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At the close of the last issue of Reseller in a Fishbowl, I mentioned that I had put a survey online that the Chamber of Commerce was trying to get responses to. There were 236 hits to the survey page and 136 submissions. The Chamber was ecstatic with these results! That was the best response from any of the media they had used to date. It has also opened a dialog with other individuals in the area to use the web site as a forum for discussions and get more of the community involved in the decision making process. As a direct result of these efforts, I have had the opportunity to speak with 5 individuals about web sites.
Week 9
As part of my marketing strategy, I developed a brochure to mail to all of the businesses in the area. Along with the brochure I sent a letter explaining the purpose of RexburgOnline.com and a post card that could be returned letting me know they were interested. I made it as easy as possible for them to get listed in the directory and take advantage of my services. Click below to see samples of these marketing materials.
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Creating a brochure is an interesting process. First, you decide who your target is. Then you have a number of decisions that will affect the pricing dramatically: how large, one fold or two, and the number of colors. I decided on two colors, 7" x 8 1/2" with 1 fold. The first draft of copy and pictures was completed...OOPS! It didn't quite say what I wanted. Back to the drawing board. To make a long story short, it took the better part of 2 and 1/2 weeks to get the brochure to look and feel how I wanted. While working on the brochure I enlisted some help to create a mailing list. We used our phone book and compiled the business names, addresses and phone numbers of all the area businesses into a spreadsheet that I could do a mail merge on for the envelopes.
Week 10
The mailing list is complete as well as the brochure and return post card. Tuesday morning we started to stuff envelopes. As we started to stuff we realized that the post card was larger than the envelope. Someone had made a mistake. I made a few quick phone calls and found someone that would cut the cards down to size. Luckily they were less than a 1/4 inch too large. It took us two days to stuff 1,740 envelopes, sort them by zip code, put them into bundles of 50 and take them to the post office for mailing. We could now anticipate orders to come rolling in.
In spite of the fun of stuffing envelopes, all other aspects of the business continue as usual. I visited with an individual that was interested in getting a web site to sell a product that he has developed. He has many questions and wants to make sure that he understands what it is that he is getting into.
Week 11
Monday morning I checked the mailbox and some discouragement set in. I received 250 letters marked "Unable to Deliver" from the batch that had been sent out the week before. Some had moved. Others had gone out of business. I will have to take our list and update it. Also included in the day's mail were 25 cards wanting either listings on RexburgOnline.com, a web consultation or more information about our web services. All told, it appears that the mailing was a success! Through the end of March I have received about 100 post cards back. There has also been an increase in phone activity and emails requesting listings with RexburgOnline.com.
Week 12
The Zions Bank merchant services web site was completed this week. This web site will be used to promote merchant accounts for a much larger Zions Bank corporation. Working with a large institution can have its challenges. The URL for the site is www.ezmerchantservices.com. I contracted TeamICServ to do the graphics. They do great work.
I received the go ahead and made a proposal to create a web site for Amazin' Art. This company creates custom mazes of just about anything you can imagine. I gave them a bid, they accepted the price and we are now building the site!
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