RANDOM 4 IDEAS

HOW TO WRITE PROFITABLE CLASSIFIED ADS

Everybody wants to make more money... In fact, most people would

like to hit upon something that makes them fabulously rich! And

seemingly, one of the easiest roads to the fulfillment of these

dreams of wealth, is mail order or within the professional

circles of the business, direct mail selling...

The only thing is, hardly anyone gives much real thought to the

basic ingredient of selling by mail--the writing of profitable

classified ads. If your mail order business is to succeed, then

you must acquire the expertise of writing classified ads that

sell your product or services!

So what makes a classified ad good or bad? First of all, it must

appeal to the reader, and as such, it must say exactly what you

want it to say. Secondly, it has to say what it says in the least

possible number of words in order to keep your operating costs

within your budget. And thirdly, it has to produce the desired

results whether inquiries or sales.

Grabbing the reader's attention is your first objective. You must

assume the reader is "scanning" the page on which your ad appears

in the company of two or three hundred classified ads. Therefore,

there has to be something about your ad that causes him to stop

scanning and look at yours! So, the first two or three words of

your ad are the utmost importance and deserve your careful

consideration. Most surveys show that words or like this. MAKE

BIG MONEY! Easy & Simple. Guaranteed! Limited offer. Send $1.00

These are the ingredients of any good classified

ad---Attention--Interest--Desire--Action...Without these four

ingredients skillfully integrated into your ad, chances are your

ad will just "lie there" and not do anything but cost you money.

What we've just shown you is the basic classified ad. Although

such an ad could be placed in any leading publication and would

pull a good response, it's known as a "blind ad" and would pull

inquiries and responses from a whole spectrum of people reading

the publication in which it appeared. In other words, from as

many "time wasters" as from bona fide buyers.

So let's try to give you an example of the kind of classified ad

might want to use, say to sell a report such as this one...Using

all the rules of basic advertising copywriting, and saying

exactly what out product is, our ad reads:

MONEY-MAKER'S SECRETS! How to Write winning

classified ads. Simple & easy to learn-should

double or triple your responses. Rush $1 to

ABC Sales, 10 Main, Anytown, TX 75001.

The point we're making is 1) You've got to grab the reader's

attention...2) You've got to go "further stimulate" him with

something (catch-phrase) that makes him "desire" the product or

service...4) Demand that he act immediately...

There's no point in being tricky or clever. Just adhere to the

basics and your profits will increase accordingly. One of the

best ways of learning to write good classified ad is to study the

classifieds--try to figure out exactly what they're attempting to

sell--and then practice rewriting them according to the rules

we've just given you. Whenever you sit down to write a

classified, always write it all out--and then go back over it,

crossing out words, and refining your phraseology.

The final ingredient of your classified ad is of course, your

name & address to which the reader is to respond--where he's to

send his money or write for further information.

Generally speaking, readers respond more often to ads that

include a name than to those showing just initials or an the

number of words, or the amount of space your ad uses, the use of

some names in classified ads could become quite expensive. If we

were to ask our ad respondents to write to or send their money to

The Research Writers & Publishers Association, or our advertising

costs would be prohibitive. Thus we shorten our name Researchers

or Money-Makers. The point here is to think relative to the

placement costs of your ad, and to shorten excessively long

names.

The same holds true when listing your post office box number.

Shorten it to just plain Box 40, or in the case of a rural

delivery, shorten it to just RR1

The important thing is to know the rules of profitable classified

ad writing, and to follow them. Hold your costs in line.

Now you know the basics...the rest is up to you.

THE DO'S AND DON'T'S OF PROFITABLE MAIL ORDER ADS

Regardless of how you look at it, the most important aspect of

any successful mail order business is its advertising. In fact,

mail order success is wholly dependent, and even predicated upon

good advertising.

First of all, you've got to have a dynamic, spectacular ad that

attracts the eye and grabs the interest of the people you're

trying to sell to. Thus, unless your ad really "jumps out" at the

reader, your sales won't live up to expectations, and your ad

money will be wasted.

The eye-catching appeal of your ad must start with the headline.

Use the headline to very quickly create a picture in the minds of

the reader--a vision of all their problems being solved, and

attainment of the kind of happiness they seek. If your headline

fails to catch the attention of your prospect, you cannot hope to

capture him with the remaining of the ad, because it will go

unread! So in writing your advertisement for just a little while,

so you must quickly interest him in your offer, show him how he

can get what he wants, and then cause him to send immediately for

your "solution" to his problems. Your copy must exude enthusiasm,

excitement, and a positive attitude. Don't be afraid to use a

hard-sell approach! Say what you feel and believe about your

offer. And use common, "everyday," but correct English.

Even so, you can and must remember to be honest. Don't exaggerate

or make claims you can't back up. Never make promises you cannot

or don't expect, to keep. To do so could get you in trouble with

the Federal Trade and Fair Practices people.

Stress the benefits of your product or service. Explain to your

reader how owning a copy of your book (for instance), or

receiving your services will make his life richer, happier, and

more abundant. Don't get involved in detailing all the money

you've spent developing the product or researching the

information you're selling, or you're selling, or your

credentials for offering it. Stress the "sizzle" and the value of

ownership.

It is important to involve th reader as often as possible through

the use of the word "you." Write your copy just as if you were

speaking to and attempting to sell just ONE person. Don't let

your ad sound as a speaker at a podium addressing a huge stadium

filled with people, but as if there were just one individual

"listening."

And don't try to be overly clever, brilliant or humerus in your

advertising. Keep your copy simple, to the point, and on target

toward selling your prospect the product or service because of

its benefits. In other words, keep it simple, but clear; at all

costs, you don't want to confuse the reader. Just tell him

exactly what he'll get for his money; the benefits he'll receive;

how to go about ordering it. You don't have to get too friendly.

In fact, becoming "folksy," and don't use slang expressions.

In writing an ad, think of yourself as a door-to-door

salesperson. You have to get the attention of the prospect

quickly, interest him in the product you're selling, create a

desire to enjoy its benefits, and you can then close the sale.

Copywriting, whether for a display ad, classified ad, sales

letter or brochure, is a learned skill. It is one anyone can

master with a bit of study, practice, and perhaps some

professional guidance.

Your first move, then, is to study your competition, recognize

how they are selling their wares. Practice rewriting their ads

from a different point of view or from a different sales angle.

Keep a file of ads you've clipped from different publications in

a file of ad writing ideas. But don't copy anyone else's work;

just use the ad material of others to stimulate your own

creativeness.

Some of the "unknown facts" about advertising--and ad writing in

particular--tell us that you cannot ask for more than $3 in a

short classified type ad. Generally speaking, a $5 item will take

at least a one-inch display ad. If you're trying to sell a $10

item, you'll need at least a quarter page--perhaps even a half

page of copy--and $15 to $20 items require a full page. If you

are selling a really big ticket item (costing $50 or more) you'll

need a four-page sales letter, a brochure, separate order coupon,

and return reply envelope.

If you're making offers via direct mail, best to get into the

postal system with it on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, to be sure it

does not arrive on Monday, the first and busiest day of the week.

And again, unless you're promoting a big ticket item, the quality

or color of your paper won't have any great effect on the

response you'll get, but the quality of your PRINTING definitely

will, so bear this in mind when you place your printing order.

One final point to remember: The summer months when people are

most apt to be away on vacation are usually not good months for

direct mail. But they ARE good for opportunity and advertisements

in publications often found in vacation areas, and in motels and

hotels.

Again, it cannot be stresses too much or often: Success in mail

order does, indeed, depend upon advertising, and as with anything

else, quality pays off in the long run. Read this report again;

study it; let it sink in. Then apply the principles outlined in

it. They have worked for others, and THEY CAN WORK FOR YOU!

HOW TO MAKE BIG MONEY FAST, RENTING MAILING LISTS

Anyone wanting or needing to build a fast source of income should

definitely consider establishing a mailing list rental business.

All it takes to get started is your time, and once you're

organized, you can easily parlay this business into a $100,000 a

year income.

The first thing of course, is the compiling of names for your

mailing lists. This is done simply by noting or listing on 3 by 5

index cards the names/addresses on all incoming mail. Arrange

these in zip code and alphabetical order, and you're almost ready

for business.

To build your list of names simply run an advertisement in as

many of the mail order publications as you can afford, offering

free list of 100 mail order buyers for a self-addressed and

stamped envelope. And again, as you get these responses to your

ad, list their names/addresses in your card file system, and file

them alphabetically with your other cards.

Another way to build your list of names fast is to run a short

classified type advertisement offering a free report of some sort

of money-making idea, in exchange for a self-addressed, and

stamped envelope. As you do with all of your other incoming mail,

list the names/addresses on your index cards and file them with

the other cards.

When you've got a thousand names in your file, the next thing is

to purchase a box of self-adhesive or peel and stick labels, and

type your names/address onto these sheets of labels. Typing 31

sheets--33 labels to a sheet will give you 1,023 names on 31

sheets of labels. Take the sheets of labels to your nearest

photo-copy shop; copy them onto plain paper masters and you're

ready for business.

Meanwhile, be sure to file your plain paper masters and hold

them/guard them with your life. You can send out the labels you

typed on to your first customer.

Look thru all the publications offering advertising space for

mail order operators--clip out and study those advertisements

offering mailing lists--and from these, make up or have made up

for you, a similar ad.

You should be offering your lists for a one-time a $5 per 100

names; $20 for 500 names; and $40 for 1,000 names.

Check with your paper sources for best wholesale prices on reams

of plain paper, gummed labels, and the peel & stick kind. At the

same time, explain what you're about to do with the owner or

operator of your local copy shop, and arrange a deal where by you

can copy your names at reduced prices, so long as you provide

your own paper.

Then, when your orders start coming in--you simply take your

"master mailing lists" to the copy shop, copy them unto plain

paper, gummed or peel & stick labels, and send them out to your

customers. Basically, we suggest that you do all your copying

once a week, package all your orders, for that week, and drop

them off at the post office with just one trip.

Much of the time, you can get free advertising and at the same

time pull in a lot of new names of people who are interested in

mail order, by writing and submitting articles to the various

mail order publications. If you arrange such a deal with a

publisher, run your mailing list ad, and tag your articles with

something such as: For more information or if you have a

particular questions, write to met at...

It would also be a good idea to check out your own capabilities

of producing and mailing out a mail order ad sheet--just a

one-page flyer with 3-columns of ads on one side and a full page

advertisement of some program or product you're promoting on the

other side. The, with such an ad sheet, you contact all the mail

order publishers and offer to run their ad in your publication in

they'll run yours in their publication.

Whenever you're selling a new name/address to your card file,

always mark on the card whether or not you received any kind of

orders from that person. You should also number your mailing

lists--mark "01" on the cards of the first 1,000 names you type

onto your masters, "02" on the next thousand and so on until you

retire or sell your business.

Finally, when you've accumulated 5,000 or more names in your card

file. (incidentally, you can easily store your 3x5 cards in old

number 6 envelope boxes or even shoe boxes. Whenever you're out

shopping, simply ask the store manager or owners if they have any

such boxes that they can give you.)

