Advertising

[Paul McCloud]

Bob:
	I don't know what the results would be regarding newspaper ads of the
type you plan, but I have used "coupon" advertising in the past with
some good results.  You know, the envelope with a dozen or so envelope
sized coupons with pizza ads, oil changers, local businesses.  I jacked
up my tuning price in the ad, with a "discount" that saved them the same
amount.  I will admit, it was expensive, and most hadn't tuned the piano
for years, and probably wouldn't tune it again for as many years.  I
think I tuned every Acrosonic spinet there was in the area.  The
advertising covered only a specific area of town (I used La Jolla, a
very exclusive area here in San Diego), about 20K homes, and it cost
near to about $500.00.  I did make a little profit, but it was a lot of
work to break even (I was charging $50.00 at the time).  Eventually I
got an offer to trade work for advertising, for which I got a nice
4-color ad for several months in trade for doing a regulating job on a
(guess what) Acrosonic.  The nice thing about this kind of advertising
is that you get calls from people who hold on to those coupons, and I
have had work from people years later who kept them (I never turn down
work if I can get it).  A single ad for one week in a newspaper might
not pull as much as you could get in a coupon mailer.  If you do decide
to go ahead, I'd like to know how it goes.
	Good LucK!
	Paul McCloud