As a small business owner, we know that we need to keep a good eye on our budgets. Over the recent few years businesses are pushing online traffic as their primary way of marketing their small business. While this is a great thing to do, many then forget about offline marketing via direct mail to their prospects and existing customers.
Direct mail has always had the highest response rate of any media used in the marketing mix and should not be ignored or discarded.
Direct mail can be much more personalized than any form of email or other online marketing. When your customer gets a personalized letter or postcard with their name on it, they feel like you care about them. Just adding "Dear Jane," at the beginning of your sales letter will increase the chances of them reading it and feeling like you wrote it directly to them. Even if they know that it was a mail merge, sub-consciously they feel like you sent it just to them.
So what are the best ways to use direct mail as another tool in your marketing mix?
Personalized sales letters are a great way to grab the attention of new prospects. Send them a letter introducing yourself and your products. The first letter can be very casual. Tell a little about yourself and why you are with the company or if you are the owner, that's even better. Tell them why you started the company and what your purpose is. This makes the prospect get to know you before they have even met you. Remember people buy from who they know, like and trust. You are building trust at this point.
One of the best things to do after mailing this type of letter is to give it a few days and follow up with a phone call. You aren't making a cold call any more. You are now just following up to make sure they got your letter. This will easily open the doors for a conversation and even a sales meeting.
Postcards are also a great tool to add to your marketing mix. You can get personalized postcards done that still have a note to the prospect with their name on it. Postcards are also a great way to follow up with existing clients. Send them a birthday card, or any other holiday card. You can use great systems to automate the process so the cards are automatically sent out but still have that personal touch to them. This will endear you to your customers and they will keep you in their minds.
Let's say that you are in a business complex with other businesses that cater to the same types of clients. You could get together with the other business owners in the complex and create your own community coupon packs. This would be similar to card decks or Val-Pak marketing but it's designed just for the businesses in your area. You could have them printed up and then mail them to the neighborhoods in your surrounding area. This is very targeted and the cost of this marketing program would be split between all the participating businesses. You each only have to pay a small amount to get your marketing out to your target market in your local area.
As you can see, direct marketing can be a great way to market your small business. It can not only be one more tool to add to your marketing mix but it also will produce higher responses than other more generic marketing and advertising if it is done correctly. So not matter what you are doing to market your business, direct mail should be just one more thing to add to your small business marketing mix.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Visit Algarve - Stay in a Luxury Villa and Make the Most Out of Your Well-Deserved Vacation
The ever-increasing pace of life has made it even more stressful to make a living nowadays. The problems and pressures of holding a job while maintaining a healthy personal life is relatively harder now and this can eventually take a toll on our health.
Indeed, keeping-up with the rat-race is more grueling than ever. A record number of people have been applying for welfare cards and folks have been hocking their extra stuff for extra money. In fact, pawnshops in the U.S. are one of the few businesses doing brisk business right now.
Indeed, people have been forced to make a few lifestyle changes to cope with financial hardship. One of these adaptations to modern life is learning to cut-back on the usage of fuel and the decreased demand has let the price of crude oil fall back down to almost normal levels. If you're one of those overworked folks that have been seeing too much of your cubicle and desperately need a break then this is wonderful news.
The price of aviation fuel fell with the lowering of crude oil and airline tickets aren't at ridiculous rates anymore. Going out to see the world is the best way to release all that pent-up stress and pressure you culled toiling away in the office.
Soaking up the sun and playing around in the surf in some distant, exotic locale is the ultimate vacation for most people. Sure, there may be local beaches accessible by car, but not having to share your breathing space and the ambiance with noisy, obnoxious drunks makes paying extra for air fare to travel to an isolated tropical paradise is well worth the money.
Renting a private villa in the Algarve located on the southern tip of the beautiful and historical country of Portugal sounds like something that will set you back half a year's worth of pay, but prices for the smaller-sized ones are quite reasonable considering they offer you a stunning view of one of the Iberian Peninsula's most breathtaking panoramas.
This has made the Algarve a favorite vacation spot for British tourists since the 60's. The safety and pleasant Mediterranean weather and Portugal's membership in the European Union has also made it a current vacation and retirement place for Northern Europeans like Germans, Scandinavians and Dutch who own most of the luxury villas in the Algarve.
Indeed, keeping-up with the rat-race is more grueling than ever. A record number of people have been applying for welfare cards and folks have been hocking their extra stuff for extra money. In fact, pawnshops in the U.S. are one of the few businesses doing brisk business right now.
