Fred Burn Co.

This is the kind of business that might grow out of aconversation over a couple of beers at your favorite tavern.
Imagine for a moment this scenario: Someone suggests that theowner should sponsor a summer picnic or softball game.
Thequestion then comes up as how to advertise it, and someonesuggests bumper stickers.
And the basics of a very lucrativebusiness are set in motion.
As you consider this idea for a source of income, your firstdecision will be whether to first line up the people willing to”wear” the bumper stickers on their cars, or the business ownerswho will want to advertise in this manner.
A good friend of ours started such a business several years ago,and he found it easier to sell the business owner by telling himthat 100 to 200 people were all set and willing to wear hisbumper sticker advertisement, because such people were known tobe in the area.
All this boils down to a recommendation that you talk to yourfriends, neighbors and co-workers first.
Get as many of them asyou can to agree to “wear” a bumper sticker.
You might offer topay $10 for three months, or $5 for six weeks.
With inducement ofmoney just to put a bumper sticker on their cars or trucks, youwon’t have too many turndowns.
One person we know runs an ad inhis weekly shopper newspaper, advertising the fact that he paysmoney just for “wearing” a bumper sticker.
And of course, don’toverlook the pulling power of all the bulletin boards in yourarea.
This is an ideal business for constant free publicity writeups inyour local newspapers, plus interviews on radio and TV talkshows.
At first, you’ll want as many people as possible to “wear”bumper sticker ads.
What you’ll want to stress in any publicitywrite-ups or media interviews is the fact that you’ve got the”vehicles for exposure” lined up and organized so that anypotential advertiser needs only to give you a call, and you canlaunch his advertising program immediately.
Next, you check w a number of printers and determine the cost toto have bumper stickers made to order.
Generally, you should beable to get a thousand bumper stickers for $100 or less.
Whateverthe cost, this initial outlay should be absorbed by your chargeto the advertiser.
So let’s suppose you’ve got 100 people lined up to “wear” one ofthese bumper stickers on their cars for six weeks.
Figure thebumper stickers will cost $100.
Now, the problem of what tocharge the advertiser.
You should always charge on a “per-car” basis, i.
e.
, on a basisof circulation, as newspapers do.
So, you charge $5 per car perweek, with 100 cars.
This comes out to $500 per week, or $3,000total for six weeks, from the advertiser.
Subtract $100 forgetting the bumper stickers made, add $500 as payment for thecars “wearing” the bumper stickers, and you would end up with aprofit picture of $2,400 for those six weeks.
In the beginning, you should be the one calling potentialadvertisers and doing all the selling.
Once you’ve got your firstprogram organized and running smoothly, your next step is anatural multiplication of your efforts.
Run an ad in your localpaper for commission sales people.
Brief them on the basics andget them out on the street selling advertisers for you.
The best time to launch a business of this kind is during thefair weather seasons, or just in advance of general politicalelections in your area.
Once established, however, the businesscan, and should sustain itself year round.
The selling “keys” to this kind of advertising are basically thesame as those enumerated for “word of mouth” advertising.
You’vegot people all over town spreading the word–talking about theadvertiser.
And these people are saturating the area with theadvertiser’s name and message wherever they go.
It’s easy! It’s simple! and it works! Compared with other, moretraditional advertising methods, bumper stickers advertising isvery low in cost.
One of the tricks of the trade is in using short, snappy, evenhumorous slogans or telegram styled messages.
For instance:Anderson’s Cafe—6th and Main—That’s where I’m going—Howabout you? Another idea is to make the lettering on the bumperstickers luminous to the headlights of the cars following.
Mostimportant, be sure to make your lettering easy to read, and themessage easy to comprehend at one glance.
Actually, you could start at the front of the yellow pages inyour phone book and probably never run out of places ready to besold on your -plan of bumper sticker advertising.
Some of themore traditional places to sell this kind of advertising include:Taverns Pizza HousesPhysical Fitness Clubs Political CampaignsRadio & TV Station Movie TheatersTravel Agencies Trade SchoolsAuto Repair Shops Insurance Companies Flea Markets NewspapersAppliance Repair Sporting GoodsSpecial Local Events The important thing is to always be creative in your sellingefforts.
Always show the prospect how his business can grow fromadvertising in this manner, you propose, and how your method ismore positive, more responsive, and lower in cost than the moretraditional advertising.
Remember, too, the more clever or “catchy” the message on thebumper sticker, the more it will make people talk and respond.
For ideas along these lines, go back to the yellow pages of yourtelephone book and read all those short, crispy one-liners.
Remember also that advertising is a form of “brainwashing” andthe more people see the message the stronger that message isimprinted in their minds.
Therefore, when they need or are in themarket for the services or product offered by the advertiser,they’ll quickly refer to the strongest, easiest to recalladvertising message in their minds.
And that, of course, meansthat if the prospect sees a specific advertising message on thebumpers of the cars in front of him day after day, when he’sready to buy, that particular advertiser will be the one he willpatronize.
You can expand this business to include magnetic sign on thesides of cars, saddle-back signs on the back of cars, and evensigns in the yards in residential neighborhoods.
As I’veexplained in this report, line up your “method of exposure,”determine your costs and then go after the advertisers.
It can bea very easy way to achieve real wealth and independence foryourself!