Let’s face it…people like free stuff. You probably know people who attend Home Shows and Expos and go from table to table with a bag and gather as many freebies as they possibly can.

Because we know that people like free stuff we often try to send our own products to them as a sample so they can see what we have to offer. Many times we even take it a step further and personalize it for them. We have the mindset that just because they like free stuff, it’s an automatic in. That pen or calendar we send will last a while and, in turn, our telephone will ring off the hook with their orders.

Your customers are no different. They come to you, the distributor, to purchase promotional items to give away because they too know that people like free stuff. The next time you are at an expo take notice of how many people walk by a booth because there are no goodies on the table. It’s just the nature of the beast.

But, as a business owner, you are aware of the amount of direct mail you get each month. What sets one company apart from another? Do you think it’s a pen or a calendar? With a pen, something we all have too many of, it goes into the drawer typically never to be seen by the recipient again. In my home, they are stolen by one of my children who seem to think pens are disposable after one use.

The calendars? How many calendars do you get around the first of the year? How many calendars does one person possibly need? What makes your calendar different from the one they got from their insurance agent, their realtor, or the local dry cleaner?

While these are both inexpensive products that you can give away to your existing and potential customers, what other items do you have in your arsenal that might have a longer shelf life? This can include items that people don’t realize they need but can’t seem to live without once they have them or items that you can never have enough of.

Items that people don’t realize they need but can’t live without once they have them

• Jar openers

Most everyone struggles at some point in time opening a jar lid. The average person does not know that there is a solution to the problem. So, when they go to the store, they are not looking for something to rectify the issue. They deal with it.

When they are introduced to the jar opener, they see they can easily open the lid with a flimsy piece of plastic. It becomes a necessity for them over time and when they lose it they truly realize the value in it. It becomes something they can’t live without.

• Travel Alarm Clocks

How many times have you traveled for business and were so afraid that you would oversleep and miss that important meeting in the morning? When you are away from home you often feel out of your comfort zone and typically the alarm clocks in the hotels are different from the one to which you’ve grown accustomed. Rather than lugging your own alarm clock across country, wouldn’t you rather have a personal travel alarm clock that you know how to operate and you know is going to wake you up in the morning?

• Zippy Letter Openers

A letter opener is a letter opener is a letter opener. Not necessarily. One of my clients recently discovered the Zippy letter openers after I recommended that she purchase them to give away at the conference she was attending with administrative professionals from all over the state.

It’s the little things that make people happy. I no sooner showed it to her and she began opening every envelope she could get her hands on. Shortly thereafter, that old point letter opener found its way to the trash can.

The average consumer would never make a special trip to the office supply store for a simple letter opener. It is one of those items that never seem to make it to the list of items needed. Before the Zippy letter opener was discovered I used my finger and oh how attractive those paper cuts were!

Items You Can Never Have Enough Of

• Sticky notes

Can you imagine your life without sticky notes? They have been around since 1977 and by 1990 Post-Its were one of the top five office supply products sold in the United States. We now have computerized versions and those annoying pop-ups while surfing the internet are starting to look like them as well.

You can never have enough sticky notes! How many creative messages can you send with your sticky notes to a potential customer? Perhaps it’s a note pad in the shape of a foot with a little note that says, “Just wanted to get my foot in the door.”

Sticky notes are not going to go in the trash or into an unused drawer and more often than not will be seen by many.

• Flashlights

How many times do you find yourself in need of just a little more light? There is always one place in your home, office, or vehicle that you wish you had a flashlight but always seem to forget to pick up an extra one.

For me, I wanted one in the office but never made it out to get one. When I need to plug something in to the back of the computer the extra light is always nice. A realtor gave me the one that I have now and I’ve had it for 4 years. It’s made 2 moves with me. The best part is I don’t have to traipse all over the house to find a flashlight when I need one. I’m now on a quest for a flashlight for my glove compartment.

We’re no different than anyone else. We like free things. As consumers, we are drawn to the word free. We all go to conferences and events only to slip away to see what everyone else is giving out. How many of us come home with promotional items that we didn’t bring with us? I normally come home with a big bag of goodies that I give to my children only after I’ve taken the cool gadgets out for me.

That’s right. The kids get the pens, pencils, plastic key chains and candy. Most of these items end up in the trash at some point in time. I keep the Zippy letter openers, sticky notes, travel mugs and jar openers.

Go through your inventory. Ask your friends. Determine what they use and ask them what promotional items they have in their home they just cannot live without. Make sure that what you give your potential customers will not find its way to the circular file or the bottom of a toy box.

