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In this issue:
• Marketing Article: Conquer Your Business Fears
• Marketing Article: All you wanted to know about Direct Mail and Newsletters

Data Quality Critical as Postal Rates Increase May 14th

With the postal rate increase coming in May, businesses who run direct marketing campaigns will need to ensure that their data quality is at the highest delivery level. Data cleansing can prevent companies from wasting thousands of dollars on mail sent to undeliverable addresses. Sending mail to the correct address will:

• streamline direct marketing campaigns
• reduce undeliverable-as-addressed mail
• increase response rates

Maintain and clean your database! Clean your list today for only $2.50 for every 1,000 records, 24-hour turnaround, $75 minimum order.

Conquer Your Business Fears
by Biana Babinsky © 2007

What are your business fears? Are you afraid of being a successful business owner? Do you think that if you become successful, you will lose your authenticity? Are you afraid you do not know how to market your business? Are you afraid of bothering your potential clients with your offers?

Many business owners I have coached had business fears. These business fears usually left them unable to market and promote their products and services. As a result, these business owners spend time being afraid, instead of spending it on marketing and finding new clients for their business. Their bottom line suffers, and sometimes they even have to close down their business because they can't get clients.

Conquer your business fears! I am listing three common fears that many business owners have, along with suggestions on how you can conquer them:

- Your Business Fear: You don't really know what marketing is and how to apply it to your business, so you can't really use it until you know all about it.

How To Conquer Your Business Fear: If you wait for everything in your business to be perfect before you start, you will never start. Instead of waiting to learn a lot about marketing, start marketing now. For example, write an article relevant to your business and submit it to article directories. This will give you a start in marketing your business.

- Your Business Fear: You will not appear very genuine to your clients if you market yourself. You are a professional and your clients should just magically find you themselves.

How To Conquer Your Business Fear: If your potential clients don't know who you are, they can't hire you. You need to get your name out there and become seen as an expert in your field to get clients.

You can become a highly visible person in your field by writing and publishing articles in your field of expertise, publishing a newsletter, and participating in online networking. Use these as opportunities to share information with your potential customers and educate them about you and your business.

- Your Business Fear: People don't need what you are offering.

How To Conquer Your Business Fear: There is a great way to make sure that people you are marketing your products and services want them. Market your products and services to members of your target market. These are the people who already want, need and can afford your products and services.

When you promote your products and services to people who want them, things happen. It becomes easy to get clients and make money. Your products and services are in demand. You become the go-to person in your field of expertise.

Use the ideas above to conquer your marketing fears. Doing this will get your more clients and help you take your business to a whole new level.

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Learn how to conquer your business fears by learning exactly how to market your business online! Biana Babinsky, the online business consultant, expert and author teaches you how to do that in her FREE Special Report, Top 5 Ways To Increase Online Sales. Download the report, free, at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/free_report.html

Associations and non-profit groups are a powerful resource for building and expanding networking and business opportunities, finding jobs, evaluating goods and services, and industry publications.

Our database puts you in direct contact with these organizations.

All you wanted to know about Direct Mail and Newsletters
by Rajesh V. Tavakari © 2007

What is direct mail?

Direct mail (or direct marketing) is a highly targeted method of marketing a service or product. In direct mail, communication is sent directly to a prospective consumer. This is unlike mass media, where every viewer or reader of a particular medium is exposed to the communication, regardless of whether he or she is a prospective buyer. Direct mail works over traditional mail as well as email. Newer channels of direct mail include SMS and telemarketing.

What are the advantages of direct mail?

Lester Wunderman is traditionally acknowledged as the pioneer of direct marketing in the 1970s. It was his success on brands like Amex and Columbia Records that pushed direct mail into the spotlight.

Direct mail allows marketers to record, analyse, and track consumer responses with far greater accuracy than mass media. Marketers know very quickly whether their communication is working or not. If, for example, a marketer gets a response from 1,000 consumers after sending out 20,000 mailers, he knows it's because of the direct mail. Mass advertising, however, does not show such immediate response.

While direct mail can be highly personalised (based on past history of the consumer), it also costs more (in terms of cost per thousand customers reached) than mass media.

What are the downsides to direct marketing?

The downside to direct marketing is that there is so much of it being done by so many businesses. As a result, direct mail is often seen as unwanted junk or spam by the recipient and most end up in the trash can. The same is true in both the real world and the virtual world. In fact, software filters make it very difficult for marketers to reach users via email anymore. Generally, users online only read and respond to emails from companies they've interacted with before.

What are the types of direct mail?

There are three primary types of direct mail, these include:
Low-volume mailers. These are generally used by niche products that cater to a select target audience.

For example, Rolls Royce would only send mail to former customers, celebrities, and very well-off businessmen, as these are the only consumers who can afford their products.

High-volume mailers. These are used by mass marketers like clothing stores, malls, retailers, etc. They generally aim to reach as many people as possible to drive footfalls to their store.

Business-to-Business (B2B) mailers. These are from one business to another, for companies that sell to other companies.

For example, a digital processing house would send a B2B mailer to advertising agencies with their rate cards, work samples, etc.

What are direct mail channels?

There are also many different direct mail channels, including: Catalogues. These are usually done to showcase a variety of products, usually by the retail or fashion industries.

Single-fold mailers. These are one-sheet folded mailers. Generally, they have a teaser message on the outside and the main message within. They would also include a reply coupon or some other call to action.

Postcards. These are simple and inexpensive, yet highly effective.

Envelope mailers. Examples of these are seen with credit card companies. They usually have one message on the envelope and your card statement inside, along with other material like gift brochures for reward points, etc. Innovative mailers. These are generally far more creative. For example, an office furniture firm once sent customers a small pillow, to highlight how their furniture provides a comfortable working environment.

What is a newsletter?

A newsletter is a distributed publication targeted at a specific segment of society.

Newsletters could be general interest or they can be specific. A general interest newsletter could have articles about things such as:

1) Politics
2) Sports
3) Weather
4) Opinions
5) Humour
6) Fiction
7) And more

A specific interest newsletter, on the other hand, is generally about one topic such as:

1) Mobile phones
2) Writing
3) Pharmaceuticals
4) Stamp collecting
5) Or whatever else the business is selling

All articles in such a newsletter would revolve around the specific topic the newsletter caters to.

Who uses newsletters?

Newsletters are generally published by clubs, societies, organisations and businesses. Companies generally place a lot of stock in newsletters. They send out newsletters to both clients and employees. It isn't unusual to see every arm in a large company circulating a newsletter of its own.

Web sites also send out newsletters. These newsletters could be used to update subscribers about new content, new product offerings, etc. These e-newsletters are often viewed as spam, however, and often end up in the trash can.

Newsletters are a powerful tool in connecting with consumers. A company's newsletter builds upon a relationship and urges consumers to keep building that relationship. It is an important tool in establishing a company's credentials.

For example, a newsletter from Johnson & Johnson talking about baby care practices immediately establishes it as a leader and expert in the field, thus building further consumer trust.

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About the Author:
Rajesh V. Tavakari, Senior SEO of WebPromotionGuru.Com. Offering affordable website promotion and natural optimization services since 1998. Website : http://www.webpromotionguru.com.