“I’m thinking of trying some advertising in some of the neighborhood newspapers for our more affluent neighborhoods here my city.Can you give me your thoughts on this? Do you have any idea of how well this might or might not work? Have you ever done something like this or heard of anyone’s experiences on Neighborhood Newspapers?” – Doug H. Carpet Cleaning Omaha
Print advertising can be very tricky especially when it comes to magazine/newsletter type publications. I have had luck with Valpak in the past, but it was hit or miss and of course you have to include coupons and essentially drop your prices to make the phone ring.
But my experience with a local woman’s magazine, that is highly read by the Stay-At-Home mom demographic, was a flop. My wife and I (with the help of Mark Kennedy’s sales copy) spent a week crafting, what we thought, was the perfect half-page ad. We even matched the font of the magazine to give the appearance of an article (see below). The editor loved it and hired us as soon as I submitted the final copy, but our overall response was dismal, maybe four or five calls came out of it and the cost was $800+. I asked the opinions of my wife’s friends who love the magazine and they said that it didn’t have a deal or any reason to call, so my conclusion is that most people have been trained to look for the coupon or special (similar to ordering a pizza) when it comes to print.
So on the rare occasion that I send out postcards, I always include some kind of deal. Ex: 1 Free chair or a discount for cleaning 5 rooms or more. My $99 Value Menu seemed to work well at times (see below). I don’t use it anymore because I raised my minimum to $129/$149 depending on the season. The video on my website still seems to be my star marketing tool. I had a compliment on it just yesterday. I believe it’s that personal connection that is just hard to get with print that makes all the difference.
So my conclusion is that no matter how good the sales copy, you must have some kind of incentive, even if it’s $25 Off or 1 Free Room. It can be different from the competition, but people are expecting something tangible, not just useful information. Hope this helps.
I would love to get feedback on what works (or doesn’t work) for your company. Please leave questions and comments below.
Thanks,
Joe Burnich