Advertising for Free

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Advertising for free seems like an impossible thing when heard. But there are several ways by which the cost of advertisement can be conserved, with the help of some imagination and creativity.

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A business wanting to advertise, can write articles related to their field of expertise that can be submitted to media and publications having interest in that particular field.

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The advertising article can have information about the company and dealership opportunity. Due to the rise in Internet users and websites, new websites have sprung up which offer free services.

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Articles can be written for these websites and they can be broadcasted for free, which will be viewed by hundreds of people everyday.

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Once the business has gained some recognition, within no time it will gain popularity also among the crowds. This popularity can lead to them being invited on radio and television talk shows and even to interviews.

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Such kind of opportunities shouldn’t be missed as they provide a chance for free promotion. If it is taking a long time to get a break, the producer can be addressed with a letter that can be followed up by a telephone call or in-person visit.

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During the visit, the nature of expertise can be discussed about the business, which will be of interest to the viewers of the particular channel. Once a businessperson gains the status of being public-friendly, more offers start pouring in.

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Free bulletin board located in the neighborhood, like in grocery stores, libraries, and salons, are another good idea. Advertising circulars can be posted on such boards for free.

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Circulars for mass distribution can be handed out at the mall, shopping center, bus stops, particularly on weekends when there is a big rush. Students can be hired on part time basis for this purpose.

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Promotional advertisement can be printed on the envelopes used by the business firms. Both the sender and the receiver can view this advertisement.  Promotional offers can be sent to customers by postcards, which should be utilized to its full, leaving only place left for writing the address.

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How to Create a Successful Advertising Plan

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Many factors have to be considered when making an advertising plan. Like the type of message to be delivered, the audience to be targeted, how they should be targeted, budget, etc. all of which depends on the nature of the advertisement.

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Regarding the type of message to be delivered, try thinking from the point of the customer. What will impress him and catch his fancy. Note down points what the customer expects from the business and what advantage will he have when dealing with the company.

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Effort should be made to retain viewer or listener’s or reader’s interest in the advertisement until the end. This procedure is known as message selection.

After creating the outline of the picture, pick lines that will actually attract the customer.

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The message shouldn’t be long enough to bore the customer. Some advertisers are under the illusion that more the matter written, the better the message delivered.

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Usually they fear that they don’t miss out any information. This does nothing but decreases the effectiveness of the ad and customer is left unsatisfied.

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For example, the heading of the advertisement shouldn’t be just “We Sell BOOKS”, which is too precise. The liking of the people should be studied and the headline should be designed such that the customer feels that his needs are met.

 

You should also take into consideration seasonal changes like If the season at that time is summer and there are lots of social gatheries around that area, the heading of the ad should be something like “Summer Book for Sale” or “Get the 50%off – Buy Books”.

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Ads are either traffic builder or relationship builders or reputation builder. Suppose the budget involved is less, the target should be relationship builder.

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Because once the customers are established, they will start trusting your business and won’t switch to other companies. According to a research it takes ten percent less resources to retain existing customers than attracting new customer. If the focus is on brand recognition, the advertisement should be traffic building.

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Competing against other company’s ad also contributes to a successful advertising plan. The power of the message should be compared to that of the competitors’. It doesn’t mean that the advertiser should use the same plan like his competitor, it would look like imitation and effectiveness will be decreased. But the advertisement should be planned smartly via a different and effective path, to out-do the competitor’s advertisement.

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The description of the product is also very vital like suppose an advertisement is made for a Ebook, it will get customers immediately, if it is attractive. But if the advertisement is for a dog house, it won’t yield immediate results, as it’s not every day that someone buys a dog house. This is called analysis of the purchase cycle.

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Advertising using Power Words

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Word cannot only influence the minds of people but can completely change their perception abut a particular thing. Words have the persuasion power to entice and motivate. They are used by the politicians, public relations personals, and even by parents to pass on their message. These words are known as power words and they can do wonders when used in advertisement.

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New or improved words create a sense of curiosity. The customers get an impression that the product is something that is different from others and he tries to get it before anyone else does so as to have edge over others. The digital products have always been advertised as new and improved, from years. Although it can be either new improved version of the existing product, but the power of both the words and the product reinforces each other’s strength.

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Take for instance the line ‘Money back guarantee’, these power words helps gain the trust of the customer. It is a must to print these words at the closing line of an advertisement. After this sentence, the methods of payment and how money will be returned if the customer is not satisfied should be stated!

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Most of the successful advertisements have a little known secret that surely generated curiosity within the reader. People are knowledge thirsty, they want to know what others do not know. They think that there is some vital information they are missing because of which they haven’t gained success in something particular.

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Words ‘Insider say that’, is similar to ‘secret’. It gives out information from some expertise that is still unknown to the outside world and only if the customer gives money, information will be divulged to him.

      

Free word in the headline of the message simply does wonders. The reader easily absorbs the message, unless and until something free is given to the customer in reality.

