|
Advertising
plan PR8
| advertisement.
Article Tools. E-mail this E-mail this · Print this
Print this ... For example, in addition to
classified ads, Entrepreneur magazine provides |
Q:
Our
business
is still fairly new, so not a lot of people know about us. What
types of advertising should we do to bring in
customers
right away?
A: Your small business can't thrive if
it's hard to find. Are you making the most of "search corridor" media?
They're where customers look first when they've made a decision to buy
and should be an important component of your media mix. Telephone
directories are the most common form of search corridor media, but
they're just a part of the story. There are also search corridors
created by consumer and trade magazines. Newspapers provide classified
advertising opportunities plus special sections that become effective
search corridors, and online search engines have become overnight
sensations when it comes to entrepreneurial marketing, thanks to
pay-per-click ads.
Choose the Right Media
Where do your customers look first when they want to buy what you
sell? Here are a few of your best search corridor options:
Directories: Of the $22 billion small to midsized enterprises
spent on advertising media last year, 46 percent went to
Yellow Pages advertising. That's nearly half of all ad dollars spent
by
small businesses. And it's easy to see why: For some types of
products and services, telephone directories are the ultimate ad tool.
For example, let's say you sell something that customers only need
occasionally (so they don't necessarily have an established supplier at
hand) or that's needed quickly when a special situation occurs. You
might own a retail store that sells party balloons, or perhaps you're a
locksmith. You'd benefit by having a standout ad in your community
telephone directory because you'd reach customers with immediate needs
who are more likely to look there rather than wait for referrals from
friends or take the time to do extensive research.
In addition to the Yellow Pages, there are many other types of
directories that provide excellent media opportunities. There are
industrial directories and others that fit the needs of all types of B2B
marketers. A freelance cameraman, for instance, might advertise in
creative directories that production companies use to find crews when
shooting television spots.
Magazines: Many types of magazines offer special sections in
the back designated for "direct response" print ads. These sections
typically consist of small-space black-and-white ads clustered together
under a special banner—thereby creating a search corridor. Subscribers
come to rely on the special sections and use them to "shop" when they
have a specific need.
Magazines that reach a wide range of target audiences all offer
search corridor opportunities. For example, in addition to classified
ads, Entrepreneur magazine provides an "Opportunity Mart" that
advertisers use to reach entrepreneurs looking for new business
opportunities. Boating World magazine provides a "Boats & Gear"
section where readers can find ads for everything from drive-on docks
for jet boats to remote-controlled bow lights. And Metropolitan Home
magazine includes a "Gallery" in the back with small-space ads where
readers can locate the manufacturers of spiral staircases and
factory-direct table pads.
Newspapers: It's no surprise that newspapers ranked second (at
13 percent) after Yellow Pages when it came to claiming the largest
percentage of advertising dollars spent by small and midsized
businesses in 2003. Classified advertising sections in newspapers
nationwide are among the hardest-working search corridor vehicles. But
newspapers also offer much more. Daily newspapers have search corridors
that meet the needs of all types of advertisers and consumers. Most
publish business, home and leisure and travel sections, as well as
special sections that may run only once per month or several times per
year. These become search corridors because readers turn to them when
they want information on where to buy products or services in those
categories. The Washington Post, for example, seasonally
publishes a specially bound dining guide that readers save to use time
and again to find just the right restaurant.
Paid searches: More than 100 million Americans looked for
product and service information online in the past year, and nearly
three-quarters of them used search engines, according to a study from
the Dieringer Research Group. Even consumers who plan to shop offline
will research their purchases online prior to buying. In fact, for every
$1 spent online, the Internet influences $1.50 in brick-and-mortar
sales. So it makes sense that pay-per-click ads have become a workhorse
for small businesses. With paid searches, you select keywords or keyword
pairs, and your ad appears each time someone searches on them.
Pay-per-click ads are offered by all the major search engines and are
one way to guarantee your ad will show up at the top of search results.