Anyway, as I was saying, once you've got 5,000 names on file, you

can begin contacting some of the national list brokers and

setting up arrangements for them to a broker or rent your list

for you. Usually, they get 20% of the rental fee each time they

rent your list--a small price to pay when you understand that

these people can rent your list to 50 to 100 times per year. They

do all the advertising and selling for you with your only

responsibility being to work out arrangements to get the lists to

the rental customers.

MONEY-MAKERS GUIDE TO EASY

MAIL ORDER RICHES

Selling products and/or services through the mail is one of the

fastest growing methods of doing business in the world today.

It's estimated that sales for 1983 will top the 100 billion

dollar mark!

Millions of people from all walks of life, and in all parts of

the world are "into" mail order, with more coming in every day.

Some of them are grossing in the millions, others are chalking up

sales figures of several hundred per month, and there are others

who only give it a quick try, make a few dollars and drop out.

Mail order selling appeals to almost everybody with a desire to

get rich. Generally, it doesn't require complicated equipment, a

lot of start-up capital, or an expensive office. Mail order is a

kind of business that can be run by anyone from the comfort of

his or her own home.

About all that's required for success in mail order is selling is

an understanding of what you're doing--it's not a game or kind of

thing you want to just give a quick try...It's a way of doing

business, a requires a good understanding of what people buy, why

they buy, and an operational plan that will lead you to success.

In order to make it big in mail order, you must understand that

it's a selling business. Thus, you've got to decide on what you

want to sell--who your buyers will be--and know why they buy, and

then, program your selling efforts in such a way that these

people will buy from you.

The best, and the easiest selling product or service--because it

has the greatest appeal to the most number of people--is

information that gives people knowledge or instructions that will

enable them to get rich. The bottom line is simply that everyone

in the world wants to know how they can get rich--without putting

forth too much of an investment in either money, time or effort.

So, the first thing that you should do is some marketing

research: Look in all the publications running mail order

advertisements and opportunities--get a good understanding of

what they are doing--how they are doing it--and then formulate a

business plan of your own that will allow you to duplicate what

they're doing.

With get rich information or instructions--and knowing that to

make the really big money you have to be the author or a prime

distributor--there are two ways to go. You can become the author

with all the involved headaches and demands upon your time, or

you can buy the reproduction rights and re-sale or distribute

them as your own.

As the author, you'll have to do the research, the writing, the

printing, advertising, and order fulfillment.

As a prime source distributor, you can pay a one-time fee for the

reproduction rights--then spend your time and money on selling

efforts. You still have to handle the printing, the advertising,

and order fulfillment--but you have the advantage of "choosing

and picking" only what you feel will make money for you. With

most writers, only about 10% of what they spend hours, weeks,

even months researching and writing, ever sells for them. Writers

are just not geared to the profitable marketing of their

materials.

Your initial marketing research should give you a good idea of

what is selling--what the people are buying--and which titles of

any particular author you want to promote and sell for your own

profits.

The next thing is to look through all the publications you can

find that carry mail order ads--those that run issue after issue

(but not those run as fillers by the publisher) are usually the

ones that are not making money for the people selling them(or you

can bet they wouldn't still be running them).

Decide which kind of program you want to run, and how you want to

make money...The best ad to run is one that offers a free report

relative to a money making plan. Your ad might read: FREE REPORT!

Insider's Secrets to Your Own Million Dollar Multi-Level Empire.

Send SASE to (your name and address).

In reply to each of the responses you get to this ad, you send

them a one page report that briefly explains your multi-level

secrets, with an invitation at the bottom for those really

interested in multi-level marketing, to send in another $15 or

$20 for your complete multi-level marketing "how-to" manual. You

can then fill up their SASE with other offers, such as the

availability of mailing lists for rent, a multi-level program of

your own, and a listing of other business success reports you're

offering.

At the same time, you compile the names and addresses of all the

people sending for either your free report or their own

materials, and you have the beginning of a mailing list of your

own that you can rent out over and over again at huge profits to

yourself.

Clip the stamps off the envelopes as you receive them, and save

them in an old shoe box. When you have a box full, you can sell

them to any number of stamp collectors, and pocket an easy $10 or

$15...

Save all the envelopes with return addresses, and when you've

accumulated a thousand or two of these, you can send them in to

list compilers and pocket another $50 to $100...

The other way of advertising is the offering of your report or

book for sale from the ad. Such an ad would read about like this:

Insider's Secrets to Your Own Million Dollar Multi-Level Empire.

Dynamic new reports shows the easy way. Send $3 to (your name and

address).

It's very difficult to sell anything directly from a classified

ad because there just isn't space enough in which to do a

complete job of selling. Thus, if you try to sell from a

classified ad, be sure to keep your selling price under $5...

A $3 item should pull well with a classified ad--A $5 item will

take at least a one inch display ad--a $20 item will take a well

written sales letter.

When you're just getting started in mail order selling, stick to

small classified ads--test the pulling power of your ad, and your

product, as well as the publication your ad runs in...

Analyze and practice rewriting some of the ads other people are

running--experiment, and run a few ads in only one or two

publications--and then build upon your success. In other words,

if your first ad costs you $30, and you take in $90--take that

$90 and run the same ad again, not only in the same publication,

but in a couple of other publications as well. Use your profits

to expand the exposure of your offer--let as many people as

possible see it.

It's important to note that you cannot expect to "live off" the

income from your beginning efforts. You have to have "other"

money to pay your lights, water, and gas bills.

Mail order success is built upon the wise investment of your

advertising dollars. Take $100 and run a classified ad for your

reports in one of the big national publications. Figuring that

from that first $100, you can take in $300, run the same ad again

in that publication, and at the same time in two other

publications. Thus, your real profits should triple--and if you

keep on reinvesting your profits in additional advertising

exposure--conceivably within six months or less you should be

hauling in several thousand dollars per month in profits.

For complete reproduction and re-sale/distribution rights on this

report, as well as a list of other reports that will make money

for you, just drop a line to the mail order dealer from whom you

bought this one.

HOW TO RECRUIT DEALER/DISTRIBUTORS TO SELL FOR YOU

Everyone dreams of owning a super money-making business where

other people do all the work, and their only duties involve the

approval of sales and bank deposit slips. It's the only way to go

as a business owner.

The problem is however, not too many people seem to know how to "

put together" such a business. What you're really talking about

is an operation where you supply the product and other people do

the selling-A prime source with a dealer or distributor network.

Assuming that you have the product, you'll also need a sales kit

and plenty of impressive, eye-catching promotional materials. If

you don't supply or offer to supply materials with which your

sales force can sell the product, you'll have a hard time

enlisting people to sell for you, and you probably won't set any

sales records relative to your product either.

Let's assume that you've just written a book-HOW TO MAKE $100,000

PER YEAR AT HOME, WITH YOUR TYPEWRITTER..Okay, in order to sell

this book, you've got to get the word out to the people that you

have such a book available. Advertising on your own is going to

cost you money, and unless you've got a good understanding of the

advertising business, you may never reach your full sales

potential-besides, the time and effort expended in finding the

"right" place to advertise, the placing of your ads, monitoring

your returns, and the frustrations of dealing with the curiosity

seekers, will quickly wear you out. Such is not the way you

envisioned your life when you got the idea to write the book, get

rich and enjoy a life of leisure.

So, just as soon as you've got your book written-the book is your

product-get some "bids" out to the advertising agencies in your

area, the freelancers, and the advertising department at your

local colleges. What you want these people to do is make up an

advertising circular promoting and selling your book. Now then,

in a different-maybe smaller-type, and kind of like an

afterthought-at the bottom of this circular, you include the

phrase: Dealer Inquiries Invited...

Look over all the submitted circulars and choose the one (s) you

consider the best. then have a supply of these printed up at your

local print shop, obtain a mailing list of opportunity seekers,

and get them in the mail.

Just as soon as you've dropped these first circulars in the mail,

start writing your dealer/distributor letter. This should be

simply an explanation describing how you will dropship orders for

their customers, allowing them a certain commission on each sale

and, the price per copy you'll sell your book to them in

wholesale quantity lots. At the same time, this letter should

include a copy of your advertising circular, and an explanation,

reassuring these dealers that they can reproduce this circular

with their name/address in place of yours on the order coupon.

You might even include a brief note that you will pre-print these

circulars with the dealer's name/address and ship them to him for

a wholesale printing price. All of this boils down to your

supplying him or her with whatever is needed to promote and sell

copies of your book for you. The bottom line is simply that you

can only reach so many people, and sell so many books yourself.

With 1,000 people helping you-mailing out advertising circulars

and running small ads in hundreds of opportunity seeker

publications-your costs of running your business will be minimal

while your book sale skyrocket.

Remember though, you need an impressive, eye-catching advertising

circular or mailing package for your sales force to use as their

own, and you need a clear easy-to-understand books in wholesale

quantity lots, and the availability of advertising materials for

your dealers.

The advertising circular should be dual purpose- you send it out

to solicit sales of your product, and at the same time, recruit

dealers who are impressed with your advertising materials and

feel that they can make some money for themselves by promoting

your product. Again, this needn't be much more than a simple

"throw-way" line at the bottom of the circular: Dealer Inquiries

Invited...

Now that you're organized thus far, the next thing is to contract

to run as many small DEALERS WANTED ads in as many of the mail

order publications as possible. Such ads can be either a

classified or a small, but eye-catching one inch display ad:

DEALERS WANTED! Outstanding new book. Sells

like wildfire! Everybody wants a copy! Make

$10 profit on every $15 sale! Details for

SASE to:

Basically that's all your "dealers wanted" ad needs to say, and

then with plenty of exposure in all the mail order publications

over a period of six or eight months, you should have hundreds of

people all over the country selling your book for you. Simple,

easy, almost cut and dried, but it works!

In building my own business from scratch over the past 10 years,

I've found that once you've established a basic

dealer/distributor network-or a list of people selling for

you,you can add hundreds of related products, and the orders just

keep coming in. Give it a try and see for yourself just how easy

and profitable it can be for you!

HOW TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS WITH YOUR OWN MONEY MAKING NEWSLETTER

Writing and publishing a successful newsletter is perhaps the

most competitive of all the different areas of mail order and

direct marketing.

Five years ago, there were 1500 different newsletters in this

country. Today there are well over 10,000 with new ones being

started every day. It's also interesting to note that for every

new one that's started, some disappear just as quickly as they

are started...lack of operating capital and marketing know how

being the principal causes of failure.

To be successful with newsletter, you have to specialize. Your

best bet will be with new information on a subject not already

covered by an established newsletter.

Regardless of the frustrations involved in launching your own

newsletter, never forget this truth; There are people from all

walks of life, in all parts of this country, many of them with no

writing ability what so ever, who are making incredible profits

with simple two-four- and six page newsletters.

Your first step should be to subscribe to as many different

newsletters and mail order publications as you can afford.