Indeed, people have been forced to make a few lifestyle changes to cope with financial hardship. One of these adaptations to modern life is learning to cut-back on the usage of fuel and the decreased demand has let the price of crude oil fall back down to almost normal levels. If you're one of those overworked folks that have been seeing too much of your cubicle and desperately need a break then this is wonderful news.
The price of aviation fuel fell with the lowering of crude oil and airline tickets aren't at ridiculous rates anymore. Going out to see the world is the best way to release all that pent-up stress and pressure you culled toiling away in the office.
Soaking up the sun and playing around in the surf in some distant, exotic locale is the ultimate vacation for most people. Sure, there may be local beaches accessible by car, but not having to share your breathing space and the ambiance with noisy, obnoxious drunks makes paying extra for air fare to travel to an isolated tropical paradise is well worth the money.
Renting a private villa in the Algarve located on the southern tip of the beautiful and historical country of Portugal sounds like something that will set you back half a year's worth of pay, but prices for the smaller-sized ones are quite reasonable considering they offer you a stunning view of one of the Iberian Peninsula's most breathtaking panoramas.
This has made the Algarve a favorite vacation spot for British tourists since the 60's. The safety and pleasant Mediterranean weather and Portugal's membership in the European Union has also made it a current vacation and retirement place for Northern Europeans like Germans, Scandinavians and Dutch who own most of the luxury villas in the Algarve.
Independence Day Promotional Prints for a Small Clothing Business
A small clothing business must be able to come up with promotional prints that cover the theme of the Independence Day celebration. This is to gain more clients and attract more people to purchase of specific products offered at a certain clothing store. Furthermore, people will think that clothes promoted on the timely promotional prints are the latest fashion trend during a specific occasion. Here are a few of the effective printed materials used to promote a small clothing business, during the celebration of the 4th of July.
Personalizing Business Cards
The clothing store owners can create personalized business cards to be given out to potential and existing clients. The printed cards must be aligned with a specific holiday or occasion so that people will be more interested in accepting the business cards, and keeping them for future use. Moreover, business cards can also serve as greeting cards. A small clothing store can extend its Independence Day greetings to its clients through the printed business cards.
Creating Flyers and Brochures
Flyer printing and brochure creation are some of the effective methods used by various industries and businesses in promoting products and services. A small clothing business can make use of flyer prints to introduce new products and promotional items. Designing flyers, in line with the 4th of July celebration, can attract more people to avail of the latest offers provided by a small clothing store.
Decorative Prints
Decorative prints can include images, photos and texts related to the Independence Day. Posters, banners and wall graphics are some of the best decorative materials that can be used to decorate a small clothing store. The printed materials can include images and colors related to the American flag, fireworks display, and people celebrating the Independence Day. These posters can be preserved for a long time, and can be reused year after year.
Timely promotional prints like banners, posters, wall graphics, flyers, brochures and business cards can help a small clothing store gain more clients. Moreover, the clothing store business will be able to commemorate Independence Day, and encourage people to take part of the celebration through availing of promotional items related to the 4th of July.
Personalizing Business Cards
The clothing store owners can create personalized business cards to be given out to potential and existing clients. The printed cards must be aligned with a specific holiday or occasion so that people will be more interested in accepting the business cards, and keeping them for future use. Moreover, business cards can also serve as greeting cards. A small clothing store can extend its Independence Day greetings to its clients through the printed business cards.
Creating Flyers and Brochures
Flyer printing and brochure creation are some of the effective methods used by various industries and businesses in promoting products and services. A small clothing business can make use of flyer prints to introduce new products and promotional items. Designing flyers, in line with the 4th of July celebration, can attract more people to avail of the latest offers provided by a small clothing store.
Decorative Prints
Decorative prints can include images, photos and texts related to the Independence Day. Posters, banners and wall graphics are some of the best decorative materials that can be used to decorate a small clothing store. The printed materials can include images and colors related to the American flag, fireworks display, and people celebrating the Independence Day. These posters can be preserved for a long time, and can be reused year after year.
Timely promotional prints like banners, posters, wall graphics, flyers, brochures and business cards can help a small clothing store gain more clients. Moreover, the clothing store business will be able to commemorate Independence Day, and encourage people to take part of the celebration through availing of promotional items related to the 4th of July.
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