Hand Out Bookmarks

A freelance writer in Toronto, Canada once wanted to build a business consulting to aspiring writers. He reasoned that most writers are also avid readers and, therefore, they were likely frequent patrons of that city’s public libraries.

To reach them, he developed a simple yet elegant device that readers and potential writers would want to pick up and take with them; a bookmark.

The pieces were about 1-3/4” wide and 8” long, and printed on both sides. The “front” side made a clear pitch for the seven-week e-mail course, while the backside provided supporting testimonials, along with a brief bio of the writer.

The results were astounding! In just a couple of months, the writer grew a very large mailing list of qualified prospects, sold several subscriptions to his e-mail course, and even landed a few personal consulting engagements. The success of this simple and cost-effective device was well beyond the writer’s expectations.

How can you use this in your business? Maybe you can’t. That really doesn’t matter. The point is that there are as many communications options as you choose to imagine, and put in place. If bookmarks don’t fit your image or can’t reach your intended audience, think of something that does.

Trying to reach school-age children? Create and hand out textbook covers. Do you serve a particular religious community? Sponsor a church bulletin. Need to get to computer users? Everyone needs mouse pads.

The key attribute of a good communications media is that it gets the attention of your target audience. After that, it all comes down to the message.