Create Hardworking Ads
Search corridor shoppers are ready to buy—it's the job of an
effective ad to persuade them to buy from you. For best results,
create ads that specifically list all the important ways you'll meet
your prospects' needs. If your deli offers free delivery, then your ad
should say so. Got a bigger selection of DVDs than anyone else? Put it
in bold letters. Get the picture? Help your customers find what they
need quickly and easily, and you'll have standout search corridor
advertising that will play a strong role in your marketing mix.
Kim T. Gordon is an author, marketing coach and media
spokesperson-and one of the country's foremost experts on
entrepreneurial success. Her newest book,Bringing
Home The Business, identifies the 30 "truths" that can make the
difference between success and failure in a homebased business. Kim
offers one-on-one coaching by telephone to motivated individuals,
providing practical marketing advice and budget-conscious strategies
unique to your business. To receive free how-to articles and advice, get
information on coaching and appearances, read a book excerpt, or contact
Kim, visithttp://www.smallbusinessnow.com,
a huge site devoted exclusively to marketing your small business.
Advertising and Promotions
PR5
| Using Classified Ads in
Newspapers and Magazines How to write classified
ads ... Radio and TV Advertising/Marketing
articles · Radio advertising |
Advertising and Promotions
Assembled by
Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD | Applies to nonprofits and for-profits
unless noted
First-timers |
Library materials |
Library home page |
Contact us |
[Authenticity Consulting Home Page] |
[MAP Home Page]
Before you learn more about advertising, you should get a basic
impression of what advertising is. See
What's "Advertising, Marketing, Promotion, Public Relations and
Publicity, and Sales?". Advertising is a major "phase" of overall
product or service development and management. Advertising is
specifically part of the "outbound" marketing activities, or activities
geared to communicate to the market, eg, advertising, promotions, public
relations, etc. ("Inbound" marketing activities are geared to
communicate from the market, and include, eg, market research about the
market.) Therefore, after reviewing this topic "Advertising and
Promoting", you might also benefit from scanning the topic
Product/Service Management to get more perspective on the role of
advertising. Later, you might scan some of the related topics referenced
in the section
Related Library Links to get an even larger perspective on
advertising and promotions. In particular, be sure to look at
information in the closely related topics
Marketing and
Public and Media Relations.
(The publication,
Field Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation,
includes more comprehensive and detailed information about advertising
and promotions, along with the broader activities of marketing. Although
the publication pertains to nonprofits, the marketing information
pertains to for-profits, as well.)
Table of Contents
Basics of Advertising and Promotions
Advertising Law (take a quick look to see what you should avoid)
Basics and Planning (always start with a basic plan -- goals, methods,
etc.)
Preparing for Advertising and Promotions
Myths of advertising
Positioning (including writing your positioning statement)
Writing Your Ad
Various Methods of Advertising and Promotions
Major Methods of Advertising and Promotion
Using Direct Mail (this includes mailings directly to your customer)
- - -Mailing
Lists (it's useful to have lists of people who are likely to buy your
product)
Signs and Displays
Classifieds of Newspapers and Magazines
Advertising on Radio and T.V.
Telemarketing
On-Line Advertising and Promotions
Evaluating Advertising and Promotions
Measuring Results of Advertising
Evaluating Your Marketing Program
General Resources
Glossary of Advertising Media
another glossary
Related Links in the Library
On-Line Newgroups and Listservs
To Form Local Learning Communities to Learn This Topic
Free, Complete, On-line Training Programs That Include This Topic!
For For-profit Organizations:
This topic is also included in the
Free Micro-eMBA learning module,
Marketing Your Products/Services and Promoting Your Organization.
This complete, "nuts and bolts", free training program is geared to
leaders, managers and consultants who work with for-profit
organizations.
For Nonprofit Organizations:
This topic is also included in the
Free Nonprofit Micro-eMBA learning module,
Designing and Marketing Your Programs. This complete, "nuts and
bolts", free training program is geared to leaders, managers,
consultants and volunteers who serve nonprofit organizations.
Tell Friends! Local Professional Organizations! Spread the Word!
Tell friends and professional organizations about these free programs!
