Time & Money Saving Tips

(From the tutorial, Marketing Your Online Business in the "Real World")

Offline marketing is generally much more expensive than an internet campaign: you have to consider the cost of paper, envelopes, ink, postage, plus more that can go into an offline campaign. When money is more important than time, here are a few things to help make the most of a limited budget.

If you can spare the time, build a list of prospects yourself.

You can certainly buy or rent a list of prospects -- but it'll cost you a pretty penny. Building your own list of prospects offers two main benefits: first, it cuts down on costs; and second, you can control the quality of your prospects.
Don't underestimate the important of list quality! You must have a responsive list or you're just wasting your time and money, no matter how great your sales letter. For example, I really couldn't care less about collecting figurines. I don't care how good the sales copy is, I simply wouldn't ever buy a figurine - despite incentives such as limited-edition figurines, time-limited, exclusive discounts, or anything else. I'm just not responsive to that type of offer.
Granted, hand-picking prospects is painstaking work - but you have a much better chance of reaping the benefits (profits!), campaign after campaign. Another thing to keep in mind is that a list rental is only valid for one use. For example, let's say you rent a list for $1000. Most list owners or brokers will "seed" the list with a few of their own addresses. You don't know which ones they are… but if you use the list more than once, they'll know. That means if you want to mail to the list again (and you should; most people won't buy after only one contact), you have to shell out another thousand bucks.

Consider a 'do-it-yourself' plan.

Most people who are just getting started simply don't have a large budget. If you plan to personalize a piece of direct mail, learn to use the "mail merge" feature of your word processor (each word processor may have a different name for it). You just create a "form letter" and a "data source" (such as a spreadsheet, which contains all the information about your prospects), and then tell your word processor where to insert the various bits of information, such as names or addresses.
Likewise, learning how to properly use a word processing and/or graphics program will allow you to create marketing materials yourself - saving you big bucks! I know consultants who claim you should never create marketing materials yourself because of the "home grown" look… but you know your product and your market best. There's no guarantee that your investment in a professional brochure (or sales letter, postcard, etc…) is going to pay off. If your "home-made" brochure works, then use it.
Keep in mind that if you have a professional print job done, you have to factor in the cost of those services to calculate your 'break-even' point. It adds to the expense of your campaign which could make it harder to turn a profit.
There are lots of professional-quality clipart and photo images available for sale, both online and in local stores. Sometimes, too, you can save money by taking big print jobs to a shop that offers "do-it-yourself" services, where you can do printing or photocopying at reduced rates, and often times much faster than you could do at home. Calculate how much it would cost you in paper, ink, etc. to do it at home versus taking it into a print shop.
Make sure you track the response rates and the net profit (or loss) after each mailing. It's the only way to know what's working well for your business.

Ask the post office about discounts.

It never hurts to take advantage of savings.

Consider joint ventures.

Slip your flyer in with mailings from a complementary business (you'll have to work out mutually agreeable terms, of course -- for example, you could split the costs of the postage). Offer special discounts to members of targeted organizations, associations, or companies in exchange for them running an ad in their newsletter or on their website. Barter, trade, or split costs with complementary businesses when you can -- it'll help save money and make it easier to turn a profit (or a bigger profit) with your offline campaign.
For example, let's say you're a web designer. You could propose to your local Internet Service Provider that you split the costs of their next mailout. They include your flyer that offers discounted web design services to their clients. Likewise, you provide your clients with a coupon for discounted web hosting services from your ISP. Both sets of customers are getting extra value, and both you and your ISP have expanded your reach.

Remove undeliverables and 'bad prospects' from your list.

Chances are, you're going to get a certain percentage of bad addresses. Remove them from your mailing list, but keep track of them so that you don't waste money mailing to them again.
Likewise, occasionally you may get someone who's really not a good prospect. The easy ones are the ones who contact you asking to be removed from your list (do it, and be glad! They just saved you money). Then there are the ones who you've mailed to multiple times with no response. Temporarily remove them, and re-assess in a year or two whether or not you want to try again.

Do boring, mindless tasks in front of the TV.

If you have to fold brochures, stuff envelopes, apply stamps, sign letters, etc. then you might as well put your TV-time to good use.

Target publications, tradeshows, conferences, etc. where a large number of your prospects gather.

This is much preferable to individually tracking down everyone who you want to see your message. Get the demographics of the people attending and, if you can, find out from other businesses their experiences with advertising or promoting their services through that medium.

Once your business grows to the point where your time is better spent elsewhere, then consider outsourcing at least some of these tasks, as appropriate.

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