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Ideas/Section-10
Due to the fact that
a lot of people (especially beginners to the mail order world) don't
understand the publishing process -- many will become frustrated
when they don't see their ads in print within a few days after they
send them. I hope this report helps you to understand the publishing
process in order to cut down on the accusations that publishers
are rip-offs.
It's certainly understandable why people feel that when they send
a camera-ready ad to a publisher, it should be printed within a
few days. These are people who are used to local newspapers. They
call them up, place a classified ad and it is printed in the paper
the next week.
But you have to remember that local papers print daily and weekly.
Few print monthly. Therefore, mail order newspapers (tabloids) should
be compared to a MONTHLY publication. So you see, all newspapers
are not created equal.
How it Works
Let's say that on August 9, you send your
1-inch camera-ready ad to The Mail Order Gazette. You may or may
not know that the deadline is the 1st day of the month, therefore,
the August issue was already printed and mailed by the time your
advertising order arrived.
The publisher will normally send you an acknowledgement telling
you that your order was received and it would be printed in the
next available issue -- probably the September issue.
On September 1 (almost four weeks after you sent in your order)
your ad is placed in the publication for printing. It takes 2-3
days to prepare each page before the publisher takes it to the printer.
Then, depending on the printer's work load, it may take another
4-5 days before the 5,000 or 10,000 circulation is printed.
The publisher then picks up the copies, hauls them to his or her
home and begins applying the mailing labels to the tabloids. This
process could take 3 or 4 days -- therefore, a lot of publishers
employ their spouses and children to help them during this stage
of the game.
All the copies are then loaded up in the car or van and delivered
to the post office. Since most publishers cannot aford to mail 5,000
or 10,000 copies by first-class mail, the majority of them are bulk
mailed -- thus adding an additional 2 to 3 weeks before the actual
consumer receives the issue containing your ad.
So you see -- if you place your order on August 9, it might be October
or November beore you start receiving responses to the ad. And to
make the length of time even slower, many people will hold on to
mail order tabloids for months before they get around to reading
them and ordering services and products. That's why you could place
an advertisement in 1994 and still get responses to it in 1998.
Unfortunately, people are born procrastinators.
Is There Any Hope?
Sure! But you have to have the patience
to get the "ball rolling" in the first place. You can't
place one ad in August, wait until it appears and then place another
ad. This means that you will have a 2-3 month time span and the
money you bring in for your business will be erratic.
In order to keep a smooth flow, you have to continue advertising
weekly and monthly. Then, when the first ad appears -- you'll know
that other ads will appear in succession with each passing month.
This way, your money will come in the door in an even flow and help
you to build your business more efficiently.
But advertising alone will not build your business. Advertising
is only for the purpose of obtaining potential customers who will
order from you again and again. You must learn how to sell them
products and services they are interested in buying and offer them
incentives to do so. Repeat business is how you make real money
in mail order. An inquiry is just the beginning of the stage!
