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Well there goes the weekend. Winds and tides were against us so there was no jet skiing and there was no kayaking out in the bay. Instead we worked around the house and did a whole bunch of chores that have been building up for the last few months and now it's Monday again and that means that it's time to get back to work of a different kind.

Here in affiliate marketing many of us seem to only think about advertising on the Web and I guess that's not surprising. On the Web is where we began and it's where we learn the ropes so it's easy to become so focused on the Web that we fail to see the potential of other forms of marketing. In fact most of us don't even stop to consider that there might be other forms of marketing for adult products.

Since Steve and I have become involved in a bricks and mortar business we've begun to be exposed to other forms of marketing. We've written newspaper advertisements for clients, we've watched as my partner in the computer shop has dabbled in television advertising and we've looked at radio advertising too.

Over the couple of years that we've been doing that we've been surprised at the effectiveness of some forms of advertising that we thought would be quite ineffective. We've also been surprised at just how cheap some forms of advertising really are.

Here where we live radio advertising is said to be very effective by those who use it regularly ... but it's also very expensive and I have to say that the cost has tended to keep us away. On the other hand we have played with television and advertising on television has brought in a lot of business for the computer shop and it's been cheaper that we ever expected.

A 10 day run of a 20 second ad on one of the major television stations here works out to be cheaper than a quarter page ad in one of the free newspapers that's delivered to every home in town. That's an interesting comparison when you consider that most businesses who advertise in the local papers are less than happy with the result.

Of course that makes you wonder why they go on advertising in the local paper and I'm not sure that there's a clear answer for that one. Perhaps they just go on doing it in the hope that one day it will begin to work for them.

Now you're probably thinking that what I've just said is all very interesting ... but it's not going to have much direct bearing on your business. However, stop and think about it for a few minutes; stop wearing those blinkers that only let you see what's directly ahead of you. You're not a horse that can be scared by trucks and cars; you're a marketer who should be looking at all possible ways of getting your marketing message across so start looking around at all your options.

Your options are everywhere; they're not just limited to the Internet and to remain focused on the Internet as the only medium that you can advertise in is just plain dumb! I guess if you're limited by how much money you have to spend on marketing you might have an excuse but if you're buying in traffic then you obviously do have some money to throw around so why not explore all your options?

Radio
Perhaps the hardest medium for an adult marketer to get into would be radio ... but then again it might not be. My only experience with radio is what I have here in the country where I live and even late night ads for most adult products would difficult to produce and not likely to be very effective but things might be different in the country where you live and some products might work far better than others.

One major drawback to radio advertising can be very expensive

Television
Television advertising for adult products is one that I'd love to experiment with. Of course an ad for an adult product is going to have appear late at night but that's no reason not to try it. Imagine a simple ad using the intro to one of the movies that your sponsor has on one of their sites with a voice-over encouraging viewers to head for the URL that's displayed on the screen and you're beginning to get an idea of what I've got in mind.

Now you might think that something like that would never work but then you might be surprised at just how many people sit on the couch and watch television with their laptop beside them. You might also think that the cost of producing and running the ad would be prohibitive but here a 20 second ad costs around $700 to produce and $600 to run for a period of 10 days or so.

That production cost involves the production team doing some on-site filming but, if you can use something from your sponsor then that cost might be a whole lot less. You won't know until you start making enquiries.

When you compare those figures to the amount you're currently spending on bought traffic you might be surprised. Of course the initial cost may seem rather high but if you find that the advertising is working for you then you can spread that cost across multiple runs of the same ad.

Print
Unless the rules governing print advertising are a whole lot more relaxed where you live than they are here then you'll probably never be able to advertise an adult site in a local newspaper but that doesn't mean that print advertising is completely closed to you. There are always adult magazines out there that you can advertise in and just because you rarely buy them anymore doesn't mean that there aren't lots of guys who do.

Regardless of which type of advertising you're thinking of using there are two things you will need. One is a very easy to remember URL to use in the advertising and the other is a landing page for people to see when they follow the advertising and end up on your site. You might find that such a landing page will have to be quite softcore but that's ok because now you have people looking at your advertising on the Web and you should know what to do with them once they arrive on your site.

So think seriously about advertising in other places besides the Web, You may be pleasantly surprised at how effective and relatively inexpensive it really is.