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Finding Your Niche: The Power of the Postcard
By Karyn Zoldan, BridgeMarketing.com
How one woman's passions for postcards grew her business.
This is a case study about embracing your niche, gaining expert status through e-books, the importance of frequently
using an effective auto signature file, and consistent e-mail marketing.
In 1996 Martha Retallick (rhymes with metallic) was a starving start-up web designer with practically no advertising
budget. Her first marketing attempt relied on postcards announcing her business and the response was phenomenal. Her second mailing was less successful. Combining fate with the adage of lessons learned
from mistakes made started the inquisitive Retallick into the realm of comparison marketing, direct mail copywriting, the medium is the message and making that message sell…or at the very least, act now
and contact me.
In June 2002, Retallick launched www.postcardmarketingsecrets.com and began with 50 email addresses gathered from her web design business. Five months later in September, she had 398 subscribers. Today, March 2004, there are 3,488 opt-in subscribers with new subscribers added weekly. However, because of problematic spam and privacy issues, people are more selective about subscribing; making e-mail marketing a more difficult challenge than in its golden heyday.
Martha credits the growth of her e-mail marketing to frequently posting in forums and on interactive lists. By intelligently answering others' questions, she uses one of five auto signatures*
inviting people to visit her site and to subscribe. Amazingly, this free tool has been the single, most solid force behind growing her subscriber base.
As of March 2004, the previous bi-weekly delivery went weekly to further boost the sales of her growing line of
postcard marketing-specific products. The e-zine begins:
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