Advertise them in your newsletters and web sites so that others can save
training dollars, too!
Advertising Law
Advertising / Marketing Laws
Basics and Planning
Introduction
Advertising and promotions is bringing a service to the attention of
potential and current customers. Advertising
and promotions are best carried out by implementing an advertising and
promotions plan. The goals of the plan should depend very much on the
overall goals and strategies of the organization, and the results of the
marketing analysis, including the positioning statement.
The plan usually includes what target
markets you want to reach, what features and benefits you want to convey
to them, how you will convey it to them (this is often called your
advertising campaign), who is responsible to carry the various
activities in the plan and how much money is budgeted for this effort.
Successful advertising depends very much on knowing the preferred
methods and styles of communications of the target markets that you want
to reach with your ads. A media plan and calendar can be very useful,
which specifies what advertising methods are used and when.
For each service, carefully consider: What
target markets are you trying to reach with your ads? What would you
like them to think and perceive about your products (this should be in
terms of benefits to them, not you)? How can you get them to think and
perceive that? What communications media do they see or prefer the most?
Consider TV, radio, newsletters, classifieds, displays/signs, posters,
word of mouth, press releases, direct mail, special events, brochures,
neighborhood newsletters, etc. What media is most practical for
you to use in terms of access and affordability (the
amount spent on advertising is often based on the revenue expected from
the product or service, that is, the sales forecast.)?
You can often find out a lot about your
customers preferences just by conducting some basic market research
methods. The following closely related links might be useful in
preparation for your planning.
Basic Methods to Get Customer Feedback
Major Methods of Advertising and Promotion
Basics of Advertising
Also consider
Basics of Marketing
PREPARATION FOR ADVERTISING AND PROMOTIONS
Writing Your Ad
Before you write your ad, you should know what you want to
say.
Positioning: Deciding and Conveying Your Unique Selling Position
Positioning (including writing your positioning statement)
Naming and Branding
Before you write your ad, you should know what you want to say.
provides extensive information about writing your ad
MAJOR METHODS OF ADVERTISING AND PROMOTIONS
Overview of Major Methods
Major Methods of Advertising and Promotion
Using Direct Mail
How-to Tutorial
Answers to 277 Direct-Marketing Questions
Nonprofits: Mailing lists, using bulk mail, etc.
Thirteen Reasons We Love Direct Marketing
Mailing Lists
Using Mailing Lists
It's in the Mail
Using Direct Mail to Generate Leads
Using Signs and Displays
Using Signs -- the Great Outdoors
Billboard Update: Secrets of Outdoor Advertising and its Extraordinary
Benefits
Using Classified Ads in Newspapers and Magazines
How to write classified ads
Using Classified Ads To Maximize Your Web Marketing Efforts
Soliciting Classified Ads
Advertising on Radio and T.V.
Radio and T.V. Advertising/Marketing articles
Radio advertising
Radio Campaigns that get results
30 seconds of fame (TV advertising)
TV advertising
On-Line Advertising and Promotion
How To Attract More Traffic, Customers, and Revenue ToYour Site
How to use TV, Newspapers, and Radio to promote your Web Site
Promoting Your Business Website
Advertising tips, free Internet marketing tools for your online business
Articles on Web Marketing - Wilson Internet Services
International Business Resources on the WWW
Web Advertising - Learn the Secrets of the Experts! (search for
"advertising" at that site)
Classified Ads on the Web - Web Marketing Today Info Center
Measuring Results of Advertising
Do You Know the Results of Your Advertising?
results of advertising
GENERAL RESOURCES
Related Links in the Library
E-Commerce: Doing Business on the Internet
Marketing
Product/Service Management
Public and Media Relations
Sales
On-Line Newsgroups and Listservs
There are a large number of on-line discussion groups,
newsletters (e-zines), etc. in the overall areas of management, business
and organization development. Participants, subscribers, etc., can get
answers to their questions and learn a lot just by posing the questions
to the groups, sharing insights about their experiences, etc. Join some
groups and sign up for some newsletters!
references to egroups, newsletters, etc.
