Another advertiser earlier claimed, ““Crime, Justice & America got my voice into the jail and I got over (see Wally’s full quote below) in retainers in my last 2 issues!” Wallace B. Farrell, Criminal Defense Attorney, San Bernardino and Riverside County California. .
That’s a quote from an attorney, but our EXCLUSIVE BAIL AGENT ADVERTISING SPACE (that’s right…ONLY ONE per county (just a few exceptions in the entire country! See below for details) has been SOLD OUT for many years in dozens of locations across the country. We get your “voice” (message) into the jail which is why we are SOLD OUT. It’s a numbers game…so I pose a question. Don’t you want the entire jail population to know your name? To know your “voice”?
Obviously, if we don’t succeed there first, specifically getting your voice into the jail, then everything else is moot. Proof? We have distributed over 1.2 MILLION copies of the magazine inside jails in nearly 70 counties across 13 states. Starting in Los Angeles in 2002, we have published 15 different editions, covering topics from habeas corpus to motion suppression; restitution to defending the “snitch”; criminal case tactics to eyewitness testimony; and much more (Read archived articles on our blog at www.crimeandjusticeonline.com) . More proof? Try thousands of letters received from inmates (click here for dozens of samples XXXX) in the past eight years exclaiming their desire for the information provided inside Crime, Justice & America magazine.
The Marketplace
In any and every county in the nation, you face competition. Yeah, in the very small counties there may only be a couple of competitors, but that single marketplace is rarely enough to go around….you may have to post bail in several adjacent counties as well. In larger counties, the competition may be 20-30+ bail agents. Heck, and what about attorneys in some states who are now increasingly posting their clients’ bonds themselves? Why? Because the economy is really tough, and the competition is getting even tougher. What about those companies that spend money “hand and fist” on marketing? T-shirts, trinkets, giveaways, etc? What about those companies who will post the bail with only a fraction of the premium? And that fraction keeps getting lower and lower. But I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. You’ve seen it over the past few years.
- Yellow pages? Does it really still work for you? As your sole marketing venue? Do you see how many bail agents advertise in the yellow pages? How many different books in your area? How many different sections or headings you need in EACH book? And you’re behind everyone else…
- Internet advertising? Pay-per-click? Banner ads? Pay for Positioning? Meta tags? Good luck! It used to be the budding marketing frontier, but everyone is now participating in some way and those pay-per-click rates reflect the competition. Everyone can do it therefore everyone is your competition, either today or tomorrow. No barriers to entry…
- Newly booked inmate referrals? Hmmm. Now we’re beginning to circle the wagons around the benefits of Crime, Justice & America magazine. Here, your message (aka “voice”) is being referred inside the jail, but how did you get your voice in there in the first place? How did you get that inmate to call you, and even though you may not end up posting his bond, how do you get him to talk about you inside and to his family? Crime, Justice & America magazine is the only magazine of its kind distributed inside the jail…with information inmates need today…which they even keep when they leave…and guess what? It has YOUR VOICE….YOUR MESSAGE in it!
Crime, Justice & America magazine can’t take away your competition, but we can and have put bail agents in the unique position of being THE ONLY ONE in the ENTIRE COUNTY allowed to advertise in our publication (Los Angeles has a couple more, and a few others have only one more). It’s first-come/first-serve…which is why we have been sold out in dozens of counties for years!
Simply stated: CRIME, JUSTICE & AMERICA magazine … MAKES YOUR PHONE RING!
Today’s World
Let’s face it. The economy has changed everything.
- Premiums. If the public doesn’t have all the money to pay the premium, and you are not going out of pocket on the bond, then you are now in the collection business. And if you don’t go down that path, then you need to have a much broader marketing base from which to draw new customers. Again, how do you best achieve that result? What is your marketing mix? What is your expected ROI? (ROI = Return On Investment…referring to advertising/marketing fees as the present investment for future revenues) Wouldn’t it be nice to have that broader marketing base…meaning more phone calls? Some people still have the entire premium, but the percentage has really shrunk over the past few years.
- Competition changing premium structure. What that statement really means is that you are getting less and less of the full premium up front! In good times, some competitors may be more selective in their underwriting, while others may service attorney bail only, but the current economy has driven more competitors into the same arena, and in order to survive, the easiest and truly momentary marketing advantage is used…getting less premium up front. Even though that premium structure is often changed to insure steady business, once you do that, the guy down the street does it also, as well as the guy across town. This leaves everyone fighting in the same pond for the same school of fish using the same bait and fishing techniques. Hmmm.
