Alan R. Bechtold has released the latest issue of ‘E-Wealth Report’ newsletter. This featured article is titled “Insert Some Cash Into Your Business”. [E-Wealth Report]


Alan Bechtold’s latest ‘E-Wealth Report’ newsletter article:

Insert Some Cash Into Your Business

Last time, before I interrupted the flow with my good news about the economy, I started a discussion about ride-along promotions.

Inserts are another form of ride-along. They go into billing statements, magazines and catalogs, product shipments and more. And they cost you very little money to mail out.

For example, I was checking out http://www.stantondirect.com/, home of Stanton Direct. Stanton Direct is a company that sells insert services. I’m not sure of this specific company’s record or the clients they have, or how they might relate to the markets you’re trying to reach – but they’re fairly typical of the industry overall. There are dozens of other similar agencies with a vast array of clients you can pick from, too, to best match your insert to the recipients who will receive them.

In fact, insert and ride-along marketing can be extremely targeted.

Inserts bring additional pulling power to the table because they generally fall out into the recipient’s lap. I’m sure you’ve opened a magazine or pulled a billing statement out of an envelope and had an inserted offer land in your lap in the process.

Inserts are everywhere – even in the local newspaper.

They literally present themselves to your prospects. If they’re at all interested in what you’re offering, they’re going to see your offer and at least have the opportunity to consider it.

I noticed rates for sending inserts run around $30-50 per thousand. It takes a little money because most ride-along carriers also have minimums that tend to lean toward 25,000 units.

Still, even at $50 per thousand, that’s just $1,250 to reach 25,000 solid prospects. As long as you match your offer to the vehicle you select, and price your offer to generate solid leads and help defray your costs, insert marketing can be incredibly inexpensive – or even free.

If you sent a postcard to a targeted list of 25,000, it would cost a minimum of $6,750 for the postage and another $2500 to buy the names – a total of $9,250. There isn’t any postage with inserts and ride-alongs. And no need to buy names to mail to.

Can you put together something easily valued at $100 or more and provide it for $9.97 or $14.97? What about $4.97? The key is to price your initial offer low enough to get a LOT of sales from less people but high enough to cover your cost of providing the first product plus your expense to get the message to your prospects.

Put the offer and order form online as you normally would. Then design a simple postcard-sized insert that drives people to your online offer and order form.

Make it snazzy. Tease the reader. Twist their curiosity so they simply HAVE to visit the site to get the answer to the question you’ve placed in their mind.

Example: You sell financial information. You put together a book of financial facts – 10 Steps to Building Your Retirement In Ten Years. You’re offering it online for $4.97 as a lead generation offer.

Print the online report. Just a few. Maybe 100 of them. More if you have the money. then offer it, mailed to the recipient’s doorstep, for a very small price. Adjust the price to cover your additional cost of mailing and envelopes, etc.

The idea is to create an offer that teases and is too low-priced to say no to, but that also eliminates your marketing cost.

Your postcard-sized offer could go something like this:

“Skip Just One Latte A Month And Turn It Into $97,000. Find Out How.”

That’s really all the message you would need on your ride-along. More if you wish. Plus the Web address. Just remember – avoid the tendency to JAM your card or slip of paper with tons of text. You want your ride-along to be eye-catching with a strong, simple curiosity-bending headline and, at most, a subhead or two plus the Web address where the recipient can go to take advantage of your offer and satisfy their curiosity.

Then do a bit of online research. Find companies related to the financial information business that obviously mail things to their customers. Contact them directly and ask them if they do inserts or ride-alongs. If they do, find out their pricing and see if it fits your budget.

If they haven’t ever thought about it – let them know you’d like to try a promotion with their outgoing mail. To mitigate the risk – offer to pay them a percentage of your sales.

This is like getting pay-per-lead sales cheap.

As you build a mailing list of your own and start acquiring addresses, you can then offer to swap ride-alongs.

And it just keeps growing from there.

See you next week!

– Alan R. Bechtold, president/CEO, BBS Press Service, Inc.

Author, Will Work for Fun: 3 Simple Steps to Turning Any Hobby or Interest Into Cash (John Wiley & Sons Books)

Co-Producer and star of The FUNdamental You!, on DVD or watch the full-length movie online: http://www.FUNdamentalYou.tv

Producer and Star, Breakfast With Alan, live Ustream TV show every other Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. eastern US Time: http://www.BreakfastWithAlan.com

Follow Alan on Twitter: http://wwww.twitter.com/bbspress

‘E-Wealth Report’ Newsletter

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Alan Bechtold for granting permission to reprint the latest article.

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