Wtwmyem? Topic: Promotion

[Chicken]

This Wtwmyem? topic is: Promotion

OK, the first Wtwmyem? (http://hosthideout.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=373) might have been a bit too specific, so were're trying this again. What's the worst mistake you ever made regarding promotion? Did you or the publisher screw up your ad? Did you blow your life savings on a full page ad in a magazine or the yellow pages which resulted in no sales? Which hosting directory gave you no signups and what do you think was the reason?




What is Wtwmyem? Wtwmyem stands for: "What's the worst mistake you ever made?"

I'll be posting a few of these in various forums here and elsewhere and emailing some of the hosts I've talked to and haven't talked to, for the purpose of writing some articles on the subject for the new Ping! Zine. The goal is to help others not make the same mistake [i]you did. Please indicate how you'd like to be listed as the source, or if you'd prefer to be anonymous in case your comments are used.

More Wtwmyem? to come soon!

[allan]

I'll take a stab at this one as well (I've made a lot of mistakes :)):

We decided to try our hand at a direct mailing. We had just paid a lot of money to have a cool new mascot created (at least we thought he was cool :)) and we wanted to show him off.

We paid a company for a list of 2500 local companies, then paid to have the postcards done, and of course paid for the postage. We sent them out and we did not get any sales -- we did get two requests to use our logo from local schools :).

I just looked and realized that I can't find the stupid logo anymore :(.

[Chicken]

Originally posted by allan
I'll take a stab at this one as well (I've made a lot of mistakes :)):

We ... paid a lot of money to have a cool new mascot created ... We paid a company for a list of 2500 local companies, ... paid to have the postcards done, and of course paid for the postage.
Recall any dollar amounts?

As far as you making a lot of mistakes, maybe I should just write the whole article on you ;) :D

[allan]

Originally posted by Chicken
Recall any dollar amounts?


List: $2200
Logo and Post Card Design: $1200
Mailing: $600

We also labelled and stamped all the postcards ourselves before we realized that we could have that done for us.


As far as you making a lot of mistakes, maybe I should just write the whole article on you ;) :D

I've often thought about writing a book on that very topic, because I do feel like we made every mistake possible at least once -- the business seemed to grow despite our business acument that's one of the reasons we sold the business (which was a mistake in and of itself :)).

[iBiz]

hmmm, my worst promotional mistake?

Had to be when I was running a Karate school.

We were in a shopping center and being swallowed up by the large amount of stores around us. You'd think being next to a popular video store and directly across the parking lot from a grocery store would be a good thing, huh. Well, no one really noticed us :(

So we dipped into our vast well of finances (karate schools don't make much to start with) and spent a lot of money on banners, flags, signs and anything we could think of. We spent over three months rent ($3000) and fixed up our spot quite nicely. If fact after all that hard work, we were danged proud of ourselves.

Then two days later it happened :mad:

The landlord showed up with contract in hand, pointing out how putting all of that stuff up was a violation of our contract and that the video store owner had complained about it. The same video store owner who felt we should give up our store front parking spaces to him because he felt he needed it more (of which I told him where he could park)

So we had to pull it all down, no refunds on the stuff because we had either had special ordered stuff or cut it to fit and wasn't returnable.

To this day I'll never understand why people think they can get into a heated arguement with a karate instructor in a parking lot and not get hit. :D

[interactive]

Originally posted by iBiz
.........To this day I'll never understand why people think they can get into a heated arguement with a karate instructor in a parking lot and not get hit. :D

Same thing goes for a gun store. I went into my friends shop and found a guy trying to return a gun, because he bought the wrong calibur ammo and it damaged his gun. He was physically threatining and saying he was going to sue and such. Too many dumbasses in this world..

[timb]

I wasted about a grand on direct mail flyers, never got ANY results. :-(
$500 and two local newspapers later, still nada.
ANOTHER $500 and a direct fax based advertising service, I had like two dialup clients...thats it... :-(

Ohh well, you live and learn, right?
-Tim

[Chicken]

This is what I'm trying to avoid.... others making the *exact* same mistakes.

[TheGAME1264]

As strange as this is going to sound, the worst mistake I've ever made as it pertains to promotion is not doing it. Up until May of last year, I was freelancing on a part-time basis, relying on one client to send me his business (which he has always sent me as much of as I was willing to handle) and I didn't really know how to go about taking on competition who I felt was superior to me. I realized the error of my ways when I was referred by my first client's business manager to my second client.

I did what I thought was an okay job for a site (it wasn't perfect or really high-tech, but it was neat and clean). I was in the final stages of the site (there were still errors and things like that on it) when my client called me up and said "Adam, this is great! I'm telling people about the site, and I just sold three fireplaces I don't even have in stock." At this point, the light came on. I realized that hey, I had some skill, and that I was capable of doing something that people liked, and that this had some marketability. I acquired another pair of clients via the referral method and everything has snowballed consistently since then.

The moral of the story? I'm not sure whether it's "get the opinions of others, and then promote" or just "promote". It's probably a hybrid of the two.

[Chicken]

Originally posted by TheGAME1264:

As strange as this is going to sound, the worst mistake I've ever made as it pertains to promotion is not doing it.
Excellent!

[TheGAME1264]

Excellent that I didn't do it? :)

Seriously, glad it's of use to you.

[Rewdog]

We spent I think 400 or 500 bucks on a small AD in the science part of the New York Times. Our traffic stayed the same and no orders.

