Effective Marketing Strategies: Insights from Business Owners

[Mackailey]

This might be a silly question, and I'm sure if depends on the presentation of the individual to the general market. But what marketing strategy have you found REALLY works? Meaning, what have you found generates the most customers/shows/advertising? As soon as I get my business cards. I'm going to spend an entire day going business to business handing out goodies,books,business cards. Personally talking to people ect. I wanted to know if anybody else has doen this and has it worked for them?

 

[pamperedbecky]

My best marketing strategy is Kitchen Shows! Those are where I generate the most bookings. I get a LOT of contacts through the welcome wagon-type thing I advertise through, but so far only a couple shows have actually have come out of those. I do have several who say they want to do shows once they get to know more people.

I haven't yet tried to go to area businesses to drop off goodies and catalogs. I'd like to try to do that, so let us know how it goes!

 

[D_Patel]

Welcome WagonHi , I called our local welcome wagon , she told me it costs between $140.00 -$200.00 a month !!! Or i could do the post card thing and it was .69cents a post card but i had to sign at least a 6 month contract ! Is there another program they didnt tell me about i wonder ! So last weekend in our Sunday paper we have the list of local houses that have been bought so i made my own letter and sent out 15. With no response! I kept it brief about one paragraph even offered a addition $10.00 booking bonus out of my pocket ! I am going to do it again this week, i figure i will try 3 times before i give up !
A few dollar investment would be worth it for a show !! That show can lead to several more !

 

[Mackailey]

yes, thats why im planning to go face to face and maybe put a personal touch to it. I think people have reservatios about calling ppl they dont know. My first hostess just called me up and was really excited she called several ppl about her show and was amazed to find that several of her friends had actually been ordering directly from pc website because they couldn't locate a kitchen consultant!!! So one of her friends was actually going to be orderig a few things today!! My hostess said..NO wait till my show!! Then she gave another gal a book and the women actually was starting to mark up the catalog with all the products she wanted!! Again my hostess said to wait till her show!! So how do you get the hostess a good high dollar show and also bring up to these ppl to book their own show to get free products? Im really excited about all these possible leads. *knock on wood*
I know how discouraging it is to put alot of effort and money into marketing that doesnt work..Word of mouth is by far probably the best marketing tool out there to get shows. But my brain is working over time trying to make sure im "effectively" marketing.. And wanted to know some tricks of the trade from you pros out there

 

[chef131doreen]

Getting Bookings And My Name Out ThereHi, About a year ago the Directors in our area ( they all know eachother) got a Permit form the Post office to send out BULK MAIL. you need at 200 pc of mail and every thing must be the same example ; 1 sheet of paper as a flyer 1 catalog or perview, in the same size envlope, your lable or stamp return ect then they have to be seperated by zip code , We do this for new products or if anyone wants to cause they my be haing an open house ect the cost is very Cheap less than .37cent per ... our cluster does this often and its a great help this is something to look in to

 

[chef131doreen]

Getting Bookings And My Name Out ThereHi, About a year ago the Directors in our area ( they all know eachother) got a Permit form the Post office to send out BULK MAIL. you need at 200 pc of mail and every thing must be the same example ; 1 sheet of paper as a flyer 1 catalog or perview, in the same size envlope, your lable or stamp return ect then they have to be seperated by zip code , We do this for new products or if anyone wants to cause they my be haing an open house ect the cost is very Cheap less than .37cent per ... our cluster does this often and its a great help this is something to look in to
Doreen Zaino Future Director [email protected]
www.pamperededchef.biz/doreenzaino

 

[pamperedbecky]

The bulk mailing is SUCH a great way to go! Our cluster does the same thing...usually in August after a big county fair we have a booth at. AND it's when the new catalogs come out, so we gather names at the fair to send catalogs too. But, the one piece of advice that I've received is that sending out bulk mailings is a waste if you don't follow up with the people. I don't send out any more than I think I'll have time to call back. Otherwise, it's pretty rare that someone will call you on their own to place an order.

Normally it's around $1.08 to mail a catalog, but with the bulk mailing, it ends up being closer to a normal letter rate. And it's true, ALL mailings have to be identical (no extra flyers or even handwritten notes on the flyers) or else the whole thing gets rejected. OUr directors put together a nice flyer with upcoming monthly specials, info about the oppty, a recipe, some background on PC and info about other services. ONe catalog and one flyer go into the envelope and that's it. I think it's a great time to send out catalogs because it's cheaper, but you really want to be sure to follow up with those you send it to.