Ezine Advertising: Essential Tactics (part 1 Of 3)

Part 1 of 3: How do you create 3 months of advertising in 10 minutes?

Ezine marketing is extremely effective, and really untapped, if you know where to look. This article assumes you already know something about ezines, and what ad placement terms are (e.g. top sponsor ad, solo ad, bottom sponsor ad, etc.)

In this article we will discuss the techniques that have helped individuals on my team collect literally thousands of leads per month. One husband/wife team actually snagged 2000 targeted leads in one day! To get those kind of results, it takes research and patience.

First of all, get it in your head and realize that you have something extremely valuable to share. (If you don’t have something valuable, find a different opportunity or product. You must believe in the company you work with/for). Figure out who you want to share it with. This will be your target market.

When you have something valuable to share, all you have to do is show people who are interested in your service where to find the information. That's all that marketing is: finding your market! You do not need to sell them anything. You have to write a good ad, but the whole point is that they sell themselves since you have shown them what they are already looking for.

Your target market may not always be whoever first comes to mind. For example, I am a leader with a direct sales/network marketing company, and I am very familiar with the type of person I want to work with. Most network marketers only market to other business opportunity seekers.

I do not advertise in the ezines that are cluttered with other business opportunity seekers that are only subscribing to see their own ads. Rather, I advertise in places like self-development ezines, because that type of person is looking for growth and change. That is the perfect attitude to be an entrepreneur. They are looking to improve their life, and I have the perfect vehicle. I can show them that road.

I also market to loan officers or people in real estate. These are people who are self-reliant, are used to working on commission, and they deal with other people on a daily basis. These are the type of leaders I want for my team.

If they are making money but have no time for their families and are ready for a change, they are looking for my message. I can show them a path to working from home and having more flexibility while increasing their income. How could that person not want to hear more from me?

Great resources for finding quality ezines is the www.DirectoryofEzines.com, www.Ezines-R-Us.com, and www.BestNewsMarketingGazette.com. Of course that is not the end - all - be - all of directories, but it is a good place to start. There is a paid membership for some, but it is worth it.

Test and track each ezine! (More about that in Part 3). If you have a smaller budget, or if you want to test a bunch of ezines, go with the top sponsor ad. Go ahead and send a content-appropriate top sponsor ad in 10 or 50 ezines and track the progress.

Which one brought you the most leads? You’ll quickly find out if it’s a responsive ezine, then you can drop in a solo sponsor ad. You got a good response from the top sponsor, so expect bigger results form the solo. However, do not even bother with the middle or bottom sponsor ads even if they are cheaper.Seriously, you get what you pay for.

Eventually, the higher priced solos will probably produce you better results, but that is not guaranteed. However, the fact that is costs more means that there is a demand.They produce results! Where there is smoke there is fire, so once you can afford the really expensive solos (some run even a couple thousand dollars) do it.

Coming in Part 2:

"What are the 7 essential questions you must ask before posting a single ad?"