Do you re-use your print advertising and positive publicity?

Have you run newspapers and magazines ads? How about blog posts? Are there any articles that have been written about you, about your business, or about your products and services? People may be impressed when these articles and ads run the first time, but how many of them are ever seen again by the public?

Running an ad can be very expensive, so you may not be able to run an ad for an extended period of time. Articles written about your business that get printed in the media have a short shelf life. When the current issue of a publication that contains the article about you or your business is taken off the shelf, people won’t be reading your positive press anymore.  But you can re-use these items in other marketing efforts of your own.

When ads for your business (or positive articles about your business) are printed in a newspaper, Website, blog or magazine, have them copied or reprinted at a local “quick print” shop. You now have the ability to use these reprints in a lot of marketing projects.  Here are some inexpensive ways to distribute your reprints:

• Scan or save as a pdf and e-mail your ads to clients and prospects.
• Post your ads on your web site and blog or Facebook
• Mail reprinted materials along with statements and invoices.
• Include reprints with your next direct mail effort.
• Have some high school students put reprints on parked cars or on the “community posting boards” at the local library or college.

As you are making your reprints, be sure to add the caption, “as seen in (Publication Name),” under the actual ad or article. This caption will give your new marketing effort added credibility.

I ran a small ad for my book “97 Marketing Secrets to Make More Money” in the Wall Street Journal and you can bet I captioned all of my reprints and other marketing efforts with the phrase “as seen in the Wall Street Journal.”

Your advertisements can also be enlarged and displayed at your place of business. This will remind patrons about the offers in your print ads. Your advertisements may only run once in print, but they can live forever. You can reuse them for years.

The same technique can be used to extend the life of any positive articles that are written about your business in newspapers, journals, and magazines. Another great idea is to take these reprinted articles and distribute them to any of your clients and/or prospects who you feel might have missed seeing them in the original publication.

If you want to re-use or re-print an article, you may have to get permission from the author or original publisher and pay a small fee. Remember that it’s priceless when someone who isn’t connected with your business, writes positive comments about you or your business in the media. You can use these comments forever.

“This is like deja vu all over again.”
- Yogi Berra

It is wise to collect and save all the advertisements that you run, all the positive articles that are written, and all the testimonials that you receive from satisfied customers. Put these materials into a binder, and use it as a brag book. Use the material regularly in your marketing efforts, to build credibility and help people feel more confident about making a decision to do business with you.

How many old advertisements or positive press articles do you have lying around that could be reprinted and used in your future marketing efforts?

Are You Paying Enough Attention To The Business World Around You?

Do you spend at least three hours per week reading magazines, newspapers, and Web sites that report on overall or “general” market trends? Observe what trends are starting in your geographic area, nationally, and worldwide.

Some recommended sources of valuable information with which you should become familiar are the New York Times Sunday Edition, the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Time, Newsweek, and People, as well as all of your local newspapers and magazines.

Keep an eye out for trends that may affect your business. Things could change very fast, making what you sell obsolete or, on the other hand, needed more than ever.

Study the business trends that are happening outside of your industry for ideas that could be used in yours. Many ideas are transferable from one industry to another, and you may be able to find and implement an idea that is new to your industry.

For example: the ballpoint pen was the basis for roll­on deodorant. Here’s another example: just after McDonald’s started expanding, one of their corporate executives was in his car, waiting to do his banking at a drive ­through window. The executive started thinking, “How could we use this at McDonald’s?” The result was the start of drive­through fast food.

Many advertising headlines are transferred from one industry to another.
Here is such a headline: “I’ll Teach You How To Quickly And Easily Get All The Credit You Ever Wanted.” It could be changed to the new headline “I’ll Show You How To Quickly And Easily Cut All The Steel Pipe You Need To Cut.”

The beauty of doing this research is that your com­petition won’t discover what you have learned or what your next marketing effort will be until it is too late for them. The information that you need to create unique marketing programs is out there waiting for you.

Where are you going to look for helpful ideas from other industries?