START YOUR OWN AD SHEET
Starting your own ad sheet or sheets is a smart
decision to make, if you're in mail order. Ad sheets can: pay for your
mailings; increase the reach of your advertising; and turn a profit. All for
a few hours of work!
First, what exactly is an ad sheet? If you are on any mail order or
opportunity mailing lists, you'll know. Ad sheets range from part of a page
to multiple tabloid size publications, full of ads. These ads are placed
primarily by other mail order dealers and service providers. Circulation of
an average ad sheet ranges from 1,000 to 20,000 and more. Advertising prices
are usually far lower than in a national publication, such as Income
Opportunities. This is because of the lower overhead of the person producing
the ad sheet, as well as the lower circulation. But, your ad in an ad sheet
will hit mail order buyers, your primary market.
Why start an ad sheet? Well, here's a good reason. If you divide an 8 1/2 x
11 sheet of paper into three columns the long way, you'll have 30 column
inches (3 columns x 10 inches of usual space, leaving 1/2 inch margins for the
printer) of advertising you can sell. For a circulation of 1,000, the usual
ad rate is around $5 for a one inch ad. That's $150 for that page! Printing
1,000 copies would be around, say, $20, which leaves $130 to put toward the
cost of mailing it. If you want an inexpensive way to get your ad sheet
mailed, use a reliable print & mail dealer. You'll see them in the other ad
sheets you read. You can take care of the printing and the mailing in one
shot, for an extremely low cost! Include an ad or two in your adsheet for
your products and services on the sheet, and you've given yourself a few extra
ads at no upfront cost.
But don't stop at 1,000. Print an extra 1,000. You can increase your ad
rates a bit, since your circulation will be doubled. Scan through the mail
order publications you receive, and look for other ad sheet publishers or
circular mailers with a code like this in their ad: X-50-SY. X means
Exchange, 50 is the quantity, SY means Send Yours. They will send out 50 of
your flyers if you send out 50 of theirs. This is Exchange Mailing. Find 20
of these mailers (easily done, there are a LOT out there), and exchange your
ad sheet for theirs. Insert one ad sheet into each of the envelopes you're
mailing. Your ad sheet (and YOUR ads, which you inserted on your own sheet)
will be seen by an extra 1,000 people for little expense on your part.
How should you set the advertising rates on your ad sheet? Get on as many
mailing lists as you can, so you are receiving other ad sheets daily. Pay
attention to their ad rates and circulation. You will get a good feel for the
current going rates, and yours should fit in. If your rates are competitive
with the others out there, you should have no trouble filling your sheet.
As the size of the ad increases, you should discount the rate, usually
starting with three inches. In other words, while a one inch ad may be $5, a
three inch ad might be $13 or $14. Continue discounting all the way up to a
full page, which should correspond to the rate you are charging for full page
flyers in your circular mailing ads. (You ARE letting other people's flyers
ride along with yours for extra $$$, AREN'T you?? If you're not, see the
previous report in this series.)
How to get advertisers? Find the best of the ad sheets you've received in the
mail, with the best value (ad rate/circulation) and put a one inch ad in each
one. This ad should have the name of your ad sheet, the circulation, the
rates, and your name and address, the words "Camera-ready ads, please," plus
any other details that will fit. When your ads get out, you will start to
receive ads of all sizes in the mail.
Take a sheet of paper and draw to lines, top to bottom, so that you have three
columns, each around 2 7/8 inches wide. On another sheet of paper, make
a heading for your adsheet with the name of the adsheet, rates, circulation,
and your name and address. Be sure to cut your header out STRAIGHT. Too many
ad sheet publishers don't take the time to cut and lay out straight, and it
looks really shoddy. Don't make their mistake! Using either rubber cement,
"spray-mount" glue, or clear, non-shiny DVD, attach the heading to the paper.
Then, as the ads come in, attach them in the same way to your page. Use a
ruler to keep your ads aligned straight, for a more professional looking ad
sheet. MAKE SURE YOUR HANDS ARE CLEAN WHILE YOU DO THIS. If you don't, your
page will have smudges that WILL show up when it's printed. If there are any
smudges when you're done, don't erase them. Cover them with liquid paper.
Once your sheet is full, send it to your printer. If you're only doing an ad
sheet on one side of your page, put one of your flyers on the back. If you
still have more ads, well, continue them on the back! They're money in the
bank.
Once you've started one ad sheet, start another! One could be for general
ads, one for print & mail dealers only, one for multi-level offers only...
Use your imagination! Watch the other ad sheets and use the good ideas you
find. You'll find it's both fun and educational to run an ad sheet!
