How to Get Advertising in Your Neighborhood Newsletter

A reasonable goal for a neighborhood newsletter is to sell at least enough advertising to pay for the printing costs of the publication. The bigger the neighborhood, and the better the area, the more likely the newsletter can even bring in a little profit for the homeowner's association through its ads. It takes a little salesmanship, and some persistence, but creating such a positive program really doesn't take that much effort.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Make sure your newsletter is of a high enough quality that potential customers will look at it and be open to the idea that it could represent them and their company. That will make the selling so much smoother.
2. Contact other newsletter editors in your area and ask how they do it. What kind of prices do they charge? What is the ratio of that to circulation size? Get a feel for the market. Then create an ad sheet that offers various sizes and prices, which will attract the low-budget single proprietor as well as the CEO.
3. Start prospecting at your neighborhood board meetings. Simply stand up and describe your ad program. Explain where the money will go, and ask who in the room is ready to support a better communication tool for the neighborhood? It doesn't hurt to mention that the ad is tax-deductible (as long as it is).
4. Get the email list of the neighborhood's residents (or start building one) and sent out an informational message that explains what you are doing and why and how it would benefit everyone for this to be a success.
5. Treat each advertiser like the customer that they are. Even if they just are buying a $10 ad once a quarter, make them feel good about it, and they might just upgrade. Plus, that $10 is more than you are going to get without them. Good customer service and relations will keep the ads coming in, once they start.
6. When talking to people in the neighborhood, find out which companies they work for, and where they are in the chain of command. Maybe you have the decision maker living next door. Then, start lobbying for support.
7. Think about the nearby businesses who rely on your neighborhood's residents for their livelihood. Target the locally owned ones first, and set up a sales call. It should be as simple as showing a copy of the newsletter, explaining how important that is to the residents in your neighborhood and then presenting the rates (which should be just a shade below market rate at first).
8. Make sure your advertisers are happy with their ads before they see them printed in the newsletter. Run a proof copy by before publication, and make sure the person buying the ad approves it. This is another good chance to build that relationship into a long-term deal.

Tips & Warnings

• It's much easier to maintain an account, with great customer service, than create a new one.
• Make sure your advertiser knows what they want to accomplish with the ad. Set reasonable expectations. An ad in a newsletter with a circulation of 300 isn't going to make a business rich overnight. But it might just build a few new customers, and it certainly will improve the brand.