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From:
W-a-y West of Jewfish Creek
Dear Friend and
Subscriber
What you are about to read is a remarkably
simple idea that can be worth thousands and thousands of dollars to
you. It is a tested idea. Others are using it every day and now...
it's your turn!
Listen: One of the very best ways to advertise
your business is direct mail. When you use direct mail, it enables you
to fire your advertising bullets with a rifle instead of a shotgun. In
other words, it lets you "target" your market.
However, there is a drawback. You see, direct
mail is very expensive. Right now, for example, the postage
cost of mailing a 1-ounce, first-class letter is 22 cents. And soon,
it's going to be 25 cents and more. And, when you use direct mail,
there are many other expenses besides postage. For example, you've got
to pay for printing, list rental, envelopes, folding, stuffing and
sealing and so on.
What this all boils down to is it's going to
cost you about 40 cents (or more) for every piece of direct mail
advertising you send out, even if you mail bulk rate.
Now, let's suppose you have a real estate
business here in Los Angeles and you want to mail a sales letter to
everyone in your trading area. O.K., if your real estate business is
located on Sunset Boulevard near my office, that means you will
probably, just for openers, want to mail everyone who lives in the Zip
code (90069) where your business is located.
Also, if your first mailing is successful,
you'll probably want to expand your mailings to include everybody who
lives in the Zip code areas adjacent to 90069.
Anyway, to get started, let's say you contact
Mailing Lists of Southern California and you discover there are 57,128
people living in Zip codes 90069, 90068, 90046 and 90210.
Let's see now, at 40 cents apiece, it's going to
cost you $22,851.20 to make just one mailing to all these people!
Hmn? There must be a better way, right? Well,
there is. Your first step is to contact other, non-competing
businesses in your trading area and you say to each one of them
something like this...
"Look, Mr. Druggist. As you know, the cost of
direct mail advertising is sky high so I've got an idea. Listen: What
I'm trying to do is get 10 different businesses to get together and
share in the costs and the benefits of a 'co-op' mailing."
"What's a 'co-op' mailing?" asks Mr. Druggist.
"Well, you explain, "It's very simple. What happens is everybody gives
me their advertising flyer and I'll mail them all in one envelope and
the costs will be evenly divided among all the different businesses.
That way, instead of it costing you $22,851.20 to mail everybody in
your trading area, it's only going to cost you in the neighborhood of
$2,200.00 which is a savings of over 90%!"
Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, it is a good
idea... but... you've got to be careful. The first thing you've got to
do is make sure none of the participating businesses are in
competition with each other. And, the second thing you've got to do is
make sure your direct mail message stands out, head and shoulders
above all the rest.
Fortunately, that's easy.
You see, many of those businesses will have
their advertising prepared by a local ad agency and it will be
terrible. The problem here is most people who work for ad agencies
only know how to "be creative" and win awards and not how to
create direct mail that sells. The rest of your "co-passengers"
will probably create their advertising themselves... and... while
that's better than hiring a moronic ad agency... they still won't have
the special, inside knowledge and know-how you're going to enjoy as a
subscriber to my newsletter.
So, what this means is most of the people in
your mailing co-op are going to be mailing coupons, announcements of a
special sale, a brochure that explains what hours they are open and so
forth.
Not you. No Sir. See, at this point, a light
bulb is going off in your head and you are remembering what you read
in that other section about what to write on a simple postcard
mailing that will make people flood into your business.
Remember? Remember how I suggested you write
something that gets people to call and listen to a free
recorded message that will entice them to call you or come to your
place of business? You do remember? Good! And, since you're in
the real estate business, you have a bunch of cards printed up that
say something like this:
Free
recorded message reveals an amazing secret
that let's you buy L.A. real estate without
paying high
interest rates or a big down payment!
Call (000) 000-0000 anytime, 24-hours a day.
And, of course, what you do is you have all your
little "free-riding" postcards put in all those envelopes with all the
other dumb advertising and your message gets a "free ride" to
everybody in your trading area.
Another tip: Since everybody else will be using
color, your message will stand out if it's in simple black and white.
Now, of course, once you get this program really
cranked up and you are making mailings perhaps once every month,
you'll want to send different messages. But, don't worry. My
newsletter is going to give you more good advertising ideas than
you'll ever be able to use!
Does all this sound like a lot of work to you?
Well, actually, it's not. True, there is a little effort to get this
set up the fir time... but... after that... all you have to do is
telephone everybody every month and tell them what the deadline is to
have their material delivered to the lettershop.
And, if you are really a go-getter, why not get
50 local businesses involved with this idea and send out five
different mailings every month. Therefore, since you'll be the
organizer and don't have to pay like everybody else, your sales
message can get a "free ride" in 50,000 or more mailings every month.
Or more!
Listen: I personally know of several people who
have organized co-op mailings that go out in the millions every month.
So, if you've really got the ambition, working
up to 100,000 letters a week should be a snap. So try it. And
remember...
Nothing Will Work
If You Won't!
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Sincerely, |
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Gary C. Halbert |
Copyright © 2002 Gary C. Halbert. All Rights
Reserved. |
