In our community The Business Oasis, Tenter Kate Jones (that’s what we call people who hang out in the forum- “The Tent”) posted the following, and I asked her permission to share it on the blog, because I loved the point she made, in this internet-mad world.
So, without further ado, here’s Kate:
Luddites, in case you aren’t aware of the name, were a group of people afraid of the new machines of the Industrial Revolution. I’m using it to refer to people who are afraid of/don’t use computers much (I’ve heard people refer to themselves in these terms).
I realise that one of the qualities of my potential ‘customer’ is that they don’t use computers! So while I have been having some success with my e-newsletters and messages to those on my e-mail database, I came to realise that there was this whole other group I wasn’t connecting with. And that I needed to.
One of the particular qualities of what I offer also is that it is an oral tradition, i.e. in the tradition of the wisdom passed on by storytellers, not just in the words, but in being present in the energy as the story is told. And in person, hands on healing. So I needed to find some way to work with this too.
One of the most important things I learned from Mark is that marketing is about relationships.
So when a student of mine suggested free talks to let people know about what I offer it felt like a good idea. Such a good idea, in fact, that I decided to do a talk each quarter in each town/city I teach.
I’ve just done the second round and I have to say I’m delighted with the way it’s going. At the latest ones all but one signed up for my mailing list, one actually booked the next course there and then. The evenings are also proving to be a good ‘connecting’ event for my students, who I invite to come along and help out. It’s great to have other people there who love what I do telling those who are new to it! We also have food and there is, I hope, a feeling of generosity about the event .
Now the other ‘Luddite’ aspect is that some of the people who have come to these events have no e-mail address, but want to keep in touch. Last year I was doing a paper version of my newsletter, which was a lot of printing and time. Then I saw that another business was offering the choice of a monthly e-newsletter or a quarterly paper one. Brilliant idea, I thought!
I have just done the first quarterly paper newsletter and because it is less often I’m able to include more info and make it look a bit more interesting. I’ve yet to find out what the response will be, but it feels good to maintain the relationship with the non-computer potential clients in a way that doesn’t drain me.
So while the computers and internet are a great way to make relationships with people (and I’m getting great results from my re-worked website thank you Mark) this is just a little plea not to forget those who aren’t quite there yet. They need our help too and connecting with them can be fun.
As a little aside my next class is almost full and the last one was above my recent average. I think a main reason for that is the talks.
Kate
Offering Reiki rooted in spiritual truth
So, I’m curious. How many of you are using off-line marketing in your business? Why? Is it working? If not, why not?
5 Responses
I’m doing a bit. My target market are academics and although they use the internet, I think a lot of them use it in limited ways. So I’ve offered an e-mail newsletter of the blog posts so they don’t have to figure out about feed-readers. And I’m only updating the blog weekly because they get a lot of e-mail already.
But I’m also going to a big conference. I’m speaking in a series called “Career Corner” which is a good fit for me. And I’ve booked a booth in the book fair (so called because most of the booths will be publishers). I’m going to see how that goes, but I am very optimistic that this will bring people in.
I don’t think I’ll have to go so far as to provide non-electronic regular contact. These people all have e-mail. but it might be that they need to meet me in person first before they will go to the website or sign up for the newsletter.
JoVE
Ah, but it occurred to me that I am doing another Luddite thing. On Charlie Gilkey’s suggestion, I’m going to get printed copies of my e-books. Which sounds bizarre. But at least for the conference booth, I want something I can actually hand to people.
They will be 8.5 x 5.5 coil bound. And I’ll sell them for the same price as the e-version. If it have a bunch leftover, I’ll probably make them available to purchase as print copies from the website but I don’t know (yet) if I want to make that a regular offering.
JoVE
@JoVE – I get it- it’s a big step to provide a printed and mailed newsletter. I’m curious about how your booths and speaking turn out. I’m hoping you rock the house (like there can be any doubt?)
I think that’s a great idea. We’ve had printed versions of all of our products, and we’ve found, from anecdotal reports, that the products get USED a lot more than just the digital versions. Which makes a big difference in terms of them getting usefulness out of it. And then coming back for more.
We charge extra for the physical versions with the products for which we offer the choice.
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