BJM Free Press |

If you have cable, you’ve no doubt seen local advertising on most of the channels. There are three ways a local business could produce a commercial. One, they could do it themselves (and we all know what that looks like); two, they could have the local cable business do it for them (which can also look quite amateurish); or they can have an outside individual do the production. This is where you come in.

If your video skills are top-notch, you can produce excellent commercials for local businesses at agreeable prices. If you have marketing skills, so much the better, but it’s not an absolute requirement. As long as you can clearly answer the “4 W” questions (who, what, where and why), your commercial will be good.

The only drawback to this business is that you should use 3/4 inch broadcast format video, which is incompatible with a home video camera. A camera for this type of videotape usually costs around $3000, less if it’s used. There is a way around this expense, though.

Most cable stations have what is called a “public access” channel. This channel is designed so that individuals and groups from the community can produce their own shows, to be aired on the channel. Contact your local cable company and find out if they have such a channel. You should be able to rent time on their equipment. This is a real boon when it comes to editing a tape, as they will have the equipment necessary to make your tape look professional. They usually offer short courses on using the equipment, too.

Market your services directly to the small businesses in your area. Good prospects are auto dealerships, restaurants, retailers such as video, book, and computer dealers, and, in election years, local political candidates (hope they get elected — you can expect a return customer!). Your quality production, coupled with a reasonable price, should entice prospects to become customers.

Most commercials will be either thirty-seconds or one minute, and will be shot on location at the customer’s facilities. If they provide the copy for the commercial, you only have to direct the commercial. Run through the script with whoever will be reading it, to make sure that it will fit the time without sounding rushed. You want to aim for a relaxed, natural sound (unless, of course, you’re working with your local crazy car dealer, in which case they may want an auctioneer sound!). Above all, make sure the script tells WHO the advertiser is, WHAT they do, WHERE they are, and WHY people should give them their business. This is what the customer needs to hear.

Also, make sure your customer is happy with the result. After shooting the video, edit it (you should be able to ask someone at the cable company to help you), then review it with your customer. As long as you’ve presented the advertiser in a good light, you’ll be in good shape.

The first few times you produce a commercial, you may feel like you’re flying by the seat of your pants. Just relax, use good common sense, and always remember that the job of the commercial is to convince the skeptical customer to spend his or her hard earned money with your client.

You should expect to spend a few hours during the shoot, to get enough takes for editing. Get four or five good takes. That way, any bad parts that you find when reviewing your taping can be replaced with a good take.

A thirty to sixty second commercial should be able to be shot and edited in one day. The first one or two may take a bit longer, but that’s okay. It’s better to take your time when learning the ropes, rather than rush through and end up with substandard results. Because your overhead will be low (if renting equipment, instead of purchasing) you should be able to undercut your competition. In a decent size city, you can expect to charge between $500 and $1,000. Longer commercials are more negotiable, depending upon whether or not you will be asked to write the script. The half-hour long “infomercials” have become a bonanza for many advertisers, and they are a goal you can work up to, as your skills grow.

Watch commercials and listen to them. Keep mental notes about how the advertiser is presented, what message the commercial gives, and if you feel the commercial is successful. Incorporate the best elements of the commercials you see into your own shoots!

Look in your mailbox.  What do you see almost every day?  Coupons.  Look in your newspaper.  What do you see EVERY day?  Coupons.  It seems like coupons multiply like rabbits.  Why?  Prices are rising, unlike a majority of people’s incomes.  Coupons only make good financial sense.  But what if you discovered that someone’s making money from coupons?  They are, and so can you, by selling a special type of coupon.

Manufacturers use coupons primarily to attract new customers.  The money savings entice people to try products they might otherwise not have.  The same can be true of local businesses in your area.  Sure, they put coupons in their newspaper ads.  But you can give them the opportunity to get their coupons into the hands of the exact customers they need, and at a far better price than the local newspaper.  You can produce a Local Business Coupon Book easily, inexpensively, and profitably, if you follow the steps outlined here.

