Mail Order Success Reports Can Make You Wealthy
By DeAnna Spencer
A mail-order business is a great business to start, either
part-time or full-time. It's exciting, because it's always
changing, and it can be very profitable, if run correctly. One
important thing to remember, though, is that mail-order
businesses are easy to start, but take work to maintain. Don't
believe the hype you hear about making millions overnight in
mail-order. It's happened to a few lucky fools, but that's
about it. You have to use your head in mail-order, if you want
to survive. There are five extremely crucial rules to remember
when running a mail-order business. You still won't be
guaranteed success, but it will be a whole lot easier, if you
follow these rules.
1) EXPLORE FREE AND LOW COST MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES. Too
many people jump into a mail-order business with an expensive,
flashy full-page ad in a big magazine. That's great IF it's
successful, but what do you do when your ad only pulls enough
orders to cover it's cost, and you have no marketing budget
left for new ads? Lick your wounds, and close down your
business. The smart thing to do at the start (and throughout
your mail-order career) is to take advantage of all the free
and low cost marketing options at your fingertips. You say you
don't know about any? Well, here are some ideas. Send a sample
of your product along with a press release to the products
reviewers at the magazines your customers read. Also, write a
short article about a subject or issue that will interest your
potential customers and that has a connection to the product
you sell, and submit it to those same magazines. For example,
if you sell bass fishing lures, write an article on the best
times of the day for bass fishing. Offer to talk about the
subject on radio or TV talk shows regarding this subject.
Cable TV, in particular, has plenty of talk shows with
specific audiences that are desperately in need of guests.
In all of these instances, include a shot paragraph with
information on how to contact you and a general description of
the products or services you sell. Offer your articles or
expertise for free, in return for this paragraph either
appearing at the end of your article, or being read after the
interview.
Marketing yourself as an expert in your business will get
you far more publicity than placing an expensive ad, and it's
virtually free, except for your time, a few stamps and a few
phone calls. It works for me, and I know it can work for you.
2) PYRAMID YOUR PROFITS. What does this mean? It means that
you should take at least half of your profits and reinvest it
in more advertising. When you make your first batch of sales,
don't take your profits and throw a party. It might seem like
a good idea now, but you'll regret it later. A good way to
grow your sales is by expanding your advertising. If you can
only afford one or two small ads in the beginning, that's
fine. If those ads are successful, make sure you take the
profits from the sales they generate and reinvest them in four
or five of the same ads in different magazines. Then, reinvest
the profits from those ads into seven or eight ads, and so on.
Don't be concerned about making immediate money. You'll make a
larger profit LATER if you reinvest in your business NOW.
3) TRACK YOUR ADS. Suppose you have ten or fifteen
different ads running in different publications. All of a
sudden, you get a whole load of orders. Of course, you want to
continue running the ad that pulled in the orders, in the same
publication and in ones you haven't advertised in before. This
will bring in more loads of orders, right? But, when you look
at the orders, you have no idea which of your ads was the one
that clicked. When you're done crying, resolve that, from now
on, you will KEY and TRACK your ads.
Keying and tracking ads is so simple that many people miss
it. Here's all you have to do. On each ad, preferably on the
address, add a letter or number code that will indicate to you
where the order came from. For example, if you're advertising
in the August issue of Popular Mudbogging, and your business
name is Joe's Knobby Tires, put your name in the ad as Joe's
Knobby Tires-PM8. PM stands for the issue name, the 8 is for
August. Then, you can look at the envelope and you'll know
instantly where the order came from. Make a table on a piece
of paper with columns for date, item ordered, amount paid, and
date the order was shipped. At the top of the page, tape a
copy of the ad, and write the ad key next to it. Then, when
you receive orders, record the information on the proper page.
4) DO SMALL SCALE TESTS BEFORE LARGE SCALE ADVERTISING.
Before you sink hundreds or thousands of dollars into a large
ad or mailing, test the waters. Place a smaller ad with the
same message in the magazine for two or three issues, and see
if it pulls. Or, if you're renting a mailing list, do a
smaller mailing to a small percentage of the list, instead of
just rolling the whole thing out. Testing is important in this
business. There are two possibilities that can come out of a
test. Either the ad/mailing works, or it doesn't. Now, it's up
to you to figure out WHY it didn't work. Either the ad/mailing
copy isn't effective, or you're reaching the wrong audience.
Review the whole picture, find out what needs to be changed,
make the changes, then retest. When you hit on the right
combination, THEN take the big plunge.
5) DON'T BE AFRAID TO ADMIT YOUR MISTAKES OR FAILURES.
Let's face it. You won't hit a home run in this business every
time you're up to bat. In fact, just like in baseball, you may
strike out more times than not. But, the times that you're
either lucky, and get to first base on a walk, or you get a
hit will make up for your strikeouts. You need to keep a stiff
upper lip, admit that you didn't get a hit, and move on.
Mail-order success comes not from overnight millions, but from
steady trickles. Put another way, mail-order is really a
"get-rich-slow" business. If you keep plugging away, keep
learning from mistakes, and keep trying new things as you find
them, you'll at least be headed for success.
Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer
Are you content with your advertising budget?
Schedule a coaching session with Frugal Solutions Expert,
DeAnna Spencer.
She will design an affordable online advertising plan for you.
Contact her by sending an email to deanna.spencer(at)gmail.com
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