The hardest part of any marketing is…GETTING ATTENTION! There’s no point in having the most compelling offer on the planet, if nobody sees it.

New Zealand member Genna Marshall-Dunn is among many members who, when confronted with the task of making a newspaper ad stand out, took an innovative approach. She insisted the newspaper run the ad UPSIDE DOWN. According to Genna, “…not only have I got bookings, the ones that have come in have purchased product and re-booked. 7 new clients and the phone is still ringing, BIG tick in my book!”

Take a look at the image. On a page full of advertising, any ad runs the risk of being a Blur of Sameness – even a competent, WSM-style direct response piece like this. But by forcingreaders to physically turn the page upside down to read it, even if it’s out of mere curiosity, Genna has immediately made all the other ads instantly unreadable.

Says Genna: “One of the bookings was the newspaper manager when I booked the ad. Two have been in, they have both purchased product (total of the product sales was $218) and re-booked ($120 each), one of which is going to bring her existing products in for me to look at and advise. It costs approx. $15 in product to conduct the treatment, the ad cost $200+gst down from $299+gst and the advertorial was FREE! I’ve also emailed to my database (within 5 minutes I had a booking), facebook, website, the figures above are just the newspaper ad though.”

You won’t always get away with this. Newspaper ad reps aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. According to another New Zealand member, she tried the same tactic, but the newspaper insists on running a banner across the top of the ad like this: AD PLACED UPSIDE DOWN AT ADVERTISER’S REQUEST.

Which completely ruins the entire strategy. Even newspaper advertising departments have their own Sales Prevention Department.

Congratulations to Genna though!