I am not claiming to have thought of this idea, but the idea seems to be pretty effective for other companies who do it, and I thought I would take it a bit farther or make the same method work better.
We hate it when we have about 5 sheets of paper to toss in the oval file under T or G sometimes W, when we get our credit card bills. Most people don't even look at them, because they usually offer something that the credit card customer is not in the least bit interested in buying. (I am one of those, I don't do credit myself, unless absolutely necessary.) However, I would imagine that there are some people that do go for these offers and ads while they are paying their bills, which makes this type of direct marketing approach to advertising somewhat successful.
Then it hit me and I said to myself, I said self, "since my shipments go to people who are already buying handmade, wouldn't it just make sense to trade advertising press with other handmade artisans or suppliers and then include some of their information to people that already want their information, because they have just bought the same type of product?" (I never really answered myself I just kept thinking of all the benefits of the idea that just conked me over the head.) Logically, that tells me that the success rate of my advertising would be much more effective than that of those pesky CC insert ads because that customer is already interested in what they are being offered.
The farther part? Well, how about instead of inserts, which will work, but keep up with me here, why not put the ads on the outsides of the packages in the form of small, address sized, stickers. That way, not only are you hitting the people who already want that information, but one can also cover the cold sale as well. Logically, that should increase your ad's effectiveness even further. (I don't know how many times I have seen a small ad somewhere and gone directly to the site for a look, especially now that I have a new iPhone.) Sometimes to my surprise I find some of the best stuff I have ever seen.
Why can't that be all of us, or at least those of us who read this post or are in our forum. The post office and such don't really care what is on a package, as long
as it does not obstruct any of the important parts of the letter, and as long as there
are no extraneous bar codes anywhere on the package. I put mine all
over the back of my packages, because that is the first place that a person is going to
look when they open the package.
This brings me to my proposal to the members of HAF and anyone actually. I proposed this originally here, but I will copy and paste so you don't have to go to the post unless you want to join the forum, which is highly recommended, by the way, or see the comments and responses so far.
My original post to my forum mates.
I am sorry if this copies anyone else's idea but there is just so much
on the forum to read that I can't get thru it all. I know someone will
point me in the right direction to join something like this if, someone
has already offered to do this. I also hope that I am posting in the
right place too. Again if not, some one please direct me otherwise.
Since
I have changed my Etsy store format, my sales have increased by about
30-40 percent. I find myself sending 3-5 items out a week now, rather
than 3-5 items per year. Anyway, with all my extra traffic, I thought I
would offer some extra traffic to my friends here at HAF.
It is as simple as this.
First a question.
Do
you have or use in your own shipments, small mailing sized stickers or
tiny tags that has your logo or website or information about your
handmade business?
If so, send me a bunch of them and I will plaster
them all over my shipments, or in the case of tiny tags, I will put
them inside a shipment, along with my own press, of course.
This is
actually an idea that i got from my last CC bill. They always have some
kind of ads along with the bill, from other companies that accept their
credit cards, trying to get you to spend more money. Problem with
those, is that they are like cold calls, and over 80% or more of the
people that get those, will toss them, because it doesn't interest them.
In our case, we are sending the same information to people that
are already buying and looking for the type of things we create and
sell, because that is what they just bought. They call that a captive
market.
Anyway, That way, when my clients get my products, they can also get your information, as well.
It really does not take that long to do and anyone can offer to do this.
In
fact I have a shipping area in my house that I have all that kind of
stuff ready to get slipped into or onto any shipment I make.
For a
small amount of effort and cost on your part, your creations get exposed
to someone that might not have seen it otherwise and it does work.
Does this make any sense to anyone or am I just creating again?
Well
let me know or just send me some of your small (no bigger than a
regular mailing address labels, preferably a return address) labels.
You can make them your self or have them made, it does not matter.
One
of the good things about this kind of thing, especially the stickers,
is that while they are being delivered, quite a few people see the
stickers and use the information on them, too. I know you wouldn't think
so, but you know how curious people get. Heck, sometimes when I drop
my stuff off at the post office, I catch the clerk turning my packages
over and over and looking at all the stuff on them. So anyway, let me
know what you think and or just send me some of your smaller press.
My address is TUT P.O. Box 1760 New Waverly, TX 77358 I will stick them onto or into my shipments.
Thanks
for reading anyway. If anyone else would like to do this too, just
give us a place we can send our smaller press to and help out too, if
that is ok with our leaders. This can also be done for anyone on the
forum, not just the Etsians.
Happy Creating everyone.
LDG
One thing I wanted to explain also about the fact that I would prefer stickers, is that with the most common types of hand made goodies, the packaging is not that large. Therefore, putting cards and such into a package will cause the package to weigh more. With much smaller stickers, you won't have that problem. Believe it or not, the weight of a card or even an extra piece of paper, weighs much more than a small sticker or label. Our ultimate goal is to do this as inexpensively as possible for all parties involved. Adding unnecessary postage, would defeat that purpose.
There you have it. So if any of my followers (Handmade artisans or suppliers of those handmade artisan only please. I am not going to be advertising for John Deere or Amway or some other big business or pyramid scheme. This for the furtherance of the handmade movement.) are interested in trading labels with me either make sure you include your return address when you send me your stickers, or let me know your address here in comments. That way you can do the same with my followers, and so on and so on, etc etc.
Happy Creating everyone until I come up with my next brainstorm.
On another note, just in case I don't get to compose again until I do this, I have this holiday contest I am planning. I just have to finish making the prize. So stay tuned for that. It will be fun and might make you think just a tiny bit. Not much though.
Love and Peace Ya'll
LDG
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