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October 31, 2005
Unsubscribes - a good or bad thing?
Today I sent out a promotion for one of my products to my ezine list. Got a handful of unsubscribes within the first hour.
It happens every time.
Is this good or bad if you publish an ezine? You may be surprised to learn that I look at it as a very good thing. You see, anyone with any common sense knows that an ezine has to be paid for some way - either through advertising or selling products. So if someone is sooooo offended when they receive a promotion that they unsubscribe, they are really telling me they would never be a qualified customer anyway.
Bottom line, I'd rather have 5,000 qualified subscribers than 50,000 "tire kickers".
One interesting point, though. Let's say you're a cheapskate who never wants to pay a cent for anything and only wants whatever you can get for free. If you were truly a student of direct marketing, you'd do yourself a greater favor by remaining on the ezine list and studying the promotions - often that's where the best lessons are to be found!
Your opinion?
Posted by Bob Serling at 07:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 10, 2005
The most overlooked vehicle in marketing
Want to produce exceptional results on a shoestring budget? Then you should be using postcards.
I'm shocked that more marketers don't use these power-packed little demons on a regular basis. Unless you're marketing to large businesses, almost nothing beats the return on investment that postcards deliver. Here are some ways you could be using postcards to make your business more profitable:
1. Mail thank-you notes to your customers EVERY time they buy
something from you. No one does this. If you do, you'll build
tremendous loyalty and repeat sales.
2. Use them to offer a free or low-cost report. Then convert these
new prospects to buyers. Hint: make your prospects call a toll
number (they pay for the call) to request your report. This
significantly increase the quality of your leads.
3. Use postcards to draw traffic to your website. Offer them free
information - a report or white paper - but make them sign up to
get it. Yep, it will increase the quality of your leads and get
rid of the tire kickers.
If you aren't using postcards to promote your services, you should be. I've used them for years and they've never let me down.
Posted by Bob Serling at 03:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 05, 2005
Affiliate programs vs joint ventures
A lot of people ask me why I don't have an affiliate program. Actually, I do, but just for one product and I really don't do anything to promote it.
The reason I put so little time into affiliate programs is that I much prefer to work with a small group of hand-picked joint venture partners for any product or service I'm offering. In my experience, both in my own business and consulting with many of the most profitable online marketers, affiliate programs produce very little real results. Only a small percentage of affiliates generate any significant volume of sales.
With joint ventures, you're dealing only with those partners you choose to do business with. This gives you two major advantages. The first advantage is that you pick your partners and know that you're investing your time in quality partners who will go the extra mile to sell your product.
The second advantage may be even more important. Joint ventures give you the ability to make sure that only the kind of people you want representing your product do so. If an affiliate is a whack job and gives their customers poor customer service or engages in questionable business practices, because they're selling your product, it could reflect poorly on you. And you'd never know it's happening.
For my money, give me 3 great joint venture partners instead of 300 mediocre affiliates.
What has your experience been with affiliates and joint ventures?
Posted by Bob Serling at 08:02 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack