Direct Mail

[Melinda Roeleveld]

Michelle, a private school buzz book is what people around here call that school's telephone directory. Not everyone wants to lend them out, including my own sister who teaches at a very exclusive private elementary school. It's not a bad way to find young parents who may want portraits. I guess I need to be patient (which I'm not at the moment). Hope that helps!

[Mike McCarty]

Michele and others,

Did you include any price information on your card?

What is your thinking on this?

[Michele Rushworth]

I didn't include any price information on my card. I'd like it to have a long useful life and my prices could change at any time. I wouldn't want someone to expect a price that was printed on a card they kept from two years before, or from a card that I put out on a table somewhere two years after it was first printed.

A compromise might be "Prices start at ...."

[John Reidy]

Mike

I chose not to include pricing information as I believe that is something that should be discussed in closing the sale. I will not hesitate to give out a beginning price but too often it needs to be qualified.

[Melinda Roeleveld]

I didn't put anything about prices on my postcard. I did say, "For addional portrait samples, visit www.melindaroeleveld.com. " That was my main purpose---to get people on the website to see all the possibilites. I'm still waiting for the phone to ring :-)

[Mike McCarty]

I was talking to Modern Postcard about purchased lists. They indicated to me that for a list of families in my little burg which have a combined income of over $150,000, homeowner - single family dwelling, and with home valued at $775,000+, the number of available contacts that fit this demographic profile was 939.

I asked if they might take off the "single family dwelling" indicator, because I thought that there were oodles of condo owners in this area that would be nice to include.

Having dropped this criteria he came back with the number 1008. This is curious to me. Sarasota is nothing if not littered with million dollar condos, yet he only picked up 69 more hits.

I'm dubious about these lists but don't know of another effective way to do it.

[October Reader]

Mike, I don't know much about this listing business but I sorta think it's categorized under "fulfillment" industry. Judging from the volume in my mailbox everyday, I'd think there would be quite some competition out there, maybe even in your local area.

What about getting the cards from Modernpostcard and find a suitable local fulfillment company to do the rest ?

[Mike McCarty]

What about getting the cards from Modernpostcard and find a suitable local fulfillment company to do the rest ?

There is a certain logic to that. I'll be getting some local quotes. I'm always in the mood for local fulfillment.