Will this advertising strategy work?

[devitt]

Hi,

I have set up an advertising strategy to advertise online businesses and would like your opinions on whether you think it is a good idea or not.

Basically, the business owner will be able to distribute A4 leaflets advertising their business through ebay. Once registering their interest with me the business sends me a copy of their leaflet via email, for me to distribute over ebay. I will then pay a few ebay sellers to distribute one of these leaflets with the products they sell. The ebay seller would also have to print the number of leaflets they are willing to distribute, but the money would be good.

To ensure the ebay seller delivers the leaflet I was planning not pay them the full amount until I am sure they have printed and sent out the leaflets. I was also going to take note of the winning bidder and contact them via e-mail a couple of days later to ask them if they received a leaflet with their product. Also I was only going to choose reputable ebay sellers, with good feedback, as I think they would be more trusting. I was going to do it in a way that the business would be the seller's sponsor, therefore any leaflets put forward to be distributed by the business would go straight to the same seller again and again, the seller making profit at the same time.

In terms of reaching a target audience, I was thinking of targeting sellers who sell similar items, for example a car parts seller for a car business.

I was planning to price it at 6p a leaflet, with 5p of that going to the ebay seller who distributes them. So for 10 leaflets it would cost £6.00 and the ebay seller who distributes those 10 leaflets would earn £5.00. It was going to impose a limit of just 30 leaflets as this is just the beginning stage of the strategy. It would give the ebay seller the earning capacity of an extra £15.00 if they distributed 30 leaflets.

I am posting here becuase I would like your opinions as you would know if this would be something that would interest websites businesses. Also, some of you maybe ebay sellers and I would like to know, whether you would find distributing leaflets with your products for a bit of extra cash, is worth it.


Many Thanks,
Devitt

[hlctemecula]

Hmmm...

First, I like the idea and it sounds effective. Here are some concerns:

- If you target eBay sellers that are closely related to your target customer, why would they want to advertise a competitor? Maybe a related industry and not the same industry would be best?

- As an eBay seller, I'm not sure I would feel comfortable releasing personal information on customers. (email address, phone number, home address, etc.) It might be against eBay's policies.

- What kind of a return are you expecting? With direct mail marketing that I've used, a 1% return is a GOOD campaign. With your pricing, I think you may find it to be extremely expensive to advertise your product. I think you're right on to start small to gauge how cost productive it will be, but I think I would still try to get away with it for alot less initially and have a larger test campaign. I think the prices you were listing were too high.

- A suggestion for you...instead of paying eBay sellers, maybe they would be willing to do it for FREE if you included on the leaflet an advertisement for THEIR business as well. You could basically use their customer database for free by designing and covering the postage costs.

Just some thoughts...

[Newton]

"I was planning to price it at 6p a leaflet, with 5p of that going to the ebay seller who distributes them. So for 10 leaflets it would cost £6.00"

?? Isn't 10 leaflets 60p?

[greggomatic76]

I love the idea, I think there is tons of potential in something like that, ebay is full of all sorts of niches. Let us know how it goes!

[devitt]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated, those tips are great hlctemecula, I think covering postage costs and other costs is the way to do it. I was thinking of providing another feedback record of the ebayer on my website, that they are trusted to distribute business leaflets, with stats, therefore it could help thier sales.

I was going to be targeting ebay sellers who sell similar items not directly the same. As for the seller releasing personal details about the buyer, I would not need this as I will send the buyer a personal message through ebay's messenger.

Also ignore those prices, that was just bad maths on a late night. I am aiming to get them down to 6p a leaflet, 60p for 10.

[cube3]

As an ebayer seller , i wont even pay a single cent. The reason being ebay is already charging so much for every item u list, and why does the powersellers in ebay needs to pay for the advertising when they are already so well known. Just my 2 cents. :P

[sdiener]

Devitt, I think it is a great idea. However, I am not sure how easy it will be to find companies that want to advertise this way. What sort of volume were you looking to use (eg. how many fliers were you expecting one advertiser to buy?)

[devitt]

How about if I changed from leaflets to customized pens, these would last longer, and I could find a dropshipper to send them straight to the ebay seller.

I was also thinking if I rewarded the ebay seller by putting stats about their service on a page of my website, dedicated to them. Their buyer could complete some sort of online questionnaire about the sellers service.

[akula]

it's brilliant

a very good opportunity

i think it will work

I've had good results with cross promotions

Hi,

I have set up an advertising strategy to advertise online businesses and would like your opinions on whether you think it is a good idea or not.

Basically, the business owner will be able to distribute A4 leaflets advertising their business through ebay. Once registering their interest with me the business sends me a copy of their leaflet via email, for me to distribute over ebay. I will then pay a few ebay sellers to distribute one of these leaflets with the products they sell. The ebay seller would also have to print the number of leaflets they are willing to distribute, but the money would be good.

To ensure the ebay seller delivers the leaflet I was planning not pay them the full amount until I am sure they have printed and sent out the leaflets. I was also going to take note of the winning bidder and contact them via e-mail a couple of days later to ask them if they received a leaflet with their product. Also I was only going to choose reputable ebay sellers, with good feedback, as I think they would be more trusting. I was going to do it in a way that the business would be the seller's sponsor, therefore any leaflets put forward to be distributed by the business would go straight to the same seller again and again, the seller making profit at the same time.

In terms of reaching a target audience, I was thinking of targeting sellers who sell similar items, for example a car parts seller for a car business.

I was planning to price it at 6p a leaflet, with 5p of that going to the ebay seller who distributes them. So for 10 leaflets it would cost £6.00 and the ebay seller who distributes those 10 leaflets would earn £5.00. It was going to impose a limit of just 30 leaflets as this is just the beginning stage of the strategy. It would give the ebay seller the earning capacity of an extra £15.00 if they distributed 30 leaflets.

I am posting here becuase I would like your opinions as you would know if this would be something that would interest websites businesses. Also, some of you maybe ebay sellers and I would like to know, whether you would find distributing leaflets with your products for a bit of extra cash, is worth it.


Many Thanks,
Devitt