they don't know if they're performing or not.

One of the first ads we did was for a company who had been running the same ad for years. When tracked over a four week period, their ad didn't produce any response. Ours caused them to sell out of a seasonal product for the first time in their history.

Another client, we reduced their advertising expenditure by some 60% by introducing tracking - with no loss in revenue.

If the ad has some form of tracking, like a dept code or something, then it might be worth following. We use virtual telephone numbers combined with an offer code to track.

People may not know this, but it's possible to split test newspaper and magazine ads. You supply two variations of the ads, and they print them alternately. I'm not sure exactly how they implement it, but if you pick up two identical issues of the same newspaper or magazine, you might see variations in some ads...

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ewenmack 9 years ago

Here's a one-stop-shop to place nationwide ads,
so you can easily scale.

Nationwide Newspapers Advertising

Best,
Doctor E. Vile
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- animal44 9 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by ewenmack
  
  Here's a one-stop-shop to place nationwide ads,
  so you can easily scale.
  
  Nationwide Newspapers Advertising
  
  Best,
  Doctor E. Vile
  
  That's a useful resource. Don't suppose you have something similar for Australasia and UK?
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  ewenmack 9 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by animal44
  
  That's a useful resource. Don't suppose you have something similar for Australasia and UK?
  
  Got this Terry, not newspapers
  but digital local UK networks.
  
  Can target based on behavior...
  like have looked at cars.
  
  Newsquest Digital - Home
  
  Best,
  Doctor E. Vile
  
  [ 1 ] Thanks
  
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- Peter Lessard 9 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by ewenmack
  
  Here's a one-stop-shop to place nationwide ads,
  so you can easily scale.
  
  Nationwide Newspapers Advertising
  
  Best,
  Doctor E. Vile
  
  Nice link but I would advise to do some research and choose carefully what you buy. For example the price they quote for 1 insertion in the New York Times is $30 more than 3 insertions (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday) if you go straight to the source. That's a rather significant difference.
  
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- Claude Whitacre 9 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by ewenmack
  
  Here's a one-stop-shop to place nationwide ads,
  so you can easily scale.
  
  Nationwide Newspapers Advertising
  
  Best,
  Doctor E. Vile
  
  I remember, years ago, I answered a classified ad about "selling advertising". It prompted a call from a guy selling a directory with exactly this information.
  
  I paid $300 for it.....for precisely what everyone could look up...for free.
  
  Claude The Moron
  
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- East Bay Media Marketing 9 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by ewenmack
  
  Here's a one-stop-shop to place nationwide ads,
  so you can easily scale.
  
  Nationwide Newspapers Advertising
  
  Best,
  Doctor E. Vile
  
  for $1,000 i can run an ad for 7 days reaching 11 million people.
  if what he is claiming is true, i might just give it a little test.
  sounds interesting. but yes i know i won't go that big my first try since i have no experience running a news paper ad. but it wouldn't be a bad investment once i know what I'm doing
  
  Thanks
  
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joe golfer

9 years ago

It sounds like you mentioned several services in one ad. Try testing one service or product in a single ad, and you may get even better response.

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a1marketing

9 years ago

Hey "Bill" I notice you used to post on the forum As "AndrewK" (Andrew Kryzak) and you were banned for faking income screenshots (I like to do detective work in my spare time). So my question to you is now that you have another username this time calling yourself "Bill Jenkins" why should I believe anything you say?

Your talk about Purl postcards/Chamber of Commerce in your links in your member profile combined with the URL of your domain/website gave you away.

I'm pretty sure a banned user cannot return under a new name so you are breaking the forum rules yet again.

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John Durham

9 years ago

With the Better World Books company selling over 20,000 used books per DAY on Amazon, I would say a lot of people are still left out there who enjoy print. Some of the biggest internet companies , such as the one mentioned above, make their money selling tangible printed materials.

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East Bay Media Marketing

9 years ago

would love to see the ad you use.

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1 reply

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rocemore

9 years ago

People that keep asking him to post his ad. Do you not see he has been banned?

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East Bay Media Marketing 9 years ago

Originally Posted by rocemore

People that keep asking him to post his ad. Do you not see he has been banned?

did not see that of course otherwise i wouldn't have asked
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- Claude Whitacre 9 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by East Bay Media Marketing
  
  did not see that of course otherwise i wouldn't have asked
  
  I would have still asked. I love the sound of my own voice.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  AmericanMuscleTA 9 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre
  
  I would have still asked. I love the sound of my own voice.
  
  I play a recording of Claude's voice every night. It helps put me to sleep.
  
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  Chris Grable 9 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by AmericanMuscleTA
  
  I play a recording of Claude's voice every night. It helps put me to sleep.
  
  I've been reading his books. They have kept me awake!
  
  Thanks
  
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kenmichaels

9 years ago

Originally Posted by rocemore

People that keep asking him to post his ad. Do you not see he has been banned?

as well he should be ..

Originally Posted by a1marketing

Hey "Bill" I notice you used to post on the forum As "AndrewK" (Andrew Kryzak) and you were banned for faking income screenshots (I like to do detective work in my spare time). So my question to you is now that you have another username this time calling yourself "Bill Jenkins" why should I believe anything you say?

Your talk about Purl postcards/Chamber of Commerce in your links in your member profile combined with the URL of your domain/website gave you away.

I'm pretty sure a banned user cannot return under a new name so you are breaking the forum rules yet again.

There was a time on this sub forum lots of the older members "vetted" the drive by ers ... like you did.
I miss those days.

Thanks for taking the time

Thanks
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Chris Grable 9 years ago

Well Crap! It was such a good story.
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6 new paying clients from one local newspaper ad...

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