Basic lead generation part two - press
Traditionally advertising in the press has been a mainstay for generating MLM leads. While newspaper and magazine advertising is less popular now than it once was, due in no small part to the Internet, it is still a highly effective tool if used correctly. It almost goes without saying that press advertising is more costly on the wallet than on time so for newer distributors on a tight budget this might not be the best solution. For established distributors and team leaders however, newspapers can be a great way of increasing your leads.
Short and simple is the order of the day. One or two sentence lineage adverts tend to be more cost effective than larger boxed or column. Running several of these small adverts in several papers seems to generate more leads than a single large advert but experiment and see what works best in your area. Don’t limit yourself to the business opportunity or jobs section. While some papers will insist you advertise there, others are less restricting. Remember that many potential prospects will not be actively seeking employment or business opportunities and therefore will not even glance at those pages. They may well respond though if they see your advert in the motors or property section.
It’s difficult to give guidelines on price since this tends to vary considerably depending on the publication, area and circulation. One important point though is that discounts are normally available for longer bookings (such as 6 issues for the price of 5) and that prices can be negotiated with many papers. Find out when the last date is to place an advert for the next issue. The closer to that date you are, the more bargaining power you have. If all of the advertising spaces are not filled to capacity the paper will be forced to run their own adverts (such as “call to advertise here”) but would rather fill that space with a paying advert. Time it right and you may get a great deal.
The cost of advertising in the national press, bigger newspapers and magazines, can be prohibitively expensive especially for newer distributors. I highly suggest sticking to small local papers, and the ‘free ads’ style classifieds. Also don’t disregard school and local organisation papers which can be very inexpensive and a great source of extra leads. If the lure of the national press with millions of readers is too much for you then consider starting an advertising pool. Get together with some other leaders in your group and pay for an advert between you. You’ll need to advertise with a separate phone number, email or website so you can distinguish leads to be shared with the pool. This can be a great way to advertise in bigger publications without the financial risk. No matter where you advertise though remember the golden rule, test and measure. If you advert isn’t getting much response it’s either due to the copy (what the advert says) or the publication. Change one thing at a time and keep track of what works best. Continue to tweak until your conversion rate increases.