About the Author:

Heather Jacobson is an expert in marketing and implements marketing campaigns for companies on a budget. Her favorite topic is frugal marketing, and her latest book, “Making Dollars Out of Cents: 101 Tips for the Frugal Marketer” demonstrates how to maximize your marketing budget. For more information visit www.HeatherJacobson.com

I am all for advertising. It’s a way of life, and it is needed. I know that without advertising, my local broadcast channels would not be free. I know the power of advertising. I have used advertising in various methods, and I place other people’s ads on my blogs, websites, and in my newsletters.

However, there comes a time when it’s too much.

I subscribe to two paid print newsletters every month. They are both put out by well-known marketers, both men I believe are at the “genius” level when it comes to marketing. I admire them, and I aspire to be like them, so I jumped at the chance to subscribe.

In order to avoid publicly bad-mouthing anyone, I’ll call them Marketer A and Marketer B.

Marketer A’s came first – a 16 page newsletter in a booklet format that was nicely formatted. I gobbled up the information in the newsletter, as well as in the CD that accompanied it.

Marketer B’s came later – the envelope was huge and I assumed that it was packed with information. While it did include some great content, the majority of it was information promoting his other products. It took me some time to weed through everything to find the newsletter, and when I finally did, I couldn’t differentiate between the information and the advertisements! I put it away, thinking I would come back later to read it. It’s still sitting there.

This month, Marketer A sent his newsletter, and again I dove right into the information and walked away from it thinking he’s a genius. Marketer B’s newsletter arrived the next day, again filled with advertisements.

I’m confused, and a confused mind says no. I’m sure there must be some wonderful information within those 16 pages, but I can’t get past all the ads. When the CD came, it was only a recording of a free teleclass promoting someone else’s $1200 course!

When I sign up for a free teleclass I expect sales and hype. There’s a reason that it’s free. I can get past it. But when I pay for it, I’m not expecting to pay for another ad.

Not only that, but because I’m a “valued subscriber” I receive at least one fax a week asking me to join something else that costs $197 a month. Even as I wrote this article, I received an email mirroring what the fax said.

This is just my personal opinion. However, I wonder how many others get distracted by all the “noise” in various newsletters. This man is greatly respected in the marketing community, and it bothers me that I’m not able to digest the information.

If the newsletter was free or low cost, I don’t think I would mind as much. However, I pay $40 each month for this information, and right now it is a wasted $40. I have not been able to find anything in this newsletter to apply to my business.

So here are a few guidelines for including ads in your publications:

1. Have a good balance of ads and information. If your ads outweigh the information, people probably are not reading what you have to say. If you offer a paid subscription, your ads should be no more than 20% of your information. They are paying for your knowledge, not your ads.
2. Place your ads where they are seen, but don’t let them distract from your information. Don’t hide the content that your readers are interested in.
3. Make sure your ads compliment the information that you are conveying. If you’re discussing how to build a website, then an ad about a domain name sale or web hosting would be acceptable; a Viagra ad, on the other hand, would not.

The fact is ads are part of our society. For many of us, it’s how we keep our publications or services free. However, when the information gets lost in the ads, the message we are trying to convey gets lost, t. Our credibility has the potential to be diminished, and we may lose readers in the end. So what is the rule of thumb for using ads in a publication? Keep the noise low so you can hear your subscribers sing your praises!

About the Author:

Heather Jacobson doesn’t pay for marketing if she doesn’t have to. Discover how she does it and claim 10 free marketing tips at http://www.10freetips.com

Last time I mentioned the basics you must have in your marketing arsenal. You need those to advance to the items I wish to discuss in this article, which are “gimmicks”, your marketing kit, and direct mail (or email) campaigns.

“Gimmicks”

I hate the term “gimmick” as I feel it means we’re trying to hustle the client. That’s not it at all. Simply put, we’re trying to get their attention. If two “solicitations” come across my desk, I’m more likely to pick up the more appealing one first. Our potential clients do the same.

Now, I’ll state that misleading “gimmicks” I’m not real fond of. Therefore, when I send out or attempt my gimmicks, I try to keep that in mind. I don’t want to make my potential clients angry because they think they are getting a free car when they sign up for my services.

Gimmicks and direct mail go hand in hand. While sending out a brochure is a great thing to do, it’s not going to get their attention like it would if the gimmick were attached to the brochure.