You Can See Useful Books On This Library Topic
Right Now!
Just enter the name of this Library topic in the window below
and then click on "go"!
How
to write classified ads
Writing Classified Ads That Pull!
For those of you who may be knowledgeable on the subject, we
apologize for having to repeat. We have encountered many visitors who
are not familiar with writing ad copy. On the Internet, many of us are
placing links on Free For All Link pages, Classified ads on free pages
and many other forms of advertising. This article covers the basics of
writing short ad copy (class ads and links should be short) and will
show you a short cut or two for placing your ads.
Links and classified ads are supposed to do one thing for you.
Create interest and bring traffic to your pages. If you do not have a
web page - then they should be designed to get the prospect to "ask for
more information". You should never try to sell anything from a small ad
or link. But people still try!
QUICK TIP 1
Shortcut Tip: When placing your classifed ads, type the
body of your ad into your favorite text editor - make
certain it is worded properly and eliminate any unecessary
words. Copy the body of your ad and you're ready to place
ads.
Go to an ad page - type in the Heading and the url
plus email if it is required, then simply paste the body
text into the proper place on the form. Submit your ad. Go
the next ad site and repeat. You do not need to retype the
body text over each at each location and it will save you
tons of time. And allow you to place many more ads.
|
Believe it or not - there is a formula for writing ad copy.
AIDA
Easy to remember if you think of it as a girls name. It breaks
down like this:
Attention: Your first goal with any ad is to create attention, to
gain the interest of the person scanning the ads. The most powerful word
in advertising is FREE! Not everyone can use free in the heading
however, it will gain the interest immediately. You gain interest with
the Ad Heading. Your heading is the most important part of the ad
because it will cause the prospect to stop and read the ad copy.
Interest: After getting their attention - you must now gain their
interest. With class ads, your ad heading can also gain their interest.
The first few words of the ad copy must keep that attention. They must
build or add to the heading of the ad. You can expand on the heading in
just a few words.
Desire: Now your goal is to create a desire in your prospect to
learn more about your product. Not get him/her to place an order but
simply to visit your web site and/or write for additional information.
All you want is for them to come to your pages.
Action: This step actually gets your reader to click on your link,
or write you that letter for more information. There must be a reason
for the action - now instead of later. You don't want them to move on to
another ad and forget about you. It is sometimes difficult to get each
of these little fellows into a small classified ad. This is why you want
to "perfect" your ad off line, before you begin to place ads. Work on
your headline! Make it the most powerful headline possible. Write that
ad copy. You want the majority of people reading your ad to click on
your link or send you an email. Do not write a 40 word ad and try to get
them to send in $500.00 for an investment. Don't work. What you really
want is for the prospect to visit your web site. You don't want him to
buy from your small ad - you simply want him to request more
information. Here is a sample ad that does just that!
DHEA - Get Yours FREE!
Impossible? Not on your life! You already know the benefits. You
know what you are now paying! Want to save that money? Want more
details? Click Here!
Heading
The first word - DHEA is the attention getter. This is a very
popular natural health product, used by thousands. Get Yours FREE gets
the reader interested. Hey, I'm using DHEA - how can I get it free?
Text copy:
26 words in the body of the ad - 4 words in the headline! A short
ad but it has pulled many visitors to my pages.
The headline "DHEA - Get Yours FREE! also makes a great line for
those FFA pages. I am only interested in those persons already using or
at least thinking about buying this product.
Another link I use is: Feel Like A Teenager Again!
Remember, I simply want people to visit my page. Once there, I
make my "pitch".
To succeed with an Internet business, there are only three steps
that allow you to succeed for fail.
- Have or develop a great product.
- Build a site that really sells.
- Attract targeted traffic to that site.
There are no other variables. Mastering these three steps will
allow your business to succeed.
Holton Home Page |||
All Profit Ads
Guaranteed Free Traffic |||
Submit To 300,000 Today
| Consider advertising in
Jeremiah P. Huck's Online Magazine. ...
