A potential caller will call if he sees our ad and it stirs his curiosity. Whether a caller decides to leave his/her name and address may hinge on how well we’ve presented ourselves and our story on the tape message. In the prior article (Nov.-Dec. 1981) guidelines were given for using ready-made phone scripts and also for writing a phone script “from scratch.” This article examines developing and placing the classified ad, making the recording, and transcribing the names of callers.
Short Classified Ads in Neighborhood Shoppers
The job of the classified ad is of course to motivate potential contacts to call the phone message. In most cases the ad will be written and placed with the newspaper before the actual recording is made. The basic elements of a phone ad are shown in this recent sample.
SADAT DEAD! What’s next for Egypt, Russia, and the Middle East? Call 2-minute Bible message anytime: 567-4321.
(1) The ad is brief. (2) It has an attention-getting “headline” providing motivation to call (to discover what’s next). (3) The word “Bible” is used. This prepares the caller and avoids our being associated with any political movements or causes.
What kind of newspaper? Success has been with weekly “shoppers” — the penny savers, bargain-hunter papers which sometimes are mailed. Some may have little or no “news” per se and usually mix private party ads (for autos, old furniture, garage sales, etc.) with larger display ads from merchants. Such shoppers are well read.
The smaller ecclesia most often runs an ad once in a week, repeating the same ad for three or four weeks. The ad turns up on the page, and the position on that page, according to the newspaper staffs requirements; this is standard with such newspapers. The cost is usually nominal for such ads.
Unlike the wide-circulation metro newspapers, the shopper types as well as the smaller community (neighborhood) newspapers are obviously targeted to rather specific geographical areas. Further, some offer choices of zones (north city, center city etc.) for selling one’s product. Thus, by selecting a particular newspaper, and (if possible) certain zones, the smaller ecclesia may gear telephone preaching to both population numbers and geographical area so to be in harmony with the ecclesia’s ambition and manpower.
If no shopper is available, a weekly or bi-weekly community paper may work well. Here the actual classified section may be used. If no grass-roots newspapers exist, then the local morning or evening daily has worked. The ad is run once or twice a week. Unfortunately, the more “official” type newspapers tend to restrict placement of our phone ads to the “announcements” or “personals” categories.
Most papers will take a classified by phone which speeds the task. And the phone order can be written up so the ad runs again on week two, and week three, etc. The paper’s deadline schedule will determine when to call in the ad.
Check Each Ad for Errors
All newspapers can misprint. The ad should be checked each time for errors. We know of one case where faithful checking by a sister revealed “immorality” printed instead of “immortality” and quick corrective action saved further misprintings. As pointed out before in this series, this work is a public commitment.
After the last ad runs for a particular phone message topic, the tape itself should remain “on-line” probably 7 – 10 days. Experience will reveal when calls usually drop to zero.
What about display ads? These are the larger ads that retailers use. For whatever reason, most experience is that the tiny classified bring more calls. Perhaps display ads convey a more commercial flavor and discourage inquiry. In any case, display ads are very costly.
There are other options to keep in mind in promoting the phone message. It can be advertised on handout material. Small 3 x 5 “ads” can be put onto bulletin boards. Other newspapers can be tried — simultaneously with the standard newspaper outlet. By and large, most small ecclesias use the weekly classified as the mainstay.
Let Callers Hear Sincerity, Warmth
The actual recording is a form of personal contact. It is in the nature of human interaction that first impressions count for much. So the way we sound can say much. Considering that we hope to sound right” in a brief two minutes, it’s clear recording our message is no mere assignment, nor should it be “professional announcing.” A number of guidelines seem appropriate.
People have “had it” with “professional religion.” How do we get across a sense of our genuine concern ? Be natural. We are fishers of men, of the same fabric as those perishing. We are speaking to one of God’s creation. Be conversational, as the script was written (hopefully). The speaker should work with the script until he feels comfortable saying the words. (He may want to rework sentences and phrases to accommodate sounding natural.) Be, not stoic but, feeling. By becoming involved with the notion of bringing light to one in darkness, by becoming enthused as to how this topic reveals the certainty of God’s redemptive plan and offer of salvation, by showing emotion, injecting feeling and enthusiasm into the voice — one can say what the words cannot. In fact, since feeling is so much easier to convey in voice than in print, phone preaching can capitalize on it. Personal warmth is irresistible for most of us. It’s very much absent in many human transactions.
On these human factors then, it’s urged that the speaker spend time with the script, get involved with his presentation (short though it be) and indeed pray for the brightness of spirit that will say “we care.” Finally, to help when making the recording, the speaker might envision someone special being on the other end, perhaps someone he’d very much like to share the truth with.
Pace, Pauses, and Practice
The script should have been developed/written for an unhurried presentation. However, the speaker must ensure that this will be the case. Better to trim the script than make a recording preoccupied with beating the clock. That inhibits sounding natural and warm. This is not to say the pace should be fixed. Good voice treatment — good public speaking—includes some variety in pace.
In addition, although Americans generally are allergic to silence, pauses are very useful in voice-only situations. The pause can serve to paragraph and should be so used to identify the move to new information.
Many speakers mark reading material with notes and symbols to aid reading aloud. This is all the more helpful where the time is fixed.
Finally, rehearsal by the speaker will bring results. Rehearse out loud. Do so prior to the day of recording so all the main rough spots and problems can be dealt with in advance. The recording session then is devoted to polishing, and the mind is free to focus on the “human-ness” and warmth-of-voice aimed for.
Getting On-Line
The classified ad has been phoned in. Our phone message is now recorded. The outgoing-message cassette is in place on our machine. A blank audio cassette is also in place waiting to record when a caller dictates his name/address to receive a pamphlet.
To insure we truly are “on-line” and in a “go” condition (no mechanical problems), Brother “Jones” calls and listens to the message and then leaves his name. Everything checks out.
The classified ad now appears and as the calls begin to come in, the machine plays the phone message over and over. And, regularly, a caller requests the pamphlet by leaving name and address. Our message-receiving cassette is beginning to fill up with names. Five days after the ad, the calls dwindle. Sister Smith removes the name/address cassette, replacing it with a fresh one, and on her portable cassette machine transcribes each name/address onto a 3 x 5 contact card. After the ad runs again on week 2 and again after week 3, she will transcribe additional callers who requested the pamphlet.
Sister Smith’s stack of 3 x 5 caller contact cards brings us to the mail-out literature and follow-up functions of operating a phone preaching system. Lord willing, the next article will discuss these activities.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One