| ||
| ||
|
Marketing Information | |
| Domain Names | E Books | Email Marketing | Ezine Marketing | |||
| Internet Marketing | Marketing | PPC Advertising | SEO | |||
| Traffic Building | Web Design | Web Development | Web Hosting | |||
| ||||||
|
| ||||
|
Effective List Management Can Save You Big
Let's talk about how to keep your postage costs down. So far you have been following my advice and mailing to the same list more than once. At some point you find lists that will produce returns continually, but you notice that you are receiving more returns than when you started mailing to those lists. You may see things like "Undeliverable as Addressed" or "Forwarding Order Expired." Every time you mail to an address and that prospect has moved or cannot be found for any reason, you have just paid for the postage with no possibility of getting a response. Obviously it is a pretty big waste of money to continue to mail to this address, but what do you do about it? You could simply go into the list of names that you have purchased and delete the returns. No more bad addresses, no more wasted postage, right? That is one option but there is a better way to handle the situation. The US Postal Service has an NCOA (National Change of Address) System that a limited number of companies are licensed to access. These companies are able to take the list that you have purchased, or compiled yourself, and check it against the USPS system. You will receive a report that will let you know if anyone on your list has moved, gone out of business, or even if the zip code that contact was in was changed by the Post Office itself. Along with the report you will receive a new copy of your list that has been cleaned and updated. The cost for having your list checked is very economical (about $5.00 per thousand records) and will allow you to keep getting your message out to as many people in your list as possible. At times you can see up to a 10% undeliverable rate, and it can even be higher on older lists that you have been using for a while. Average is more like 5% undeliverable so let's take a look at the numbers at that rate. If you mail 10,000 and get 5% back for bad addresses: 10,000 x .05 = 500 pieces. You will have paid postage on 500 pieces that did not reach their destination. So if you mail to your list again without cleaning it you have just wasted: 500 x $0.23 = $115.00. If you were to NCOA that list at a rate of $5.00 per thousand you would have spent: 10 x $5.00 = $50.00. So you have three choices when faced with a list that needs cleaning: 1. Spend hours deleting every return that you receive from your list. 2. Waste $115.00 or more in postage every time you mail to that list. or 3. Have the list checked by an NCOA service and get back in touch with customers that may have moved, for around one tenth the cost. The NCOA service is the easiest and most effective way to keep your postage costs down. Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she's sharing her marketing secrets with others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at http://www.postcardmania.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth? Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 5 How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth?: Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 5Let's continue to discuss the various marketing principles that are involved in "popcorn marketing":6. ExclusivityDuring the few hours that you're in the theatre, they have the market cornered by being the only ones to sell popcorn. Moving a Business Relationship from Free to Fee: Power of Freebies - Part 2 In the last issue we looked at 5 reasons why giving stuff away is a great tactic for filling your pipeline.Now let's take a look at the kind of things you may want to give. Demographics For the Masses Information is the lifeblood of the economy. That's especially true for businesses, because the ability to identify current customers and locate new customers makes the difference between boom and bust. Writing A Marketing Strategy It is my belief that if anyone is to suceed in any type of business then the business needs to be marketed to it's target consumers in an effective manner. In order to do this effectively rather than in an ad hoc, probably expensive, manner I propose the construction of a marketing plan. Are You Sabotaging Your Marketing Success? What?!? Sabotage your own success? Who would do that? Well, you'd be surprised how many small business owners think they are effectively marketing their business, when in fact they are cutting their own throat.Yes, they may be running ads that are pulling in leads or customers. Who is Your Perfect Client When I started my coaching practice I believed that I could coach anyone. My marketing wasn't targeted. How to Write Irresistible Promotional Pieces that Attract More and Better Clients Whether you're creating a sales letter, a brochure, a newsletter, or any other business promotional piece, you need to write in a way that not only explains your product or service, but that also compels your prospects to contact you. A well-written promotional piece entices people to seek out more information, whether it be via a phone call, an e-mail, or an in-person visit. Unique Selling Proposition - Your Competitive Advantage! To capture a larger market share and be viable, sustainable and profitable, you absolutely need to differentiate or distinguish your business, products and/or services from your competitors.In other words, you need to make your business special in the eyes of your customers and/or prospects. The Secrets of? A lot of advertising and mailings promise to reveal the secrets of something. Most of this kind of mailings deal with search engine optimization. Encouraging Contact The small time promoter has to work hard and on a shoestring to get an audience of a few hundred people to fill a venue. Flyers, word-of-mouth and media name checks are some of the tools promoters use to fill small venues or club nights. Marketing, Lead Generation, and Research: A 3-in-1 Solution I Hate Cold CallsLong before I started my business, I realized that I wasn't good at telephone sales and that I would need to generate leads in another way. I developed a sure-fire way to generate those leads, interest in me, and my business, through the use of telephone market research. Notable News - Its Not About You! You enjoy what you do. In fact, you love your product and want to tell everyone about it. Marketing Your Franchise Online Do you want to successfully market your business franchise online? Here's an internet strategy you can use for your franchise opportunity.1. How to Successfully Promote your Business to an International Audience Breaking into the international marketplace can catapult a company into increased profitability and growth more rapidly than when selling to a domestic market.But how do you market your company successfully to overseas buyers? What can you do to provide the right information to prospective clients that is informative and engaging? How can you stand out from the crowd?The most common promotional approach is to provide brochures. Joint Venture: 50 Power Secrets Of Joint Venture Marketing, Exposed What is a Joint Venture?A joint venture is an agreement in which two or more businesses work on a project for a set period of time.Joint ventures can be long-term, like promoting a product together, or some can be short-term, like bartering (trading) products and services. Private Practice Marketing: A Soaking Wet Marketing Marvel Last week I took our two boys on an all guy vacation to the Nickelodeon Family Suites Hotel in Orlando. It's the only one of it's kind in the world, with two separate mini-water parks on site, with a mall in the middle. How to Critique Your Own Yellow Page Ad Forget what you know about your business Your goal is to see your Yellow Page display advertisement the way a directory user sees it. You can't act like you know anything about your enterprise that isn't there, on the page. Unleash the Powerful Promoter Within Dear Friend,You're ripping me off.How? You may be thinking, "We just met. SWOT Analysis -- Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats When conducting strategic planning for any company -- online and/or offline -- it is useful to complete an analysis that takes into account not only your own business, but your competitors' activities and current industry happenings as well. A SWOT is one such analysis. Business Marketing For Consultants, Coaches, Speakers, and Trainers: How To Be Noticed and Trusted Business marketing is essential for professional services, such as consultants, coaches, speakers and trainers.Creating trust with prospects and clients is essential.
|
| Domain Names | E Books | Email Marketing | Ezine Marketing | |
| Internet Marketing | Marketing | PPC Advertising | SEO | |
| Traffic Building | Web Design | Web Development | Web Hosting |
|
Home | Site Map | Traffic Building
| Free
Classified Ads | Free-For-All
Ads | Reciprocal
Links | Search
Engines | |
| Copyright © 2006-2007. The Highland Marketing Group. All Rights Reserved. |
|
| ||
|
