Environmentally Conscious and Economically Sound Machine Dismantling Forum > Kenosha
> Tips and Advices
> Dismandling Recommendations
> New placemat advertising how to guide home business
New placemat advertising how to guide home business
Start Your Own Home Base Business
Paper Placemat Advertising - Startup Guide & Kit
The concept is simple: Give free paper placemats to restaurants in your area with either a prominent color ad or their menu in the middle, and two-inch by two-inch ads around the edge. These ads will make so much profit for you that if you run up against a stubborn restaurant owner, you can even pay him or her to take your placemats and come out way ahead. They'd be a fool to refuse!
The first step in to contact printers in your area and find out what kind of blank or ready-made paper placemats they can either print or have printed for you.
Get a quote on at least 5,000, including at least two-color printing. Compare your quotes and find the printer that will do the best job for the best price. Make sure this is a printer that will work with you on the layout of the placemats, if this is new to you.
Once you have your printing costs, which will be your primary costs, you can figure out how much profit can be made. Your profit will depend, in part, on how many ads you can put around the perimeter of the placemat.
For example, if the placemat is 11 x 15, you can put a total of 20 ads around the sheet, leaving a one inch margin around the edge for the printer. Divide the printing cost, together with your other estimated costs (phone, postage, travel) by the number of ads, and you have your cost per ad.
For example, suppose your estimated expenses will be $600. Divide that by 20 ads and you have $30. This is how much each ad contributes to covering the cost of the placemat. Now, figure a target profit margin. In my area, an ad that will be seen by 5,000 people over an extended period of time could go for $90. This would be a $1,200 profit!
Now, make a list of restaurants that would be likely prospects for this service. The best prospects will be locally-owned family-oriented restaurants that are visited by residents of the area. Small, family-owned, restaurants will be your best bet.
GETTING THE RESTAURANTS: Offer to provide the restaurant 5,000 free paper placemats with either a large color ad or a color menu printed in the middle of the placemat. Local advertisers will be featured in small ads around the outside. When you say the words "5,000 free paper placemats," you probably won't even have to go any further! If the owner's a hard case, offer to pay them to take your placemats! Offer $50 and 5,000 placemats. This breaks down more barriers than you can imagine!
If the restaurant owner has a pre-made ad or menu available, this can be reduced or enlarged by your printer to fit the center area of the placemat. Be sure the restaurant's section dominates the placemat.
Now, contact businesses that are in the immediate area surrounding the restaurant. Good prospects will be video stores, dry cleaners, grocery stores, book stores, any business that is frequented by families. Tell them that you have an advertising opportunity which will put their name and offer in front of 5,000 people for an extended period of time.
Contact as many possible advertisers as you can. The more you contact, the more ads you'll sell. If your prices are competitive and you deliver honest facts, you should have an easy time selling the placemat ads.
Now, take the ads to your printer and layout the placemat. Put the restaurant's ad/menu in the center, and the other ads around the perimeter. Have the printer print the requested quantity, and deliver them to the restaurant. It's that simple!
This whole process can be done easily in less than a month. But, even if it takes you a month, the example above cleared $1,200 profit (or $1,150, if you actually had to pay the $50).
Once you've done your first one or two and know what you're doing, you will find that you can run more than one at a time. If you run four placemats per month, you could clear over $55,000 per year!
This is just an example, and your profits could be higher or lower, depending on your area.
But, it should be fairly obvious that this can be an easy-to-run, profitable business that you can start part- time and quickly move into a full-time business!
You Will Receive Entire Booklet File & All Forms With Purchase
Welcome To Your Future! . . page 4 Why placemats? . .. ....page 6
Let's Get Started! .. ... .page 7 First, You Will Need: ....page 7
To Hire or Not To Hire? ...page 8
A Quick Word About Paying Your Sales People
The Restaurants page 9 The Printer .. .. page 10
The Layout page 11 Pricing page 12
Discounts . .page 13 A Promotional Discount ... .page 14
Let's See What You Can Make .page 15
A LOT of Money Doing This! .. page 17 Production Notes .page 18
The Basic Layout . page 18 Making the Mat .page 19
Design Techniques ..page 20 Getting the Info .page 24
Assembling the Mat .page 25 Let's Get You Some Forms ...page 27
Mat Layout Template . ..page 28 Monthly Layout Form .. page 28
Pricing & Discount Form page 28 Sales Flyer ..page 29
Order Form .page 29 Independent Contractor Form ...page 29
Employment Application Form ..page 30 Job Description ..page 30
Interview Evaluation Form ..page 30 A Synopsis ..page 31
In Closing .page 32
Also you will get your free business forms to get you started!!!
The forms I've included with this kit are all completely editable and are in .doc format which will
open in Microsoft Word, among other programs. The exception is the mat layout template file
which is in jpeg format. Read them all carefully so you can decide what you want and need to
change. In some cases you may HAVE to change things to comply with the law.
This is the form you'll use each month
to keep track of which advertisers are
in which spaces. You will need a
copy for yourself and if applicable,
that explains the pricing and discount
structure. It also explains the fee for
monthly billings, if they aren't paying
These next forms are for office use mainly and deal with issues of hiring.
This is the two page sales flyer that
you can leave with a potential client.
Perhaps to read over if he/she
doesn't have the time to talk to you
This form gets filled out with the client. They
should supply any needed artwork and special
instructions, along with their choice of available
space(s). The duration of the contract is
also selected along with which mat they will be
on, if you produce more than one.
a salesperson or anyone as an independent
modified to hire for an office position
I've also included an example of one of the mats
This is a fairly standardized form
available at any office supply
store. I've included it so you can
insert your logo. It's actually a 3
page form, shortened here for display
purposes, this 3 page form lets a
expected of him or her. There is
a space for changes and signatures.
This for is for office use and is
an evaluation sheet for use during
the interview with your potential
position. It could be modified to
