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Education Marketing, Sales, & Public Relations Testing Classified Ads and Direct Mail
Education Marketing, Sales, & Public Relations Testing Classified Ads and Direct Mail | Testing Classified Ads and Direct Mail |
| Written by Jeff Dobkin | ||||||||
Page 1 of 6 You’ve probably read tons of articles about what to say in an ad to make it successful. Heck, I’ve probably written most of them. This article is different. This article tells you how to make money - by starting out with a small investment and gradually increasing it, until you’ve actually become rich. C’mon. What are you waiting for… take this magazine into the bathroom where you can get some quiet time and do some serious reading.
Finding ProductsYep, first, you need a product. Lots of people call me up and ask where they can find products. That’s incredible! Where can you find products? Look around! Products are everywhere! Unless you live in rural Alaska, you’re looking at products galore right now. It’s easy to find marketable products. There are only 6 criteria for good product selection: 1. YOU must like it - because you’re going to be talking about it for the next couple of years, and be immersed in the industry. 2. You must be able to buy it at one quarter to one third of its retail price. If you can’t meet these figures, you aren’t going to be able to sell it profitably and cover reasonable costs of running a business and marketing. Trust me on this one! Don’t let your feelings get in the way of reasonable mark-up. 3. Your target market must be willing to purchase it. If it’s a fishing product, fishermen must like it, too; enough to buy it. If it’s a pruning saw, gardeners must like it. 4. You must be able to identify, isolate and reach your target prospects from everyone else. If you can’t, you won’t be able to reach them effectively, and too much money will be wasted in your marketing campaign on people who just won’t buy. 5. Your product must be unique. If you’re selling lipstick, women can get this at any drugstore - why should they purchase it from you? By the way, I don’t know about where you live, but CVS and Eckerts drugstores are multiplying around here faster than rabbits. Right around the corner from me they actually opened-up a Eckerts inside of a CVS. 6. You need to have other similar products you can sell to purchasers. You’ve gone to all the work to attract customers and sell them your product. If you don’t have other products you can put in the same pipeline, you’re stuck: dead end. Why be stuck when you can make additional money easily - just by having other products available that are of interest to your current purchasers. Your marketing costs to sell these new products goes from the highest - where you are: acquiring brand new customers, to the lowest -0-, putting your offer in with your original product. So your profit is much much greater on any ancillary sale. Just include new product offers when you ship. Find Products in Magazines So, where do you find these products? Magazines. There are over 10,000 magazines - find them listed by market (i.e. all photography magazines are grouped together, all motorcycles magazines are found in the same listing) in any of the magazine directories (see sidebar). Most of these directories are available at your local library. Take lots of dimes and photocopy the pages of your markets. Call magazines and ask for a sample copy. Or to get free copies, follow the procedure I outline in my book, How To Market A Product For Under $500!. There are dozens of magazines for every industry. You can find any industry in 5 minutes with these great directories. Easy and fast - just the way I like my... breakfast. |
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