If you want to run an offline business by placing classified ads, keep in mind many people skip the classified ad sections unless they are looking for something in particular, mostly jobs, homes and cars, sometimes appliances, furniture, yard sales, and get rich quick schemes, but hardly ever the merchandise these plans encourage you to sell. So if you want to make money with ads, it has to be what people may actually buy from a classified ad.
Step One: Finding A Product
Your best bet with this method is to join a MLM program, create a get rich quick scheme, or specialize in yard sales/flea markets. The first two I do not recommend as they are filled to the brim with legal and ethical issues.
To get products on a regular basis for a yard sale or flea market, you will need to find a wholesaler who will let you buy items in bulk at a very low price and you sell to the public at retail price. Some wholesalers will dropship products for you [you sell it and they ship it.]
Alternatively, and this would go back to using the Internet, you can buy and sell products via eBay for a 24/7 shop.
Another good source for merchandise is for you to scan your local yard sales, flea markets, Salvation Army and second hand stores. Look for antiques and merchandise that may be rare. You might be able to find things that will appeal to collectors. These merchants selling it usually have no idea of the value of the items. If you find something you may have to clean it up a bit, but you can rake in a fortune with them. These gems are perfect for online sales.
Getting a reliable dropshipping company is your best bet for running a long term mail order business for your classified ad project. You can get the pipeline to all the products you need for either yard sales, flea markets or mail order.
For a list of Dropship Wholesalers and other advice, always shop around for the best deals.
Step Two: Placing Your Ad
There are many places to put an ad, but not all are built for the same audiences. What works in a local paper may not work for a tabloid. What works in a tabloid may not work for a specialty magazine. One online classified ad resource to consider is Adland Classified Ads.
Local newspapers can be quite pricey, especially in bigger cities. However, most of the readers ignore the classifieds unless they are looking for something specifically. That audience is mostly interested in local interest products or business opportunities, not mail order.
Tabloids are also very pricey, but they generally have a larger circulation and more likely an audience who will read the classified ads. This is good for mail order and business opportunities.
Niche papers and magazines cater to a specific audience and can range in price. The products which will go over are reflected by the content in the magazine. If the topic is on crocheting, you will fail if you are selling the secret to extending the life of your car by mail.
What makes a classified ad work? Short, catchy, and tempting. If you are selling merchandise in a flea market or yard sale it is simple. If you are selling get rich quick or MLM plans, you need to go through extra hoops.
If you are only promoting yard sale and flea markets, simply state date, time and location in the most appealing way. You can include a voice mail phone number where the person can call and here details... CogniBox Voice Messaging.
If you are selling business opportunities, you are competing with a lot of fly by night people and an audience that is mostly skeptical. A fully detailed pitch is costly. If you want to explain why you are different, you will need a toll free number and a very catchy, 10-12 word pitch which will encourage someone to call your number.
Your toll free number will be to your voice message system where you will leave a tape recorded message that sells your plan or encourages people to leave a message or to call you for more information or leave an address to send the money.
In theory, yes it could work. In practice, unless you are selling something that people really want like a get rich quick scheme or a business opportunity, no one really will follow through and you will have a huge phone bill.
Kall8 Toll Free Service
Click here to find powerful words to help you create an ad.
Even if you test one ad and it makes money, Don Lapre will make you believe you should multiply that profit by sending it to as many papers as possible. His theory being that if you made a profit of $5, imagine if you sent that ad to 5000 newspapers you could stand to make $25,000. In reality, you also have to consider the demographics of each newspaper. What sells in one may not sell in 50 others. And not to mention the large cash outlay you have to put up to place those ads. If your first ad cost you $15 and you were encouraged to place it in 5000 newspapers with the same exact rate (keep in mind, some may charge MUCH more than your first ad) then you would have to spend $75,000 in hopes that your first profit would be $25,000. I don't know how many people have that kind of money to invest in ads that may or may not give them $25,000, especially when you should consider you may not only get $0 profit, but you just spent $75,000 to make nothing.
Buying and selling will make you money, BUT you need a business plan on what you are planning to buy and to whom you will sell it. Many people do make money with it, but most will not with Don Lapre since he gives you a list of wholesellers most who are no longer in business and not much detail on how to get started.
In a nutshell, find a whole seller who will sell you merchandise in bulk at a very discounted rate. You find someplace to sell it such as a flea market, on a street corner, a fair... then you collect a profit IF someone buys it. This is done everyday and is not a scam, but you don't need to pay $40. Just ask someone working a flea market how they did it and repeat it. This is no secret!
Some of the best papers to try your ad would be the local ones. Look in the Yellow Pages under newspapers. Call the phone number and ask for a media kit which list current rates. You can also try small tabloids such as the National Enquirer, Star, Weekly World News and shopper papers such as the Thrifty Nickel.
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