Hi Rainbow!

Here is the question I promised.  Thanks again for helping with the
"Creative Retirement" question last week.  Please note you need only
answer *one* of the two questions below----you do not need to answer
both.

1 of 2.  I am a stockbroker.  My business partner and I want to place
newspaper ads advertising certificates of deposit and municipal bonds.
 Our investment firm has some pre-made ads, but the quality is low. 
Moreover, there is no data within our firm concerning success or
failure with newspaper ads.  Given the very high expense of placing
ads, we wish we knew some of the following in advance:

(a)  what day of the week to advertise
(b)  what section of the paper
(c)  small ad over several days  versus   large ad for one day

You get the picture.  We would like to learn from someone else's
experience before wasting our money on learning those same lessons
"the hard way."
A 5-star answer would be 4-6 paragraphs on this topic.


2 of 2.   And now for something completely different.  I want to turn
a Chevrolet Suburban into a convertible.  (No, I'm not kidding.)  I
already own one of these convertibles---a 1988 model.  Bought it
through eBay.  It's been great fun to drive, but is now falling apart.
 (Must be my driving.  heh  heh  heh)

A 5-star answer to this question would be 4 automotive shops that can
do this kind of custom conversion.  I have a strong preference for
California, Nevada, Arizona, or Oregon----but will go elsewhere if
necessary.


Rainbow, please let me reiterate:  you need only answer one of these
two questions.  You get to choose!


All comments greatly appreciated!
ron

---

Request for Question Clarification by rainbow-ga on 08 Aug 2005 15:59 PDT

Hi Ron,

Thank you for directing your question to me. Unfortunately, both of
these subjects are beyond my expertise so I will not be able to answer
it for you.

I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Best regards,
Rainbow

---

Clarification of Question by nronronronro-ga on 10 Aug 2005 18:43 PDT

Thanks, Rainbow.

I'll get a question to you in the future----one way or the other.

Thanks again.
ron

Ron,

For your convertible conversion needs, a friend of mine recommends
Newport Convertible Engineering (formerly Newport Car Conversions):

http://www.newportconvertible.com/contactinfo.tpl?rnd=3189&cart=11235422019132777&hide_cat=t

~Pink

Hey Ron,

Your Q is a day old now, so I hope comment is OK.

I figure that Tuesdays are the quietest days for near ANY business, unless
of course it just happens to an Aussie thing. Have you considered
directing your marketing dollars toward radio moreso than newspapers?
Radio is portable, and apparently is listened to by consumers in their
horseless carriages at peak times, as they tune in just before the on
the hour news. I know that we have discussed the captive audience of
say theatre advertising. What about supplying the sick bags to
airlines? Now that's what I call a captive audience! Not like they can
just step outside for a while. Saturation advertising works, provided
that you are recompensed accordingly against your costs.

Even Coca-Cola advertises everyday. You would not think that they
would have to, but they sure do.

Had an '81 rebuilt Chev Corvette for a couple of years. Best sports car ever.

Please revisit your "Creative Retirement" question.

All the best,

Phil

Hey rainbow-ga,

Why pick one question or the other....just tell Ron to get himself a
convertible CD:



http://www.wachovia.com/personal/page/0,,11_481_524_4715,00.html

Thanks, PinkFreud!  You are wonderful!

ron

Phil,

1.  We are definitely considering radio.  Rates in our area are
actually falling---probably due to so many people switching to
satellite radio.  More broadly, you are right on the money:  mass
marketing to a captive audience.  Let's face it...for most folks,
dealing with finance is just one step up from a root canal.  I'll let
you know if the radio idea takes off.

2.  Separately, I had a friend who took a 454 cubic inch engine from a
1974 station wagon and placed it in his Corvette.  8 miles per gallon
and fast!
That was back when you could still work on your own car without needing a PhD.
heh  heh  heh


Thanks, as always.
ron

pafalafa-----Loved your comment.

I know that New Yorker cover story s just a ruse.   You're a Cajun.  Admit it!

heh  heh  heh
ron

I was on the cover of the New Yorker?  I must have missed that issue.