Analyze and study how the others are doing it. Attend as many

workshops and seminars on your subject as possible. Learn from

the pros. Learn how the successful newsletter publishers are

doing it, and why they are making money. Adapt their success

methods to your own newsletter, but determine to recognize where

they are weak, and make yours better in every way.

Plan your newsletter before launching it. Know the basic premise

for its being, your editorial position, the layout, art work,

type style, subscription price, distribution methods, and every

other detail necessary to make it look, sound and feel like the

end result you have envisioned.

Lay out your start up needs; detail the length of time it's going

to take to become established, and what will be involved in

becoming established. Set a date as a milestone of accomplishment

for each phase of your development; A date for breaking even, a

date attaining a certain paid subscription figure, and a monetary

goal for each of your first five years in business. And all this

must be done before publishing your first issue.

Most newsletter publishers do all the work themselves, and are

impatient to get the first issue into print. As a result, they

neglect to devote the proper amount of time to the market

research and distribution. Don't start your newsletter without

first having accomplished this task!

Market research is simply determining who the people are who

will be interested in buying and reading your newsletter, and the

kind of information these people want to see in your newsletter

as a reason for continuing to buy it. You have to determine what

it is they want form your newsletter.

Your market research must give you unbiased answers about your

newsletter's capabilities of fulfilling your prospective buyer's

need for information; how much he's willing to pay for it, and an

overall profile of his status in life. The questions of why he

needs your information, and how he'll use it should be answered.

Make sure you have the answers to these questions, publish you

newsletter as a vehicle of fulfilment to these needs, and you're

on your way!

You're going to be in trouble unless your newsletter has a real

point of difference that can easily be perceived by your

prospective buyer. The design and graphics of your newsletter,

plus what you say and how you say it, will help in giving your

newsletter this vital difference.

Be sure your newsletter works with the personality you're trying

to build for it. Make sure it reflects the wants of your

subscribers. Include your advertising promise within the heading,

on the title page, and in the same words your advertising uses.

And above all else, don't skimp on design or graphics!

The name of your newsletter should also help to set it apart form

similar newsletters, and spell out its advertising promise. A

good name reinforces your advertising. Choose a name that defines

the direction and scope of your newsletter.

Opportunity Knocking, Money Making Magic, Extra Income Tip Sheet,

and Mail Order Up Date are prime examples of this type of

philosophy...as opposed to the Johnson Report, The Association

Newsletter, or Clubhouse Confidential.

Try to make your newsletter's name memorable...one that flows

automatically. Don't pick a name that's so vague it could apply

to almost anything. The name should identify

your newsletter and its subject quickly and positively.

Pricing your newsletter should be consistent with the image

you're trying to build. If you're starting a "Me-too" newsletter,

never price it above the competition. In most instances, the

consumer associates higher prices with quality, so if you give

your readers better quality information in an expensive looking

package, don't hesitate to ask for a premium price. However, if

your information is gathered from most of the other newsletters

on the subject, you will do well to keep your prices in line with

theirs.

One of the best selling points of a newsletter is in the degree

of audience involvement instance, how much it talks about, and

uses the names of its readers.

People like to see things written about themselves. They resort

to all kinds of things to get their names in print, and they pay

big money to read what's been written about them. You should

understand this fact of human nature, and decide if and how you

want to capitalize upon it-- then plan your newsletter

accordingly.

Almost as important as names in your newsletter are pictures. The

readers will generally accept a newsletter faster if the

publisher's picture is presented or included as part of the

newsletter. Whether you use pictures of the people, events,

locations or products you write about is a policy decision; but

the use of pictures will set your publication apart from the

others and give it an individual image, which is precisely what

you want.

The decision as to whether to carry paid advertising, and if so,

how much, is another policy decision that should be made while

your newsletter is still in the planning stages. Some purists

feel that advertising corrupts the image of the newsletter and

may influence editorial policy. Most people accept advertising as

a part of everyday life, and don't care one way or the other.

Many newsletter publishers,faced with rising production costs,

and viewing advertising as a means of offsetting those costs,

welcome paid advertising. Generally the advertisers see the

newsletter as a vehicle to captive audience, and well worth the

costs.

The only problem with accepting advertising in your newsletter

would appear to be that as your circulation grows, so will the

number of advertisers, until you'll have to increase the size of

your newsletter to accommodate the advertisers. At this point,

the basic premise or philosophy of the newsletter often changes

from news and practical information to one of an advertiser's

showcase.

Promoting your newsletter, finding prospective buyers and

converting these prospects into loyal subscribers, will be the

most difficult task of your entire undertaking. It takes detailed

planning, persistence and patience.

You'll need a sales letter. Check the sales letter you receive in

the mail; analyze how these are written and pattern yours along

the same lines. You'll find all of them---all those worthy of

being called sales letters---following the same formula:

Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action on the part of the

reader---AIDA.

Jump right in at beginning and tell the reader how he's going to

benefit from your newsletter, and keep emphasizing right on thru

your "PS", the many and different benefits he'll gain from

subscribing to your newsletter. Elaborate on your listing of

benefits with examples of what you have, or you intend to

include, in your newsletter.

Follow these examples with endorsements or testimonials from

reviewers and satisfied subscribers. Make the recipient of your

sales letter feel that you're offering him the answer to all his

problems on the subject of your newsletter.

You have to make your prospect feel that "this is the insider's

secret" to the success he wants. Present it to him as his own

personal key to success, and then tell him how far behind his

contemporaries he is going to be if he doesn't act upon your

offer immediately.

Always include a "PS' in your sales letter. This should quickly

restate to the reader that he can start enjoying the benefits of

your newsletter by acting immediately, and very subtly suggesting

that he may not get another chance to get the kind of "success

help" you're offering him with this sales letter.

Don't worry about the length of your sales letter---most are four

pages or more; however, it must flow logically and smoothly. Use

short sentences, short paragraphs, indented paragraphs, and lots

of sub-heads for the people who will be "scanning thru" your

sales letter.

In addition to the sales letter, your promotion package should

include a return reply order card or coupon. This can be either a

self addresses business reply postcard, or a separate coupon, in

which case you'll have to include a self-addressed return reply

envelope. In every mailing piece you send out, always include one

or the other; either a self-addressed business reply postcard or

a self-addressed return reply envelope for the recipient to use

to send your order form and his remittance back to you.

Your best response will come from a business reply postcard on

which you allow your prospect to charge the subscription to his

credit card, request that you bill him, or send his payment with

the subscription start order.

For makeup of this subscription order card or coupon, simply

start saving all the order cards and coupons you receive during

the next month or so. Choose the one you like best, modify

according to your needs, and have it typeset, pasted up and

border fit.

Next, you'll need a Subscription Order Acknowledgment card or

letter. This is simply a short note thanking your new subscriber

for his order, and promising to keep him up to date with

everything relating to the subject of your newsletter.

An acknowledgment letter, in an envelope, will cost more postage

to mail than an simple postcard; however when you send the letter

you have the opportunity to enclose additional material. A

circular listing items available through you will produce

additional orders.

Thus far, you've prepared the layout and copy for your

newsletter. Go ahead and have a hundred copies printed, undated.

You've written a sales letter and prepared a return reply

subscription order card or coupon; go ahead and have a hundred of

these printed, also undated, of course. You'll need letterhead

mailing envelopes, and don't forget the return reply envelopes if

you choose to use the coupons instead of the business reply

postcard. Go ahead and have a thousand mailing envelopes printed.

You also need subscription order acknowledgement cards or notes;

have a hundred of these printed, and of course don't forget the

imprinted reply envelopes if you're going along with the idea of

using a note instead of a postcard. This will be a basic supply

for "testing" your material so far.

Now you're ready for the big move... The Advertising Campaign.

Start by placing a small classified ad in one of your local

newspaper. You should place your ad in an weekend or Sunday paper

that will reach as many people as possible, and of course, do

everything you can to keep your costs as low as possible.

However, do not skimp on your advertising budget. To be

successful--- to make as much money as is possible with your

idea--- you'll have to reach as many people as you can afford,

and as often as you can.

Over the years we have launched several hundred advertising

campaigns. We always ran new ads for a minimum of three issues

and kept close tabs on the returns. So long as the returns kept

coming in, we continued running that ad in that publication,

while adding a new publication to test for results. To our way of

thinking, this is the best way to go, regardless of the product,

to successfully multiply your customer list.

Move slowly. Start with a local, far-reaching and widely read

paper, and with the profits or returns from that ad, go to the

regional magazines, or one of the smaller national magazines, and

continue plowing your returns into more advertising in different

publications. By taking your time, and building your acceptance

in this manner, you won't lose too much if one of your ads should

prove to be a dud. Stay with the advertising. Do not abandon it

in favor of direct mail. We would not recommend direct mail until

you are well established, and your national classified

advertising program is bringing in a healthy profit for you.

Do not become overly ambitious and go out on a limb with

expensive full page advertising until you're very well

established. When you do buy full page advertising, start with

the smaller publications, and build from those results. Have

patience keep close tabs on your costs per subscriber, and build

from the profits of your advertising. Always test the advertising

medium you want to use with a classified ad, and if it pulls well

for you, go on to a larger display type ad.

Classified advertising is the least expensive way to go, so long

as you use the "inquiry method". You can easily and quickly build

your subscriber list with this type of advertisement.

We would not recommend any attempts to sell subscriptions, or any

product from classified ads, or even from small display ads.

There just isn't enough space to describe the product adequately,

and seeing the cost of your item, many possible subscribers will

not bother to inquire for the full story.

When you do expand your efforts into direct mail, go straight to

a national list broker. You can find their names and addresses in

the yellow pages section of your local telephone directory. Show

the list broker your product and your mailing piece, and explain

what type people you want to reach, and allow them to help you.

Once you've decided on a list to use, go slowly. Start with a

sampling of 5,00 names. If the returns are favorable, go to

10,000 names, and then 15,000 and so on through the entire list.

Never rent the entire list based upon the returns from your first

couple of samplings. The variables are just too many, and too

complicated, and too conductive to your losing your shirt when

you "roll out an entire list" based upon returns from a

controlled sampling.

There are a number of other methods for finding new subscribers,

which we'll explore for you here, detailing the good and the bad

as we have researched them.

One method is that of contracting with what is known as a "cash

field" agency. These are soliciting agencies who hire people to

sell door-to-door and via the phone, almost always using a high

pressure sales approach. The publishers usually makes only about

5% from each subscription sold by one of these agencies. That

speaks for itself.

Then, there are several major catalog sales companies that sell

subscriptions to school libraries, government agencies and large

corporations. These people usually buy through these catalog

sales companies rather than direct form the publisher. The

publisher makes about 10% on each subscription sold for him by

one of these agencies.

Co-Op Mailings are generally piggy-back mailings of your

subscription offer along with numerous other business offers in

the same envelope. Smaller mail order entrepreneurs do this under

the name of Big Mail Offers. Coming into vogue now are the

Postcard Mailers. You submit your offer on a business reply

postcard; the packager then prints and mails your postcard in a

package with 40 or 50 similar postcards via third class mail to a

mailing list that could number 100,00 or more. You pay a premium

price for this type of mailing---usually $1000 To $1500 per

mailing, but the returns are very good and you keep all the

incoming money.