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By any change, if the company tricks the customer into paying money for something, which was supposed to be free, the trust of the customer is lost instantly. 

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You is a very important word to be used in an advertisement. It directly points out the advantages to the customer, if he buys a particular product or service. Step into the shoes of the customer and try to note down the points which will be of benefit and what points will decrease the interest.

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The advantages then should be referred to the customer by addressing them with ‘you’. The customer feels that he is being directly talked to.

The word ‘Immediately’ rings in the emergency. It can be interpreted as ‘Don’t wait any longer, get it now!’ This motivates the customer to take some necessary and quick action.

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Power in itself is a powerful word. Give that power to the consumer and see the magic. This gives the consumer a feeling that he can get possession of something that he lacked till now and this could make him achieve the impossible.

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The basis of a successful advertisement is to understand the consumer’s needs and then design the advertisement accordingly. Just stating the advantages of using the product or service of the company isn’t enough.

 

Sentence should be so designed that the customer should see his advantage in the product. For example, when advertising for a digital camera, just stating that the in-built memory of the camera is of 1 GB, won’t do the trick.

 

Instead, the sentence should be changed to ‘enough memory to store 350 pictures or 50 videos’. The solution to the problem of the customer is reflected in this sentence.

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Ideas can be taken from advertisements of other similar brands like how the sentences are written and placed in an advertisement. After the sentence framing, adding power words to spice up the advertisement will definitely make a winning ad campaign. 

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Advertising on Internet

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Ever since the advent of Internet, advertising on the World Wide Web has been very popular. Many corporations, companies and business and online marketers have taken advantage of this and you can see ads on any web pages you visit.

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Consumer can go to any search engine and type the keyword relating to what they are looking for and hit search and they will be provided with a huge list from which they can select.

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This is a very cost effective and time saving method of advertising. Plus you can type in the words FREE ADVERTISING and a extremely hugh list comes up. A list of thousands of places to  advertise for free.

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It has become really easy for any business to have a personalized website by which they can advertise, directly interact with the customer; provide details about their product and services.

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Regular newsletters, offers, discounts can be pasted on site to increase the interest of the website visitors.

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Since it’s easy to reach any kind of audience concerning any kind of business, the possibility of misuse is always there. Based on this Internet advertising is classified into two kinds of advertisement, legal online advertising and illegal online advertising.

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Legal online advertising includes online advertising directories, search engine advertising, e-mail advertising, and desktop advertising.

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Illegal advertising is more commonly know as spamming. This is usually done by altering some system settings with the help of external applications after which pop-ups are sent to a particular network or computer.

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The external applications are known as adware or spyware. Some of these are really harmful, the most famous being Trojans, which are very hard to uninstall and remove from the system. 

   

With the increase in technology, special effects are being used to make advertisement more interesting. Vivid colors, good page layout and lots of imagination is involved. Typically Adobe Flash is used to design advertisements these days. Depending on the technology being used to design advertisements can be classified into various categories.

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Banner ads are animations displayed on the website usually created in HTML or Eudora. There is a range of type and sizes of the ads. 

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A pop-up is an advertisement displayed in a new window that covers up the active web page. A pop-under advertisement opens in another window that is under the active web page and can be seen after the present window is either closed or minimized.

Interstitial ads are those that are displayed before directing over to the desired page.

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Wallpaper ads form the background of the web page.

The ads that float on the screen are known as a floating ad.

Polite ads download on a low pace without interrupting the normal functioning of the website.

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An ad that enlarges and changes the contents of the page being displayed is known as expanding ad.

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Advertisements which are displayed in a video form on a website is known as a video ad.

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There are many ways by which advertising, then there is the slots can be purchased on Internet like CPM, CPV, CPC, CPA, CPL and CPO. CPM or cost per mil means that the advertiser is meant to pay for a particular number of people to whom the advertisement will be exposed.

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  CPV or cost per visitor means that the advertiser is meant to pay for the people to whom the advertisement was delivered. CPC or cost per click means paying for the number of clicks made on the advertisement by the visitors.

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Although the advertisement is put up on the website, the amount is paid only after the visitor clicks on the URL of the advertisement. CPA or cost per action means that the advertisement publisher bares all the charges of advertisement, but he gets paid only if the visitor clicks on the advertisement and purchases a product or signs-up for a service.

 

CPL or cost per lead is similar to CPA, only that the visitor doesn’t have to necessarily buy anything; he or she can simply apply to get regular newsletters and special offers. CPO or cost per order is where the advertiser pays each time an order is placed.

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Online advertisements cannot only be used to promote a digital product or service but in fact they can be used for purposes like promoting charity and spreading education.

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********************************************************************************LIST OF LINKS, FOR  POSTING FREE ADS:

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A LIST OF 2,000 + FREE CLASSIFIED WEBSITES LIST WITHOUT REGISTRATION

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