One of the things that I have done is send out my standard introductory letter and inside is a little foam foot. You can get these feet at any craft store, normally in the scrapbooking section. On that foot, I write, “Just wanted to get my foot in the door.” When I worked in television and made sales calls, I would often take a large foot with me and leave it with the “gatekeeper” and you would be surprised at the amount of response I received. Why? I got their attention.

Lisa Sommer of Errands to Go used this gimmick:

I recently held an open house for an apartment community and the marketing gimmick that I used was a small business card sized teaser saying “When the work day’s through and there’s still much to do let Errands-To-Go be your life saver” I purchased some individually wrapped life savers and stapled one to each card. When the life saver is removed, it reveals a picture of a life preserver, like you see on a boat.

There are many things you can do to get the attention of the person you’re sending something to. Send them a pad of post-its with your logo on it. Who doesn’t use post-its? That’s 50 times someone (and not just your potential client) will see your logo. One site that I look at often for promotional items is www.4imprint.com . Their prices are reasonable, but more importantly, it starts your mind into thinking about how you can put a spin on your gimmick. I even found feet post-it notes and may move to sending those out instead of the foam feet!

If you come up with, or have used a creative gimmick and would like to share, I’m always looking for them and would like to compile a master list of gimmicks. Please email them to me at heather@valleyva.net . You will receive credit and a link back to your site for allowing me to use them.

Marketing Kits

There are many different directions you can go with a marketing kit’s presentation. I’ve seen people put them in pretty presentation folders. I’ve seen kits sent out in labeled file folders, making it a snap for the recipient to file it I’ve also seen marketing kits go out electronically, whether on a regular sized CD or on a business card CD. However you decide to present it, there are a few things that you must include!

I have a standard marketing kit that I personalize for whoever I send it to. If I know they are looking for general administrative duties, then that’s what I highlight and those are the rates that I present. If they’re looking for marketing help, then I highlight my experience in marketing, and include those rates.

The first thing I have in my marketing kit is my general sales letter. It’s a standard letter; however I customize the first paragraph to entice the person it’s going to. In this letter, I give them a summary of what a Virtual Assistant is, how one could help their business, and convince them that they need one — or at least put the thought in their head. The letter includes my contact information and I normally jot at the bottom that I will call or email to follow up with them in a week.

I then have a more detailed look at the VA industry. I include statistics, what people are looking for in a VA, the services that VAs provide, etc. A page in length is good, but I like charts and graphs as well. What can you find that’s a compelling story to tell these potential clients?

The next section I have is about my company, and me. It’s a resume with a kick. I include a company bio as well as information about my background and my specialties. It’s basically my elevator speech, fleshed out. When I have staff, I will include their resumes as well. I also include a printed resume as well as my addendum, which is a task, action, results page of various tasks that I’ve completed in my career. It’s nice to include a picture, but you don’t have to. If you do decide to include one, make sure it’s a professional one and not one that your five year old took of you at the beach last summer.

The next section that I would include if you have more people working for you other than yourself is contact information for the staff. If it’s just you, then your business card, attached to the sales letter is sufficient.

The “props” section is where I would include testimonials of happy clients as well as any honors or awards you’ve received and any organizations that you belong to. Show them that you are active in the community as well as in the industry.

I would then include a page on what you have in your office that you can use. What hardware do you have, what software do you have? What software do you know how to use? What tools do you possess to make their lives a little simpler?

The rate sheet should go last. It is inserted last in hopes that it will be looked at after all of the other information provided before they look at the cost. It doesn’t normally work that way, however, one can always dream. You may or may not decide to include actual rates as it’s a personal preference. One of the ways to deter people from flipping right to the rates page is to give them the marketing kit in a power point presentation. I am currently working on a presentation for my website. When a visitor wishes to look at my marketing kit online, he or she will have to look at the whole presentation before they get to the rates page.

I also include another sheet behind the rates page as a call to action which simply says, “What are you waiting for? Call me today for your free consultation and learn how partnering together can take your business to the next level.” My contact information is again included.

I recommend a PDF version of your marketing kit that you can email immediately upon request. I also recommend uploading it to your site. The choice of making the link available on your site is a personal decision, however, you can send the link to your marketing kit to you potential client, and it’s another way to drive them to your site.

Direct Mail Campaigns

As a former broadcast television employee, I can’t believe that I’m going to tell you all about direct mail, let alone that it can work. For years, I told people why it didn’t work, why it wasn’t cost effective, etc. Today, I’m going to tell you that it’s a good route to take.

If you want to start your business off locally, or even if you want to target your marketing nationally, direct mail can work. (I recommend something catchy to put in there.)