Another form of co-op mailing is that where you supply a charge

card company or department store with your subscription offer as

a "statement mailing stuffer". Your offer goes out with the

monthly statements; new subscriptions are returned to the mailer

and billed to the customer's charge card. The publisher usually

makes about 50% on each subscription. This is one of the most

lucrative, but expensive methods of bringing in new customers.

Direct mail agencies such as Publishers Clearing House can be a

very lucrative source of new subscriptions, in that they mail out

more than 60 million pieces of mail each year, all of which are

built around an opportunity for the recipient to win a gigantic

cash sweepstakes. The only problem with this type of subscription

agency is the very low percentage of the total subscription price

the publisher receives from these subscriptions, plus the fact

that the publishers are required to charge a lower subscription

rate than they normally charge.

There are also several agencies that offer Introductory, Sample

Copy and Trail Subscription offers, such as Select Information

Exchange and Publishers Exchange. With this kind of agency,

details about your publication are listed along with similar

publications, in full page ads inviting the readers to send $10

or $20 for trail subscriptions to those of his choice. The

publishers receive no money from these inquires list of names of

people interested in receiving trail subscription. How the

publisher follows up and is able to convert these into full term,

and paying subscribers is entirely dependent upon his own

efforts.

Most major newspapers will carry small, lightweight brochures or

oversized reply cards as inserts in their Sunday papers. The

publisher supplies the total number of inserts, pays the

newspaper $20 per thousand for the number of newspapers he wants

his order form carried in, and then retains all the money

generated. But the high costs of printing the inserts, plus the

$20 per thousand for distribution, make this an extremely costly

method of obtaining new subscribers.

Schools, civic groups and other fun raising organizations work in

about the same manner as the cash-field agencies. They supply the

solicitor and the publisher gets 25% or less for each new

subscription sold.

Attempting to sell subscriptions via radio or TV is very

expensive and works better in generating sales at the news stands

than new subscriptions. PI (Per Inquiry) sales is a very popular

way of getting radio or TV exposure and advertising for your

newsletter or other publication, but again, the number of sales

brought in by the broadcast media is very small when compared

with the number of times the "invitation commercial" has to be

"aired" to elicit a response.

A new idea beginning to surface on the cable TV scene is "Product

Shows". This is the kind of show where the originator of the

product or his representative appears on TV and gives a complete

sales presentation lasting from five minutes to fifteen minutes.

Overall, these programs generally run between midnight and 2 AM,

with the whole program a series of sales presentations for

different products. They operate on the basis of the product

owner paying a fee to appear and show his product, and also from

an arrangement where the product owner pays a certain percentage

from each sale generated from this exposure.

Newsletter publishers often run exchange publicity endorsements

with non-competing publishers. Generally, these endorsements

invite the reader of newsletter "A" to send for a sample copy of

newsletter "B" for a look at what somebody else is doing that

might be of especial help etc. This can be very good source of

new subscriptions, and certainly the least expensive.

Last, but not least, is the enlistment of your own subscribers to

send you names of people they think might be interested in

receiving a sample copy of your publication. Some publishers ask

their readers to pass along these names out of loyalty, while

others offer a monetary incentive or a special bonus for names of

people sent in who become subscribers.

By studying and understanding the information in this report, you

should encounter fewer serious problems in launching your own

successful specialized newsletter that will be the source of on

going monetary rewards for you. However, there is an important

point to remember about doing business by mail---particularly

within the confines of selling information by mail---that is,

Mail Order is ONLY another way of doing business. You have to

learn all there is to know about this way of doing business, and

then keep on learning, changing, observing and adapting to stay

on top.

The best way of learning about and keeping up with this field of

endeavor is by buying and reading books by the people who have

succeeded in making money via the mails; by subscribing to

several of the better periodic journals and aids to people in

mail order, and by joining some of the mail order trade

associations for a free exchange od ideas, advice and help.

HOW TO SUCCEED WITH YOUR OWN MONEY-MAKING AD SHEET

Publishing and distributing a mail order ad sheet can be very

profitable. They are simple and easy to produce, with most

quick print shops able to handle the printing at fairly low

cost. The important consideration is that you can use them to

pull in advertising dollars for yourself, as a free advertising

media for your own products, and as an exchange medium with

which to get greater exposure for you own ads.

Before starting an ad sheet, you should plan it all out - decide

on an interesting, informative title, choose a masthead, lay out

your columns for size, determine if it is to be a simple 8 1/2 x

11 single sheet of paper or an 11 x 17 sheet folded in half.

you'll also need to know your production cost for the number you

intend to have printed, and the postage cost to mail them out.

Most of the ad sheets start out as single sheets of paper, 8 1/2

x 11, printed on both sides. Usually, the front side is divided

into three equal columns about 2 1/4 inches wide, with a 1/2

inch margin from the edge of the paper on both sides and top and

bottom.

Assuming that the space occupied by your title, masthead and

listing of rates for advertisers interested in placing an ad

with you is two inches deep, this leaves you about 24 inches of

advertising space to sell on the front side. Figuring a cost of

$50 for 1,000 copies of such an ad sheet, printed both sides,

and a third-class bulk-rate postage of $110, this means that

your 24 inches of ad space will have to be sold at a rate of

$6.25 each in order to break even. This means: You have to sell

all of the ad space on the front of your ad sheet at $6.25 each

in order to break even. This means: You have to sell all of

the ad space on the front of your ad sheet at $6.25 per ad - and

then expect to make your profits from the sale of the back side

of your ad sheet. Actually, it would be feasible to charge

$7.00 per inch for the space on the front side, and carry you

own full page ad on the back side. At any rate, don't box

yourself into a loss situation where you can't afford to place

your own ads in your ad sheet.

You get ads by making up an advertising solicitation sales

letter and sending it out to as many mail order dealers as you

can find. You can also run ads in other people's publications,

inviting the readers to check with you regarding placement of an

ad in your publication. And of course, you'll be wanting to

work out some exchange advertising deals (whereby another

publisher runs your ad in his publication, and you run his in

exchange). From the experience of many, many publishers, this

can be one of the most effective ways of getting your ads run,

at low/no cost, and it is recognized to be successful in the

field of Mail Order.

You probably won't be able to fill up all of your available ad

space with paid ads until you're well established - but no

problem - first you fill your ad space with paid ads, and then

you fill in the empty space with ads of your own. Some

beginning advertisers fill a part of their empty space with

complementary ads for other mail order operators, send them a

copy of the issue in which the complimentary ad appears, and

invite them to continue the ad on a "paid" basis from there.

Many of them will appreciate the favor and send you a check or

money order to continue running the ad.

If you undertake the publication of an ad sheet, be sure to

consider the possibilities of sending out 100 to 1,000 copies of

your ad sheet to other mail order operators to rubber stamp

their names/addresses as co-publishers and mail out for you.

Thus, if you had 50 other mail order operators sending out 100

copies each of your ad sheet, you'd be talking about a

circulation of 5,000 copies plus the number of copies you mail

out. If you can get this kind of program going, you'll quickly

build your reputation as well as your circulation, and at the

bottom line, your profits.

Some ad sheet publishers, once they've established themselves

and are putting out an impressive publication, set up

distributor networks. Generally, they run ads calling for

distributor/dealers and asking for a $5 to $10 registration fee.

In reply to the registration application, they send out a

letter explaining that each distributor can buy at half price,

so many copies of each issue of the ad sheet, rubber stamp their

name on each copy, and send them out as their own. In return,

the distributors usually get 50% of the incoming advertising

orders, a half-price ad for themselves, and an opportunity to

sell subscriptions.

The bottom line relative to becoming a successful ad sheet

publisher has to do with keeping your production costs -

printing and mailing - as low as possible, while putting out a

quality product that other people in the mail order business

will want to advertise in - while at the same time using it as a

advertising/selling vehicle for your own products.

My advice is that almost everyone involved in mail order selling

should have some sort of ad sheet - if for no other reason than

as a means to an end - an advertising vehicle for your own

products, an extra income form advertising revenues, and as an

exchange media with which to gain greater exposure for your own

products in other people's publications. Once you've got an ad

sheet, or any kind of publication set up and being seen by other

mail order operators, you'll quickly gain stature and a certain

amount of prestige.

As with any business, your ultimate success depends on your own

feasibility studies, and your "sharp-pencil" planning completed

before you order your first issue printed. Think about it,

weigh the pro's and con's, then go with your decision.

SECRETS OF SUCCESS WITH CHAIN LETTERS

Chain letter programs will not make you rich! All those claims

about the sender pulling in $20,000 the first time around;

$80,000 the second time; and $180,000 the third time; are just

outright lies!

It's best not to get involved in ANY kind of chain letter scheme

because they ar ALL illegal, and sooner or later, the postal

authorities will close you down. If they find that you are, or

have been a willing participant, you could be fined, imprisoned,

or face a penalty of both as punishment.

Don't get involved! Chain letters do not, and will not solve

any of your money problems. Anyone, and everyone, with any

experience in direct mail - and a sense of integrity or pride in

their business - will either quickly toss your letter into the

trash or else send it on to the postal inspectors for action on

their part.

Probably the biggest reason why chain letters don't work, is the

continuing efforts of reputable mail order dealers in snuffing

out these schemes. Any money actually made or collected by a

chain letter is pocketed by the perpetrators. Sometimes the

person starting, and promoting a chain letter is able to pull a

hundred dollars or so before the postal authorities "nail" him -

but getting in as the "third name" on a list has never brought

in more than $5 or $10 total - even after such participants have

gone to the work and expense of sending out 1,000 letters.

Chain letters do nothing except cost you money!

However, many people are foolhardy enough to "try anything

once", chain letter schemes being no exception. So if you're

one of these people, and you think that by offering some sort of

product, you can get around the postal authorities, listen:

Do NOT mail your chain letter to any established business.

Especially, do NOT mail to any "known" mail order dealers.

Instead, take your phone book and pick out every tenth name or

so, front to back, and send your letters to these people. An

even better way would be to pull the names from a city directory

- available at your public library - and concentrate on people

living in the less affluent section of town.

Generally speaking, these people are more "money-hungry", less

educated and completely naive to the "truths of mail order".

These will be the people "most-likely" to take you up on

anything with chain letter connotations.

When you receive a chain letter opportunity in the mail check

the names and addresses against those you already have on file,

and then discard. Do NOT get involved in or perpetuate incoming

chain letters!

IMPORTANT: Should you receive a chain purporting to sell books

or money-making reports, do as advised in the paragraph above.

If there is a book or report listed that does interest you,

write to the dealer who supplied you this report. You will be

able to secure it, or one that better fits your needs.

