Question & Answer

This is a new section we will be adding to regularly.  We get asked questions everyday like this and although this may relate to entirely different type of business you are in, these ideas are here to help you brainstorm for your own business

 We are also creating a new section to our website that will have links with different resources you can use to promote your site.  Baytech Companies is a small business consulting company, and we can help you implement any of your ideas. For a FREE consultation please call 888-374-0555

Q. What are the items to think about and mistakes to avoid when planning a bulk email program?

Common Mistakes in Bulk Email Marketing

1. The desire for instant gratification

Launching an bulk email campaign is like trying get your car rolling from a dead stop. You think you're going to manage it all in one push? Nope. It takes time to work up some momentum. And before you achieve a decent speed, you're going to start wondering if you are even up to the task. Be patient!

Studies have proved the only variable that influences the success of any campaign is the power of your message. So make sure you are saying the right thing. "Uncover the story that is uniquely yours; focus your campaign; commit to your message." And be prepared to give it time.

Once you get your momentum, it will be hard to stop it! Sure, along the way you're going to have to give the occasional push, but with the momentum established, the job becomes much easier.

2. Attempting to reach more people than the budget will allow

This is the reach versus frequency issue. Let's say you are going to buy inventory or place an ad in an email newsletter. You can afford to make 100,000 impressions. Do you go for 10 placements in one newsletter that goes out to 10,000 people, or do you opt for one placement that goes out to 100,000 people? Same number of impressions, but the first option exposes fewer viewers to multiple impressions.

Think about it this way: Would you rather reach 100% of the people and convince them 10% of the way of them, or reach 10% of the people and convince all of them all the way? When it comes to maximizing your email marketing efforts, this is a useful analogy: Your message is the nail, repetition is the hammer, and a block of wood is the customer. If the nail is sharp and you hammer effectively, you will pierce through the wood and clinch the customer.

3. Assuming the business owner knows best When it comes to stuff in which you have a huge personal
investment (your kids, your homes, your businesses), you risk losing your objectivity. Hey, it's a human thing. Too much knowledge about your company and what you offer leads you to answer questions nobody is asking. When you're inside the bottle, it's hard to read the label.

But that's also when you risk pushing your own interests at the expense of your customers' interests. Sometimes it helps to bring in an objective outsider(Baytech Companies perhaps??) to give you some perspective.

4. Unsubstantiated claims Folks make claims all the time that miss targeting their customers' needs and simply wind up turning them off. Specifics about yourself, your way of doing business and your products are far more persuasive and cut to the chase far more effectively than generalities. So get credibly specific!!  

Q. How can I promote my business and gain clients?

I have been honing my computer skills to try and make some money and start a business. The only problem is i seem to be having troubles finding jobs. Pretty much I'm doing free computer diagnostic. I pick up the computer, diagnose every aspect of how its working all for free. After that I contact the customer and discuss the problem(s) they may be having and discuss were to go with it.

This is a really good calling for me and I'm really good at it, not to mention I love doing it. So pretty much what I'm wondering is if you have any insight on how to promote my business and get some new clients. Keep in mind I'm only 22 and don't have money for advertising and such.

Jim's Answer:

You are by no means the first person to identify a great career path and jump in just to find that there's a difference between a "good idea" and a "viable business". The harsh truth is that ideas are pretty much a dime a dozen; it's the implementation of the idea that makes for a great business.

That's one reason that you hear time and again that savvy investors never invest in ideas but in teams: if you and your partners have a track record of success then it doesn't really matter what your current idea is because it's inevitable it'll be refined, redefined, and reinvented on the path to success.

In your case, for example, driving all around town to pick up computers and spending the time diagnosing them without a fee isn't scalable. When you have a half-dozen clients per week it'll work, but once you sign a small local business or two, diagnosing 50-100 computers a week becomes a completely different challenge, one that will inevitably eat you alive without any revenue to compensate.

For the same reason, you can't do on-site diagnosis unless there's some fee involved too. In fact, that'd take up even more of your time because while you're at my house, checking out my PC, you can't also be running diagnostics on another computer from a different client.

I really like the idea, though, so the question is whether there's a way to make it work, and that might be a "we fix it or the service call is free" sort of approach? Since the vast majority of people wouldn't call you unless there was a serious problem (most people accept flakey computer behavior without trying to fix it, after all) you'd be almost guaranteed to be able to fix it.

In a business of this nature, word of mouth is a very common marketing approach and that's what I would suggest you focus on too: offer your customers an incentive to refer others to you (10% off your next service call, for example).

Technology can work for this business as well as non technical businesses.  Among the many services provided by Baytech Companies include but are not limited to:

• Websites - Every business needs one - whether you need an informational or eCommerce style, or even a mix of both depends on the business model you have chosen.  Baytech Companies will work with you to help you determine your needs and work with your budget to build you a world class web presence.
  
• E- Newsletter -  A great way for you to keep in regular contact with your customers is to send a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly newsletter.  many of the newsletters we design for our clients have product and customer spotlights as well as action based offers designed to immobilize your customer base. These newsletters are an extremely cost effective way to communicate.  For more information and to receive a FREE 15 day trial of one of the world class systems, Icontact, please Click HERE
  
• Landing Pages- Want to run a campaign for a specific product or service that you offer? Professionally designed landing pages from Baytech Companies will help your company sales and increase brand, product, and company awareness.  Combined with email solutions, online ad placements, and even traditional forms of newspaper, radio and television advertising, we have developed landing pages that have increased sales over $100,000 and more for our customers. 
  
• Email marketing - Have a list that is undeveloped and want to develop a solid prospect pipeline.  many of our customers come across emails in many ways, however are worried about spam laws that could affect their business.  We will teach you how to successfully and responsibly turn that list into a double opt in marketing machine designed to grow revenues beyond your imagination
  
• Video Email - This is our latest release and hottest new system to hit the internet in a long time.  Imagine the power of following through with a cold call prospect you just phoned, worth an email that was recorded right AFTER you got off the phone with that prospect. This will enhance your reputation as a leading edge company and allow you to track your customer response like never before.  Stay tune for our official product launch in the next coming weeks.

 

I'd also suggest that you network  at places like the Chamber of Commerce mixers: you'll find lots of business people who rely on their computers but aren't necessarily that computer savvy. A perfect market.

Finally, go social. Twitter about computer support and fixing problems, have a Facebook account where you talk about common problems and solutions, and think about a blog where you do, well, what I do: post Q&A about specific tech issues. Don't worry you're giving away the show, either, because it's one thing to read about how to fix a computer and another for someone to actually *do* it. For many people, paying $50 is better than trying to do it themselves and failing.

And good luck with it all!