- Do I even have to bother to mention the lack of significant barriers to entry has created more competition rather than less in this economy? Probably not….because you live there and know it firsthand. So in reality, that pond is getting stocked with new fish which in turn is actually shrinking your marketplace in size.
Let’s agree the marketplace has become much more difficult due to the economy over the past few years, okay? And I’m simply asking what are you going to do about it? You see, I’m a marketing and sales guy who happens to have been involved with the criminal justice system for many years. However, I happen to know more than a little about the bail business as I had built the largest retail bail organization at the time through the late 80’s and 90’s. 300 employees in 10 states and nearly $30 million in revenue. Used to spend $2 million on yellow pages alone! 55+ investigators on staff for fugitive recovery. Many of you may recall the stories of our companies in those states. Love us or hate us, we were the first ones to implement many of the standard procedures followed today that changed the industry. Afterwards, I looked around at what to do next; realized I know the criminal justice systems, and used that marketing insight previously mentioned to create Crime, Justice & America magazine. In today’s world, we are implementing written blogs, video blogs, a live internet talk show, live interactive internet television, and podcasting to create a social community, Crime and Justice Online, around the criminal justice system…unlike anything anyone has seen before! However, basically, it all comes down to helping bail agents (as well as criminal defense attorneys) to build their business.
Realistically, most of you out there do not have time to actually build your business because you are so busy using your expertise to post bonds for those who need your assistance, as well you should in today’s economy. So along come people who say this idea or that concept will really help you in your business…and just sign here for a 6-12 month commitment. Hmmm. So let’s do something different with Crime, Justice & America magazine. No long term contracts, no multi-edition commitments. We only allow ONE edition for a bail agent to make sure it is a good fit between both of us. Gee…does that sound like anybody else that comes to you with their marketing claims? We take the risk out of those long-term commitments…and both of us are all the better for it.
Business Changes All Around You….Whether You Like It Or Not!
Remember the business definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results? It’s the same in today’s marketplace. You may not like the current environment. You make rail against these changes. But they will happen nonetheless. Change is inevitable.
Innovation is the key to succeeding within those changes. What do you do different than the other guy? In respect to what we do, other than Crime, Justice & America magazine, we are bringing out Industry Blogs, Video Blogs, Live Internet Talk, Live Internet Video, and Podcasts about the criminal justice system under the “Crime and Justice Online” community, as I already mentioned. But it was worth repeating. Why? I posed a simple question. Want to be a part of it? How many of your competitors will have podcast interviews searchable on the Internet? Or Video Blog commentary? Or are featured on a Live Internet Talk Show about the criminal justice system? If not you, then it will be the guy down the street. There is so much information about the criminal justice system out there, and we plan to make it available in many different formats. Why? Because the public has a voracious appetite for information about the genre of criminal justice. And it’s more than possible to leverage that appetite into a revenue stream for both you and Crime and Justice Online.
It’s YOU….Just YOU….no one else!
It’s worth mentioning AGAIN, that we only allow ONE Bail Agent advertiser in each county edition (with those aforementioned exceptions). So think about this fact. How many Bail Agents advertise in the yellow pages? Or in the local weekly newspapers? Or are listed in search results for your county on the Internet? Once you have a position in Crime, Justice & America magazine, AND YOU FOLLOW THE SALES/MARKETING TECHNIQUES PROVEN BY Bail Agents across the country in the magazine, you will get results….a ROI….which will keep you advertising with Crime, Justice & America magazine for many years.
Lastly, a few more “perks” of being a Crime, Justice & America advertiser:
- Special advertising page with full Bail Agent profile information
(in addition to your full-page display advertisement!)
- Write an article, and get your by-line on front cover everywhere!
(either short article or a feature series; inmates want your message!)
- Get interviewed by CJA and link your expertise to your client via Podcasting, Industry Blogs, Video Blogs, Live Internet Talk, Live Internet Video!
Crime, Justice & America magazine is the best way to get your voice into the jail system, to the customer who determines which bail agent they want, at the time they need your information and help, the most! That’s it…in a nutshell. Even though your premiums will almost certainly be paid by the family or friends on the outside, the defendant is almost certainly the driving force in the decision process.
Send us an email at sales@crimejusticeandamerica.com or call 800-765-1880. Make today different than yesterday.
