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Selling Advertising For Your Fundraising Cookbook
Fundraising cookbooks can be a fun and challenging way for your organization to get the support of local businesses. Here are a few tips on how to get advertising for your cookbook.
Preparation:
The first thing you will have to decide is what type of advertising you want in your fundraising cookbook. For instance, do you want a local business to go so far as to co-sponsor the book? Or do you want to make some calls to businesses in the area or that you have worked with before and sell them on the idea of advertising in your cookbook? Before you make those calls, you will need to know what it is that you are selling them (in terms of space and placement) so that you can avoid trouble down the road. If you have put together this kind of cookbook before, and you have example pages to show or email them, then do so. If not, find an example of what you are aiming for elsewhere.
Most books of this type simply place a few pages at the end of the book that are filled with small ads that most businesses already have ready to send you. This is an easy enough way to go, but if you want to get creative you can sell space on the section dividers or have businesses sponsor sections of the cookbook. This gives your sponsors higher-profile placement and helps their ad stick out, and gives you a better item to sell.
What Businesses To Contact:
If your organization has businesses that you have worked with before, or that have generally been friendly, they should be contacted. Also, at your next meeting, stand up and announce that you are looking for advertisers for the cookbook. There may be a fair number of business owners among your ranks that would like to advertise in the book, or that are acquainted with business that would. This should always be your first line of attack.
If you deem the number of advertisers you get in these manners to be adequate, then you can turn right to the design aspect. If you still need advertisers, You need to get a team together to start beating the street. In-person sales will be much more effective than trying to work over the phone, so have a meeting with your committee members, decide on some target businesses and divide and conquer. Your selling points should be your organization and the good work that it does, as well as the number of cookbooks you are publishing, and the number of people that the cookbook will reach.
Design:
As stated above, many businesses have camera-ready ads that they can simply email you, such as you might find in the yellow pages or in the back of the program for a high school football game. Some businesses might need a little help in that regard, however, so you might want to be ready to offer to design the ad yourself for a slightly higher price.
The designs in general should be fairly simple and not distract from the overall look of the cookbook. Work with your designer or theirs to find something that works for everybody.
Photo books are all the rage these days, and they can be very useful tools in helping to promote your business. Here are some examples of how. Portfolios: If you are in a creative and/or design-based business, you know that having a portfolio is your key to getting clients. Showing off your past work is sometimes the only way to get new jobs, and having a top notch portfolio can often be the difference between that job going to you or one of your competitors. There is no more elegant way to display your work than in the form of a hardcover photo book, and putting your together will take a little bit of work, but it will be very well worth it. The key to any successful portfolio is making sure that you have artistic, high-quality photos of your work. This can not be stressed enough. Before, during, and after every job, you need to make sure that you are getting photographs that show your progress, your process, and your finished product. If you need to hire a professional photographer, so be it. If you are a larger business, you may have someone on staff that can do this for you. If not, it may be worth your while to pick up a great SLR-type digital camera and take a few photography classes, as well as learning some basic Photoshop skills. If this sounds like too much effort, it’s not. The only thing worse than having no photos of your work is having badly-lit, poorly composed snapshots. If you intend to make a lot of portfolios, you should consider having your own binding machine on hand. The machines that make hardcover books are fast, inexpensive and easy to use. The main advantage, however is that you can custom-make your portfolios to zero in on the needs of every potential client, and you can do it in a matter of minutes if necessary. Promo Kits, Etc.: If your business is just starting out, you can give your potential clients, the press, and the public at large an elegant representation of your services and what you have to offer. Real estate companies, for instance can create separate books of houses in every price range, and can even custom-create photo books for every potential buyer according to their specifications. No matter what business you are in, there are may many ways that the ability to create your own photo books on demand can help you with the promotions end of your business. Company History Book: If your business is not so much about goods as it is services, and it has an interesting story attached to its beginnings (or even if it doesn’t) you can put a book together about your history and give it out at events and conventions. Go and get some quality photos of the garage that you started in, and some photos of your people at work. Write a few blocks of text about who you are, what you do, and how you got where you are, and you will have a promotional item that stays in people’s minds. Producing the Books: As stated above, it is highly recommended that you have the ability to create your books on-site and on demand. This gives you the flexibility and speed that you need to get ahead and stay ahead.