Each day when we come home from work, one of the first things we do is walk to our mailboxes and find what’s usually bills and “junk mail.” But one of those latter pieces of mail has a bright-red minivan on the front of it, along with “$5,000 off” printed in big black letters.
For a family that just added a new member and in is the market for a larger vehicle may be compelled to simply call the number on the card and ask questions.
Here are some insights to help your professional services business.
The Importance of Effective Advertising
The company that mailed the card just created a lead. Entrepreneurs with online businesses continually miss the boat on how effective direct marketing can be, and what it can do for their bottom lines. The key to growing any business essentially comes down to advertising. No matter how well your product or service works, or how useful it may be, you will never turn a profit if nobody knows about it.
With the inception of social media, and other free forums that help business owners reach new customers, direct-mail marketing has taken a back seat but remains one of the more-effective tools to grow sales.
For example, a website such as Thetop10bestwebhosting.com, which offers rankings on the best Web-hosting services based on its criteria, would not be able to connect visitors to Web hosts without effectively using social media.
Those seeking a proper Web host are immersed in the online world, so it makes sense to use social media and other Internet outlets to effectively reach that audience.
Snail Mail Lives
Holidays cards featuring your business slogan and logo are effective this time of year and are relatively inexpensive. The U.S. Postal Service offers bulk-mail discounts, and if 500 mailed cards can yield your business even five new customers, the investment has already paid for itself.
Despite advances in technology, a large segment of the population still prefers newspapers instead of websites, books instead of e-books and physical mail over e-mail. Mailing lists of potential customers who are interested in the type of product or service you provide (warm leads) are great investments for newer companies.
E-mail Marketing
A good e-mail marketing campaign, in conjunction with direct mail, can easily boost sales for the small business owner, especially when executed during the high-spending months of November and December.
The key to a good e-mail marketing campaign is professionalism, including an “unsubscribe” option for recipients. Consumers are flooded with e-mails daily, most of which go directly to junk folders. This dynamic makes it very important for business owners to be informative and direct.
The subject line should get to the point in as few words as possible but also provide concise information on what you’re selling and why it should be purchased.
Most business owners already have a list of e-mail addresses for potential buyers, because visitors to their business’s website leave messages or have already purchased something and given their information.
Customer-specific e-mail lists are another good investment and can be purchased for relatively cheap.
Jon Rognerud and Chaosmap work with Fortune 500 companies, small business and entrepreneurs to create digital traffic strategies that scale up customers, leads and sales with profitable returns. Mr. Rognerud wrote a best-selling book (Buy On Amazon), “The Ultimate Guide To Optimizing Your Website” (Entrepreneur). Connect directly here.
