Welcome! Introduction Best Accounts to Choose Common Mistakes Gathering Info Securing Artwork Determining Ad Size Attention Grabber Benefit Headline Copy Other Elements Producing the Ad The fastest way to increase sales! Participate in this award-winning, newspaper-specific ad sales course on-site or in a Webinar.  • Get past upfront stalls and objections without any pushing  • Make the account believe he really needs you  • Get better information from your prosepct  • Develop quick ad strategies that work the very first time  • Eliminate size, frequency, content, cost and most other objections before they ever arise  • Get dramatic responses for all kinds of advertisers  • Never have to push an advertiser to run again click here

Of course, you don't want to create a spec ad for just anyone. There are certain local businesses that have a much higher probability of advertising with your newspaper, and advertising larger and more frequently as well. Here are some things to consider when choosing a good candidate for a spec ad.

Following the rule of going where the money is, first look for businesses out there who are running in an advertising medium with which you compete, even better if it's another print publication. These businesses already believe in advertising so you don't have to spend all that time trying to convince them that it's beneficial. They're spending money on advertising and most likely will again next week.

Also, look for advertisers running the bigger ads, since the size they're running elsewhere may give you a general idea of how much they might be willing to spend with your publication once you win them over.

This doesn't mean you should rule out the smaller advertisers for spec ads, since the size ad they're running elsewhere is only an indication of how big they feel like running, not how big they can. We believe the average sale of their products or services is the best indicator of how big they can run–so make sure it's high.

Of course, the idea of a spec ad is to show the prospective advertiser where you come in–how your ad will increase their response–so make sure the ad he's running now is ineffective.

If you go through all that effort of creating a good spec ad when the old one was already good to begin with, you're going to have a hard time explaining to the account why he'll get a better response than last time.

While this may seem fairly subjective, the pages that follow in this chapter will give you some ideas of what constitutes an effective and ineffective ad.

There's one last thing to remember when choosing an account to go after with a spec ad. Don't make spec ads for accounts handled by ad agencies. Sure, you may run into cases where an advertiser may drop out due to lack of response when it was clearly the agency's ad's poor design at fault. But ad agencies are easily offended by a publication offering a spec ad to them or their client.

If you do decide to provide a new ad strategy to an advertiser with an ad agency, make sure you have the consent of your manager, since the ad agency might make the buying decision for other important accounts running in your newspaper. You don't want to be the one responsible for losing multiple accounts, now, do you?

The above criteria should not only dictate who to go after first in terms of spec ads, but should guide your approach to prospecting in general. In this business, they're almost one and the same.

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