"Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime."
W.E.B. Du Bois
A Way to Market if You Have No Money
Are you working on your business or working in it?
I received an email from Elliot in Missouri. I didn’t know him and it was an unsolicited email but my
spam filter did catch it. He does IT work. (At the bottom you’ll find his unedited letter.) I was curious
as to how he got my email plus how and why it got past my spam filters. It just looked like an email from
a friend, so I called him.
He explained that he calls the Chambers of Commerce in the surrounding counties and gets their email mailing list and sends his personal individual note to each one. He just cuts and pastes in the address and body copy and hits send. It’s very easy to do. But what’s easy to do is easy not to do when it come to promoting and marketing your business. Most small business owners work in their business but not on their business. Sometimes he has to pay a little for the list. Sometimes is free. It’s not considered spam because he has a legitimate return email and his name and phone number. I asked how long it took to personally cut and paste the 200 emails. He can send 30 – 40 in an hour. What a great inexpensive way to market your business. You need to have a well-written, brief, persuasive message (That’s what Wizard of Ads Partners do best) and give a link back to your website with your return email.
Do you need to expand your business and don’t have much money?
What a great way get a good bang for your buck. Most business owners will not take the time to this because they are too busy I hire High School girls to do this work for $6 an hour. I have done this in my own business, over and over. It works extremely well. While Elliot was working in his business… he was working ON it too. Very good Gorilla marketing.
Did it bring in new customers?
“Actually, yes it has brought us customers. What we are doing is actually taking advantage of technology. Many people think it is spam, but in actuality it is not. The address is a legitimate address that people can reply back to. Out of every 50-60 emails, we get 10 people interested in one of our services.”
Elliot Adams
Here is Elliot’s letter. (I asked permission to use this and talk about his marketing plan)
Dear Sir or Madam,
Please let me take a moment to introduce Ascension IT Solutions, LLC. We are the NEW IT SOLUTIONS provider in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. This partnership was started to fill the Complete IT needs of both Business and Residential customers. What sets us apart from all other IT companies is our extremely competitive rates and truly being available 24/7. We understand the busy needs of our clients. To further assist you, and to make it more convenient, we can pickup and deliver your equipment to you at home, school, or work. We have the ability to provide remote repair services without you leaving the comfort of your home.
We can help you connect to the internet wirelessly or with a wired connection. With the constant threat of adware, spyware, Trojans, and viruses your system may appear to be operating sluggish and insufficiently. With the proper tools and cleaning, we can have you back online and up to speed. Please let us know when it would be convenient for us to meet for five minutes so we can shake your hand, put a face with a name and provide you with some valuable information. Thank you in advance for your time and we look forward to meeting with you.
Respectfully,
Elliot Adams
P.O. Box 175
Kelso, MO 63758
(573) 264-2821 (Office)
(573) 398-9019 (Fax)
(573) 225-5616 (Cell)
eadams@ascensionit.com
www.ascensionit.com
Idea!
by Clay Campbell
A well written newsletter to someone who has done business with you before is
a very wise use of your time and money. It is NOT a direct mail piece that
many would feel is “junk mail”; but rather, just a simple, short, informing
or educational note to someone who knows you. Next, give them a reason to come
back and do business with you again or to refer you to someone else. Here are
a few tips.
#1 If you haven't done so already, start an email mailing list Newsletter to your core customer base. Try to get every customer to give you his or her email or US Mail address. A great way to do that is by offering a helpful newsletter that THEY would enjoy reading. Everyone who gives you a credit card or writes you a check... you already have their address. To get their email give away a FREE dinner for two at a very nice restaurant if they will register in the drawing. Start Small. Keep it simple. Write in the Newsletter about things that would be helpful or insightful to your customer and keep it short and to the point.
#2 For instance, if you have a consignment clothing store you could write about how to save money by purchasing nice used clothing for one's family. Gather a few emails or addresses each week. Give good honest, helpful, free, advice in your newsletter each month. Become the expert on buying used clothes, wearing them, then reselling them again…. most people, including my wife and I, would appreciate getting that kind of helpful newsletter. In your newsletter offer help the consumer to solve some problem they have and they will love you for it. It is very likely they will tell everyone they know about you.
#3 If you’re an accountant, you could build your business by sending your newsletter out with tips on ways to save money on taxes, or ways you could keep better records. Tips on long term investing. Perhaps answer a couple of the most commonly asked questions of an accountant. The subject matter is endless.
#4 If you have an auto repair shop you could tell about things to do to keep your car in good repair and avoid needless stress and grief by having regularly scheduled maintenance done. Tell them of ways to save money. Put in your newsletter a note that was sent to you by a very happy customer.
Offer an oil change at a very low price to your newsletter group of special VIP customers. Etc etc.
#5 A dentist might tell of ways to take care of your teeth so you can avoid costly and time-consuming trips to the dentist and orthodontist. You get the idea.
#6 There are hundreds of different types of newsletter layouts online. Pick one you like and get started today. Don’t try to be too fancy. Keep it the same basic layout each time.
#7 Be consistent. If you do a monthly newsletter… Do it EVERY month!
Idea! Start an email folder for newsletters. Sign up for several newsletters about things which you are interested. Read them each time and glean what ideas they are using. Then file them in your folder. Call it you idea folder. Sign up for up newsletters in your profession. These will help you develop good content for your newsletter.
Idea! There are several companies on line that have templates and will store your emails and lets you send large groups at a time. (We use Constant Contact.) Do not try to send out 150 emails through your Outlook Express or Microsoft Outlook. It will just bog down your email and you will get a little box come up that says you can’t sent out that many emails at once. Through Constant Contact you can send 500 emails for $15 a month or 2500 emails for $30 per month.
Remember the main thing, is to keep the main thing, the main thing. And the main thing about newsletters is good content. Write the content in your newsletter with the reader in mind. What are their problems that you could help solve? What’s their itch that you can scratch? What is it that they don’t know about that you do and could explain to them? Develop a newsletter so good that people would forward it to their friends without you asking them to.
Perhaps now would be a good time to have a complimentary meeting with a Wizard of Ads Partner. Links to their websites and blogs are listed down the right side of The Wizard Times. Hundreds of their articles with free insightful advice can been seen at www.americansmallbusiness.com 2009 would be a great year to attend a class at the Wizard Academy 21st Century Business School in Austin Texas. What is the Wizard Academy?
See you next week.
Clay Campbell
Wizard of Ads
PS. Need help to attract more customers and grow your business?