{heh heh)


paf

Hey Ron,

Mass marketing is fine. But how might you qualify your target audience
so as to attack them with a bullet as opposed to a shotgun of wasted
ammunition?

Phil

Ron,
I see one problem with radio  - but I may be wrong.
Most people listen to radio when they cannot immediately respond:  in
the car, at work (but probably not the people you want), in the
evening  - unless you can provide evening telephone service, but maybe
even a good voice mailbox could handle that, could even be better: 
people knowing they were just leaving a message and not getting an
immediate sales talk, just saying when they could be contacted.  And
then your professionals could contact them, or they would get a
personalized mailing (but folks may be shy of leaving their address).
Maybe radio is not so bad.  
Problem with ads before the news is that people want to hear the news,
and you want them to immediately grab the phone while your message is
fresh.

You need a better answer than my ramblings, and I expect that there is
information on advertising effectiveness for investments, but maybe
expensive.
Good luck, Myoarin

Phil and Myoarin,

1.  Thanks for your insightful comments on advertising.

2.  I've been involved in different campaigns over the last two
years----some very successful, but most big failures.  Bobbie7,
PinkFreud, and others gave me some great ideas for advertising a dog
business in which I have a small stake.
Placing an ad in the San Jose Mercury News flopped.  It was very
expensive, and few people called.   When we switched to three local
community papers, it was instantly successful----literally, the phone
started ringing on the same day the ads appeared. And at a much
cheaper price, too!  Go figure.  The business is now booming.

3.  I am currently in the midst of a 3,000-piece mailing for our local
church.  Since I prefer to drink beer and watch football on most
Sundays, this seems like the least I could do.  heh  heh  heh   I've
elected to send 8.5" x 11" postcards, with full color on both sides. 
The expense for mailing is 49 cents each.  The postcard printing will
be 30 cents each.  By way of comparison, a normal postcard costs 35%
less but has 80% fewer square inches (15 versus 90 square inches). 
Some of the church folks think my plan is nutty.  But I'm paying so I
get to make the final decision.  We'll know the results within 6
weeks.  The only decision left:  do we mail to people who live
immediately around the church, or do we mail to those who are new
(i.e., recent movers) to the area?  Any advice?

Thanks again for taking the time to offer your thoughts.  I *appreciate* it!

ron

Hey Ron,

That is very benevolent of you to carry the cost of the project for
your church. A few questions of course!

How did you arrive at the chosen figure of 3000? Why indeed are you
paying, or is it a personal choice and none of my business? Is the
mailout for the purpose of attracting more parishoners or is it for a
fund raising event? Is it a financial, social or ethereal project?

If it's fund raising or social, then hit the locals one and all. You
might care to recall our very first deliberation over the advantages
of an auction night. Particularly so with the politically incorrect
girls dancing upon the tables. As we tended to agree, auction nights
become rather more succesfull after the invitees are plyed with
alcohol and good food to energise egos in their attempts to outbid one
another. Profit and fun for everyone!  :)

If it's ethereal to attract more parishoners, then there is no need to
advertise to the converted or the already well entrenched. Contact
your local real estate agents (or Realtors, as you Yanks say) to keep
you informed of the influx of new tenants to the district. Sometimes,
the slower approach is good so as not to waste good money on the
existing client base. This is an example of the bullet as compared to
the shotgun.

What was different about the San Jose Mercury News advertisement
itself and the others placed in the three local community newspapers?
Were the ads one and the same, or did you change your format? If not,
it makes sense that locals will view a community newspaper as being
more trustworthy and closer to home in advertising the services of the
bloke from just down the road. I hope this makes sense. Place yourself
in your customer's shoes. Would you feel more comfortable in dealing
with a local, knowing that he or she is local? An ad in a more broadly
distributed newspaper with just a phone number, tells me nothing about
the person nor the business. Saying it how it is, with an identifiable
landmark (shopfront) known to locals must surely put your potential
client at ease. You then become tangible, not just a business name and
'phone number. PO box addresses are not customer friendly either.
Transparency and openness speaks volumes towards being approachable
and welcoming.

Re point 1(b) of your initial question to Rainbow .. the best page is
the front page. Bottom right hand corner, every day. Saturation
advertising, perhaps more expensive, yet you will become known as the
front page broker. Your ad need not be big. Just choose impact in the
least number of words.

