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| HOW TO SUCCEED WITH
YOUR OWN MONEY-MAKING AD SHEET
|Business >
HOW TO SUCCEED WITH
YOUR OWN MONEY-MAKING AD SHEET
Publishing and distributing a mail order ad sheet can be very profitable. They
are simple and easy to produce, with most quick print shops able to handle the
printing at fairly low cost. The important consideration is that you can use
them to pull in advertising dollars for yourself, as a free advertising media
for your own products, and as an exchange medium with which to get greater
exposure for your own ads.
Before starting an ad sheet, you should plan it all out - decide on an
interesting, informative title, choose a masthead, lay out your columns for
size, determine if it is to be a simple 8 1/2 x 11 single sheet of paper or an
11 x 17 sheet folded in half. You'll also need to know your production cost for
the number you intend to have printed, and the post age cost to mail them out.
Most ad sheets start out as single sheets of paper, 8 1/2 x 11, printed on both
sides. Usually, the front side is divided into three equal columns about 2%
inches wide, with a inch margin from the edge of the paper on both sides and top
and bottom.
Assuming that the space occupied by your title, masthead and listing of rates
for advertisers interested in placing an ad with you is two inches deep, this
leaves you about 24 inches of advertising space to sell on the front side.
Figuring a cost of $50 for 1,000 copies of such an ad sheet, printed both sides,
and a third-class bulk-rate postage of $110, this means that your 24 inches of
ad space will have to be sold at a rate of $6.25 each in
order to break even. This means: You h ave to sell all of the ad space on the
front of your ad sheet at $6.25 Per ad - and then expect to make your profits
from the sale of the back side of your ad sheet. Actually, it would be feasible
to charge $7.00 per inch for the space on the front side, and carry your own
full page ad on the back side. At any rate, don't box yourself into a loss
situation where you can't afford to place your own ads in your ad sheet.
You get ads by making up an advertising solicitation sales letter and sending it
out to as many mail order dealers as you can find. You can also run ads in other
people's publications, inviting the readers to check with you regarding
placement of an ad in your publication. And of course, you'll be wanting to work
out some exchange advertising deals (whereby another publisher runs your ad in
his publication, and you run his in exchange). From the experience of many, many
publishers, this can be one of the most effective ways of getting your ads run,
at low/no cost, and it is recognized to be successful in the field of Mail
Order.
You probably won't be able to fill up all of your available ad space with paid
ads until you're well established - but no problem - first you fill your ad
space with paid ads, and then you fill in the empty space with ads of your own.
Some beginning advertisers fill a part of their empty space with complimentary
ads for other mail order operators, send them a copy of the issue in which the
complimentary ad appears, and invite them to continue the ad on a "paid" basis
from there. Many of them will appreciate the favor and send you a check or money
order to continue running the ad.
If you undertake the publication of an ad sheet, be sure to consider the
possibilities of sending out 100 to 1,000 copies of your ad sheet to other mail
order operators to rubber stamp their names/addresses as co-publishers and mail
out for you. Thus, if you had 50 other mail order operators sending out 100
copies each of your ad sheet, you'd be talking about a circulation of 5,000
copies plus the number of copies you mail out. If you can get this kind of
program going, you'll quickly build your reputation as well as your circulation,
and at the bottom line, your profits.
Some ad sheet publishers, once they've established themselves and are putting
out an impressive publication, set up distributor networks. Generally, they run
ads calling for distributor/dealers and asking for a $5 to $10 registration fee.
In reply to the registration application, they send out a letter explaining that
each distributor can buy at half price, so many copies of each issue of the ad
sheet, rubber stamp their name on each copy, and send them out as their own. In
return, the distributors usually get 50% of the incoming advertising orders, a
half-price ad for themselves, and an opportunity to sell subscriptions.
The bottom line relative to becoming a successful ad sheet publisher has to do
with keeping your production costs -printing and mailing - as low as possible,
while putting out a quality product that other people in the mail order business
will want to advertise in - while at the same time using it as a
advertising/selling vehicle for your own products.
My advice is that almost everyone involved in mail order selling should have
some sort of ad sheet - if for no other reason than as a means to an end - an
advertising vehicle for your own products, an extra income from advertising
revenues , and as an exchange media with which to gain greater exposure for your
own products in other people's publications. Once you've got an ad sheet, or any
kind of publication set up and being seen by other mail order operators, you'll
quickly gain stature and a certain amount of prestige.
As with any business, your ultimate success depends on your own feasibility
studies, and your sharp-pencil planning completed before you order your first
issue printed. Think about it, weigh the pro's & con's, then go with your
decision.
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