[webproducers] Re: Web Design firm marketing

Martha Retallick is a web designer in the Southwest who's built a well-deserved 
reputation with her regular newsletter which is a free postcard marketing 
course and her new book, Postcard Marketing Secrets.  Her
advice is on the money and written in a clear, concise, and friendly voice.  
You will also find links to vendors for the best prices for printing postcards. 
 Her site is http://www.postcardmarketingsecrets.com.

I love postcards.  They are less expensive and every person who handles a 
postcard reads it.  And, unlike something in an envelope, if it isn't addressed 
to the appropriate person, it is far more likely to be
passed along to the right person.  Talk about viral marketing!  It is a great 
method to use to drive people to your website and build your database of 
permissioned recipients.

Migrating people to your site and focusing on building that database for future 
contacts is still going to be more economical.

Tim's advice is right on the money.  Just to clarify a little more...every 
page, as far as possible, should have a subscribe box.  Forget any long sign-up 
forms.  People abandon very easily.  Once they've
subscribed, you can gather information that is likely to be more accurate over 
time from a database that is building a relationship with you.  With your first 
contacts, there has to be a compelling
call-to-action and an incentive to contact you.   White papers have proven to 
be hugely successful pulls and are something that you can recycle time after 
time, e.g. set up an auto-responder "thank you" to go
out to new registrants with that same white paper.  This requires a special 
landing page/micro-site with a similar look and feel to the postcard/email.

Finally, email campaigns are still cheaper, faster, more effective, with proven 
higher response rates than snail mail.  There was a great article on ClickZ 
that compares the two.  If you go to my site and
subscribe to my brand new eLetter, it is one of the articles cited and linked.  
The other is the Top 16 Mistakes Most Commonly Made When Choosing a List Host 
from Marketing Sherpa.

Lydia Sugarman
Managing Partner
Private Label InterActive, Inc.
http://www.PrivateLabelInterActive.com
Intelligent InterActive Communications Solutions
Ph: 212.533.3456
Cell: 917.445.8637

"Markets are conversations."




"Tim Slavin (Red House Communications, LLC)" wrote:

> I would add three additional thoughts:
>
> Whatever you do, start small, prove value, then evolve. It may be that
> what you want is pretty sophisticated and requires professional direct
> marketing help. But maybe you could do a little yourself, get your feet
> wet, learn, then evolve into that. There are probably small firms that
> would not charge too much up front figuring you're on that path towards
> a more professional solution (if you are).
>
> Second, looking at your vm.com site, and given your credentials, I
> should think that there are lots of C-level organizations and
> publications that would sell all/part of their subscriber lists to you,
> both on the business and technical sides. Perhaps you could query a few
> of your clients (that fit the profile you want) about what they read and
> the organizations they belong to and start your research there.
>
> Third, I had to click the So button on your website to get your pitch
> for business. Maybe you should also look at getting a copywriter to
> write your direct mail and help add a pitch on your home page that fits
> your design (e.g., as part of your Flash). You might also include a
> short pitch on all your pages, again something that fits into your
> design. Basically, I think you need to connect your direct marketing to
> your website, so they reinforce each other and generate your desired
> effect when your mail goes out and people visit your site.
>
> Then there's always running naked somewhere and getting free media...
> Perhaps a Nike ad?
>
> Tim
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: webproducers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:webproducers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Michael James
> Pinto
> Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 9:24 PM
> To: webproducers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [webproducers] Re: Web Design firm marketing
>
> --- "Tim Slavin (Red House Communications, LLC)"
> <tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > On the direct marketing side, in the real world, meat space, you
> > might look at postcard marketing (www.postcardmarketingsecrets.com).
> > It's something different. Vendors like Modern Postcards
> > (www.modernpostcards.com) and Amazing Mail (www.amazingmail.com) have
> > decent lists (about .13/address with some targeting), help you with
> > design, print the cards, and let you use their bulk mail account to
> > get .22/piece mailing cost. Something to consider. You would need
> > to mail at least 3 cards against your list to get a decent response.
> > The website has a good explanation of what it's about if it
> > interests you.
>
> Thanks, that's pretty good advice. I should have been a bit more clear
> - I'm only looking for "old fashion analog" address not e-mail ones.
> But in fact I was thinking of a series of promotional printed mailings.
>
>
> Michael
>
> =====
> -----------------------------------------
> |    Michael James Pinto
> -----------------------------------------
> |    http://www.vm.com
> -----------------------------------------
> |    http://www.anime.com
> -----------------------------------------
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--
Lydia Sugarman
Managing Partner
Private Label InterActive, Inc.
http://www.PrivateLabelInterActive.com
Intelligent InterActive Communications Solutions
Ph: 212.533.3456
Cell: 917.445.8637

"Markets are conversations."


__________________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe send a blank message with unsubscribe in the subject to 
webproducers-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

To access our webform (instead of sending e-mail) for popular commands 
including subscribe, unsubscribe, digest, and vacation  visit  
www.WebProducers.org. You can also access the list archive at the website.

Questions and comments are welcome just e-mail  info at webproducers dot org

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