Magazine's Format: Articles, Interactive Pages,
Shopping Mall, Links, Newsletter, Classified
|
Jeremiah P. Huck's Online
Magazine
Reach the
global village...
Do you have a product or service that supports
a shamanic, holistic or New Age lifestyle?
Do you represent a business that is trying to
establish or expand it's international presence?
Consider advertising in Jeremiah P. Huck's
Online Magazine.
Here's why!
New
Sponsored Links:
Expand your
world... place your link on the magazine's front cover page. Put a 60
character text link there for just $9.95
per month.
For just $9.95 per month
you can reach the international community with a
listing in the magazine's classified section.
Format: A free online international magazine. The magazine
has a non-commercial mailing list and newsletter...
History: Started as an academic-informational
publication in March, 2004. Added a commercial element three months
later.
Focus: New Age, Shamanic, Natural, Alternative
and Holistic lifestyles.
Topics: Business, Self Help, Environment, Men's
and Women's issues, Metaphysics, Globalization, Etc., Etc.
Readership: International [ however, most
readers are in the USA ]
Google Page Rank: 5/10 for home page [ a good
rating ]
Google Search: Listed number one under search
term [ holistic magazine and newsletter ]
Yahoo Search: Listed number one under the search
term [ holistic magazine and newsletter ]
Magazine's Format: Articles, Interactive Pages,
Shopping Mall, Links, Newsletter, Classified
Promotional Methods: Submitted to search engines
on a monthly basis, listed in pay-per-click search engines
internationally, link exchanges, listed in both article and newsletter
directories, membership in web rings, online press releases, and offline
word of mouth promotion.
Free Tools for readers and advertisers: Full use
of interactive pages, can submit articles for publication, post free
press releases, link exchanges, etc.
Advertisement Options:
Listing: A text listing up to 20 words.
Full Listing: A text listing up to 40 words with
a related graphic or photo [ graphics and photos taken from the
magazine's publishing program, an internal file ]
Infomercial: A full length article about a
company, product or service.
Additional Options: The magazine has a outside
consultant-designer who can create and or upload Banners, Photos,
Graphics, Logos or Advertisements.
Special Arrangements: The magazine is set up to
handle Multi-Media files such as sound or video.
* All advertisements are placed in special links
pages with Hot Links to the advertisor's site. Unless there is a very
special arrangement, the links pages are in the magazines Classified
sections.
* The magazine accepts advertisements from the
shamanic, holistic and New Age Communities.
The magazine also accepts advertisements from
traditional business if they are trying to reach the Holistic Community
or want to create an international presence [ globalization ].
** The magazine is updated frequently..so you
don't have to deal with publication deadlines.
For more details, questions about fees or to get
started...contact the magazine at this e-mail address:
jeremiahhuck@yahoo.com
To contact the magazine using regular mail,
please use this address: Jeremiah P. Huck's Online Magazine, PO Box 331,
Piermont, NY, 10968, USA
To view the Classified Section,
CLICK HERE!
Internet Marketing Promotion And
Advertising Can Build Your Business
By: Daegan Smith
Internet marketing promotion & advertising are
crucial for your website’s success. Take time to create a buzz about
your site and that will keep people coming back. Excited people are
motivated people willing to spend money on your products. Advertising
that promotes both your products and your website will keep them coming
back for more. Web site traffic should be the focus of early Internet
marketing promotion advertising. Many effective ways exist to generate
traffic for no or little cost. Even if you do not have a large marketing
budget, you can operate a successful website.
In your Internet marketing, create copy that
will have a lasting effect. The ”hurry-up and buy before offer expires”
ads might generate a few motivated customers, but none that are loyal.
The future success of your website depends on residual business, those
that will come back again and again. Offer good useful information in
your ad copy that explains how to use your product as well as the need
for it.
