The greatest expense you're going to incur in conducting a successful
business is advertising.
You have to advertise. Your business
cannot grow and flourish unless you advertise. Advertising is the
"life-blood" of any profitable business. And regardless of where or
how your advertise, it's going to cost you in some form or another.
Every successful business is built upon,
and continues to thrive, primarily, on good advertising. The top companies in
the world allocate millions of dollars annually to their advertising budget. of
course, when starting from a garage, basement or kitchen table,you can't quite
match their advertising efforts---at least not in the beginning. But there is a
way you can approximate their maneuvers without actually spending their kind of
money. And that's through "P.I" Advertising.
"P.I." stands for per inquiry.
This kind of advertising most generally associated with broadcasting, where you
pay only for the responses you get to your advertising message. It's very
popular--somewhat akin to bartering--and is used by many more advertisers than
most people realize. The advantages of PI Advertising are all in favor of the
advertiser because with this kind of an advertising arrangement, you can pay
only for the results the advertising produces.
To get in on this "free"
advertising, start with a loose leaf notebook, and about 100 sheets of filler
paper. Next, either visit your public library and start poring through the
Broadcast Yearbook on radio stations in the U.S., or Standard Rate and Data Services
Directory on Spot Radio. Both these publications will give you just about all
the information you could ever want about licensed stations.
An easier way might be to call or visit
one of your local radio stations, and ask to borrow (and take home with you)
their current copy of either of these volumes. To purchase them outright will
cost $50 to $75.
Once you have a copy of
either of these publications, select the state or states you want to work
first. It's generally best to begin in your own state and work outward from
there. If you have a moneymaking manual, you might want to start first with
those states reporting the most unemployment.
Use some old fashioned common sense. Who
are the people most likely to be interested in your offer, and where are the
largest concentrations of these people? You wouldn't attempt to sell windshield
de-ice canisters in Florida, or suntan lotion in Minnesota during the winter
months, would you?
At any rate, once you've got your
beginning "target" area decided upon, go through the radio listings
for the cities and towns in that area, and jot down in your notebook the names
of general mangers, the station call letters, and addresses. be sure to list the
telephone numbers as well.
On the first try, list only one radio
station per city. Pick out the station people most interested in your product
would be listening to. This can be determined by the programming description
contained within the date block about the station in the Broadcasting Yearbook
or the SRDS Directory.
The first contact should be in the way of
introducing yourself, and inquiring if they would consider a PI Advertising
campaign. You tell the station manger that you have a product you feel will sell
very well in his market, and would like to test it before going ahead with a
paid advertising program. You must quickly point out that your product sells
for, say $5, and that during this test, you would allow him 50% of that for
each response his station pulls for you. Explain that you handle everything for
him: the writing of the commercials, all accounting and bookkeeping, plus any
refunds or complaints that come in. In other words all he has to do is schedule
your commercials on his log, and give them his "best shot." When the
responses come in, he counts them, and forwards them on to you for fulfillment.
You make out a check for payment to him, and everybody is happy.
If you've contacted him by phone, and he
agrees to look over your material, tell him thank you and promise to get a
complete "package" in the mail to him immediately. Then do just that.
Write a short cover letter, place it on top of your "ready-to-go" PI
Advertising Package, and get it in the mail to him without delay.
If you're turned down, and he is not
interested in "taking on" any PI Advertising, just tell him thanks,
make a notation in your notebook by his name, and go to your next call.
Contacting these people by phone is by far the quickest, least expensive and
most productive method of "exploring" for those stations willing to consider
your PI proposal. In some cases though, circumstances will deem it to be less
expensive to make this initial contact by letter or postcard.
In that case, simply address you card or
letter to the person you are trying to contact. Your letter should be positive
in tone, straight forward and complete. Present all the details in logical order
on one page, perfectly typed on letterhead paper, and sent in a letterhead
envelope. (Rubber-stamped letterheads just won't get past a first glance.)
Ideally, you should include a self-addressed and stamped postcard with spaces
for positive or negative check marks in answer to your questions: Will you or won't
you over my material and consider a mutually profitable
"Per Inquiry" advertising
campaign on your station?
