5 Bucks a Day

I know, I’m among the many (majority?  probably) that hate being marketed to.  Call me on the phone at work or at dinner time, or when I’m trying to relax (I guess that about covers my 24 hours) and try to telemarket to me, and see how annoyed I can get.  Better yet, don’t try it.

Still, marketing has it’s place, and marketers are a necessary industry.

I know, I do one and am the other.

One example brought that to my attention this last week.  I’ve been recommending a package from Chris Endres, called Offline Consultant Toolkit, which is a collection of templates, email messages, videos, and a short eBook which when used properly allows an Internet marketer to show local businesses how to improve their bottom line using email marketing.

For example, a restaurant, when wanting to announce a special deal for St. Patrick’s Day, might send out an email blast to their customers, and offer them a discount.

When I was in retail, which was mostly pre-Internet, when I needed business, I would send out flyers to my customers.  I had a list of about 1000, and preparing, printing, collating, and stamping the darn things would cost me about $1.00 each, so a thousand bucks to announce a sale, and it would take a couple days for the people to start coming in the door, after spending a week or more to get the flyers done.

Today, if I had a retail store, I could type up an email this morning and people would be coming to my store this afternoon.  For virtually no cost at all.

So, that’s a service that many local businesses, many of them unaware of the power of the Internet or email marketing, would pay handsomely for, if only someone would explain and set it up.  Chris’ system does that, and costs peanuts.

So anyway, I recommended this to my own email list, and I got a reply from a guy who should obviously remain nameless, thanking me for pointing him in that direction.  Seems he had recently needed to declare bankruptcy, and down to the bare essentials, he was able to keep his computer, and he figured this was a way to claw his way back.  I think he’s right.

Basically, for the cost of the eBook package, and the determination to walk down his Main Street, or pull phone numbers out of the telephone book, he could help people be more competitive in his home town.  He and I both figured he could easily be making 5K to 10K a month in almost no time.  And the business would build up nicely if he played his cards right.

That’s the way marketers should do their jobs, putting good products and services within reach of their target audience.  My commission on the product referral to this guy was almost nothing, but it has the capability to change his life.

So next time you think you don’t like marketers so you don’t want to be one, give it some extra thought.  Really, we’re here for a reason sometimes, besides wanting to part you from your hard earned dollars.

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