Sources of Paper - (Types of ads)

(2) Free Papers - There are many free papers available.  They may be called "Magic ads", "Nickel ads" or a similar name.   Advertising can be quite inexpensive.  Both display ads and text ads can be effective.  Long term exposure is important.  Any kind of print advertising should be tested for at least 2-4 weeks.  Again and again I have seen where there are no calls for two weeks and then 8 the next week.  There is a cumulative effect with long term advertising.  Real estate agents and others will see the ads and begin to refer people.  Make sure your company name is one that stands out and you get a "vanity" phone number like 374-NOTE or ideally  "Buy-Note" (289-6683).

(3) Tee Shirts - A nicely designed shirt with your company name, a "we buy notes" message and your vanity number can lead to note purchases.  Wear it on your days off, shopping or all day everyday.  It's simple to design and print a shirt with today's computer graphics and iron on transfers.  Give the shirts out to friends and family.  Make them nice enough that someone would be comfortable wearing them.  Offer referral bonuses.  You could put an extension on the shirt to identify the "wearer".  Consider something like "Don't sell your mortgage without reading my shirt".   Two students that liked to shop would wear their shirts to the malls and bought notes from it.

(4) Note Pads - Note pads are something that can end up staying on a real estate or mortgage professionals desk for months.  In one case, some pads we passed out at a real estate exchange meeting ended up in a $30,000 profit a year later.  The same applies to pens, letter openers or any other similar advertising promos.

(5) Radio - Radio can be an excellent place for some wide exposure, fairly inexpensive advertising. Make the ad simple and repeat the phone number several times. The best way to use radio can be the type of free advertising that you can get by being on a talk show. There are business and real estate oriented talk shows where you can appear and take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. The hosts are generally quite friendly and cooperative. They can lead you along and ask the right questions to bring out what you want to say.  Some will host the program if you buy the advertising.  Others specializing in putting together just those types of programs.  Once the show is recorded, you can play it in many different markets.  Listeners in many cases do not even know the show is recorded.

Go Back