SECRETS OF GETTING FREE ADVERTISING FOR YOUR PRODUCT
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 own 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 promotion
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 catalogue, 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
realise.
Write a letter to the producer of these programs, then follow up
with an in-person visit or telephone call.
Your initial contact should emphasise that your product or service
would be of interest to the listeners or viewers of the program
- perhaps even saving them time or money.
Other ways of getting free or very inexpensive exposure include
the postage of advertising circulars on all the 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, especially on weekends.
You can also enlist the aid of the middle school students in your
area to hand out circulars door to door.
Some of the more routine methods include having a promotional ads
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 run your ad.
And there are some that will give you Per Inquiry (PI) space - an
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 fulfilment.
Many publications will give you a contract for "stand by" 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 than the regular price for the space you need to
insert your ad.
Along these lines, be sure to check in with the suburban and
neighbourhood papers.
If you send out or publish any kind of catalogue or ad sheet, get
in touch with 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 advertisement for
your book or other product on the back.
Ask for a stamped addressed envelope, and depending on the appeal
of your report, and the 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 of 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 the other offers you include with the
complete package you send back to them.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, it's just a matter
of un-leashing your imagination.
Do that, and you have a powerful force working for you that can
help you reach your goals.
