How to Earn with a Money Making Ad Sheet
Publishing and distributing a mail order ad sheet can be very
profitable. They are simple and easy to produce, with most quick
print shops able to handle the printing at fairly low cost. The
important consideration is that you can use them to pull in
advertising dollars for yourself, as a free advertising media
for your own products, and as an exchange medium with which to
get greater exposure for your own ads.
Before starting an ad sheet, you should plan it all out - decide
on an interesting, informative title, choose a masthead, lay out
your columns for size, determine if it is to be a simple 8 1/2 x
11 single sheet of paper or an 11 x 17 sheet folded in half.
You'll also need to know your production cost for the number you
intend to have printed, and the post age cost to mail them out.
Most ad sheets start out as single sheets of paper, 8 1/2 x 11,
printed on both sides. Usually, the front side is divided into
three equal columns about 2% inches wide, with a inch margin
from the edge of the paper on both sides and top and bottom.
Assuming that the space occupied by your title, masthead and
listing of rates for advertisers interested in placing an ad
with you is two inches deep, this leaves you about 24 inches of
advertising space to sell on the front side. Figuring a cost of
$50 for 1,000 copies of such an ad sheet, printed both sides,
and a third-class bulk-rate postage of $110, this means that
your 24 inches of ad space will have to be sold at a rate of
$6.25 each in order to break even. This means: You h ave to sell
all of the ad space on the front of your ad sheet at $6.25 Per
ad - and then expect to make your profits from the sale of the
back side of your ad sheet. Actually, it would be feasible to
charge $7.00 per inch for the space on the front side, and carry
your own full page ad on the back side. At any rate, don't box
yourself into a loss situation where you can't afford to place
your own ads in your ad sheet.
You get ads by making up an advertising solicitation sales
letter and sending it out to as many mail order dealers as you
can find. You can also run ads in other people's publications,
inviting the readers to check with you regarding placement of an
ad in your publication. And of course, you'll be wanting to work
out some exchange advertising deals (whereby another publisher
runs your ad in his publication, and you run his in exchange).
>From the experience of many, many publishers, this can be one of
the most effective ways of getting your ads run, at low/no cost,
and it is recognized to be successful in the field of Mail Order.
You probably won't be able to fill up all of your available ad
space with paid ads until you're well established - but no
problem - first you fill your ad space with paid ads, and then
you fill in the empty space with ads of your own. Some beginning
advertisers fill a part of their empty space with complimentary
ads for other mail order operators, send them a copy of the
issue in which the complimentary ad appears, and invite them to
continue the ad on a "paid" basis from there. Many of them will
appreciate the favor and send you a check or money order to
continue running the ad.
If you undertake the publication of an ad sheet, be sure to
consider the possibilities of sending out 100 to 1,000 copies of
your ad sheet to other mail order operators to rubber stamp
their names/addresses as co-publishers and mail out for you.
Thus, if you had 50 other mail order operators sending out 100
copies each of your ad sheet, you'd be talking about a
circulation of 5,000 copies plus the number of copies you mail
out. If you can get this kind of program going, you'll quickly
build your reputation as well as your circulation, and at the
bottom line, your profits.
Some ad sheet publishers, once they've established themselves
and are putting out an impressive publication, set up
distributor networks. Generally, they run ads calling for
distributor/dealers and asking for a $5 to $10 registration fee.
In reply to the registration application, they send out a letter
explaining that each distributor can buy at half price, so many
copies of each issue of the ad sheet, rubber stamp their name on
each copy, and send them out as their own. In return, the
distributors usually get 50% of the incoming advertising orders,
a half-price ad for themselves, and an opportunity to sell
subscriptions.
The bottom line relative to becoming a successful ad sheet
publisher has to do with keeping your production costs -printing
and mailing - as low as possible, while putting out a quality
product that other people in the mail order business will want
to advertise in - while at the same time using it as a
advertising/selling vehicle for your own products.
My advice is that almost everyone involved in mail order selling
should have some sort of ad sheet - if for no other reason than
as a means to an end - an advertising vehicle for your own
products, an extra income from advertising revenues , and as an
exchange media with which to gain greater exposure for your own
products in other people's publications. Once you've got an ad
sheet, or any kind of publication set up and being seen by other
mail order operators, you'll quickly gain stature and a certain
amount of prestige.
As with any business, even home-based business, your ultimate
success depends on your own feasibility studies, and your
sharp-pencil planning completed before you order your first
issue printed. Think about it, weigh the pro's & con's, then go
with your decision.