Has anyone had any luck with sales posting to offline classfields? I was thinking about putting an ad in the Sunday Newspaper in my local area. Please let us know if you have had any success with doing this, and what the conversion rates may be. If in doubt I will try it myself, and let everyone know.
I can't really give you a conversion rate but I do know first hand that the method works. The only thing that you have to be careful of is the link. If it is too long or involved, the searcher will make a mistake typing it in and then you lose the traffic. On the other hand, if you have an identifier on the link, then you can track how many people came from the ad and maybe how many purchased. The other thing to watch for is the category you use. Be selective when reading the newspaper categories and be sure to get it in the area that suits your target market. Although, it costs more money, sometimes it is better to go in a section as opposed to classified ads. For example, if you were selling hockey skates, you would do better with a small ad in the sports section than an ad in the classifieds, unless of course they were used skates. BTW - your question is somewhat confusing - in the title you state offline but in the body you state online?? My response is assuming offline print newspapers.
I was thinking about offline advertising, but not in the newspapers. I had an idea to create leaflets and then distribute around my area Don't know if that's a good idea....
Actually that's a great idea, too. And it works. Just be careful of the cost of the printed flyers or brochures. Also, be mindful of angering people by sticking "junk mail" in their mailboxes or on their car windshields.
personally i think its a bad idea. This is not targeted advertising, its pretty much random, and the common person that picks up your flyer will just say scam, or huh? You need to advertise in a way that will reach the audience that you want to join your plan. Even advertising in the newspaper will not be targeted adversing, but if you advertised in a money making magazine, you may be more on target then just a newspaper ad., but those Money Making Magazines can run $50/100/mo for a small classified ad.
bl4ckman, Good idea, but the problem is the opportunity cost. Not only do you have the cost of flyers, but you will be trudging around parking lots for hours in the heat possibly dealing with angry people! My goal in internet marketing is to leverage my time in order to make the most money per hour worked possible. Just think of all the articles you could write in the time it takes to flyer 1,000 houses or cars! As for the newspaper idea, this does work. Here's a tip: Try targeting money saving products / or money making products in the bargain classifieds (Thrifty Nickle / American Classifieds for those in the US). The readers are generally people looking for LOW COST items. On the flip side, those same people would likely be interested in making more money, or possibly needing a payday loan, etc. Just an idea (and one that worked for me!!)
A while ago when the Ncmedia's "Get read to pass" came out I was thinking of going to the nearest drive test center and asking if I could leave brochures/fliers their for people to pick up. I thought this would be very targeted traffic and I wouldn't be wasting my time manually handing out fliers. I just never got around do it.
Great topic: 1. Get yourself a domain - << That domain (which is going to a landing page or direct) is going to be promoted in any and every way/shape/platform possible online OR offline. 2. There are soooo many offline opportunities that I am far fetched to think the only possibility you guys are stating is flyers and one to one handouts.... 3. I've seen people make thousands a day with minimal offline effort - REMEMBER - it's not a 'trick' or a 'secret clickbank' set of tasks. It's ALL MARKETING! Gettintg your message (domain) out there. 4. I've done **radio ads to domain names << WORKS like a charm but costs and is risky. **Newspaper ads << Both small bold and half/full page creatives << WORKS **Open photoshop - make a new canvas at 8.5x11 - make 4-6 flyers on the page evenly - photocopy black/white prints for .01c anywhere, now you have 4-6 flyers per penny... Distribute them accordingly, car windshields, schools, bus stops, person to person - hire a hot woman with big breasts to wear your logo.com shirt in a busy busy area and hand out the flyers for you. **Get a big banner with your .com << A printed one not a web banner - and hang it somewhere. **Get stacks of flyers and leave them anywhere and everywhere you can think of. **Hire kids to distribute for you (consider it your adwords placement budget...) - send them to popular neighborhoods or building complexes to ease distribution... Offline is just as lucrative and automated as online imo - marketing, it's all about marketing.... Best, NC.
I was thinking about walking through the neigborhood at night and doing this. Not during the day. Remember you cannot put fliers inside a mail box... its a felony. However on the side, or on the flag is OK. Be careful
Actually this is a good ideal, I'm going to try radio ads soon. Yeah, I like the big breasted t-shirt wearing ideal, I'd buy from her then regret it later. Vene
NCMedia Exactly It's the same marketing, but just offline. Of course, marketing offline might be more expensive and difficult, rather than online, but results could be much better. You inspired me. I'll try some offline advertising
This thread has made me do some serious thinking. When I started out all I did was offline advertising mostly because I had no clue how to market otherwise. Everyday saw the results of the effort and I was pleased that I could build a website so large. But then for whatever reason, I lost touch with the offline marketing and now I am wondering why my new sites take so long to do anything and the truth is I am not using the techniques that made my first site successful. I have been thinking lately about getting back to offline promotions and this thread just reinforces the idea.
you read my mind,i was just about to do a similar thread, i remember seeing some guys mention some newspapers in the states, may have been philidelphia news or something, but can't find the thread- was wondering if any one could recommend some good papers. I'm not a US citizen so not sure if thats a problem- but even any UK or ozi or any english speaking country i guess so as to geotarget.
I've been curious about trying this as well with Google's newspaper ads. But at the same time I'm a bit scared to waste a bunch of money on it. I'm trying to figure out how to do it in a way that lets me test it's effectiveness without spending too much money. For those of you who have tried newspaper ads - do you do classifieds (and if so is this site -> http://www.nationwideadvertising.com/ a good way to buy classified ads?) ... or do you buy ads through the Google interface? I'm also considering trying a radio ad again. I tried it once before and it failed miserably. But I think I did it all wrong.