July 2005 Issue:

Make Time for Marketing
Is it Real or Is It Spam?
Five Tips for Direct Mail Marketing

Archived Issues

Make Time for Marketing

Often, small business owners find it takes every bit of their time to run the business, and that there is no extra time “left over” for marketing the business. Although this may be true for your business, too, you may be taking a chance by putting off your marketing efforts.

Try to make marketing a priority and commit some time to it each week. Should you be attending networking events? Writing sales copy for a new brochure? Adding content to your web site? Decide which marketing initiatives you need to work on and use your time wisely. Often, if you evaluate your schedule closely, there is usually a way to re-prioritize your tasks so you are working on the most important tasks and cutting out the non-essential ones.

Another way to find some extra time in your schedule is to consolidate your meetings and activities whenever possible. Try to schedule multiple client meetings within the same vicinity, and look for ways to get as many tasks or errands done while you are out. Making multiple trips out of the office each day really does take up a lot of time.

Want to know another big time-stealer? Phone interruptions! If you have staff to answer your phones, have them take messages and then schedule a block of time later in the day to return calls. If you have a voice mail system instead, let your calls go to voice mail and check your messages a few times during the day. Again, scheduling a time to return phone calls is a great way to save time and avoid the interruption of taking every phone call as it comes in.

By increasing your work-day efficiency, you can usually find the “left over” time necessary to give some attention to your marketing efforts. Sure you’re busy now, but if you neglect your marketing you may find that in the long run, you are letting your pipeline dry up and it will may be difficult to get things moving again.

Five Tips for Direct Mail Marketing

1. Give Customers Great Offers
Typically, businesses find that more sales flow from discounts of 25 percent off than from 10 percent off. But giving great offers doesn’t have to mean spending more money. Use your imagination and offer creative promotions that are useful or unique.

For example, a nail salon may consider approaching a jewelry store and launching a “Beautiful Hands” offer for a discount manicure with the purchase of a ring or bracelet. This type of partnering not only gives customers a “bigger” offer, but can bring in customers to both businesses and lets you share the costs.

2. Be Direct
Tell your readers up front what the offer is. Explain clearly what they will get and how they will benefit. Then provide them with what action to take, and give them multiple ways to respond (phone, web form, email, etc.). Don’t forget to put a deadline on when the offer expires so readers are motivated to take action.

3. Get Creative!
The more innovative your offers are, the more attention they will receive, which almost always leads to increased sales. Stand out from the crowd. Encourage your staff to think creatively, and make time to “brainstorm” for new ideas. The key is to get your direct mail pieces noticed and read, instead of thrown out with the junk mail.

4. Optimize your Web site
Of course you want to optimize your web site with keywords and content that is search engine-friendly, but you should also optimize your site to work hand-in-hand with your direct marketing initiatives. You can create a web “landing page” for direct mail offers, provide printable coupons, offer downloads of trial software or marketing pieces, etc.

5. Publicize Why Your Customers Say "Yes"
Happy customers are your very best form of advertising, so use their stories and experiences to establish your credibility. Use testimonials on your direct mail pieces, offer case studies from your web site, and use quotes from your customers in your advertising.

Is it Real or Is it Spam?

Spam is everywhere. Have you gone through an entire day lately without finding your inbox full of annoying, intrusive spam messages? Everyday I find myself deleting dozens (or more) emails selling software, penny stocks, low-interest mortgages, cheap prescription drugs, and of course many other offers that I’m sure you have to sift through as well. (Ewwww.)

But have you seen those spam messages directed at domain name owners? They are very realistic and contain warnings about renewing your domain immediately (by following their links, of course) or you will lose your URL, etc. Our clients forward these messages to us frequently, asking us “do I need to do something with this? Is this real?”

The answer is probably not. But it’s not so easy to tell sometimes. These messages often contain your personal information along with your domain name, and these spammers hope that if they make the message look “official” enough, they can confuse you into renewing your domain name through their company.
For the most part, people are accustomed to ignoring and deleting spam messages, but the messages that look official and play off your fear of losing your domain name are especially tricky. Here is some basic information that you should always have on file:

1. The name of the company where you registered your domain (GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Yahoo, etc.).
2. The date (at least the month) of when you registered your URL, and the amount of time for which your URL is registered (1 year, 2 years, etc.). That way you will know if it’s getting close to renewal time.
3. If you use a web design company, they will have all of your domain information on file for you.

So what’s so bad about renewing your domain through one of these spam messages? The price!!! Yes, you can probably legitimately renew your domain, but it will cost way more than renewing through your current company. One spam I saw recently offered to renew my .com domain for $50 a year. With the company we currently use, we could register that same domain for six years for less than $50!

So be careful when sifting through the “official-looking” spam in your inbox, and when in doubt, check your records for your domain renewal information. And if by chance it really is a legitimate message to renew your domain for $50, it may be time to shop around for another domain registration company!

Five Sparrows values your privacy and will never share, sell, or rent your information to anyone, and you may unsubscribe from this publication at any time.

Copyright 2005 Five Sparrows, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
3889 Hartland Hills, Hartland, MI 48353
www.fivesparrows.com