I’ve been getting a morning paper delivered to me now for close to 50 years. Heck, I remember as a kid when the daily paper was a nickel. Today, that paper costs 75 cents. Makes me realize how old I am. Okay, no remarks from the peanut gallery. Anyway, I digress. I used to read the paper a lot when I had nothing else to do. Well, I’ve started getting back to it and I’ve begun to realize that there are some valuable marketing lessons in it. I’m going to share some with you.

Let’s start with the classified ads. Have you taken a look at them lately? Of course not. You’re not looking for work anymore so why should you? Well, if you were to take a gander at them you’d get some great copywriting and ad writing lessons from them, especially if you look at the ads written by the big companies. They spend a lot of money on people to write just the right ad. They work. Read some of them. Then head on over to the section where folks have stuff for sale. There are some great ads there as well. This can greatly help you with your own ad writing.

Okay, moving on to the editorial section. Have you read any good ones lately? Well, depending on your political slant, maybe not. Point is, these things are very well written. They make you feel something. In most cases, anger and the desire to take a brick and toss it through your TV. But they do make you feel. Take a look at the writing, the way it’s structured, the way opinions are mixed in with fact. These editorials can be excellent tutorials for your own article writing campaigns. After all, article marketing has become a huge part of marketing itself. What better way to learn how to write than by reading the newspaper.

Finally, take a look at the layouts of some of the big ads, especially the auto ads. Let’s face it, some of these look darn good. Think you can’t get some brilliant ideas for your own sales pages from some of these ads? Why not? If they work in the off line world why can’t they work online as well? Too many marketers think that they two things are mutually exclusive. They’re not. I mean where do you think online people come from…Mars?

Truth is, the newspaper can be an incredible resource for sharpening your marketing skills if you know where to look. I’ve just given you a few places that should help immensely.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Sick and tired of spinning your wheels trying to make a buck online? Visit the products page of my blog at http://stevewagenheim.com/blog/products and get a 6 figure education for pennies.