Whenever you get a chain letter suggesting the names of

companies selling mailing lists, turn it over to your local

postmaster. The only time you would ever want to rent or buy

names from those companies listed in a chain letter, would be

when you already have "tons of money" and you're doing research

to determine how many nixes you can accumulate from any one

list. Most of the mailing lists from any of the firms I've seen

listed as mailing list sources in chain letters, run about 80 -

85% undeliverable, and some of the companies listed aren't even

in business anymore!

Any kind of letter, but specifically chain letters, that require

you to send money to a "printing headquarters" for so many

copies of the letter you received in order for you to get in on

the "big deal", with your name and address imprinted - is

selling you printing services! They don't care whether you ever

make a sale, or even if you never mail out one of the letters

they're so willing to print up for you - they make their money

up-front by furnishing you with printed paper!

What about multi-level programs by mail? Most are simply

"people pyramids". Organizations that make their profits from

new member fees. Before you get taken in, determine if YOU

would like to have the product they're offering - if YOU want

it, send for it. And before you start sending out letters to

recruit new members, do some common sense market research -

what's the real value of the product; how many people will

stand in line to buy it; and how much of your time and money is

it going to cost you in order to make a hundred dollars a week

in clear profits,,,

Success with anything is simply a matter of having something

DIFFERENT that APPEALS to the WANTS and/or DESIRES of the

greatest number of consumers possible - TARGETING your sales

efforts to reach the people wanting it badly enough to STAND IN

LINE TO BUY IT - and then, make it as PAINLESS as possible for

them to achieve SATISFACTION by purchasing that particular item

that fulfills THEIR NEEDS from YOU!

With this report, you've got the answers to all your questions,

and most of your dreams - Good luck in all your money-making

ventures.

HOW TO START A PEN PAL CLUB

Pen pal clubs are very easy to start, and can provide a very

comfortable "by mail" income for the sharp operators.

The best way to operate is via monthly newsletter, and listing of

new members. We've found that a simple one page, typewritten

sheet is all you need to get started.This should be, or should

include a quick run-down on what your members are up to..ie:

Janice C is planning to vacation at Tahoe next month; Lisa S is

attending night classes for a real estate license; John R. is

thinking of changing jobs-he wants something more involved in

advertising sales; Bob L. is setting up his own Carpet Cleaning

Service; Dave A. is wanting to move to Denver...

This kind of reader membership involvement will get your

"newsletter" off to a running start, and keep your members loyal

to you because of the "gossip" you pass along in each issue.

You follow up your "gossip story" with either a question and

answer session or letters from readers a-la Ann Landers or Dear

Abby. Complete the newsletter with a short story on how to meet

men or women, what to say and how to develop a friendship. The

back page, or extra page, is then a listing of men and

women--including a short description of each, and their

addresses--wanting to correspond with or meet people with similar

tastes.

You'll need a typewriter, paper, and names of people interested

in writing and receiving Pen Pal letters. You can quickly secure

a start with names answering ads(classifieds) placed in local

papers, and several out-of-town papers you are familiar with, and

by checking your news stand for the magazines that carry such

ads--it won't take long to get a basic "100" to begin your

operation.

You should have letterhead and imprinted mailing envelopes and

return envelopes 1000 of each for $100.

Next, make up a sample copy of your newsletter, and an

application sales letter that will explain your membership fee of

about $10 per year for the newsletter, plus $1 per month each

time you carry a member's name & address in your "correspondents

wanted" section. Be sure to ask for reports on what members are

doing, and encourage them to bring up to date from time to

time---this keeps the "personal touch" gossip supplied.

Now, you send out your newsletter samples, with your sales

letter/membership application, to the list of names we've

supplied you with, or you may have purchased from other sources.

At the same time, you should run an advertisement in as many

small mail order publications, with names and addresses of

publishers, order Directory #3709 for $3 from your distributor.

your ad read something like this;

Pen Pal Listings! nationwide circulation!

$1 to: Your name, address & zip code.

Tom's pen Pal letter! Monthly club news and membership

listings! $1 to : your name, address & zip code.

Of course, you'll want to keep records on all your members, and

continue to up-date the listings you carry but basically that is

all there is to getting started. You could even run ads of this

kind in your local newspapers expect a good response. We

definitely recommend that you send for sample copies of other Pen

Pal bulletins to see how they operate and what ideas of theirs

you can adapt for use in your newsletter. By all means, become a

"brower" and look thru all the magazines related to pen pals and

mail order introductions everytime you pass a magazine display

rack.

Be sure to get your newsletters out regularly, and don't stop

advertising. keep up your efforts to sell as many issues of each

publication as you can, expand your membership list, and get as

many new listings for each issue as you possibly can.

Something you might want to consider--3 back issues of your

publication for 3 dollars, or as a free bonus to all new

subscribers. You could carry this idea as a free bonus in your

advertising, and as a special offer in your newsletter.

You might also want to expand your income potential by offering

booklets, books, tapes, motivational and informational. As the

dealer who supplied this report to give you all his listings.

By keeping good records of all the mail you receive, you can also

sell or rent name lists of people who have responded to your

offerings to other mail order dealers. Real opportunities exist

for sales mentioned in the paragraph above---the opportunities

limited only by your imagination.

THE SELLING SECRETS OF MILLION DOLLAR SALES LETTERS

Regardless of what you're trying to sell, you really can't sell

it without "talking" with your prospective buyer. And in

attempting to sell anything by mail, the sales letter you send

out is when and how you talk to your prospect.

All winning sales letters "talk" to the prpspect by creating an

image in the mind of the reader. They "set the scence" by

appealing to a desire or need; and then thet flow smoothly into

the "visionary" part of the sales pitch by describing in detail

how wonderful life will be and, how "good" the prospect is going

to feel after he's purchased your product. This is the"body or

guts" of a sales letter.

Overall, a winning sales letter follows a time-tested and proven

formula: 1) Get his attention 2) Get him interested in what you

can do for him 3) Make him desire the benefits of your product so

badly his mouth begins to water 4) Demand action from him-tell

him to send for whatever it is you're selling without delay- any

procrastination on his part might cause him to lose out. This is

called the " AIDA' formula and it works.

Sales letters that pull in the most sales are almost always two

pages with 1 1/2 spaces between lines. For really big ticket

items, they'll run at least four pages- on an 11 by 17 inch sheet

of paper folded in half. If your sales letter is only two pages

in length, there's nothing wrong with running it on the front and

back of one sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 paper. However, your sales letter

should always be letterhead paper- your letterhead printed, and

including your logo and business motto if you have one.

Regardless of the length of your sales letter, it should do one

thing, and that's sell, and sell hard! If you intend to close the

sale, you've got to do it with your sales letter. You should

never be "wishy-washy" with your sales letter and expect to close

the sale with a color brochure or circular. You do the actual

selling and the closing of that sale with your sales letter- any

brochure or circular you send along with it will just reinforce

what you say in the sales letter.

Ther's been a great deal of discussion in the past few years

regarding just how long a sales letter should be. A lot of people

are asking: Will people really take the time to read a long sales

letter. The answer is a simple and time-tested yes indeed!

Surveys and tests over the years emphatically proven that longer

sales letter pull even better than the shorter ones, so don't

worry about the length of your sales letter- just make sure that

it sells your product for you!

The "inside secret" is to make your sales letter so interesting,

and "visionary" with the benefits you're offering to the reader,

and he can't resist reading it all the way through. You break up

the "work" of reading by using short, punchy sentences,

underlining important points you're trying to make, with the use

of subheadlines, indentations and even the use of a second color.

Relative to the brochure or circulars you may want to include

with your sales letter reinforce the sale- providing the

materials you're enclosing are the best quality, they will

generally reinforce the sale for you. But, if they are of poor

quality, look cheap and don't complement thing, it will

definitely classify you as an independent home-worker if you

hand-stamp you name/address on these brochures or advertising

circulars.

Whenever possible, and so long as you have really good brochures

to send out, have your printer run them thru his press and print

your name/address- even your telephone number and company logo-

on them before you send them out. The thing is, you want your

prospect to think of you as his supplier- the company- and not

just another mail order operator. Sure, you can get by with less

expense but you'll end up with a fewer orders and in the end,

less profits.

Another thing that's been bandied about and discussed from every

direction for years is whether to use a post office box number of

your street address. Generally, it's best to include both your

post office box number, AND, your street address of your sales

letter. This kind of open display of your honesty will give you

credibility and dispell the thought of you being just another

"fly-by-night" mail order company in the mind of the prospect.

Above all else, you've got to include some sort of ordering

coupon. This coupon has to be simple and easy for the prospect to

fill out and return to you as you can possibly make it. A great

many sales are lost because this order coupon is just to

complicated for the would-be buyer to follow. Don't get fancy!

Keep it simple, and you'll find you prospects responding with

glee.

Should you or shouldn't you include a self-addressed reply

envelope? There are a lot of variables as well as pro's and con's

to this question, but overall, when you send out a "winning"

sales letter to a good mailing list, a return reply envelope will

increase your response tremendously.

Tests of the late seem to indicate that it isn't that big of a

deal or difference in responses relative to whether you or don't

pre-stamp the return envelope. Again, the decision here will rest

primarily on the product you're selling and the mailing list

you're using. Our recommendation is that you experiment- try it

boh ways- with different mailings, and decide for yourslf from

there.

HOW TO START & SUCCESSFULLY OPERATE A CORRESPONDENCE CLUB

All over the country, in fact--all over the world, there are

lonely men and women eagerly seeking confidential introductions

to other people--for friendship, companionship, even marriage.

They're in every village and hamlet, in every town and city, at

every crossroads and every rural route; up in the mountains and

down in the valleys, on ranches, in factories, mills, stores,

offices, churches--They're everywhere!

You can help these people ease their loneliness, and make a very

good income for yourself as well, with a Correspondence Club. If

you enjoy people, and have an imagination for the world of

business, then this is for you.

The first step is to find out what the other correspondence clubs

are doing. Your purpose will be to design your own format, and

look for ways to improve upon what they are doing. So, check out

the tabloids on sale at your supermarket and write a letter to as

many of the advertising correspondence clubs as you can afford.

Simply state that you're thinking of joining a correspondence

club--but you don't want to get "ripped off," so you would

appreciate a sample copy of their latest club bulletin/newsletter

and a listing of everything the club endeavors to do for its

members. It isn't an absolute necessity--but it wouldn't hurt to

include a loose stamp with your letter inquiry.

Most of the established clubs will respond quickly, because the

very least it means to them is another address they can sell.

Don't use business letterhead paper, or a business name. Just

inquire as an ordinary interested person.

Once you have your game plan organized--what you will offer your

members, the fees you'll charge, and the related services or

items you want to offer as sources of added income--your next

move will to begin advertising. Start small, go slowly...This is

mainly to allow you to handle the ever-increasing number of

members while still maintaining firm control over the time

required to keep up with the business.

Your first advertisements should be in the "nickle or

classifieds" newspapers in your area. An advertisements such as

the following, inserted once a week for a month, shouldn't cost

you more than $25 while filling your mailbox...

Young woman, just divorced, wants to meet eligible men thru

correspondence. Tell me about yourself with SASE to: Box number,

and Your name or nickname. (Most people just use a tag-line such

as: Judy, Box 123, Anywhere (USA).

