Effective Advertising in Local Pennysavers and College Papers: Tips and Tricks

[Dawn4]

I want to put an ad in a local Pennysaver and a local college paper about our opportunity. Has anyone ever done this?? I need wording suggestions.

 

[chefann]

There's ads available through Merrill (Ad Generator) that are very nice - they include pics and your information, and wording that is pre-approved by HO.

 

[Kathytnt]

Ann - Do you have to use the pictures because that causes the prices to go up

 

[chefann]

It depends on the ad. There is an opportunity one, and I think that one has pics. Let me take a look and post the text of that one.

There is a B&W text only Opp ad!

Logo
Start your own business and achieve your dreams, on your terms!
We offer:
* flexible hours
* extra income
* exciting vacation trips
* products you'll love
* new friends and FUN!
Tagline
Your name
title
phone
email
web address​

The text on the one with a pic is:

Logo
Looking for more control, more satisfaction, extra income?
A Pampered Chef business offers you...
* Work/family balance
* Satisfaction from a business you can enjoy and feel good about
* extra income to pay for college, a home, retirement
tagline
your name
title
phone
email
web address​

There's also a small text-only ad, designed for the Yellow pages:

Logo
tagline
* Host a cooking Show for FREE product
* Become a consultant with an established company.
Your name here
title
phone
email
web address​

 

[Dawn4]

Thanks for all your help. I'm headed to check out Merrill.

 

[Morvin]

how much to these adds run?? do you have to subscribe or do you just purchase an add? and then do you just get a copy and then you have to submit it to the paper and pay their ad fee. Is this really a justifiable expence?

TIA
heather

 

[chefann]

The ad generator is 3 or 4 bucks a month. What's nice is that you can subscribe for a month, create a whole bunch of ads, then stop the subscription. As long as the pics you used are still in the library, they're "legal" ads to use. They're downloadable PDFs.

After you create the ad, you submit it to your local paper and pay their fee. Depending on your area and the cost for the ad, it may or may not be worth it. I've got one running in a local "coffee news", which is a free paper available at restaurants, coffee shops, etc. The only contact I've gotten from it was the Potty party (don't ask). When my 6-month contract runs out, I'm going to seriously reconsider before I renew.

 

[Kathytnt]

The contract here was pretty expensive for the Coffee News here - They must each have different length contracts All thenewspapers around here are pretty proud of their prices or I am a tight wad I just don't see people getting a lot of results from ads

 

[ChefBeckyD]

The ad generator is 3 or 4 bucks a month. What's nice is that you can subscribe for a month, create a whole bunch of ads, then stop the subscription. As long as the pics you used are still in the library, they're "legal" ads to use. They're downloadable PDFs.After you create the ad, you submit it to your local paper and pay their fee. Depending on your area and the cost for the ad, it may or may not be worth it. I've got one running in a local "coffee news", which is a free paper available at restaurants, coffee shops, etc.The only contact I've gotten from it was the Potty party (don't ask). When my 6-month contract runs out, I'm going to seriously reconsider before I renew.

Yeah, that would make me seriously reconsider too!

 

[chefann]

Yeah, that would make me seriously reconsider too!

and why does it not surprise me that her (Potty's) entertainment was the free paper from a coffee shop? *snort* (God's going to strike me down for saying things like that.)

 

[Dawn4]

I just called my local Pennysaver. I can run the b&w ad for $26 an area. Has anyone out there ever advertised in a local Pennysaver or Town Crier??? I don't want to invest the money if you guys haven't had any success with it.

 

[Morvin]

my thoughts exactly......

i would like to know what kind of feed back people get

 

[chefann]

Ok- my Coffee News ad is $99 a month, with a 6 month contract. They can use any business card sized ad. I actually resized the "host a show" ad from Merrill to be BC size, as all the BC ads from Merrill are only contact info, nothing to pique interest. As I said, the only response I've gotten was the Potty party. Counting the 2 bookings that have already held from that, I've NOT made back even a month worth of the fee (unless you count the June sell a thon, as Potty pushed me over $1500). BUT I do have a (very weak) recruit lead who booked for August from that circle of people.

I'm going to change the ad that I have them run (I keep meaning to do that, but always forget) and hope that changing the pic will cause people to look at it again.