We’ve talked before about your target market. You have to know who that is before you even think about a direct mail campaign, and here’s why. Don’t waste your time or money sending marketing materials to someone you KNOW won’t be interested. I get information on the mail all the time and I know why it’s sent to me. I just bought a house; therefore, I get all the refinancing mail. I’m their target market. Now, I don’t want to refinance my house right now, but what if I do in the next few months? I’ll know where to go because they’ve already contacted me. I’ll be honest though, it will be the company that somehow caught my attention that I will do business with. You can have the best marketing materials known to man, and they are worthless if you send them to someone other than your target market.

Now that you have your target market, you need a list of people to send the information to. Where do you get that? Yes, there are many places that you can buy lists, but don’t waste the money on a list that you can create yourself. Many Chambers of Commerces are listed online. Many Chambers also list their members online as well. Start there. If your target market is real estate agents, try www.realestateagent.com . Google your target market and see what you can come up with.

Another place to look is your local business journal website. Or read any city’s business journal. You’re virtual, so you don’t have to be in New Mexico just because they are.

Now that you have your list, what do you do with it? USE IT!! You’ve put all that time into it, don’t let it go to waste. Do you have your information ready to send? Do you know what to send?

Do I know what to send? The answer to that is yes, and no. I don’t know what’s best for you and your business. We’ve talked about the brochures and we’ve talked about the marketing kits and the gimmicks. You need to come up with what’s best for you. Do you have a lot of information you want to share? Why not try it in waves?

For example, I might send out a postcard with a tropical place on the front and on the back write “Wish you were here?” and then go into a little spiel on how with the help of a virtual assistant, they could free up the time to take that much needed vacation.

I might then follow up, a week or so later, with my standard sales letter and marketing kit. If I send out a marketing kit, I will call to follow up.

I recommend that you follow up with each person that you send something out to. Things get lost in the shuffle, they forget, etc. It happens to all of us. Drop them a quick email, or give them a quick phone call. It doesn’t have to be anything more than, “My name is Heather and I’m the owner of Valley Virtual Assistants. I sent you some information last week, and I wanted to follow up with you to see if you had any questions that I could answer for you.” Simple. You’ve now touched them a second time.

I recommend tracking what you send, whom you send it to, when, and a response, if any, on a spreadsheet. This will help you to determine what’s working and what’s not. Don’t get discouraged if you sent our 100 post cards and you only heard back from 2 people. Re-evaluate your campaign and try again.

Direct mail works with email too. I don’t recommend sending out a mass email to all the email addresses that you’ve harvested from the Chamber’s website. There are spamming laws in effect now. Make sure that you are abiding by the laws. While we hate spam, we do like to get information that is useful to us!

Each email that you send should be tailored to the person that you’re sending it to. The body can be the same but the first and last paragraph, just as your sales letter that you mail out, should be altered. Take a look at their web site. Talk about their business in that letter. People like it when they’re talked about. Compliment their web site. Schmooze. You can do on the phone, in person, and yes, you can even schmooze in an email.

You can offer a call to action in your email as well, and I recommend doing so. Get them to your site. Make them email you back. Strike up a conversation. Every conversation you have with this person, it another chance you have at making them a client.

Avoid spam looking email. You know what I’m talking about. No subject and big bold red letters. Make the email look like it’s coming from someone they know. Make the subject line something they want to open up to read. The subject line of “How would you like a vacation?” probably isn’t going to work. Be creative, and think about your reaction if you saw the subject line you’re going to use.

Many people ask about putting rates in their direct mail campaigns. For sales at the grocery store, yes, put the rates of the cheese that’s on sale. That’s how you’re going to get people in the door. For services, it’s a little different. Personally, I like to use the word affordable. But my main goal after reading my literature is for a potential client to think, “I have GOT to get a VA”. Then when they see the rates it’s not as bad, as they have already decided that they need one. That and my rates for one client aren’t going to be the same for another. I want them to call me and discuss their needs and their budget with me, so that I can negotiate a fair price. There again, that call to action, “Your first two hours free” can mean a savings of anywhere between $20 and $80 depending on what you charge. Who doesn’t like the word free?

Put time into your marketing kit and your direct mail campaigns. You reap what you sew, so if you’re marketing kit isn’t top notch, you’re less likely to get the response that you want.

About the Author:

Heather Jacobson doesn’t pay for marketing if she doesn’t have to. Discover how she does it and claim 10 free marketing tips at http://www.10freetips.com