At the same time this ad is running for men to inquire about the

available girls, run an ad such as the following in about five or

six of the national mail order sheets...

Young business executive--Little Shy--wants to meet right women

thru correspondence. Will answer all letters. Sherm, Box 123,

Everywhere USA.

Certainly you should vary the ads--study the ads the other clubs

are running, and adapt what and how they're doing it to your own

needs.

Hopefully before you began, as a result of the "sample

bulletins/newsletter" you received from all the correspondence

clubs you wrote to, You've prepared your own bulletin and can

send it off in reply to all of your inquires, with an invitation

to pay for a membership in your club. Another important "rung up

the ladder" you're going to get from these samples is a list of

names and addresses of both men and women seeking correspondence.

Some do include names and addresses with their bulletins, and

some don't either way, they all sell names to each other so you

can send a sprinkling of those names and addresses with your own,

until you become well established and with a mailing list of your

own.

Important to remember--Do not begin advertising until you have

your first club bulletin/newsletter prepared, along with your

membership application. Then, just as soon as you receive each

inquiry, you can send out your answer--the faster your service

the more credibility you'll impart to your prospects. Also,

always watch what the older, more established correspondence

clubs are doing--You'll want to duplicate their methods, but with

more flair and better service for your members.

After about three months in business, you should be pretty well

established and showing a good monthly profit. Then you can begin

running advertising on your own in the "check-out counter"

tabloids, and several of the monthly subscription magazines such

as True Story, True Confessions, Modern Romances, etc.

One way of getting started with a built-in supply of names is by

contacting Metrapala--Box 4091, Sunnyside Station, Long Island

City, New York 11104... They have several sources of good names

of people wanting introductions to members of the opposite sex,

and will gladly supply you with price lists for 25 to 500 names

of lonely people in every state in the union, plus most countries

around the world.

Another important organization that can be of tremendous help to

you is Destiny Syndicate--P.O. Box 5637, Reno, Nevada

89513...Headed by R.J. Williams who directs the office of the

World Federation of Correspondence Clubs, they can set you up

with a quarterly newspaper that has built-in membership forms,

and advertising possibilities as well. In fact, with destiny

Syndicate affiliation, you need do nothing more than a little bit

of advertising, and then mail out club news bulletins every three

months or whatever you enlist a new member. It would be well

worth your effort to investigate.

HOW TO MAKE BIG PROFITS IN MAIL ORDER STARTING FROM SCRATCH

A lot of people are going to tell you that there are "no more

secrets" to making the big profits in mail order. These same

people will laugh at you and call you a "fool" for wasting your

time chasing rainbows that don't exist.

Don't you believe or even listen to them! The opportunities for

wealth beyond your wildest dreams via the direct mail sales of a

product or service have never been greater!

If you have an idea, product, or service now is the time to

capitalize on it via mail order selling. You can definitely start

"on the kitchen table" and parlay it into millions of dollars.

Others have done it and continue making themselves a success. Now

it's your turn for a piece of the pie.

As with any other profitable business the procedure of making

"profits" by mail has its own set of rules. Learn these rules,

adhere to them, adjust them to your own circumstances, draw up a

"battle plan" and work, work. Persevere, be aware of other

people's marketing methods, continue up grading your own product

or service, and with determination you can become a millionaire

in your own right. Then YOU can look over your shoulder at those

who were laughing at you, and perhaps help them in some small

way!

Knowledge and the ability to use that knowledge are the basic

keys to success. You must identify the goal you want to attain,

understand what it takes to reach that goal, and then dedicate

yourself to getting there.

The path to the successful achievement of your goals through

direct mail fall into three distinct categories; (1) Market

Research and product selection, (2) The use of "targeted" mailing

lists, and (3) Customer Follow Up. If you can understand the

"hows and whys" of these rules then there's virtually no way you

can help but succeed in the field of mail order, even starting

from scratch.

Market Research has to do with the selection of the proper

product, identifying your "most likely" buyers, and getting your

product offer to these people. Product selection is the most

basic, and thus the most important first step.

Stop and think. Look around yourself. Listen to find out what the

"people" are clamoring most. In this day and age, much of the

noise in the air has to do with topics such as, "How can I find a

job?", "How can I put together a resume that will get me a job

when I spot an opening?" "Where are the best jobs to be found?"

With these thoughts in mind, the person who writes, publishes,

and gets and instructional manual or newsletter relative to these

questions to the people will sell as many as he can produce.

Thus, Step One is to "listen" to what the people want and then to

satisfy those wants. Do this by spending some time researching

the subject. Visit your local public library, interview a number

of people who have succeeded in satisfying their wants, conduct a

few "dry runs" for personal experience, and then write your

manual.

The "secret" to ultimate wealth is the capability of producing a

product that can be duplicated an unlimited number of times for

pennies and sold for dollars. A great many people get "bogged

down" within this "rule" because they don't understand "time and

motion" requirements. As an example, if you were to stage

seminars for the unemployed in your area to help them find and

land jobs, you would undoubtedly make a fortune very quickly.

But, you would be committed to a certain expenditure of time to

prepare and stage a seminar. Thus you would make a lot of money

for yourself, but at the same time you would sustain a loss of

time that could be spent enjoying your wealth by doing the things

you always wanted to do once you became rich. The only way around

this would be to train and hire other people to prepare and stage

the seminars, which would mean you would then be dividing your

profits.

In the end, the "only way" to succeed is to write something which

can be duplicated as often as necessary and sold virtually

forever. Look at it this way; you can spend a full month

organizing your material and writing a manual that costs $1 per

copy to produce in quantity. You sell it for $20 a copy, and over

a period of three years you sell three million copies. In

essence, that amounts to 60,000,000 for one month's work!!!

So writing something "the people want" is the only way to go.

But be careful. Make sure you've done your homework and that what

you write about is what the majority of the people "will stand in

line to buy". Listen to what the people want, and then give it to

them. This is the product selection part of your market research.

By listening to the cries for help, and catering to them, you

will not only have "discovered" the proper product, you will have

also "identified" your buyers. Do not try to interest the people

in something that does not specifically fulfill one of their

desires. Don't mistake a casual interest or complaint as "the

voice" of the masses. Spend some time "listening",

and then write to satisfy that need.

Once you've got your product ready for customers to buy, you

should spend some time creating the proper sales letter and

circular to use in presenting it to your potential customers.

Above all else, your sales materials must present an image of

professionalism and sell, sell, sell.

Use quality paper and printing in presenting your sales message.

Present what you have to say, not in a manner that tells the

prospect who you are, how well qualified you are to write on the

subject, or how much work you put into the project, but from a

stand point of how the customer is going to benefit from buying a

copy of your manual.

As an example; General Motors doesn't advertise cars by telling

you how they were designed and engineered, built by college

graduates or union workers, nor have you ever heard of someone

walking up to a car in a dealer's showroom, kicking the tire, and

exclaiming "Boy, this sure looks like a safe one!". In fact, new

cars are sold by the image of the prospective owners sitting in

the driver's seat and showing off by driving through his

neighborhood. "Just climb in there behind the wheel and see how

she feels to you. Go ahead and take it for a test drive. Drive it

home and see what your neighbors think..."

The benefits the prospective buyer is going to receive are the

starting point from which all "winning" sales letters are written

and circulars designed. It is the "secret" of getting people to

spend money on a product or service. Students form the

advertising classes at your college, freelance advertising agency

personnel,and believe it or not automobile dealership advertising

managers are the people to turn to for ideas and help.

Next, consider your follow up piece. This is a simple one page

listing of other "related" materials for your customers. Assuming

you've sold him a manual on how to land a job, your follow up

piece might list manuals on how to dress to project a winning

image, how to breeze through job interviews, and what to do after

the interview (perhaps an opportunity for your buyer to subscribe

to

quarterly newsletter listing job availabilities).

It's important that you have your follow up piece put together

and ready before you make your primary offer available to the

public. Then, when you start receiving orders simply enclose your

follow up listing of other materials available along with the

manual the customer has ordered. Thus you make one sale and as a

result you make further sales of related materials. These are the

kind of "back end" sales that will keep you in business and your

profits multiplying. Don't neglect the follow up piece.

Getting you offer to your most likely buyers is going to cost you

money, and here is where most direct mail beginners drop the

ball. Do not try to save money and send your offer out to just

any old list of names. Contact a reputable mailing list broker.

Visit your public library and ask the librarian for a copy of the

Standard Rate & Data Services Directory pertaining to mailing

list brokers. Find one in your area or one that looks appealing.

Tell the mailing list broker you contact about your offer and ask

for his help in choosing a mailing list that will be profitable

to you.

You'll probably have to rent a minimum of 5,000 names at a cost

ranging between $65 and &90 per thousands, but in the end you'll

save a lot of time and money because with a good offer and good

mailing list you can count on a tremendous response. For

instance, the one time rental of a good mailing list may cost you

$475 at 795 per thousand. However, a 20% response from such a

list on a &20 manual would mean $20,000 in your pocket.

To spend your time compiling names and addresses from incoming

mail order offers, or to rent and use a mailing list from any

source other than a reputable broker, is not only foolish but a

shortcut to the poor house! Identify your most likely buyers,

contact reputable mailing list broker, match your buyer profile

to his most responsive list, and you'll make money lots of money

every time. Anything less is just a exercise in futility!

There you have it. short and sweet. Cut and dried. The "easy way"

to the big profits in mail order starting from scratch. these are

the basics, the secrets to how other have done it, and how you

can do it too. Organize yourself, follow these guidelines, and

it'll be next to impossible for you not to succeed. Remember

though, your best product will be "how to information. Something

the people want to learn. Something you can research, write

about, produce for pennies, and then sell for dollars.

And don't forget, once you're ready to start taking orders, make

sure that you get your offer to the most likely buyers. Get out

of the mail order circle and out to the people who want to spend

money for your product.

It's easy, simple, and it can be very rewarding! Understand the

requirements, position yourself to succeed, and go after it! This

time next year you could be a millionaire!!!

HOW TO PARLAY ANY MULTI-LEVEL PROGRAM INTO A MILLION DOLLARS

Multi-level marketing is definitely the way to go for people

aspiring to have more than just enough to get by on. Most of the

world's leading economic forcasters say that by the turn of the

century, fully 75% of the world's consumer business will be

conducted via multi-level marketing plans.

The thing to do is to learn all you can about this method of

selling how it works, and why it works--and then to get going

with a multi-level marketing program that can accumulate a

fortune for you. Make no mistake about it, multi-level marketing

has made a lot of people very rich already, and will make a lot

more people even richer in the coming years.

Multi-level marketing is based upon the idea of each person

involved selling only to his or her friends, with each of these

people in turn, introducing their friends into the program. It's

definitely an "endless chain" idea that has unlimited

money-making potential.

