HOW TO GET FREE RADIO ADVERTISING

    The greatest expense you're going to incur in conducting a
    successful business is your advertising.

    You have to advertise.  Your business cannot grow and flourish
    unless you advertise. Advertising is the "life-blood" of any
    profitable business.  And regardless of where or how you advertise,
    it's going to cost you in some form or another.

    Every successful business is built upon, and continues to thrive,
    primarily, on good advertising.  The top companies in the world
    allocate millions of dollars annually to their advertising budgets.
    Of course, when starting from a garage, basement or kitchen table,
    you can't quite match their advertising efforts at least not in the
    beginning.  But there is a way you can approximate their maneuvers
    without actually spending their kind of money.  And that's through
    "P.I." Advertising.

    "P.I." stands for per inquiry.  This is a kind of advertising most
    generally associated with broadcasting, where you pay only for the
    responses you get to your advertising message.  It's very popular -
    somewhat akin to bartering - and is used by many more advertisers
    than most people realize.  The advantages of PI Advertising are all
    in favor of the advertiser because with this kind of an advertising
    arrangement, you pay only for the results the advertising produces.

    To get in on this "free" advertising, start with a loose leaf
    notebook, and about 100 sheets of filler paper.  Next, either visit
    your public library and start poring through the Broadcast Yearbook
    on radio stations in the U.S., or the Standard Rate and Data
    Services Directory on Spot Radio.  Both these publications will give
    you just about all the information you could ever want about
    licensed stations.

    An easier way might be to call or visit one of your local radio
    stations, and ask to borrow (and take home with you) their current
    copy of either of these volumes.  To purchase them outright will
    cost $50 to $75.

    Once you have a copy of either of these publications, select the
    state or states you want to work first.  It's generally best to
    begin in your own state and work outward from there.  If you have a
    money-making manual, you might want to start first with those states
    reporting the most unemployment.

    Use some old fashioned common sense.  Who are the people most likely
    to be interested in your offer, and where are the largest
    concentrations of these people?  You wouldn't attempt to sell
    windshield deice canisters in Florida, or suntan lotion in Minnesota
    during the winter months, would you?

    At any rate, once you've got your beginning "target" area decided
    upon, go through the radio listings for the cities and towns in that
    area, and jot down in your notebook the names of the general
    managers, the station call letters, and the addresses.  Be sure to
    list the telephone numbers as well.

    On your first try, list only one radio station per city.  Pick out
    the station people most interested in your product would be
    listening to.  This can be determined by the programming description
    contained within the data block about the station in the
    Broadcasting Yearbook or the SRDS Directory.

    Let's say that you're listed 250 different radio stations. It's best
    to list the stations you want to contact alphabetically by the city
    or town they're licensed to serve, with a tab separating each state.
    The next step is either a phone call or a letter to the station
    manager of each of the stations.

    This first contact should be in the way of introducing yourself, and
    inquiring if they would consider a PI Advertising campaign.  You
    tell the station manager that you have a product you feel will sell
    very well in his market, and would like to test it before going
    ahead with a paid advertising program.  You must quickly point out
    that your product sells for, say $5, and that during this test, you
    would allow him 50% of that for each response his station pulls for
    you.  Explain that you handle everything for him:  the writing of
    the commercials, all accounting and bookkeeping, plus any refunds or
    complaints that come in.  In other words, all he has to do is
    schedule your commercials on his log, and give them his "best shot."
    When the responses come in, he counts them, and forwards them on to
    you for fulfillment.  You make out a check for payment to him, and
    everybody is happy.

    If you've contacted him by phone, and he agrees to look over your
    material, thank him and promise to get a complete "package" in the
    mail to him immediately.  Then do just that. Write a short cover
    letter, place it on top of your "ready-to-go" PI Advertising
    Package, and get it in the mail to him without delay.

    If you're turned down, and he is not interested in "taking on" any
    PI Advertising, just tell him thanks, make a notation in your
    notebook by his name, and go on to your next call.  Contacting these
    people by phone is by far the quickest, least expensive and most
    productive method of "exploring" for those stations willing to
    consider your PI proposal.  In some cases though, circumstances will
    deem it to be less expensive to make this initial contact by letter
    or postcard.

    In that case, simply address your card or letter to the person you
    are trying to contact.  Your letter should be positive in tone,
    straight-forward and complete.  Present all the details in logical
    order on one page, perfectly typed on letterhead paper, and sent in
    a letterhead envelope.  (Rubber-stamped letterheads just won't get
    past a first glance.)  Ideally, you should include a self-addressed
    and stamped postcard with spaces for positive or negative check
    marks in answer to your questions:  Will you or won't you look over
    my materials and consider a mutually profitable "Per Inquiry"
    advertising campaign on your station?