Once you have an agreement from your
contact at the radio station that they will look over your materials and give
serious consideration for a PI program, move quickly, getting your cover letter
and package off by First Class mail, perhaps even Special
Delivery.
What this means is at the same time you
organize your "radio station notebook," you'll also want to organize
your advertising package. Have it all put together and ready to mail just as
soon as you have a positive response. Don't allow time for that interest in
your program to cool down.
You'll need a follow-up letter. Write one
to fit all situations; have 250 copies printed, and then when you're ready to
send out a package, all you'll have to do is fill in the business salutation and
sign it. If you spoke of different arrangements or a specific matter was
discussed in your initial contact, however, type a different letter
incorporating comments or answers to the points discussed. This personal touch
won't take long, and could pay dividends!
You'll also need at least to thirty-second
commercials and two sixty-second commercials. You could write these up, and
have 250 copies printed and organized as a part of your PI Advertising Package.
You should also have some sort of
advertising contract written up, detailing everything about your program, and
how everything is to be handled; how and when payment to the radio station is
to be made, plus special paragraphs relative to refunds, complaints, and
liabilities. All this can be very quickly written up and printed in lots of 250
or more on carbonless multi-part snap-out business forms.
Finally, you should include a
self-addressed and stamped postcard the radio station can use to let you know that
they are going to use your PI Advertising program, when they will start running
your commercials on the air, and how often, during which time periods. Again,
you simply type out the wording in the form you want to use on these
"reply postcards, and have copies printed for your use in these mailings.
To review this program: Your first step is
the initial contact after searching through the SRDS or Broadcasting Yearbook.
Actual contact with the stations is by phone or mail. When turned down, simply
say thanks, and go to the nest station on the list. For those who want to know
more about your proposal, you immediately get a PI Advertising Package off to
them via the fastest way possible. Don't let the interest wane.
Your Advertising
Package should contain the following:
1. Cover letter
2. Sample brochure,
product literature
3. Thirty-second and
sixty-second commercials
4. PI Advertising
Contract
5. Self-addressed,
stamped postcard for station acknowledgement and
acceptance of your program.
Before you ask why you need an
acknowledgement postcard when you have already given them a contact, remember
that everything about business changes from day to day---conditions change,
people get busy, and other things come up. the station manager may sign a contract
with your advertising to begin the 1st of March. The contract is signed on the
1st of January, but when March 1 rolls around, he may have forgotten, been
replaced, or even decided against running your program. A lot of paper
seemingly "covering all the minute details" can be very impressive to
many radio station managers, and convince them that your company is a good one
to do business with.
Let's say that right now you're impatient
to get started with your own PI Advertising campaign. Before you "jump off
the deep end," remember this: Radio station people are just as professional
and dedicated as anyone else in business---even more so in some instances--so
be sure you have a product or service that lends itself well to selling via
radio inquiry system.
Anything can be sold, and sold easily with
any method you decide upon, providing you present it from the right angle.
"hello out there!
Who wants to buy a mailing list for 10
cents a thousand names?" wouldn't even be allowed on the air. However, if
you have the addresses of the top 100 movie stars, and you put together an idea
enabling the people to write to them direct, you might have a winner, and sell
a lot of mailing lists of the stars.
At the bottom line, a lot is riding on the
content of your commercial---the benefits you suggest to the listener, and how easy
it is for him to enjoy those benefits. For instance, if you have a new book on
how to find jobs when there aren't any jobs: You want to talk to people who are
desperately searching for employment. You have to appeal to them in words that
not only "perk up" their ears, but cause them to feel that whatever
it is that you're offering will solve their problems. It's the product, and in
writing of the advertising message about that product are going to bring in
those responses.
Radio station managers are sales people,
and sales people the world over will be sold on your idea if you put your
selling package together properly. And if the responses come in your first
offer, you have set yourself up for an entire series of successes. Success has
a "ripple effect," but you have to start on that first one. We wish
you success!
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