Marketing Your Consulting Services.pdf - epiheirimatikotita.gr

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ebbvice Mail a Lumpy Envelope
Direct mail can have a big payoff. You must get the recipient’s attention so that
the envelope is opened. You certainly don’t want to think that your envelopes
could be placed in someone’s junk mail stack!
Over the years we have mailed dozens of lumpy envelopes. We’ve mailed
typical things such as pens, staple removers, and holiday ornaments, but we’ve
mailed the unusual, too:
• Tree-shaped pasta in January to send greetings for a “tree-mendous” new
year with many “pasta-bilities.”
• Polished stones to thank someone who has been a “real gem.”
• Glass stars to congratulate champions and tell them they are “real stars.”
• Miniature books that contained quotes for business, for people, or for life.
• Tape measures asking the recipients how they “measure up.”
• Crayons to complete an interactive creativity brochure.
• Pumpkin pokes (black wire in the shape of bats that you “poke” into pumpkins)
in October.
And when there is nothing to make a large lump, we may add confetti to celebrate
a business success or tiny stars to say congratulations. We have acquired
a reputation for our lumpy envelopes. Some clients open our envelopes over a
wastebasket—just in case. We have gained a reputation for mailing things that
brighten people’s days.
Budget Fit It might seem like a blinding flash of the obvious, but you do need to
remember your budget and what you are trying to accomplish with it. A rule of
thumb is to invest 10 percent of your gross in marketing. Estimate how much you
will sell next year and build your marketing plan around one-tenth of that amount.
You will establish a specific budget in the next step. For now think in terms of
whether you will be using tools that require large outlays of money, such as mag-
Marketing Your Consulting Services