Leafleting | Letterbox marketing | advertise your business

Mistake #1: Assuming that leaflet distribution Marketing Results are Vague and unpredictable.

Here are the Facts: All marketing done correctly will provide consistent, predictable results. As a guideline, the national average for direct mail marketing is 0.5% to 1.0%, meaning that if you send out 1,000 letters, postcards, or flyers then you should have between 5 and 10 people contacting you, it is that simple. If you get no response, then you need to be asking your distribution company some questions. Although this is considered average, doing some simple things can take that number up to 10%-30%, or even higher
Mistake #2: Not knowing the response rate for yourIndustry

Always know your marketing response rate, if you don’t know it, find it. If you have no clue of what your response rate is, then how in the world do you know how much to distribute? Here is what you do. Send out enough to hit the 0.5% as a test market, and then measure the actual results. Use the results in your next distribution to achieve your desired outcome.

Mistake #3: Trying One Time and Giving up because “That Didn’t Work”

Marketing results, or leads, are dependent on two things, how many people see your marketing materials, and the percentage of those that see your materials are then COMPELLED to give you a call, turn up at your event, or come in to your store. So therefore if you need 100 new leads or sales and you know that for every person who sees your leaflets only 1% will call you, then you send out 10,000 leaflets. You first test then you will know how much to distribute.

Mistake #4: Marketing in the slow times.

Marketing during the slow times dooms you to living on an economic roller coaster. If your business is seasonal or follow certain tends through the year you need to know them.

Mistake #5: Failure to sell benefits in your leaflets.

Look at these words “Quality Work, Affordable Rates, and Prompt Service.” 80% of the companies in the phone book use these words in their copy. So why do you want to use them as the only reason to do business with you?. When you design your fliers, you MUST create both emotional and logical benefits that build and hold your customer interest. Always connect the features of your product to something beneficial.

I very good mate of mines introduced me to this tool to check your page rank distribution. I think its a great tool especially when you have a large site and you want to see  where the potential bottlenecks are. It is a java based program and it also requires MYSQL database. Other than that its a snap.

Anyone else feels like this, when is time for linkbuilding

One of my sources at Microsoft has informed me that there is a massive sell off of stocks now underway at Microsoft. As the dollar continues its downward spiral many share holders are bailing out.

Under the cover of darkness there have been a number of bids from various companies over night with Digg coming out on top.

An early morning a call to my source who is on the board told me that

“..the reason for the sale was because of the future coming recession in the US, this has prompted a loss in confidence of it’s major shareholders triggering a massive sell off.”

It has also been rumored that Mircosoft’s founder Bill Gates has held on to his shares as the value of the company nose dived over night. As of 9am UK time the company share dropped to £0.41 with insiders keeping mum on the deal.

Digg is expected to annouce its new acquisition later today but laywers of Microsoft are pressuring Digg to delay announcement to the end of tommorow.

At the time of this writing Microsoft was unavailable for comment.

Sometime you’ve got to be a bit Controversial to get noticed in a crowed place. We are being bombarded with advertsing every day and as a company you just have to shout sometimes.

I’ve shouted a few times in my short years of business but I havn’t made much noise as some of these guys.

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/top-50-shock-controversial-ads

The brilliant guys over at SEOMOZ put out quite an interesting article about anchor text . What it says basically is that only the fist anchor text is counted, so having two anchor text may be a waste of time. Have a look, makes an interesting read

It is important to subscribe to Google news alert. Use it to keep abreast with news in your industry as it breaks. If you are an expert in your field get intouch with the papers and offer you twist or expert advice on the story

Anyone can tell me how this is done? The article headline shows a different one than the headline on Google news
Is this a new Google spamming technique or a bait and switch to get more clicks?

The headline when you click on the story

what the Internet cables connecting us the world over look like

I was reading another post on direct mail and getting them opened and I came across another rather intersting post.

Use Unusual colours

1. Unusual colours Keep your mailing envelopes the same size and weight, just change the colour from white to something different or more daring.

Odd Sizes Work

2. Odd size or shape Send your message in a jumbo-size envelope. Or in a square envelope. Or send your message in a tiny envelope. Just remember that your envelope has to conform to postal regulations for size and shape, and fit through a normal mailbox. This can work for leaflet distribution as well

Name on Letter
3. Personalization Put your prospect’s name right on the front of the envelope, perhaps in the form of a question: “Hey, Alan, know who offers the lowest interest rates?”
Funny Graphics
4. Cartoon Speaking of personalization, put a cartoon on the front of your envelope, and put your prospect’s name in the caption (so that one of the cartoon characters is using your prospect’s name in what they are saying).

Teaser Question
5. Teaser Ask a provocative question, give a compelling statistic, feature a gripping photo or use another device that intrigues your prospect and motivates them to open your envelope to satisfy their curiosity.