The first step in running a successful coupon publishing business is to find the businesses that will advertise with you.  Any business that relies on local advertising is a good prospect.  Here is a short list of businesses you should consider:  Theaters; Hair Salons; Fast Food Restaurants; Record and CD Stores; Dry Cleaners; Supermarkets; Car Washes; Muffler Shops; Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt Shops.  Basically, any store that could reasonably use a coupon to draw in new customers is a prospect.  You may want to specialize in one area, such as fast food restaurants.  Or, cover the whole gamut.  Look through your phone book for businesses you might not have thought of.

When you approach these businesses, target a group within a five mile radius.  It will be more time-efficient for you, and you can use the area grouping in your sales pitch.  Stress the fact that around 80 percent of their business will come from that five mile radius.  Tell them that you plan to distribute the coupon book within that radius, so it will draw the best results.

To be really profitable, you should get at least 15 - 25 businesses in the book.  The more, the better.  How much to charge?  That depends on how many books you will be distributing, and what your costs are.  One coupon book producer charged $100 for a coupon going to 1,000 people in an eight mile radius.  His total cost was $300, and he sold 11 businesses coupons.  This gave him an $800 profit in one week!

The second step is to create the coupons.  If you have a computer, the job of designing the coupons can be quite easy with some of the word processor/graphics packages available.  If not, talk to your printer.  He or she will more than likely have some ready-made templates for coupons.  You can just fill in the blanks.  If your printer doesn’t have blank coupon sheets, you can get an attractive sheet of six coupons with blanks for advertiser names and addresses, offers, and expiration dates by sending $5 to Pat Flanagan Publishing & Design, 540 Imus, Mishawaka, IN  46545, and include your business name and address, as well as your coupon book’s title.  They will be attractively typeset along the bottom of the coupon!

Be sure to put YOUR business name on the coupon (in small print, so it doesn’t distract).  Subconsciously, people will remember your business name and associate it with saving money.  In any case, you will need to put the advertising business’s name, address, phone, logo (if any, many businesses will have them premade for you to use), the amount of the discount, any conditions they may have, and an expiration date.  Your printer can help you with the layout, if you are inexperienced, or you can find easy to use layout boards at an office supply or art store.

Assembling the coupon books can be done in a number of ways.  The easiest, and recommended, way to start is by simply stapling them together.  Only one staple will be necessary, on the left side of the stack of coupons.  Make a cover coupon with your business name and the name you’ve chosen for the coupon book.  Put that on top of the stack before you staple.  Other methods are perforating/padding, and perforating/perfect binding.  Your printer should be able to provide pricing information on these and other binding methods.

The third step is distributing.  You have already identified the radius within which you will distribute your coupon books.  There are two methods of delivery you can use.  You can either deliver them by car or foot, or you can bulk mail them.  Bulk mailing is infinitely easier and more efficient, but requires a bit of paperwork and registration fees.  If you are delivering in one zip code area, you can use either five digit presort mailing, or carrier route presort mailing.  You should check with your postmaster regarding rules and fees.  As soon as you have mailed the coupons, deliver a copy of the coupon book to each business that has advertised in it, so they know that customers will now be bringing them in.

The fourth and final step is follow up.  You need to know how your coupon books are doing.  Ask the businesses that advertise in your book to write the amount purchased by the coupon-bearing customer on the back of the coupon, and to hold them for you.  Stop by at least once a week and pick up the redeemed coupons.  Besides giving you purchase totals that you can refer to in future sales to new customers, this also gives you a chance to talk to the businesses about purchasing coupons in new books.  You can show them right then and there the results they have gotten, and they should be enthusiastic about signing back on.

It is important to maintain a good relationship with the businesses who advertise with you.  Show them that you are committed to helping them increase their business.  If you care, so will they.  This is a fun business that can be started part-time, and can easily move to full-time.  Remember the man who cleared $800 his first week in this business.  He was just starting out, and you can do that, too!

Have you ever seen an ad in a publication that was just text, just a big block of words?  I’m sure you have, and wasn’t it boring?  If you’re scanning quickly through ad sheets, your eye won’t stop at a block of grey text.  It’ll skip right over.  What you need to use to make your ad interesting and eye catching is CLIP ART.