Theoretically, everybody knows or comes into contact with an

average of 100 different people each week. If only 10 of those

people were to give you $10 per week, you would have an income of

$100 per week. And then, if these people were to duplicate your

efforts, passing back to you, $1 for each new person they

enlisted into the program, and then each person recruited

perpetuated the program, you income would soon be astronomical!

Undoubtedly, you've heard the story of how you can become rich

simply by saving a penny a day, and doubling it each day for 30

days. and then, there are the pyramid or chain letter schemes

that we've all been offered. Multi-level marketing, in principle,

works the same way, with the only difference being in the product

offered for sale.

All of these programs work to some degree--because there are

government restrictions and laws against the perpetuation of

these ideas--most of them make a big splash when they are first

introduced, and then quickly die out. However, the concept of

initiating a program that sells itself via an endless chain will

always be popular because it holds the promise of bringing riches

if only the chain isn't broken.

So, multi-level marketing appeals to everybody because it's an

opportunity for all the participants to get rich with a minimum

investment, and very little time or effort or involvement.

It works because everybody wants to become rich. it's an idea

that anyone--regardless of education, background or basic

financial status--can perpetuate from the privacy of his or her

own home.

The basic fallacy of multi-level marketing is in the number of

people each individual participant can easily enlist into the

program. After you've talked to all your relatives, your

neighbors, co-workers, and friends across town, you're more or

less stymied as to new people to bring into the program.

The bottom line is simply that you cannot recruit everybody you

talk to--in fact, if you enlist 10% of the people you attempt to

interest in the program, you'll be doing very well. You're going

to get some rejections, and these rejections are basically what

turns most people off--deflates their ego, drains their

enthusiasm, and in the end, is the primary reason they drop out.

Regardless of what you sell, you must always have a gaol in

mind--you intend to sell 10 units of a product or recruit 10 new

people into your program between now and the first of the month.

you've got to believe that you can do it--want to do it--and then

get out and beat the bushes until you do it! Once you've achieved

this first gaol, you should take a day off and reward yourself

with a night on the town or the splurging you've always wanted.

But then, after setting a goal for yourself, and then proving

that you can achieve it, you should set a new gaol for yourself--

if you recruited 10 new people into your program last month, then

this month, you're going to bring in 15 new members.

You're going to make the really big money in multi-level

marketing by selling "business start-up kits," and not really

from spending time inspiring or motivating the people you've

already brought into the program. In other words, sell the

program to as many people as possible, and count on the

motivational/money-making opportunities with-in your dealer

start-up kit to cause them to put forth the effort to get out and

try to make some money on their own. In the end, and as the old

saying goes: you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make

him drink it--any time and or energy spend "calling back" on the

people you've already sold, is going to cost you money and limit

your gross income. To be successful in selling--and this is the

secret to multi-level riches--you must present your program to as

many people as possible. Close the sale with your first

presentation, and let the buyer either get with it, or die from

his own lack of initiative.

It's as simple as that--the more people you present your program

to, the more sales you're going to make. Don't worry about the

people who have already bought from you--they either will or they

won't and there's nothing you can do about it.

Obviously, if you spend all your time on the telephone inviting

people over to a Special Opportunity Party at your house, and

then another 3 -hours presenting your program to them, it's going

to take you a long time to present your program to 10,000 people

and make $10,000...

And, your costs to rent a hall--advertise--and present a seminar

progarm--will amount to more than you take in. If you have the

initial promotional abilities, the credit and/or cash, and a

really dynamic program--you can make it big, and quickly, by

staging seminar-type meetings at the rate of 3 to 5 per week.

Still, this is expensive and time consuming-- a lot of work on

your part, and not the easiest, most profitable way to go.

The only logical way to go--to reach as many people as possible

for the least amount of money and effort on your part--is via the

mails. In other words, the marrying of your multi-level marketing

efforts to mail order will be the least expensive and most

profitable for you.

You can spend out 50,000 sales letters and multi-level program

brochures in one month, and theoretically make $50,000 from an

expenditure of $10,000 or less--a return of $5 for every dollar

invested, which isn't bad...

Here's our recommendation:

1) Write a short, one-page report outlining the basic Success

Secrets of muli-level marketing. You can tag-line this report

with an invitation for the readers to send for a complete or more

detailed manual or tape relative to multi-level how-to; a

directory or current listing of money-making multi-level

programs; or even a listing of other reports relative to

money-making home-based businesses you have for sale.

2) Once you have such a report, the next thing for you to do is

advertise. Write an ad such as: FREE REPORT!... Money-making

secrets of multi-level marketers. SASE to Your name, address,

city, state, zip.

3) Place this ad in one of the national publications carrying

lots of mail order advertisements--such as The National Inquirer,

American Business, Money-making Opportunities, Entrepreneur,

Income Opportunities, Speciality Salesman or any one of the

hundreds of other such publications. It is our recommendation

that you contract to run such an ad over three issues. This will

give your ad maximum exposure, and should result in an

overwhelming number of responses for you.

4) In reply to each SASE you receive, first list the name and

address of each respondent, along with the date received and what

you send back to them, on 3 by 5 cards. Arrange these cards in

zip code and alphabetical order, and store them in an old shoe

box. Then, you take your one page report and along with your

multi-level marketing brochure--your program--you stuff the

envelopes and drop them off in your nearest mail box.

If you ad runs in the National Inquirer, you could expect to get

1,000 or more responses each time it runs. So far, your cost is

for the ad--the printing of the one page report--and your

multi-level program brochures. From these 1,000 free reports you

send out you should be able to convert about 300 into new members

into the multi-level program you're promoting.

Thus, for an initial cost of $30 for the ad--$100 for the MLM

brochures--and the time it takes you to stuff the envelopes--300

buyers at $10 each will give you a gross of $3,000... And that's

how you parlay your multi-level program into a fortune, using

mail order selling techniques.

One very important thing to always remember relative to starting

a new business: You cannot take any money coming in from you

business advertising, and use it to pay your "everyday" bills. In

other words, you cannot expect to use this money to live on---you

have to pour it back into your business to perpetuate that flow

of income.

Whenever you advertise, in addition to replies to your offer, you

can expect a "ton of mail" from other people trying to interest

you in what they're selling. Basically, you should go thru all of

this "junk mail' and look over, save the stuff that looks

interesting, is well done, or that you can learn from, and

perhaps "lift" some ideas from for use in your own selling

efforts.

Compile the names of the people and/or companies sending these

offers to you. Just as with those replying to advertised offer,

jot down the date and a short description of the material

received--and then send them a sales letter/brochure about your

multi-level program. In sending out sales letter/brochures to

thee people, you don't have to send them out immediately. You can

list these people in an "incoming offer notebook," and then

include them with your regular direct mail packages you send out.

But for sure, clip the stamps and save the incoming envelopes

along with those from your bona fide replies.

5) So you've spent $150 and made about $3,000 in a period of

about three months. Now you want to perpetuate this income, and

build it to twice that amount coming in every month. What you do

is take the income from that first ad, and increase your

advertising. In other words, use it to buy ad space in as many

other publications as possible.

If you first $150 brought in $3,000 from exposure in just one

publication, $2,000 will bring you $50,000 from exposure in 10

different publications. Continue multiplying your advertising

exposure and it won't be long before you will be "snowed under"

with dollar bills, checks and money orders. remember this though,

you cannot really spend any of that money on yourself until the

business is bringing in several thousand dollars per month on a

regular basis. You have to pour it back into the business in

order to allow your business to reach its full potential.

6) Make up a one-page "Money Tree" circular, similar to ours

which included a reference material within this report. Be sure

that you keep the cost to "find out about your program" to $2 or

less. Then, with a listing of money making reports such as

ours--printed on the back of your "Money Tree" circular--shotgun

this out to as many people as possible.

We've had outstanding success handing them out at local shopping

centers, passing them out door-to-door, and by including them as

"ride-alongs" with our bulk junk mailing program. The important

thing again, is to present your offer to as many different people

as possible--particularly to those people with an itch to get

rich quick...

In addition to circulating you "Money Tree" flyers by hand, you

should rent or buy-on a regular basis--as many different mailing

lists on income opportunity seekers as you can afford, and

shotgun one of your circulars to each of these names. The

publisher of this report (PREMIER) has names and addresses of

customers for $35 per thousand, on peel and stick labels. You can

also find inexpensive mailing list suppliers in just about any

publication that carries mail order advertising.

For sure, you should spend the money to obtain a 3rd class bulk

rate mailing permit, and then use it to send out all your

mailings. Start by sending out 250 pieces per week, and then

gradually increase your volume to the point where you're sending

out 5,000 or more pieces per week, and you'll be in business.

7) So the secrets to getting rich in mail order have to do with

presenting a free offer most people will find hard to pass up.

You make your money from whatever you send out in reply to the

people taking you up on the free offer.

You send them a copy of the free report, plus your multi-level

marketing brochure. You can stop there if you want, but there's

lots more money to be made just from these initial efforts.

Follow-up offers to people who, themselves are out beating the

buses attempting to drum up extra income, is the way the game is

played. So, when you receive all these names nd addresses of

people interested in receiving a report on multi-level marketing,

you compile the names and rent or sell them to other multi-level

operators.

Besides including your "Money Tree" circular, and the mailing

list rental offer, you should also include a one page circular

describing and offering for sale, a listing of your money-making

reports. And then, by soliciting co-op mailings from other mail

order operators, you'll have a "pretty full" envelope of offers

going out.

Finally, the one thing you must always bear in mind is how your

mailing package looks to the person receiving it. Your envelopes

should be professionally printed with your return address--your

sales letters should be written to impress the recipient; no

misspelled words or smudges from erasures or worn out

typewriters; and the eye-appeal of your coupons or offers which

are included; and by all means, the quality of your multi-level

brochure. Although multiple colored printing does tend to pull

better that just black and white, you can do very well starting

with just black and white materials so long a the image you

project is all professional. Photo-copying your offers hoping for

the best, just won't do. The more affluent you appear to be, fro

your envelope to each offer contained within, the better your

chances of making a sale.

So, that's how it's done--you can take these methods of how we've

done it, maybe even improve upon them a bit, and make tons of

money--or you can set everything aside and tell yourself that

you'll get started on it next week. The thing is, the

instructions are valid and the opportunity is here and

now--whatever you do is up to you.

HOW AND WHERE TO ADVERTISE

More than anything else, the key to success in business depends

on how and where to advertise. You must advertise or forever

remain unknown. If you have "the better mousetrap," you have to

let people know about it, or your ideas and efforts will come to

nothing.

Everybody seemingly has an idea for a product, a service or a

"how to" manual of some kind. Many people spend half of their

lives perfecting a product, learning how to perform a special

service, or writing a book--only to end up penniless and

heartbroken because "no one beats a path to their door" to buy

whatever it is they are trying to sell.

In most cases, it's a matter of whether you want to "go down in

history" as just another inventor, hard-worker, author or want to

"sell a product and enjoy the rewards."

Always do some basic common sense product analysis and market

research before you begin building, learning or putting together

something you want people to buy. The same kind of "research'

will save your time, frustration, and money, if you apply the

same principles to every "selling opportunity" that arouses your

interest.

