Forum Moderators: skibum
That will get the advertisers' attention.
In a previouse life I have been in sales but never advertising and this is a hard nut to crack. I was hoping someone might have a script that they give to the trainee tele-salesman that I could use.
Also, you understand that this folder is for online advertising sales and affiliate programs and not really for offline publications don't you?
How are advertisers going to run across your publication so that they decide they want to advertise in it and contact you in order to do so? Are you waiting for them to pick it up in the supermarket?
I'm not sure how it works offline, but that's generally how it works online. Either that or you just wander along to an affiliate network, subscribe to a merchant and start putting their adverts up.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that online advertising is a seller's market, but it's rare that anyone needs to pick up the phone and go cold-calling.
It’s the old chicken or the egg scenario Ronin, I haven’t published yet. All I have is a draft copy with blank spaces for the advertisements when and if I sell them. Its not news driven, it is full of factoids, short stories, jokes and lots more. The hardest stage of the game is getting it off the ground and selling the first batch of advertising. Then it will appear on the shelves and be easier to sell because potential advertisers will be aware of it. My research shows that 80% of advertisers use the same medium on a regular basis, so this stage of the game is a white knuckle ride for me and that’s why I am crying out for help.
An Issue Zero will act as a promotional medium for the forthcoming Issue One and at the same time give both readers and advertisers a taste of what's in store.
You can take a full page advert out in Issue Zero and address it directly to advertisers too, telling them about the demographics and circulation from Issue One onwards.
This will, if everything goes well, significantly ease the process of cold-calling advertisers for issue one, once the publication is already being talked about.
Let me digest it for a bit, but I thik you have just hit the button
you are not thinking out of the box.
I once learned that publications would get creative if they couldnt sell all their space. something similiar to an affiliate program..
What I would recommend is to research within the industry, there were actually a few things and I simply con not remember then in detail just outlines.
I was actually impressed with the creativiity they had developed and I'm not impressed easily.
You will almost certainly attract more advertisers if it looks like you already have advertisers.
You could find a few well-suited business and tell them you are so certain that they will be pleased with the results that you will include them for free... or maybe swap them out for something that they can give to you in exchange, something other than cash.
You could also offer to do an editorial review of their business. Advertisers love that, and they often pay great money for it.
Just a few thoughts....
