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HOW TO MAKE MONEY PRODUCING DISCOUNT CARDS
There is a big money business that can be started for next to nothing, with
low risk, that involves giving away special cards. These cards are DISCOUNT
CARDS, wallet-sized cards that allow the bearer to receive discounts at
participating businesses. These businesses pay to have their advertisement
on the card. They profit from the increased exposure and from gaining new
customers who come in for the discount and become return customers.
The card-holders benefit from the discounts they can receive.
And YOU benefit from the profitable advertising you sell!
This is a relatively simple business to explain. Here's an overview:
1) Design your card.
2) Figure your expenses and set your ad prices.
3) Contact businesses that frequently use discounts or coupons (potential advertisers for
You) either in person or by mail, with an information package.
4) Gather the ads (and the money!) and print them together on wallet-sized cards.
5) Distribute the cards to the public.
That's all there is to it. Of course, there are more details you need to
know, and those will be covered in this report.
This business works especially well if there is a college in your town, or any large number of people who either vacation there or move to town, but it can be run
successfully in any area. The best part (besides the money) is that you
can run this business from your kitchen table! Here's exactly what you
need to do to make great profits in the discount card business.
First, think up a name for your card. A catchy name that has words like
DISCOUNT, SAVER, MONEY, BUCKS, BIG, FREE or other dollar-saving words will
stick in people's minds. If you (or a friend) have artistic ability,
design a logo, either with your card's name, or a picture conveying the
money-saving feature of the card.
Next, design how your card will look. It should fit easily into a wallet,
so stick to credit card size. On the front, your logo should appear, along
with, at most, six ads, in three columns of two. The back should be
divided into, at most, twenty ad spaces, again in three columns (7 on the
sides, 6 in the middle). This might sound like a lot, but they will be
readable. Don't forget to put your business name, address and phone on the
front or back, at the bottom of the card.
You should also put together a poster with your logo and information about
the card. Leave space for a list of locations where the card can be
obtained, and for a list of the advertising businesses. This poster will
be inexpensive for your printer to produce, and can be produced on your
computer, if you have one, reducing your expenses even further.
Now figure your costs. The major cost to you will be printing, so check
with a number of printers for price quotes. You will want a one or two
color glossy card, with price quotes for quantities for 1,000 - 10,000
cards. Find out at what quantities significant price breaks occur. This
can help determine exactly how many cards you want to produce and
distribute. This number will be important when it comes to contacting
your advertisers.
Don't be put off by how much the cards will cost! You won't have to
worry about laying out a lot of money for the production of the cards,
because you should require that advertisers pay at least half of their
advertising price at the time they decide to advertise, the remainder when
cards are distributed. Some businesses will prefer to pay 100% upfront,
which is just fine! You shouldn't deal with businesses that won't pay
anything upfront, unless you have some desire to deal with collection
headaches.
You should be thinking about how to distribute these cards. If there is
a college in your town, here's a few ideas. Contact the admissions
department at the college, explain your discount card, and see if they
would consider putting a card into the orientation materials each incoming
student gets. Also, find out places where you may put a stack of cards
for students to take. Prime locations are cafeterias and dining halls,
snack bars, libraries and any other places where students group.
For the general public, great distribution spots are similar to the college
spots. Restaurants, grocery stores, theaters, apartment buildings, anywhere
where there are large groups of people. Don't forget that you can give a
good supply to each advertiser, to give free to their customers. All you
need to do is a few good, persuasive phone calls, and your distribution will
be taken care of easily. Stress to the person you're speaking with that
making the cards available to their customers will be good business for them,
even if they don't advertise on the card, because their customers will
appreciate being given these discounts and will look upon the business as
their friend for doing so.
Now that you have your printing quotes, determine how much you can charge for
advertising. Estimate what your phone, advertising, driving and postage
expenses will be. Lump these all together and you have an idea of what your
costs will be. Now, multiply that figure by five. Divide that figure by the
total number of advertisers you will have on your card. The number you end
up with is the average price you could charge per ad. Does this sound
reasonable, considering the number of cards you'll be distributing? If so,
it should make a good starting point.
For example, if you are planning to distribute 8,000 cards with 26
advertisers, and your estimated expenses will be $1200, the formula is
($1,200 x 5)/26, or $230.77 average ad price ($28.85 per thousand), and your
profit would be $4,800. Considering the benefits the advertiser will get
from the cards (they will be kept and used for a long time, usually 3 to 6
months, and 5,000 people will be exposed to their ad repeatedly over that
period of time), this will probably be reasonable. You need to consider the
economy in your area, the size of your area, and any competition you might
have, as this can effect what you may be able to charge.
When you decide how much to charge for ads, here are a few things to keep
in mind. Ads on the front of the card should be much higher priced than on
the back, and, as a result, should be slightly larger. On the back, you can
set two different ad rates by putting using "boxed ads." An ad with a black
box around it will be noticed more than one without, so it can be slightly
higher. A good example of ad prices corresponding to the above average ad
price would be $200 for a plain ad on the back of the card, $230 for a boxed
ad on the back, and $260 for an ad on the front of the card.
Now's the time to contact potential advertisers. Here's a short list of the
types of businesses that will be most likely to take advantage of your
service: Restaurants, particularly fast-food and snack establishments +
Theaters + Printers + Dry cleaners + Oil change and auto parts businesses
+ Travel agencies + Clothing stores + Hair salons + Formalwear stores
This is not a complete list, but it should give you an idea of the types
of businesses you need to contact.