Create Great Marketing Solutions Using Killer Classifieds - By: Dennis Francis

Coke and Pepsi spend millions each month to promote their brands. Ford, GM and Toyota would never think twice about tracking their advertising and marketing for greater success. Amazon.com and eBay are pretty convinced that affiliate marketing works. Why do most of the small businesses I talk to seem to think that they can be successful spending one dollar to make 100 dollars?

There is a level of unrealistic expectation out in the small business community in regards to advertising and marketing that still amazes me after all these years. If a stock market trading professional gets $1.25 for every $1.00 they invest they are ecstatic. Most small business owners are often focused on the day to day issues of business and so find little time to prepare for long term marketing.

Here's a way to develop a solid long term marketing strategy without breaking your bank account. Build a classified ad marketing program. You're probably looking at the words and scratching your head right now. That's correct; a marketing program supported by classified advertising.

Use classified ads online or in print to gather prospective customers and marketing information. These small ads come in a variety of sizes, costs, and appear everywhere from neighborhood newsletters to big national magazines to websites on the Internet. They will be your testing ground for larger promotional ventures as well as sources for new product and service ideas.

Here are three simple things you can do today to make your classified ads sell:

1. Place your ads where your prospects are likely to see it.
Magazines and Internet advertising are segmented by markets and interests. Identify your target audience and run a series of ads with a free offer in return for their email address and other information you may need for marketing purposes.

It is vital that you have a profile of the market you wish to sell to because of the wide range of media. You want to stay narrow in your focus for both economic reasons as well as ease of maintenance.

2. The power of your classified is in your headline. With classified ads, the headline makes or breaks the ad. The headline gets their attention and also even qualifies them at the same time. Your goal here is not to sell them anything. Your main goal is to qualify them for future sales and marketing.

Use the power words to entice them go to your website. The goal is to get them to do what you want them to do. If you want their phone number and shoe size, let them. The classifieds will send them to a sales page on your website. Let the sales page do the selling.

3. Your ad should be brief and concise. Let the headline deliver your offer and pull them in then the two to three extra lines will explain your offer and take them to the website for full details.

Try these words in your classified ads: free, new, new and improved, discover, great new method, plan, reveals, simple, advanced, amazing, now, how to, and easy.

4. Don't forget to track your ads. Remember that giant corporations pay a lot of money to track their results. They know that everything depends on the numbers.

I recommend that you make a separate squeeze page or sales page for each classified. That will allow you to track them in you autoresponder (which should also be associated to each unique sales page.)

Once you have a growing list of prospects, you can email them regularly and get their opinion on products and services. There is an online printer YistaPrint.com that emails me every week. They always have something on special or free. I'm a customer of theirs so I'll always check and see what they are up to. You'll find that during a slow season, you can press a button and make unexpected sales happen.

About the Author

Dennis Morales Francis is a business coach His website, www.doublemyrevenues.com/money.html offers FREE-Tutorial series how to put $120,000 a year in your pocket by pressing a button on your PC.

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