Originally posted by interactive:

Same thing goes for a gun store. I went into my friends shop and found a guy trying to return a gun, because he bought the wrong calibur ammo and it damaged his gun. He was physically threatining and saying he was going to sue and such. Too many dumbasses in this world..
Reminds me of a security video on "world's stupidest criminals" or something where a guy tried to rob a gun store with a KNIFE.

[net-trend]

Well, let's see....we had 2 ADs running, both at different times.

The first one was a large black and white banner in a national "Computer Trader" newspaper.

The paper can be obtained free in some states and paid in other states here in Aus.

I splashed out quite a bit on it, and never even saw an email of interest from it. Could be my bad banner design or wrong target market? The paper actually lists out swap meets, people selling computer periperals,etc...

The other time was in the computer section of a local state newspaper, all i could afford to try was just a small text box this time. The first time they printed it out they made a typo on the web address, i scrambled immediately to register that domain name incase someone hijacks' it. :D

The next week they re-printed it and was correct and all i got was 1 customer and 2 inquiries. Right. Great results.

I guess print advertising is sweet for others not so for many.

[RRolfe]

Biggest mistake i made would have to be:
Lowering prices so we were competitive enough to "Promote" on.. *Other Forums*

[Robert]

Wtwmyem?

What does that mean? What is the worse mistake you ever made?

Geez. IRHTSRM. lol. I really have to start reading more.

Anyhow, the worst I've done so far is spend money on business cards and wrote the P.O. Box address wrong. It's 960148 not 906148! ARGH.

[interactive]

Originally posted by Robert:

Wtwmyem?

What does that mean? What is the worse mistake you ever made?

Geez. IRHTSRM. lol. I really have to start reading more.

Anyhow, the worst I've done so far is spend money on business cards and wrote the P.O. Box address wrong. It's 960148 not 906148! ARGH.

They didn't give you proofs?!

[Robert]

Nope. It was online and I wasn't paying attention. Oh well. It was $250 dollars. But I'll just write that off. lol.

[interactive]

lol. Another advantage to supporting local businesses. My gf's parents own a printing shop anyways.

[maxhest]

lol.. 250 bucks is a lot for cards.. ;-)

[TheGAME1264]

Originally posted by Rewdog:

We spent I think 400 or 500 bucks on a small AD in the science part of the New York Times. Our traffic stayed the same and no orders.


Reminds me of a security video on "world's stupidest criminals" or something where a guy tried to rob a gun store with a KNIFE.

IMHO, print advertising seems to be a bit of a hit-and-miss thing. I placed a small classified in a major metropolitan in July, August, and October for a period of one week each time. Cost me about $150 each time around. The ad I placed in July generated me two customers/websites, two referrals from those two customers/websites, and I'm in the process of negotiating with two more referral clients from one of the first-level referrals for five more websites (hopefully, I'll have it all straight this week). So the ad has directly or indirectly generated at least 4 sales for me, and if all goes well, it'll generate 5 more and will probably continue to do so, as the repeat-and-referral effect continues to take place.

I ran the same ad in August and October (I left it two months so it would be fresh), and got nothing from it. Not so much as a phone call or an email inquiry. Since then, I haven't bothered. I've chosen to focus more (when I have time) on search engine and other online promotion techniques.

[Chicken]

Originally posted by TheGAME1264:

I ran the same ad in August and October (I left it two months so it would be fresh), and got nothing from it.
Print advertising (and advertising in general) tends to work best if you consistently place ads. Experiement with placement and size and content if you like, but don't change everythign and eventually you'll be better off keeping placement and overall look consistent. I wouldn't recommend skipping months to keep 'it fresh'. Seeing it over and over again is the idea. This is the reason you see the same ads on t.v. for the same products. By now, unless you're living in a hole on a mountain, you realize there is a soda product called Pepsi but they beat it into your head so you'll never forget it.

[TheGAME1264]

This is true, but at $150 a week ($110 a week for renewal), I couldn't justify doing it. There are many other cheaper, more effective, and more permanent ways to advertise. I just used it as a short-term "quick fix" measure.

[Reality Hosting]

My worst promotional mistake was when I started up. I spent my entire advertising budget on 5000 really nice brochures. They look REALLY good, and the idea was to distribute them to businesses and generate sales. After passing out about 2000 of them, it became aparent that didn't work too well :(

However, it's not all bad, because I still have 3000 brochures to use....heheh :)

[net-trend]

Originally posted by Chicken:
By now, unless you're living in a hole on a mountain, you realize there is a soda product called Pepsi but they beat it into your head so you'll never forget it.

Yeah, even though those Pepsi ads really drum the brand into our heads, especially mine since I've seen that Shakira one countless times...

I still drink Coke.....

IMHO, print advertising is for those who can afford it....

[Chicken]

Heh, me too! You have to look at the big ads (ie: ones placed during prime-time shows, the Superbowl, etc.), and think... hmmm, I should have started a soda or beer company. Seems they can afford it.

[jbiz718]

Well based on what I am learning in college, I would say that even though it may not pay of in sales all advertising helps for branding purposes.

For me my worst mistake was never advertising, but I got enough customers and later sold my company, so that really wasnt much of a mistake.

On a positive note, suprisingly the best advertising is usually Bad publicity as awful as that may sound. I have found that though a company may be bad, bad press = sales. As crazy as that may sound its sometimes true. Take CI Host, lots of bad press, sales very high. Obviously other factors are included in that as well like big marketing campaign.