    Once you have an agreement from your contact at the radio station
    that they will look over your materials and give serious
    consideration for a PI program, move quickly, getting your cover
    letter and package off by First Class mail, perhaps even Special
    Delivery.

    What this means is that at the same time you organize your "radio
    station note book", you'll also want to organize your advertising
    package.  Have it all put together and ready to mail just as soon as
    you have a positive response. Don't allow time for that interest in
    your program to cool down.

    You'll need a follow-up letter.  Write one to fit all situations;
    have 250 copies printed, and then when you're ready to send out a
    package, all you'll have to do is fill in the business salutation
    and sign it.  If you spoke of different arrangements or a specific
    matter was discussed in your initial contact, however, type a
    different letter incorporating comments or answers to the points
    discussed.  This personal touch won't take long, and could pay
    dividends!

    You'll also need at least two thirty-second commercials and two
    sixty-second commercials.  You could write these up, and have 250
    copies printed and organized as a part of your PI Advertising
    Package.

    You should also have some sort of advertising contract written up,
    detailing everything about your program, and how everything is to be
    handled; how and when payment to the radio station is to be made,
    plus special paragraphs relative to refunds, complaints, and
    liabilities.  All this can be very quickly written up and printed in
    lots of 250 or more on carbonless multi-part snap-out business
    forms.

    Finally, you should include a self-addressed and stamped postcard
    the radio station can use to let you know that they are going to use
    your PI Advertising program, when they will start running your
    commercials on the air, and how often, and during which time
    periods.  Again, you simply type out the wording in the form you
    want to use on these "reply postcards," and have copies printed for
    your use in these mailings.

    To review this program:  Your first step is the initial contact
    after searching through the SRDS or Broadcasting Yearbook. Actual
    contact with the stations is by phone or mail.  When turned down,
    simply say thanks, and go on to the next station on your list.  For
    those who want to know more about your proposal, you immediately get
    a PI Advertising Package off to them via the fastest way possible.
    Don't let the interest wane.

    Your Advertising Package should contain the following:

            1. Cover letter

            2. Sample brochure, product literature

            3. Thirty-second and sixty-second commercials

            4. PI Advertising Contract

            5. Self-addressed, stamped postcard for station
               acknowledgment and acceptance of your program.

    Before you ask why you need an acknowledgment postcard when you have
    already given them a contract, remember that everything about
    business changes from day to day - conditions change, people get
    busy, and other things come up.  The station manager may sign a
    contract with your advertising to begin the 1st of March.  The
    contract is signed on the 1st of January, but when March 1 rolls
    around, he may have forgotten, been replaced, or even decided
    against running your program.  A lot of paper seemingly "covering
    all the minute details" can be very impressive to many radio station
    managers, and convince them that your company is a good one to do
    business with.

    Let's say that right now you're impatient to get started with your
    own PI Advertising campaign.  Before you "jump off the deep end,"
    remember this:  Radio station people are just as professional and
    dedicated as anyone else in business - even more so in some
    instances - so be sure you have a product or service that lends
    itself well to selling via the radio inquiry system.

    Anything can be sold, and sold easily with any method you decide
    upon, providing you present it from the right angle. "Hello out
    there!  Who wants to buy a mailing list for 10 cents a thousand
    names?" wouldn't even be allowed on the air.  However, if you have
    the addresses of the top 100 movie stars, and you put together an
    idea enabling the people to write to them direct, you might have a
    winner, and sell a lot of mailing lists of the stars.

    At the bottom line, a lot is riding on the content of your
    commercial - the benefits you suggest to the listener, and how easy
    it is for him to enjoy those benefits.  For instance, if you have a
    new book on how to find jobs when there aren't any jobs: You want to
    talk to people who are desperately searching for employment.  You
    have to appeal to them in words that not only "perk up" their ears,
    but cause them to feel that whatever it is that you're offering will
    solve their problems.  It's the product, and in the writing of the
    advertising message about that product are going to bring in those
    responses.

    Radio station managers are sales people, and sales people the world
    over will be sold on your idea if you put your selling package
    together properly.  And if the responses come in to your first
    offer, you have set yourself up for an entire series of successes.
    Success has a "ripple effect," but you have to start on that first
    one.  We wish you success!