You probably read the title and thought, “What’s a newspaper??” Remember those things you would get on Sundays in the mail… big giant gray sheets folded twice with the news and a bunch of ads?
Okay-okay, I’m only kidding (maybe).
But in all seriousness, I want to share with you a newspaper ad we put out fishing for potential homeowners who are thinking of selling their homes.
There was a lot of backlash at first, things like, “Nobody reads the paper any more.” “Nobody will respond. They’ll just go online if they want to find a real estate agent or just ask their friends.”
Now, I agree that a lot of people will ask their friends/family or go online to find a real estate agent. But, I also know that people still do read the newspaper, no matter what you here from the “online gurus.”
So that’s why I want to show you this ad. It’s an ad offering a free Home Seller’s Guide. The guide is the lead generation magnet to get potential homesellers to raise their hands.
Here’s the ad (Click the picture if you’d like to see a larger version):
It’s a pretty simple ad.
There’s the title of the guide, a picture of what you get, asking a question (calling out potential homesellers), and a call to action.
Also, the ad was pretty much placed smack-dab in the middle of the page!
Now the real questions you’re probably asking is, “Well… did anyone contact you?”
Whelp, GREAT news!
We actually received two phone calls requesting the Home Seller’s Guide. Did you catch that? Two PHONE CALLS. Not emails. Phone Calls. They picked up the phone and called (That’s another lesson… people still use a phone to order!).
When I spoke with homesellers they were definitely older, much-much older. So the demographics are definitely the older crowd.
As of right now, we haven’t gotten a listing from either one, but we are playing the follow-up game. But, the ad did do it’s job. Not to sell the service but to get the leads!
Oh, and that’s the thing about marketing… You need to hangout where your potential customers and clients hang out! If you’re marketing to the older crowd then the newspaper may be the way to go (Heck, I even know of people who are having great success with the Yellow Pages).
So there you have it. I just wanted to share this with you to let you know newspaper ads still work! Don’t cross off ANY form of marketing media until you test-Test-TEST! It’s all about who’s your target market, and if your target market will respond to “ancient” style marketing, then you better be doing this “ancient” style marketing (And you’ll probably be the only one doing it, and rockin’ it at that!).
Now I’m curious, have you used any newspaper ads before? If so, what were your results? Comment below and let me know.
Now go take action!