Advertising Advice
|
Advertising Advice | |
|
|
| • Site Map • Site Home Related Sites >Traffic-Reach - Unlimited Quality Traffic - On Demand • SmartAuctioning.com • Forward Productions SitesMap • Join Our Links Directory! | |||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Harness the Power of Direct Marketing - More Small Business Power ToolsOne of the most powerful tools available to small businesses is direct mail. By this I don't mean electronic, Internet-based mail, but the old-fashioned kind that requires a stamp and a trip to the post office. Why is direct mail such a powerful tool? It's a way for small businesses, especially retailers, to separate themselves from the big box stores such as Best Buy and Wal-mart, and to compete successfully with the Amazon.coms and Ovestock.coms of this world. The power of direct mail, if done right, is that it's like getting a letter from your sister, mother or aunt. The postman brings it to your home. It's addressed to you personally. And when was the last time you received a letter from Best Buy, Wal-mart, Amazon.com or any Internet retailer? If so, it was undoubtedly via email and designed to be read by hundreds of thousands of customers - not much personalization there. The first thing you need to do to start an effective direct mail campaign is capture the names and addresses of your customers. This is easy for service organizations like carpet cleaners, auto repair firms, instant printers, and the like. They already have their customers' names and addresses. All they have to do is put them together as a mailing list. Retailers such as jewelry stores, antique dealers, liquor stores, restaurants, etc. have a tougher time because they don't have an easy way to capture their customer's names and addresses. There are a couple of answers to this. One is the old fishbowl gimmick, where you ask customers to deposit their business cards in a fishbowl with a prize to be given away in a drawing at some later date. I personally think this has been overdone. Plus, I have heard stories of unscrupulous sales people cleaning out the fishbowls themselves and using the business cards as sales leads. A second alternative is to post a "guestbook" somewhere near your cash register with a sign offering a free newsletter to all those who register. To make this work, you and your employees have to be kind of aggressive in urging all your customers to sign up, and you can expect that many will not. However, persistence is a virtue and if you keep this up long enough, you will capture enough names and addresses to make the effort worthwhile. I also like the idea of offering customers some small reward for providing their names and addresses. One version of this that seems to work well is a "frequent diner," "frequent buyer," or "frequent customer" card. Give your customers small, inexpensive cards that you can punch whenever they buy from you (or just visit your store) with the promise of a free something after 10 or 12 punches. Naturally, they have to register for the card and viola! You have their names and addresses. Last, and most expensive, you can buy a direct mail list targeted toward your best prospects. Chances are, there is at least one company in your area selling lists of prospects by criteria such as recent home buyers, camera buyers, child care customers, etc. Once you have captured enough names and addresses (maybe 100 or more) to begin a direct mail campaign, you have a couple of alternatives. One, you can input the information yourself. Or, two, if you're strapped for time, you should be able to find a local high school or college student to input the information for you. He or she can use either a word processing program or a database program to build the list. It's just simple data entry and you might offer $0.5 or $0.10 for each name/address input. I like to use a word processing program because once the list has been built; it's fairly easy to create personalized letters, etc. using the program's mail merge features. What do you then mail customers? I like newsletters a lot. They can be as simple as a single page printed on both sides or as complex as four to eight pages. Another good alternative is personalized letters. Just make sure that whatever you choose to send your customers is important and meaningful and always include an offer designed to bring them into your store or to call you for more information or to make an appointment. It takes time, money and dedication to develop and implement a direct mail campaign. But it's a powerful tool that can pay for itself in just a few months and then keep paying off for years to come. For more information on creating an effective newsletter, be sure to look for my article, "Small Business Power Tool: Customer Newsletters." Article by Douglas Hanna. Douglas is a retired advertising and marketing executive and long-time Denver resident. He is the webmaster of http://www. All-in-one-info.com, a free resource for information on a variety of subjects. Please visit his site to subscribe to his free newsletter, "Tips & Tricks to Save Money & Live Better."
Help keep Advertising Advice available by donating any amount.
