2 builders who never spoke to each other

Buy the small publication that already reaches them

Pick the channel by asking where your buyers already gather rather than which platform is fashionable, and the answer is often a title too small for anyone to have bid it up. A decorative concrete company pays six hundred dollars a month for space in a local magazine reaching seven thousand wealthy households and has taken seventy five thousand dollars in three months. All else equal, advertise where you are already part of the audience, since knowing the culture is what lets you build an ad that fits it: one founder's best results came from two sites he had read for years. Print and direct mail still convert for high ticket local services.

The method

1. 01

   Buy space in a small niche publication that already lands in front of your exact buyer instead of building complicated targeting.

2. 02

   Pick the channel by asking where your buyers already gather rather than by which platform is fashionable.

3. 03

   All else equal, advertise where you are already part of the audience, because knowing the culture of the site lets you build an ad that fits it.

4. 04

   Print and direct mail still convert for high-ticket local services, so do not rule out offline placements.

What it returned

• $600

  A decorative concrete company pays $600 a month to place an ad in a local magazine reaching 7,000 wealthy Georgia households, and has made $75,000 in three months

• $600

  $600/month magazine spend returned $75,000 over three months

• His best results at Smart Bear came from Stack Overflow, where he was an early beta user, and Coding Horror, which he had read for years.

Sources

• How do I know where to advertise?Jason Cohen · longform.asmartbear.com · How do I know where to advertise? · 2012-06-05
• Neiman's magazine adsHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Neiman's magazine ads · undated