An effective Internet marketing advertising
program should be long lasting. Don’t just use an ad once and discard;
find ways to use it multiple times. Use a similar approach in each ad
and build customer familiarity with your ad as well as the product
itself. Think of some successful ads like the ones for Energizer
batteries, Taco Bell, and Snuggle fabric softener. Immediately their
advertising comes to mind before you think of the product. Have your
customers remember your Internet marketing promotion advertising in the
same way. Create several different versions of your ad, change the
message, color format, and font size but don’t change feature character.
Another Internet marketing advertising tip is to
never be afraid to explore new options. If you have been using just the
Internet to advertise your business, think of may be trying direct mail,
set up booths at fairs or business expos. The more you broaden your
advertising efforts the more likely your Internet business will succeed.
Why do Some Get Filthy Rich Online and Others
Don't?
Daegan Smith reveals the answer. 9 Part Free Report:
=>
Home Based Business Opportunities
=> mailto:thecomlev@getresponse.com
**Ezine Editors/Site Owners"
Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety
in your ezine or on your site as long as you leave
all links in place, do not modify the content and
include the resource box as listed
Article Source:
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Classified Advertising Articles - Marketing for
Profits Ltd PR5
| Classified Advertising
Articles ... Almost all newspapers, trade journals
and magazines have a classified ad section.
Have a look at the magazines you |
Classified Advertising Articles
| "How To Skyrocket Sales Using
Classified Ads - Give Them A Try, They Often Achieve A Great
Response" by Steve Hackney
= = = = = = = = = = = = =
|
|
|
POWER Marketers are well aware of the surprising
effectiveness of classified ads. They're far less expensive
than display ads, and often achieve an excellent response.
In fact, they can be extremely successful for all types of
service businesses.
They are absolutely brilliant for lead
generation.
Almost all newspapers, trade journals and
magazines have a classified ad section. Have a look at the
magazines you receive. People use classified ads because they
work. Build them into your marketing and advertising strategy
and watch what happens.
Here are the four basic secrets for writing lead
generating classified ads:
***
1. Start with a short POWERFUL headline
Like any form of advertising you should always
(and I mean always) start your classified ad with a strong
headline. Never, ever start with your company name. Classified
ads lend themselves to shorter headlines due to the restrictions
in space, but test longer headlines.
Use capitals, large fonts and bold to make the
headline stand out from the crowd.
***
2. Give people a reason to call now
Offer something FREE. It could be a FREE
consultation, free no obligation meeting, free estimate or free
Special Report (my favourite).
***
3. Include your contact information
Telephone numbers work best. But whatever
method(s) of contact you use tell the reader what to do. For
example: "Call now." "Write to me at…" "Ring now for our free
guide…" etc. This is known as your 'call to action.'
***
4. Use short sentences that make sense
Get to the point quickly. Keep your sentences
short, and don't use unusual words, abbreviations, acronyms, and
punctuation marks.
***
I guarantee you'll be surprised at the response
you get when you apply these four simple basics to your
classified ads.
© Hackney Marketing Ltd
------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Hackney has spent 10 years and over $800,000 to
discover the secrets of how service businesses can generate
5 or 6 figure profits every single month.
Better still he reveals every closely guarded
secret in his
amazing free mini-course titled, "How To Skyrocket The Sales
And Profits Of Your Service Business - Closely Guarded
Secrets Revealed."
You can get Steve's FREE 5 part mini marketing
course by
clicking...
|
Classified
Ads
PR8
Inexpensive and easy, classified ads
are the most economical way to get attention
... White space works especially well in newspapers,
which sell ads for
Classified Ad Basics
Inexpensive and easy, classified ads are the most
economical way to get attention for your business.
October 21, 2004
Classified ads don’t
draw the huge response of a display ad, but they still provide
the most economical way to get your
business into the public eye. And since they demand neither
the eye-catching design of a display ad nor the clever wording
of a
direct-mail campaign, almost anyone can write them.
What should your ad say? The Newspaper Association of America
recommends you simply list your product or service’s main
benefit to the
customer. Does it make people money? Improve their
self-image? Use a catchy statement, such as “Feel good now!” to
create an impact. Since not every reader is looking for the same
benefit, list as many as you can afford. The more readers know
about your business, the more they will trust you.