Clip art is ready-to-use pictures, borders, headlines and other little pieces of art, printed in groups on a page that you can clip out and use in your ads and publications.  Clip art can be found at office supply stores, and from mail order dealers.  Here’s how you can get into the business of selling clip art.

First, you need a source of clip art.  If you, or a friend, are artistically inclined, draw your own.  Don’t worry about having to draw it small enough you can reduce whatever you’ve drawn with a photocopier.  It’s a good idea to make your art relatively free of small details since they’ll get lost when you photocopy the picture.  Draw items that would be useful in mail order ads (business related pictures, money, mail, etc.).  Then, reduce them and assemble them on one page.  You now have a product you can sell!

Another source of clip art is other dealers.  Many dealers sell copyright-free clip art packages that you can resell, either for 100% profit or for a commission.  The only drawback is it will be the same clip art that others are selling.  That’s ok, though, if you make sure to advertise it in places where other dealers aren’t.

Finally, if you own a computer, you have a wealth of clip art at your fingertips.  Many graphics and sign-making software packages allow you to create your own graphics.  These can be printed out and used as clip art.  A laser printer will produce the best, professional quality clip art you’ll ever see.  One thing to make sure of is that the clip art you sell is copyright-free.  Otherwise you could find yourself in trouble.  However, there are tons of copyright-free clip art collections available from public domain software dealers and computer networks.

Use your clip art collections as a way to expand your customer base and make a small profit.  For example, you could use an ad like this:  “100 pieces of professional quality clip art, and 50 ad frames and borders. Only $4 and two first class stamps.  (Your name and address).”  I’m sure you know by now what the two stamps are for, but in case you don’t, they give you plenty of “envelope space” for your other offers.  This way, the clip art is an enticement for customers to send for your other offers.

Clip art collections can liven up drab, boring ads.  They can also perk up your profit margins, and customer base!  Be sure to use this easy business method in your own business!

Rubber stamps are one of the necessities of a mail order business.  You need to have at least a rubber stamp with your name and address on it, not only for envelopes, but also for commission circulars and ad sheets that you co-publish.  Other rubber stamps you may want to have on hand are ones that say, in large block letters, things like “SPECIAL!!!”, “ORDER NOW!,” etc.  If you read ad sheet and mail order publications, you may see dealers selling rubber stamps.  How are they doing this?

There are three ways to sell rubber stamps.  The first, and easiest, is to act as a broker for a rubber stamp producer.  This is similar to being a printing broker, outlined in an earlier report in this series.  Contact a stamp maker in your area, and outline your plans for selling rubber stamps by mail.  Explain that this will add business for him that he wouldn’t otherwise get.  The stamp maker should offer a commission to you (or free stamps) for taking orders.  Then, advertise your stamp-making business in ad sheets and other publications that mail-order dealers regularly read.  When you receive an order, take your commission off the top and forward the rest with the order to the stamp maker.

The second way is to produce the stamps yourself.  This is something you can set up in your basement or a spare room.  Spread the word around the printers in your area that you are looking for used rubber stamp making equipment.  If you can, find someone who is currently in the business who is thinking of getting out.  Learn the process from them, and you can probably get good terms on the equipment.

The third way can be done if you have a computer and laser printer, or access to one.  There is a company called Grantham’s Polly Stamp (418 Central Avenue, East Grand Forks, MN  56721  218-773-0331) that sells a machine called the Polly-Stamp.  This machine makes rubber stamps from your laser printed artwork.  Anything you can print out on your laser printer can be made into a stamp in 20 minutes.  It uses a light sensitive rubber-like liquid resin and is very easy to use.  Send to the above address for more info, a supply list, and a sample stamp.

Rubber stamps are a vital tool for mail order dealers.  If you offer this service, you will greatly expand your customer base.  Be sure to send your latest and best offers with the customer’s stamp, and you’ll get even more orders!

