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Since most of us are always online and our business is online, we often forget the importance of advertising our business offline. Print advertising can be one of the best forms of advertising for your buck. Why? Well, with print advertising it’s in the form of hard copy and is always in view of your potential customers. Thats just one small example. Think about your daily newspaper…try hiding that in your email box! The following are just a few hints and ideas for you to consider before you place an offline advertising campaign.

—>Expiration Dates

You want to be sure to include an expiration date so that the possible customer sees that there is a limited time BUT don’t make the date to end too soon. Why? You want to give an “extended expiration date” on printed material especially because for one thing printed material has a chance to “lie around” longer, it may not be the “right time” for the possible customer OR they may know of someone else that may be interested in what you’re offering. Give them time to pass it on or “come back later”.

—>Track your ads

If you have anyway of tracking your ads, use it.
A couple of ways you can do this is:

1)Have the customer email/call/mail their orders to you.

2)Have a special code they need to use to receive the special. Use a different code for each advertising campaign you use. If you don’t have the ability to use coupon codes you might want to check out PayCodes.com which is a new service developed by PayPal to help you in this situation.

—>Types of Ads to Generate Interest

Freebies! Everyone loves freebies!

1) Offer the prospective customer a free gift with their purchase.

2) Have them email/call/mail for a free sample.

3) When you send them their free sample, send them a card for another free sample to give to a friend.

4) Have the ad offer free shipping and handling.

5) Offer a “Buy One Get One Free” Promotion.

6) Have them contact you for a free catalog.

Discounts.

1) Offer a discount (ex. 10%, 15%, 20% off) for their first purchase.

2) Offer one product at full price and the second

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I’m sure while you have seen many tips on advertising, many that talk about testing and tracking your ads, I’m sure that this one important tip is rarely mentioned: Running more than one ad at a time isn’t the greatest idea.

While it seems like a good idea to spend your monthly advertising budget all at once at the first of the month, is it really gaining you the best exposure? Even if you are running ads on various websites and networks, there is a pretty good chance many of those that see your ad on one site are going to see them on another.

Rather than having several ads running at the same time, try to space out your ads a bit and run only one at a time. Why? Well think of it this way. Say a visitor seeing your ad on one site and thinking “interesting, I may have to buy something later”. Later that same day if they are on another website I’m sure they’ll think, “there it is again, but I’ll buy later”.

Now think if you would have waited a week or two before advertising at that second site in which this visitor comes to daily, and then seeing it saying, “oh wow that site! I forgot I was going to buy there last week, so I’d better do it now”.

See the difference? Rather than one person seeing your site several times in one day or week and it still being the bad time, if you space your ads out you have a better chance of catching them when it IS a better time…or at least taking a closer look at your site and getting them subscribed to your newsletter or other free offers you have on your website.

Another reason it’s good to spread your advertising dollars as far as they will go is for constant exposure. If you are seen constantly in several places at all times, the easier you are going to be remembered. Not to mention like we said before, always be seen by someone who IS ready to buy.

Now of course, when you do choose to advertise on several sites at the same time, there is the chance you will reach more of your target audience. Plus if you have the funds to constantly advertise on several sites at once, go for it! Just remember to keep the ads going, so you have a constant flow of visitors.

About the Authors: Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank are two busy wahms, and the owners of Direct Sales Helpers. Learn how you can be successful in your company by visiting:
http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com

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