|
See Below For SPECIAL OFFER
Welcome to Advertising Education 101
During my more than 30 years in Marketing, helping companies like Harley Davidson and Coca Cola succeed, I have come to realize that the playing field for the small business is not and has never been equal.
During my eight years in BNI, I found the networking to be positive and rewarding, but for the most part, I found most members to be either one owner companies or part of companies that have 10 or less employees. There is nothing wrong with this fact. It’s just a fact. 
As Entrepreneurs, we strive to perform at the highest levels of proficiency and to be noticed by those that might well use our products and services. I personally could not have begun Village News Magazine, (six years ago) without the support and dedication from my BNI members.
Two problems plague small business owners.
aFirst, most are undercapitalized.
aSecond, they have not allotted enough of their gross income for advertising (most experts agree it should be no less than 16% of
gross). But where do you come up with the money, and with it, where do you get your largest ROI (Return on Investment)?
Advertising as a Mystery
Advertising often times feels like a mystery. Is it better to try and reach out to everyone, knowing that your target is much smaller? Is it best to spend all your money in one place? Do I drop my price below my competitor? What will drive them to me?
How Well Do You Know Your Market?
1. Who is my customer?
2. Where do they live?
3. What will drive them to me?
4. How can I effectively reach them with my message?
These are the questions each of us have to ask about our business. I did this many times with Village News Magazine. I realized my best customers had to be a niche. What I mean by that, is I need to be very specific about my target demographic if I want my advertisers to benefit by maximizing their dollars. If I want an advertiser to buy our magazine, then I have to give them something they aren’t getting elsewhere. The Niche. Our readers know we don’t make space available (even in tough economic times) to everyone. If we allowed those businesses that don’t fit our niche, then we lower the integrity of the magazine and defeat our “Niche.”
What Is Your Niche?:
4What is your niche?
4What do you do that no one else does?
4Better service?
4Best pricing?
4Best quality.
4Most convenient?
4Out performs your competition?
 The Village News Niche: We deliver only to Golf Course and surrounding Golf Course communities, at no charge to the reader, and to the named homeowner (not current resident or to a PO Box).
Homes must have at least a value of $450k and reach upwards to and above $10m. These are better educated, more affluent adults with more disposable income than anywhere else in Virginia Beach. 58% of our readers are in Senior Management with their company.
Owners, Presidents, CEO’s, CFO’s, COO’s etc. This is our demographic and this is where my advertisers expect their greatest return on investment.
A Newly Defined Addition To Our Niche:
At Village News Magazine, we have recently come up with a way to expose smaller business Entrepreneurs to our demographic.
If you have received the E-mail, your business is deemed as a viable product or service for our readers. Does that sound snooty? Well... frankly I think it is. But if you continually try to keep your target demographic at its highest level, you must stick to your guns. We turn down about 20% of those that would like to advertise with us. If they don’t fit our demographic we prefer they advertise elsewhere. Make sense? It does make sense if you’re trying to keep the integrity of your business at its highest level.
A SPECIAL OFFER we want you to Consider:
Here’s what we’re offering YOU.
4Any ad size; Quarter, Third, Half or Full page at our current price (see Village News for pricing -- Click Here).
4 We will design your ad if you do not have one available at no charge.
4 We will provide you a “Feature Article” about you, your business, your services, with Bios on your people, graphics, and pictures which will be placed in our online version of Village News
Magazine. (This is now being heavily promoted in the hard copy of the magazine, in E-mails and in the utilization of online placement through our IT department.)
4Your Feature Article may be changed monthly as long as you remain in the hard copy of the magazine.
4 Should you decide to come out of the hard copy, your online Feature Article will remain online in our Archives for six months at no additional charge.
Village News Magazine appears in its entirety online each month and we have consistently averaged over 10,000 hits to the online version for the last six months. With our active promotions, we anticipate this number to rise significantly.
Education is a wonderful tool.
Many companies in the area offer seminars on how to sell, how to keep customers, how to find customers… all for a price. If you knew where your best customers were… wouldn’t you take advantage of reaching them in the hottest ways possible? You’ll get;
aOur upscale magazine with built-in, high-end readership 
aand our online version which increases your reach and frequency.
This is the real deal. Something that will level that uneven playing field in the world of Marketing. Remember, in business and in life, you either lead, follow or get out of the way. What will you do?
Contact us today.
We’re currently working on our August edition and space is limited.
Doesn’t your business deserve
Village News Magazine?
Contact Peter Cousin directly at 301-9617 or online by E-mail to:
peter@villagenewsva.com.
Village News Magazine …
Magazines For An Upscale World!
Go to Village News Online: Click Here
|