Suppose you’re new to mail order, and you want to put your ads into the many ad sheets, tabloids and publications you’re seeing in your mail box everyday.  The only problem is, you don’t HAVE any ads!  Here’s where a typesetting service comes into play.  Typesetting isn’t as hard as it sounds.  It’s just a glorified name for making a clean, clear, ad.  If you have a computer, you can produce professional quality typesetting easily and quickly.  However, typesetting can even be done with a regular typewriter.

If you are going to typeset with a typewriter, you should first visit your local office supply store and pick up a carbon ribbon for your typewriter (it prints darker and more evenly than a nylon ribbon), some rub-on transfer letters and borders in different sizes (don’t worry if they’re big, I’ll talk about that later), a “non-photo blue” pencil (which doesn’t show up when photocopied) and a book or two of mail-order or business related clip art.  You should be able to get all this for $15 or less.

Next place ads in ad sheets and other publications for your typesetting service.  Observe what other typesetters are charging and be competitive.  You should probably expect to get $1 - $3 per inch.  This doesn’t sound like much, but the work is easy, and you will be doing other things besides just typesetting, as you will see later in this report.  Typesetting should be offered as an “add-on” service, best in connection with your own ad sheet.  Your customers will be providing the ad copy, so all you have to do is arrange it.  Usually, around 35 words will fit into a one-inch ad, leaving room for a border and a piece of clip art.

Here’s sample wording for an ad:  “PROFESSIONAL TYPESETTING - Get your ad typeset and mailed to 1000 hungry buyers!  $5/inch (35 words max) $1 each additional inch.  You get 15 camera-ready proofs FREE!  Send payment & 2 first class stamps to:  (Your name and address).”  What you will be doing here is typesetting the ad, inserting it into one of your ad sheets, and sending the customer 10 extra copies of their ad, along with as many of your other offers as you can for 2 stamps.  You may be giving the typesetting for free, based on your ad sheet rates, but it’s worth it, as this is a great way to get new ads, as well as new customers.

So, here’s how to typeset a one-inch ad.  First, don’t worry about trying to fit everything into one inch!  That’s right.  Make it twice the size it will be when printed.  This gives you more room to work with, plus it will be a better quality when reduced to one inch on a photocopier (that’s the trick!).  For a one-inch ad, make a 2 inch tall by 4 1/4 inch wide border on a piece of white paper with your rub-on borders.  Next, make a light guideline with the blue pencil for the headline.  Use rub-down letters of the appropriate size to make the headlines, being careful to follow the guideline to keep everything straight.  Then, load the paper into your typewriter and neatly type the copy into the remaining space.  If your typewriter will do extra-bold words, use them to highlight important words in the ad, as well as the name and address.  When you type the ad, leave a bit of space on one side for an appropriate piece of clip art.  Cut the clip art from the book, and using either rubber cement, “spray-mount” glue or clear, non-shiny tape, attach it to the ad.  Use liquid paper to cover any specks or smears on the ad.  Then, reduce it 50% on a photocopier.  You’ve just typeset an ad!

You should always offer extra copies of the ad to your customers.  So, make five copies of the ad, cut them out, and place them straight face down on the copier glass.  Make two copies of that, cut out the ads from the copies, and you have fifteen copies to send your customer, plus the original to put in your own ad sheet.

If you have a computer, it can be much easier, especially if you have a laser printer and a good graphics program or word processor.  Use your graphics program to do the layout steps above.  You can add clip-art in the computer, or manually, after printing the ad.  You won’t have to worry about reducing the ad on a photocopier, as you can do that within your graphics program.  Plus, printing extra copies is a snap.  Most graphics programs will let you “copy and stamp,” which means making a copy of what you have made (your ad), and stamping it elsewhere on the screen.  Hence, you can make your fifteen copies all on one page and print them once, quickly and easily.  And, your typesetting will look super-professional!

Remember how I asked for two first class stamps in my sample ad?  That gives you plenty of “envelope space” for your other offers and ad sheets.  You should be sure to include a copy of the ad sheet your customer’s ad appears in, so they can be assured you delivered on your promises.

Offering typesetting will get customers who are new to mail order, as well as seasoned professionals who don’t want to bother with doing their own ads.  It will also expand the number of people who get your ad sheets and offers.