The phone book reps are knocking at your door. What to do?
Effective and inexpensive, E-mail marketing could work for you.
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What's Your Image?
You need to project a professional image to get the edge on your competition.
CompEdge has been designing logos and marketing materials since 1989 including
Call Today!
978.632.1571
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Featured Customer
of the Month
Keri's Canine Connection
Keri Allard, Owner
Templeton, Massachusetts
Keri is an ABC Certified Dog Trainer who really knows her stuff. More than teaching commands, she works with you and your dog to create balance and harmony in your home for both you and your pet.
Keri helped me to find and adopt my new best friend, Sugar and I can't thank her enough!
You can see Keri at the 2008 Whisker Walk on June 8 at the Bolton Fair grounds.
Visit Keri's web site:
keriscanineconnection.com
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Greetings!
Spring has finally arrived and, in its usual fashion, we have experienced beautiful warm days as well as some cold rainy ones. Not so different from our fluctuating economy.
While your first instinct is to just cut your spending, it is now more important than ever to stay in front of your customer. While your budget may be shrinking as your utility and fuel bills go up, this is an opportunity to be creative and to out-market your competition.
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The Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages Reps are Out in Force.
This is the time of year that the reps are out selling advertisements for the Gardner and Fitchburg phone books. As more people start to drop their business lines in favor of alternatives like cell phones, on-line phone services, and cable phone services, the more aggressively the the reps are at selling you into the phone book and to upsell you into the SuperPages on-line directory. In this market, you should have a little bargaining power. Here's a few things that may be helpful as you negotiate for your ad:
- You do not have to have a business line to be in the yellow pages. You can now list your cell number or residential number under your business name.
- If you have a web site, be sure to include the URL in your ad. You can get away with a smaller ad and drive the customers to your web site to learn more about your services and products.
- If a there are a lot of competitors in your category, those ads with the white background stand out more and are worth the extra investment.
- Do not, I repeat, do not let them talk you into having SuperPages host and design a web site for you. It's way more expensive over time, almost impossible to update, and they have been know to list incorrect information for some of my clients. Just get the SuperPages listing with a link to your actual web site if you have one.
- Yes, it is still important to have a listing in the yellow pages so your customers can find you when they need you. They don't always remember your number, or even your name, and they don't always have your business card with them.
If you do not have a business line, but want to list your business in the yellow pages, please contact me right away and I'll put you in touch with the representative. Or, if you want to discuss your options prior to signing on the dotted line, contact me. The deadline is fast approaching.
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E-Mail Marketing
Try It, You'll Like It.
If you haven't tried e-mail
marketing, I suggest that you do. It is an inexpensive way to introduce
new services or products, keep customers updated, provide tips, and
generally stay in touch.
Through Constant Contact you can test it out for free for 60 days by mailing to a
small list of contacts. The monthly fees are based on the number of
contacts you have in your mailing list. There are several templates you
can choose from or you can create your own template. You get detailed
reports on who reads them and who clicked through to your web site
and/or other links you have provided. To keep it ethical and legal, customers have the option to
opt-out at any time and never receive e-mail marketing from you again unless they sign up.
If you don't have time, I offer the service of managing your account
for you - either completely or partially. Need assistance setting up your account? Need help with the initial
design of your template? Not sure about the content? Need someone to
manage your lists? I can design and write your newsletters and/or
advertisements, keep you on a schedule, and manage your lists.
To learn more, just click on the Constant Contact logo below, then give me a call.
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If you need help developing a marketing plan, identity package, print material or web site please contact me. I appreciate your business and referrals. Feel free to forward this e-mail to your business colleagues and associates.
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Sincerely,
Maureen Horrigan
CompEdge Marketing & Design
978.632.1571
maureen@compedgedesign.com
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