Posts in category Publishing
Print Advertising… The Forgotten Direct Sales Income Generator
Over the years, the Internet has become the primary means of trying to sell products, services, or information for many marketers and businesses. However, as popular as the Internet is, it still may not be the most profitable way to advertise or sell.
In our modern day of high-speed technology, many seem to forget that the tried and true method of direct sales marketing through print advertising can still prove to be the most profitable way to go.
Why is this you say? It’s because basic human nature has not changed, nor have human buying triggers. Having something tangible in hand that can be touched is still trusted more than words or images thrown up on a computer screen. In spite of the Internet’s capability of reaching out to multi-millions of email addresses or viewers in a matter of minutes… a printed circular or flyer in hand still holds more credibility.
Think about it. When you get a printed circular or flyer that you can hold in your hand… you tend to look at it as something real that is produced by a real person whom you can identify with. You don’t generally look at it as some unknown face or entity hiding behind a computer screen trying to scam you.
It seems illogical that so many marketers and businesses are unaware of, or have forgotten this old proven method of advertising and selling. Printed forms of advertising and direct sale pieces have stood the test of time, and have proven itself over and over again against everything that has come and gone.
Here’s something else to think about. Most people go online looking for information, not sales offers. So the chance of them running across your online offer is slim to none. However, when a printed direct sales offer is physically placed in the hands of people, they will put forth the effort to seek out the source of the offer. It doesn’t matter if it’s right up the street from them or online… the printed direct sales piece established a certain form of credibility.
With direct sales, you don’t have to worry about getting traffic to a web site, search engine optimization, black hat, white hat, or any of the other online techniques you see touted. People coming online to your web site after reading your printed direct sales piece are generally looking to buy the product or service offered.
The World Wide Web, or Internet should wisely be used in combination with direct sales as an extension of your advertising and sales efforts… not as your primary medium. More people who are ready to buy will find you through direct sales than they would just surfing the internet to see what’s available amid the billions of web pages.
A printed advertising or direct sales piece is really much easier to produce than a web site… wouldn’t you agree? All it has to do is make people aware of what is available, the cost, and where to get it. If the offer is located in a physical building, then give the address and times of operation. If it is located online, the give the web site addresses. It’s just that simple.
Most internet exclusive advertisers will likely see their sales efforts pay off in a much greater way by combining print advertising and direct sales with their online methods. Once a printed direct sales piece establishes credibility, a web site would only need to highlight benefits and give access to the offer.
Now that you realize the benefits and advantages… do yourself and your business a favor, and make print advertising direct sales an important part of your financial well being.
___________________
Keith Nickel Langevin has been in publishing and printing for over 20 years and can almost always save you time, money and headache with your printing needs. Call TOLL FREE 1-888-850-3777 and ask for Keith for fast friendly service.
Get Down to Business With Full Color Brochures
Call Toll Free 1-888-850-3777 for fast friendly service.
*FREE Business Cards! With almost any order. Inquire for details when ordering.
Print Broker… The Perfect Home Business
Sit back, relax, and imagine what the perfect home business would be like. Imagine a home business that is always in demand, thrives in any economic condition, and requires no special skills other than the ability to read and write. Can you imagine a home business you can start on Monday for less than the cost of a tank of gas, and people are practically begging you to take their money by Friday?
Well imagine no more because starting and operating a home business as a print broker is that perfect business. Think about this. Business people need business cards, printed forms, and documents. Every business, club, group, or organization in any town, city, or county… need and use various printed forms and documents in doing business.
The cold hard fact is… businesses and business people need printed forms and documents to operate! And, they need these forms and documents over and over again. Virtually any business or business person you can think of uses at least two or more types of documents or forms that need to be printed.
As a home business print broker, you simply take orders and forward them to printers who do the work for you wholesale, and ships the work to your customers.
Operating a home business as a print broker is almost too easy, and will grow to make as much money as you desire without paying a penny for advertising or getting more customers. How can this be possible you say? In the print business, there is a term called co-op printing. It is simply one customer’s non-conflicting document being printed on the back of another customer’s document.
Co-op printing is how you as a print broker, easily grow your home business to make as much money as you desire… without spending one red cent on advertising. Here is a quick example how this works. John’s barber shop needs to drum up some more business, and John decides to have 1,000 flyers printed up on color paper to distribute locally. Local printers would charge about $50, plus tax for the job. You offer the same service for $40… if John allows you to print your non-conflicting discount printing services flyer on back of his. John saves 25% off his printing cost, and you get 1,000 of your advertisement printed and distributed free.
John is happy, and you are happy because it is a win-win deal for both of you. However, do you know what just really happened? You were actually paid to advertise and grow your home business because your printer only charged you $25 for the order. 1,000 people and businesses will see your discount printing services… which will cause more orders to come rolling in without any effort or expense on your part. And, you can repeat this free money making home business growth technique as often as you desire by offering co-op printing services to other customers and businesses.
