Archive for April, 2006
Why You Are Losing Money If You’re Only Building An Online List
Tuesday, April 25th, 2006I haven’t written an article for you guys in a while, and today I got thinking about a technique that I use that you should also be using. It’s helped me make a lot of money, and if you use it, could do the same for you.
Enjoy…
As online marketers, we sometimes forget to think outside of only advertising online. If you’re only advertising your business online, you are leaving money on the table and not reaching even more potential clients.
But how do you even start with offline advertising?
I started in 1998 by building my own offline mailing list. I was fed up with offline advertising that just wasn’t working, so I decided I would track my own advertising and reach my own customers with an in house mailing list of my own.
I started by setting up a one page sales letter about what kind of information I provided. At the end of the sales letter I had a lead capture form asking for not only their email address, but their postal mailing address also. At the time I was offering offline advertising services for the business opportunity niche, so I explained to visitors that came to my site exactly who I was, what I did, and why they needed to get the information from ME.
I knew I would have to stand out from the crowd. I couldn’t just tell them to sign up for my list because I provide information on ways to make money from home or services to help them advertise. I really needed to get their attention and make them want information from me.
When you set up a sales page to capture offline information about people, you have to ask yourself what else can you offer them? Discounts, freebies, an offline newsletter about products and services you provide. The key is talking them into getting on your list.
You’ll also need to place a form on your page to get their mailing address. Having software that will manage your addresses is very important. Losing these are like losing email addresses for your online list. I use Microsoft Outlook. It was on my computer when I got it, and was easy to use, so that’s what I have always used.
So once you have a great sales letter set up to entice people to sign up for your offline mailing list, you’ll need to advertise this one page sales letter. You’ll do that just like anything else you advertise online. In ezine ads, sig lines, to your email mailing list, etc.
Now, I’m sure you’re thinking that building your own offline mailing list would be great, but would be very expensive because of the high cost of postage. That’s not entirely true. I don’t spend any of my own money on postage.
I publish an offline newsletter targeted to my niche. I provide great information and within the newsletter, advertise products and services related to my niche. I charge people $1-$3 to get this newsletter. This allows me to send them my offline newsletter at no charge, plus a little extra to send them future offers. You can fit up to 4 8×11 pages in and #10 business envelope for .39, so as you can see this isn’t going to cost you a whole lot if you do it right. You could even charge a monthly fee and send your newsletters out monthly to people that subscribe.
Just be creative, over deliver, and take care of your customers that you get from your offline mailing list just like you would your online customers. These people still have Internet access, but you’re contacting them in a more personal way. By being in touch with your customers using this offline, they come to feel like they know you better, and will typically spend more money compared to your online customers.
Try this technique for a few months and you’ll see what I mean. You don’t build your customer list as fast as you would with an online mailing list, but you build stronger relationships with customers who spend more!
Liz Tomey has been involved in the direct mail marketing business since 1998. In 2004 she took the Internet marketing world by storm with www.TomeyMarketing.com where she offers several products and services to help marketers take their businesses to the next level.
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