Experts also recommend using white space to make your
classified ad stand out from the competition. White space works
especially well in newspapers, which sell ads for pennies a word
or by the line. If you place just a few words in each line—the
first line listing a benefit, the second the name of your
company, the third your address, for example—you have a
striking, centered ad surrounded by white space.
These brief ads work best when they offer a commonly sold
product or service such as
tax preparation or catering. Listing the benefits of each
isn’t essential because the public knows what to expect. White
space in classifieds is also effective when you offer a catalog
or another form of literature describing your product. In this
case, you might place the main benefit in an opening line that
is designed to grab the reader’s attention, and below the
benefit list how to send for the information, noting its price
if any. For example, “Play Backgammon Like a Pro” would be a
good benefit line in an ad offering free information about a
booklet that shows backgammon players how to improve their game.
Ads that use white space are less common in magazines since
these ads are often twice as costly as a typical newspaper
classified. However, they are often more effective as well—even
more so than in a newspaper because few other white space ads
will be competing for the attention of the readers. Before
placing a classified ad, write or call the publications that
interest you and ask for an
advertising kit (also called a media or press kit). Ad kits
often include guidelines in the form of booklets, pamphlets or
newsletters, which help you construct your ad and give you tips
on choosing the main benefit, consolidating words or determining
whether the tone should be boldly stated or instead employ a
conservative description and a list of benefits. Most ad kits
also list demographic information about the readers. Finally,
repeat your ad as often as possible, so long as it brings in
enough money to justify its expense. Repeating ads helps
customers gain familiarity with your product or service and
helps break down sales resistance.
Once the ad stops pulling in new accounts, it’s time to
develop a new ad. A classified that uses fewer words will cost
less to run, so it doesn’t have to pull as well to justify
itself. But sometimes adding more words can help your sales,
too. It doesn’t hurt to experiment.
How much profit do you need to make on classifieds? Unless
you run a one-product, one-sale business, you can build a
profitable operation through classifieds just by breaking even,
or even by coming in a little under the money since many of
those buyers will become repeat customers.
Classified advertising
[Categories: Advertising]
Classified advertising is a form of
which is particulalry
common in newspapers
and other periodicals.
Classified advertising is usually textually based and can consist of
as little as the type of item being sold, (i.e., "Clothing") and a
telephone number to call for more information ("call 555-777x"). It
can also have much more detail, such as name to contact, address to
contact or visit, a detailed desription of the product or products
("pants and sweaters, size 10" as opposed to "clothing", "red 1996
Pontiac Grand Prix" as opposed to "automobile"). There are generally
no pictures or other graphics within the advertisement, although
sometimes a logo
may be used. Classified advertising is called such because it is
generally grouped within the publication under headings classifying
the product or service being offered (headings such as Accounting,
Automobiles, Clothing, Farm Produce, For Sale, For Rent, etc.) and
is grouped entirely in a distinct section of the periodical, which
makes it distinct from display
advertising, which often contains graphics or other art work and
which is more typically distributed throughout a publication
adjacent to editorial content.
In recent years the term "classified advertising" has expanded from
merely the sense of print advertisements in periodicals to include
similar types of advertising on computer services,
radio,
and even television,
particularly cable
television but occasionally broadcast television as well,
typically very early in the morning hours.
Like most forms of printed media, the classified ad has found its
way to the Internet. Printed classified ads are typically just a few
column lines in length, and they often filled with abbreviations to
save space and money. Internet classified ads don’t typically use
per line pricing models so they tend to be longer. They are also
searchable, unlike their offline brethren and tend to be local
classifieds with a great sense of urgency because of their daily
structure. Because of their self-policing nature and therefore low
cost structures some companies like Craigslist.org,
PlugStar.com, Postaclassified.com and ZiXXo.com
offer free online classified ads.
In 2003, the market for classified ads in the United States was
$15.9 billion (newspapers), $14.1 billion (online) according to
market researcher Classified Intelligence. The worldwide market for
classified ads in 2003 was estimated at $100 billion.
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