Make a check list of questions that must be answered before you

embark upon any project or get too deeply involved in any selling

situation. Such a checklist should answer the following

questions:

1) Who will I sell it to?

2) Do these people really want, and need it?

3) How large is the market?

4) How will I reach these people and get them to buy?

5) Is anyone else selling a similar product, service or book?

6) What makes my product and strategies different?

7) Can I supply the product at a price the customer will pay, and

still make a profit for myself?

8) How much time, effort and money will I have to invest in order

to reach my profit goals?

9) Do i have the resources, and the stamina to carry this idea

thru to success?

Once you've answered these questions--completed this bit of basic

product analysis and market research--then you can start planning

exactly how you intend to sell it, and map out your advertising

strategy from there. You'll find success in selling effort, much

easier, and much more profitable, if you honestly and objectively

answer these "check list" questions before you begin.

It's absolutely imperative that you analyze the product, and

profile your prospective customer--the saleability of your

product, and the demand for such a product by the people you want

to buy. One other thing, don't ever overlook or "poo pah" your

real and/or imagined competition.

When people neglect to analyze the product, and answer the basic

research questions, they're almost certainly doomed to failure.

these are precisely the reasons for failure almongst people who

attempt to start a mail order business. We literally get tons of

mail order offers for products that are losers; and even offers

from people trying to sell us our own material and/or related

items which we can buy at wholesale prices.

When Sears & Roebuck send out a new catalog or sales circular, do

you "really" think they send one to Montgomery Ward? Another

thing, this "we're all friends and in the same business, so you

buy from me and I'll buy from you" philosophy may keep you busy

and you mailbox full, but it'll never results in profits on your

P&L sheet. Advertise in the media that reaches your buyers, and

send your direct mail materials to people likely to but--not

sellers.

Remember, your first task is to determine who your most likely

customers are, and then design your advertising campaign to reach

those specific people. Generally, you wouldn't try to sell

pantyhose with an ad in a care care magazine, or socket wrenches

with an ad in a magazine for bride-to-be.

In other words, design your advertisements to appeal to "your

kind of customer,"--send $5 for our report on HOW TO WRITE ORDER

PULLING ADS--and then, place these advertisements in the

publications these people buy and read. If you're selling gift

items, crafts and other merchandise, advertise in those kinds of

publications--general merchandise catalogs catering to that kind

of buyer. If you're wanting to recruit sales people, dealers and

distributors, place your ads in publications reaching people

looking for these kinds of opportunities.

I don't recommend that you begin, or attempt to launch your

business via direct mail, but when the time comes for you to

expand into direct mail, be discriminate--select mailing lists

for your type of customer. Do-it yourselfers for shop tools,

cosmetics buyers for jewelry and self adornment merchandise,

how-to-book buyers for your crafts, hobbies and self-improvement

books, opportunity seekers for business start-up manuals, and

proven advertisers for your publications.

So, when you read in a business success article that you should

place your ad in publications carrying similar ads--the advice

given is "place your ads in publications reaching your kind of

buyer." Just because it's a publication reaching mail order

people and you're selling imported gift items by mail, doesn't

mean your ad will pull from exposure in that publication. Always

add one more answer: Does it reach a large number of the type of

buyers I'm selling to?

Definitely, this is where many mail order entrepreneurs go wrong,

and very definitely, this is the fallacy of advertising in the

M/O ad sheets. Analyzing the type of people a publication

reaches; and the loyalty as well as true interest of a

publication's readers; and then determining whether or no they'll

respond to your ad, is easy if you will just ask yourself a few

common sense questions.

Mail Order Ad Sheet: These reach beginning and small mail order

dealers...Their appeal is largely egotistical to see the

advertiser's name/ad in print--read by other mail order dealers

to see who is advertising, what's be advertised, and for the

accumulation or compiling mail lists. very little if any response

for the recipients who are looking, not for things to buy, but

for shortcuts to more profits.

Mail Order Tab Sheets: These reach basically the same audience as

the M/O Ad Sheets...Generally more appealing because of the

"instructional" articles and greater space devoted to mentioning

who's doing what/names in print & free publicity. Rate these

according to the "information" being passed along in articles.

Usually, these publications pull a greater response than the ad

sheets, but still, they're largest audience is one made up of

sellers.

Mail Order Dealer Catalogs: These reach the mail order dealers,

plus a very large segment of specific buyers--generally related

to the overall kind of merchandise offered within the catalog.

Unless there are "business building" articles, the recipients

generally toss them aside after a quick glance...These are very

good showcases for your dealer/distributor ads, and if it's an

"established" merchandise catalog of the kind of product you're

selling, these catalogs can be very good advertising outlets for

you...

Extra Income Magazines, such as Money Making Magic, Venture and

Entrepreneur: These publications individually reach a very loyal

basic subscriber list, most of the people wanting or hoping to

get started with, or already involved in a sparetime extra income

project, and tremendously large number of "first time" readers

with each issue. Look for, and rate them according to the balance

of actual "business building" articles they carry, in

relationship to their advertising--and overall, according to the

quality of the publication as well as the audience each trying to

reach--do the articles really help you, or are they "publicity

write-ups" for the advertisers... You'll find that these

magazines are retained, and referred to by the recipients for

years...In almost every case, you can expect a good response from

your ads placed in one of these magazines--provided you've got a

good ad and it's geared to the readers of that particular

magazine.

Remember: The bottom line is knowing your type of

buyer--presenting your product or opportunity in a style that

appeals especially to that type of buyer--and then placing your

ad in the publication reaching your kind of a buyer.

Cooking magazines for recipes; mechanical opportunity in the

mechanics magazines; self-improvement books and merchandise in

general merchandise catalogs; and income opportunities in

business-building, self-help magazines such as Money Making

Magic!

Besides matching the profile of your customer with the

demographics of the publication, it's also important that you

match your selling prices within the average price range of

everything else offered in that publication. Running an ad to

sell a book at $65 in a publication featuring $20 books, probably

won't pull for you. By the same toke, any ads attempting to

promote "re-production type" reports in a magazine selling $50

books, probably won't bring very many responses for you either.

To achieve success--know your product, profile your prospective

buyer, design advertising that appeals to the self interest of

that specific kind of buyer; and place your ads in publications

reaching those kinds of buyers. If you're trying to sell by

direct mail, send your offers to prospective buyers--not sellers

of the same type of materials you're attempting to sell.

Very few people recognize a legitimate opportunity, even when you

hit then over the head with it--even so, unless you've got

something REALLY NEW, and a deal that really is THE OPPORTUNITY

OF A LIFETIME, save your money and don't try to push your program

onto other mail order dealers who may already be selling it.

Assuming that you "know" your typical customer, and the best

media to reach this kind of customer, the next step is putting

your ad together. It's said millions of times before, but it's

important that you UNDERSTAND, and REMEMBER: Your ad MUST appeal

to the self-interest of your prospect. It must somehow be

different, and better, than all the others,particularly if your

product is being advertised in the same publication by other mail

order dealers.

Nothing beats originality. Write your ads from a different angle.

Lead off with the answer to every customer's most important

question: What will I get if I send in my money?

Use words to paint pictures of success, wealth and happiness.

Eliminate the customer's fears of being taken or ripped off.

Picture yourself in your prospective customer's shoes, and give

him real reasons to send his money to you. And finally, make it

easy for him to order--call toll free; use your bank card; order

now and we'll bill you later; self-addressed envelope.

Don't be too determined to sell your primary product from your

ad. Chances are, if it's as good as you say it is, and you really

want to make big profits, you should use a sales letter 4-or more

pages in length. Consider a "leader" item, and run an ad such as

this: FREE RAGS TO RICHES MAIL ORDER OPPORTUNITY guide! Send your

name, address, zip code & two first class stamps.

Then in response to all takers of this Free Offer, include the

complete sales letter, brochure, order form, and self-addressed

return reply envelope with the booklet you send out. Using this 2

step method, some people have attained 60 and 70 percent sales

for their primary product.

Another angle? FREE BOOK! Mail Order Millions From A Shoestring

Beginning! Send your name, address, and zip code, along with $1

for shipping and handling.

In response, you send out the book and a sales letter inviting

the recipient to avail himself of your mail order business

consulting services.

Again, the rules are: Determine who you want for a customer. Get

his undivided attention, and then sell your product or service.

Simple, easy, and it works every time. All it takes is a little

bit of common sense on your part!

A small, inexpensive classified ad offering a "most wanted"

leader item, followed up with a dynamic sales letter...and your

success is virtually guaranteed! As a means to an end,

particularly if you're wanting to enlist people to sell your

product for you-

Start an ad sheet--run exchange with every ad sheet publisher in

the country--there are literally thousands of them. (Send $1 for

our listing of mail order publications...)

But, instead of running ads to promote your ad sheet, run your

"leader item" offer and follow up with your sales letter on your

primary product. From this, you'll get fantastic FREE exposure;

inquires from people you can actually sell to; and the virtual

"no-cost" establishment of a nationwide sales force to promote

your business.

Do chain letters really work? In no way, form or fashion! But,

this method of running your "leader item" ad as an exchanged ad,

will work--and besides, it's legal! The end result will be what

the chain letter promoters are promising you--People all over the

country promoting and selling your business for you.

You can't do it all by yourself. You must multiply yourself--get

other people to help you, and present your product offer to as

many potential customers as possible. And so long as you're

working from a limited budget, there's no way on this green earth

you can afford the kind of advertising costs necessary for

overnight success! Send $5 for our report, HOW TO BUILD A

NATIONWIDE DEALER AND/OR DISTRIBUTOR NETWORK.

Finally, comes the moment of truth. Do you have what it

takes--the ability to go on studying, learning, and adapting--the

dedication and the stamina to last thru to the kind of success

you want?

It's important that you do your homework--product analysis and

market research--the rest is merely common sense. You've got it,

now use it! For sure, it won't be easy work ahead, and lots of

comprehension required--but you CAN do it, and the end result

will be well worth the investment. After all, what have you got

to lose but a try at total success?

From here on out, the ball is in your court and investment of

some kind of action on your part is required...

PUBLICATIONS TO PERUSE AS ADVERTISING SHOWCASES...

Money Making Magic

722 NE Paloma Ave.

Gresham, OR 97030

Grier's Almanac

1824 Northeast Freeway

Atlanta, GA 30329

Woman's Day

1515 Broadway

New York, NY 10036

American Rifleman

1600 Rhode Island Ave, NW

Washington,DC 20036

Camping Journal

229 Park Avenue South

New York, NY 10003

Field & Stream

383 Madison Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Hi-Fi Stereo Review

One Park Avenue

New York, NY 10016

Frontier Times

PO Box 3338

Austin, TX 78764

Grit

208 West Third St.

Williamsport, PA 17701

Workbasket

4251 Pennsylvania Ave.

Kansas City, MO 64111

Bowling Journal

1825 N Lincoln Place

Chicago, IL 60614

Coin World

911 Vandemark Road

Sidney,OH 4536