MORE RESOURCES:
Advertising - Google News | | | | RELATED ARTICLES What Happened? Troubleshooting Poor Response from Ad Campaigns Too many small business owners today run ad campaigns that get little to no results, and they have no idea why. When you have the knowledge to troubleshoot the poor responses, you also have the knowledge to make the needed changes so that - next time - your sales improve! Let's take a look at the breakdown of an ad campaign, and how to determine what went wrong. Humor in Advertising Many of the most memorable ad campaigns around tend to be funny. Advertisers use this strategy to attract customers to their product. 15 Tips for Better Yellow Page Ads Yellow Pages advertising is one of the most popular forms of advertising in the country today. Almost every home in America (96. The Motivational Triggers That Make People Buy In order to sell more products and service, you need master customers' mind. Put youself into customers' shoes and think what customers want. Does Post Card Advertising Really Work? You've decided to try advertising your business with post cards. The idea came to you from the post cards you receive from other businesses. Choosing a Print Mail Dealer "Print & Mail is a type of service that is popular among small mail order operators. It is an inexpensive way to get your ad material printed and mailed to people. 3 Things Every Yellow Pages Advertiser Needs to Know Too many business owners and marketers know that Yellow Pages advertising has an incredible amount of potential? but they don't quite know how to take advantage of it.Fortunately, it's a mystery that's solved pretty easily once an advertiser knows where to turn for advice. Reach vs. Frequency: Touch 100 Once or 25 Four Times? Reach and frequency are terms generally used when planning advertising campaigns. However, the concept of reach and frequency applies to any promotional activity you undertake: direct mail, direct selling, and even networking. Advertising In The Local Press There are three main reasons why I would hesitate when deciding to advertise in the local press. Everyone else is doing it? Nobody buys a paper for the adverts? The odds are it won't work. Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't mean it's a good thing, or more importantly - that it actually works! However it seems the natural thing to do - you need to raise your profile, make the local community aware of your company, so you why not advertise in the local paper? Well, because nobody buys a paper for the adverts. In fact, do most people buy a local paper these days? As many local papers are free, their only income is through selling advertising space. 10 Reasons Why Your Company Needs Custom Invitations I am always amazed when I hear about companies who spend tens of thousands of dollars organizing a make-it-or-break-it company event designed to celebrate a company milestone and/or impress prospective customers. Sometimes these events have big contracts or sales at stake! Yet, often planners will fall short on the most critical aspect of planning the event-the invitations! After all, before a client steps foot into your venue, or even confirms attendance, the invitation sets the tone and leaves the first and most important (and lasting!) impression! Have a look at this compelling list of "10 Reasons Why Your Company Needs Custom Invitations". Lamination of Signs I suspect that everyone has an idea of what lamination is even if you have only seen it in passing. Restaurant menus are a common example. Send em to the White Pages Your business is listed in the Yellow Pages whether you buy an ad or not. Your business is listed in the Yellow Book and the other phonebooks, too, no purchase necessary. Why Would Anyone Want Your Business Card? Do you remember how proud you were the first time you saw your name in print? Most entrepreneurs feel that same flush of pride when they gaze on their new business cards. That small piece of paper represents years of planning and effort and hard work and dreams. Do Your Adverts Get You More Sales? Philadelphia retailer and US Postmaster General, John Wanamaker, once said, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half. "If you're spending $10,000 a month on advertising $5,000 is going straight down the tubes. Predictions for 2010 2005 puts us at the mid-point of the first decade of the new millenium. What will things look like at the end of the 1st decade of the new millenium in the world of advertising? I thought I'd project where the ad industry is headed and what 2010 (or sooner) might look like. Advertising - Should You Be Advertising Your Services? You offer a reliable, quality service. You know that if more people knew what you can do, you'd increase sales. Adding Art to Business Spaces Larger companies have learned that collecting art adds something special to its overall corporate image. An art collection may include art on display in waiting, or general areas. Internet Advertising: How To Use The Golden Rule To Enrich Yourself. What is the golden rule of internet advertising? Give, so you may receive.It is as simple as that. Create Your Own Business Cards, Part 2 This is the second part of creating your own business card. | ||||||||||||||||
| Site Map • Site Home Related Sites >Traffic-Reach - Unlimited Quality Traffic - On Demand • SmartAuctioning.com • Forward Productions SitesMap • Join Our Links Directory! |
|
|
| © 2006 Forward Productions |