Many home business print brokers have mistakenly used this technique too often, and found themselves overwhelmed with orders and money. So be careful when using this technique so you do not find yourself taking in more orders and money than you can take on with ease. There is probably no other home business you can imagine that is so easy, costs so little to start, recession proof, and actually pays you to grow it.
Print Broker… The Perfect Home Business!
————————————————-
Keith Nickel Langevin has been in publishing for over 15 years. If you are interested in utilizing this strategy to generate additional income from your home call TOLL FREE 1.888.850.3777 and ask for Keith. You can be in business for yourself with no start up costs in 24 hours.
Media Training 201 — Formatting Your Press Release
Once you know the basics involved in writing a Press Release, you’ll find it’s a pretty
simple process to put one together. In fact, if you conform to “industry standards” and
include the information that reporters and editors are expecting to find, your press
release stands a very good chance of actually being used.
Here are the formatting rules you need to follow:
Use mixed case. NEVER SUBMIT A PRESS RELEASE IN ALL UPPER CASE LETTERS.
As you can see, it’s much more difficult to read that way.
Always follow the rules of grammar and style. Errors in grammar and style affect your
credibility. Excessive errors will cause your press release to be rejected.
Don’t use HTML. When sending your press release to online Media, do not embed HTML or
other markup languages in it. Including such formatting will negatively impact the
readability of your press release.
Use more than one paragraph. If you can say everything in only a few sentences, then
chances are you do not have a newsworthy story. (*Note: You may hear that your press
release should “never” be more than one page long. I have found that a press release
should be as long as it takes to tell your story. If that means one and a-half or two
pages, then that’s how long it should be. Do your best to keep it short and sweet, but
don’t take out important information just to make it fit on one page.)
Include a summary paragraph for online submissions. Some online news services request that
you include a one-page summary of your press release. This is because some distribution
points only receive your headline, summary and a link to your press release. If you are
submitting to online services, not including the summary paragraph may reduce the
effectiveness of your press release. This is not usually necessary with print, television
or radio media.
Write your press release on a word processor instead of composing it online. When you’ve
finished writing it, print it out, and proofread it. Rewrite, edit, and proofread again,
until you’ve got it exactly how you want it, and there are no mistakes. Because most
people have a harder time proofreading their own writing, ask someone you trust to
proofread it for you.
Do not include your e-mail address in the body of your release — especially when
submitting your press release online, or publishing your press release on your Website or
in your blog. You can include your email address in the contact information if you wish,
but if it goes online, be prepared to be spammed, since it’s going into public domain.
Most online media services will have a place for your email address in the submission
process, for your protection, and most of your local media will prefer a telephone number
to contact you with.
Here is a basic template you can use when writing your Press Release:
Starting at the top of the page, on your company letterhead, write the words “PRESS
RELEASE” in all capital letters, centered and bolded.
Hit the enter-bar twice, so you go down two lines. On the left hand side of the page,
write the date you want the information to be released, or if it’s “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE”
write that, again in all CAPS and bolded. On the same line, but to the far right, write
the words “CONTACT INFORMATION” again, bolded and in capital letters. Go down to the next
line, and list the contact person and their phone number.
It’s always a good idea to have two contact people whenever possible and two phone numbers
for each of them — for example, the office number and cell phone numbers. You can also
put your email address here.
Hit the enter-bar twice again, and type in your headline next. (It needs to be centered
and bolded, but not necessarily in all CAPS). Your headline needs to be short, snappy and
relevant. You want it to grab the reader’s attention.
Go down two spaces again. The body of your press release should be double spaced, and
typed in an easy to read 12 in font, such as Times New Roman or Arial. Leave lots of
white space in your press release — use at least one to two inch margins around your
page.
The first paragraph of your press release needs to provide the reader with enough basic
information to make them keep reading. It should answer the “W” questions — who, what,
when, and where and why. Because you’ve only got a few sentences, make every word count.
The second paragraph of your press release will answer the “so what” question. It needs to
explain who is going to be interested in this information, and why they should care about
it. The second paragraph is an ideal place to include a quote, or a touchie-feely “Kodak”
moment, to add human interest to your story.
The third (and often final) paragraph of your press release should answer any other
questions the reporter or journalist might still have about your story. Here is where you
can include information about your company, or any technical stuff.
Make your press release long enough to say what you need to say. If it goes beyond one
page, then centered under the last line on the first page, write the word “MORE” in all
caps and bold it.
Then on the second page, on the top right hand side of the page, write “Page 2″ and on the
line under that, write the title of your press release again.
Continue where you left off. When your press release is finished, put these symbols
centered under the last line “###” (without the quotation marks.) This lets the reader
know that you’re done.
That’s all there is to it. Although the information you provide will be different each
time you write a press release, the basic format will always stay the same. Now you’ve
got enough information to be able to write your first press release. So, “write” on and
good luck!