Read a newspaper yourself. As you turn the pages, where do your eyes lead you? 
I bet you scan a page from the bottom right upwards then across to the
left and down. This is when we miss ads on a page. GET IN FIRST. Even
on a front page, you will note the large print of a headline first.
But you will most likely scan the page from bottom right and upwards
as described, after that.

Interestingly, I understand that security staff are trained to scan a
building for unfamiliar objects in a similar way. As our western style
of writing assumes left to right, odd or misplaced objects are
identified more quickly when we reverse the learned process. This
makes sense, as we might misread or skip a typed word as the brain
makes assumptions as to what the correct word should be to construct a
comprehensive sentence. Scanning the paper is different, as we don't
know the new territory until we have seen it. Complacency of familiar
territory, be it words or a building, tends to allow our concentration
to make assumptions through repetition. Therefore, I figure that
repetitious advertising will create the assumption that Ron is the one
to trust when in comes to stockbroking.

Read the following very quickly, then read it again.


                                         /\
                                        /  \
                                       /    \
                                      /      \
                                     /        \                     
                                    /  PARIS   \
                                   /            \
                                  /   IN THE     \
                                 /                \
                                /   THE SPRING     \
                               /                    \
                              /                      \
                             -------------------------

Thanks for the yarn. 

By the way, as a broker, what is your attitude to the risk of CFD's?
Is your approach one of a fundamentalist or a chartist? Is there room
for a mix of both thoughts, or might each contradict the other?

Kind regards,

Phil

ps .. Perception is everything.

Hi Phil!

RE:  Benevolence.  I would say 25% benevolence and 75% self-serving. 
I do believe in giving 10% to the church, but my current ratio is more
like 2%.  Hence, even with the expense of this mailing, I am still
behind.  Rather than benevolence, I look at it as Fire Insurance.  
heh  heh  heh

RE:  Purpose.  To invite those who have recently moved into the area
to try the church.  The program being advertised is, "40 Days of
Purpose."  As you may know, this is a mixture of Chirstianity and
self-help----it really seems to help people.


RE:  Booze and dancing girls.  I keep looking for a denomination that
uses these for marketing.  No success thus far.  ;-)

RE:  Distribution of postcards.  Church members will be
hand-delivering cards to those within 1/2 mile of the church.  I plan
to mail to newly arrived families in a band from 1 mile to 8 miles.  I
[selfishly] intend to learn lessons from this church marketing that
can then be applied to my other marketing projects.


RE:  Metropolitan versus community newspaper.  You are precisely
correct, Phil! The ad was the same, yet the response rates were
dramatically different.  Readers seem to look at advertisers in
community papers as "neighbors" whereas they view advertisers in
metropolitan newspapers as "big businesses."

RE:  Scanning right-to-up-to-left.  You are a genius!  I will use this
effective immediately.

RE:  Paris In The The Spring.   Amazing!

RE:  Technical versus Fundamental Analysis.  I use both. 
Interestingly, I started using technical analysis in 1987 with
currencies----specifically the Canadian Dollar and the Australian
Dollar.  Because both are resource-based economies, their currencies
tend to trend for long periods.  Hence, moving averages and other
forms of technical analysis work very well for currencies.
You Aussies have been "on a roll" for awhile now.  I predict this will continue.

On the other hand, fundamental analysis seems to work better for stocks.

Here's a book I recommend:  "What Works On Wall Street" by
O'Shaughnessy.  Over 50 years of data and 150+ trading systems, he
concludes that top results are achieved by a mixture of fundamental
and technical analysis.

Thanks again, Phil, for everything!
ron

Phil,

In case you're ever in a bar in Texas...calling someone a "Yank" or
"Yankee" invariably leads to a fight.

Forewarned is forearmed!  
heh  heh  heh

Thanks again!
ron

Thanks for the forewarning Ron,

Should I therefore refer to Texans as Confederates ??

Re dancing girls and booze .. well it worked for Whoopi Goldberg.
Perhaps you could invite her to your services.

Phil

heh  heh  heh