The first paragraph of this article provides a brief summary of the content. Whether you operate a digital or traditional mail order business, the lifeblood of your enterprise is your customer base. But how do you attract these customers? This article explores the common mistakes made in the pursuit of new customers, particularly in the mail order industry, and offers insights on how to avoid these pitfalls and effectively reach your target market.
In the traditional mail order business, you might consider running advertisements in business opportunity magazines or resort to direct mail through rented mailing lists. Similarly, in the online business realm, you could post your message on Newsgroups or Free For All sites.
To illustrate, let's consider a recent experience where I rented a mailing list of 200 fresh business opportunity seekers. Out of these 200 names, at least 30 were regular advertisers in UK business opportunity magazines, and another 10 had business names and addresses. However, the biggest surprise was finding my own name and address on the list. After discarding the irrelevant names, I sent my offer to the rest of the list, only to receive a 0% response rate. The entire mailing exercise turned out to be a futile expenditure of time and money.
The reason behind the low response rate became clear later. I ran a small classified ad in about 10 business opportunity magazines and small adsheets for a month, coding each ad to track the response from each publication. For up to two months, I received a reasonable response from all the ads. However, after two months, the replies were filled with business opportunity leaflets and had a sticky label on the envelope. It was evident that someone was compiling a mailing list from these publications, and I could identify which publication was renting my name based on the codes on the labels.
This experience highlighted a common mistake made by many businesses, both online and offline. Many direct marketers are promoting their product to other sellers rather than potential buyers. Whether you post a message to a Newsgroup or FFA site, or use mail order mailing lists, they are often filled with other sellers, and you usually receive counter messages trying to sell you something.
No matter how excellent your product or promotional materials are, if your message is reaching someone already involved with a business opportunity, they are unlikely to be interested in another one.
To effectively reach your target market, you must advertise in magazines or ezines that your potential buyers would read. Craft an advertisement that invites potential customers to request more information about your product or service. When customers respond to your ad, save their names and addresses to a database or address book and use these names to promote your products. These individuals have shown interest in your product, and it's only a matter of time before they purchase one or more of your products.
In conclusion, understanding your target audience and tailoring your marketing strategies accordingly is crucial for successful customer acquisition. Avoid the common mistake of marketing to sellers instead of potential buyers, and focus on reaching out to those who show genuine interest in your product or service.
