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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
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
promotions 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 catalog, 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 programs as possible. Actually, this
is much easier to bring about than most people realize. Write a letter to
the producer of these programs, then follow up an in-person visit or
telephone call. Your initial contact should emphasize that your product or
service would be of interest to the listeners or viewers of the
program--perhaps even saving them time and money.
Other ways of getting free or very inexpensive exposure include the posting
of advertising circulars on all 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 centers and malls, especially on weekend. You can
also enlist the aid of the middle school students in your area to had out
circulars door-to-door.
Some of the more routine methods include having a promotional ad 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 first-time advertisers; a free-of-charge insertion of your ad when
you pay for an order to run three issues or more; or special seasonal ad
space at greatly reduced rates. And there are a number of publications that
will give you Per Inquiry (PI) space--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 fulfillment.
Many publications will give you a contract for "" 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 the regular price for the
space need, insert your ad. Along these lines, be sure to check in with the
suburban neighborhood newspapers.
If you send out or publish any kind of catalog or ad sheet, get in touch
will 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 page advertisement for your book or other product on the backside. Ask
for a self-addressed stamped envelope, and depending on the appeal for your
report and 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 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 other offers you include with
the complete package you send back to them. As mentioned at the beginning of
this report, it's just a matter of unleashing your imagination. Do that, and
you have a powerful force working for you that can help you reach your
goals.
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