Down & Out & Only $200 to Invest
A kind gentleman wrote me this note this week, on how to invest his limited marketing education dollars:
Hi Perry,
I have a question for you. I am in the Direct Mail business. As you know direct mail is dying an ugly death. I have maybe held on to long and am looking at new directions. I also offer website design services and wanted to start pushing this service more. I am in very poor financial shape and I do not have much money to spend on your products at the moment but I do receive your newsletter and of all the newsletters and writers I receive I find your the most useful.
So my question is this. I have approx $200 dollars to allocate towards your products until the end of the year, or until my sales increase. What product do you suggest. I am not currently using adwords but want that to be a big part of my marketing going forward. Also I am going to be setting up a website that will refer to a larger site that sells website templates. For this I receive a 20% commision so I think Adwords would be good for that as well.
I am really hoping to make some money as it has been a very bad few years so let me know what you suggest.
Thanks
Mr. C
Mr. C:
I’m leery of going from direct mail to selling website templates. Reason is: (1) I’m not convinced website templates is a great business to get into, especially for a guy who’s new in this game, and (2) it doesn’t capitalize on your existing knowledge. I would not try to build a primary business based on getting a 20% commission on somebody else’s templates.
I have to believe that if you have experience in direct mail, you know a certain population of customers and companies. You surely have some insight into their marketing and if you’re familiar with my materials you could look at what they’re doing and develop ways of making their direct mail more profitable.
Or ways of getting them more customers via the web for less.
But I would start with what you know, and apply the new things that you have learned. Do not walk away from all that knowledge.
If I were you, deciding how to invest $200 I’d join Renaissance Club. It comes with the Definitive Guide as well. Worst case you get 5 months of really great material. I think the White Papers course for $99 is an excellent value. You can use it as the basis for an entire consulting business.
Perry
About the Author
Entrepreneur Magazine says: "Perry Marshall is the #1 author and world's most-quoted consultant on Google Advertising. He has helped over 100,000 advertisers save literally billions of dollars in Adwords stupidity tax."
He is referenced across the Internet and by The Washington Post, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune.
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Perry-
Just another example of starting with economics first.
Its fun now to see your replies. I can see the conceptual framework you use, as well as the copy skills.
Adam
Hi Perry,
Thanks for the response. In regards to the website templates, that was not going to be a major part of what I was going to sell. Website development is what I really enjoy doing over the last couple of years, although I have not actively gone out and sold that part of my services. I should of been.
I am very good at what I do in the direct mail field but
1. my passion for it is gone.
2. Email Marketing and smaller target marketing has reduced quantities considerable.
Anyway I am not completely stopping the direct mailings but I do want to get into a different business service. Websites and Data driven website development is a nice fit and I enjoy it.
At the same time I would like to see if referral commission websites work. I am open to suggestions on this. It would not cost me very much if anything to start up because I can do the website development myself and I am curious to see if it works.
Anyway I appreciate your suggestions and I will be going with your Renaissance club. As I mentioned in my email, yours is the only newsletter I still read everyday, most others are motivational pie in the sky.
I need results.
Thanks I will update you on my progress.
Hi EC,
Like yourself, I have been a long time reader of Perry’s newsletter and have always enjoyed his perspective on things. I understand what he means by not throwing your direct mail experience out the window. At the same time I also understand passion. I had been working as a tradesman for 20 years but my heart was never into it. What I DID love was online marketing. About a year ago I wanted to get started with “anything” online. I had an idea for an information product but somehow ended up building websites. Well, long story short, I have had great success with building websites but find that dealing with the customer’s visual design needs are not my specialty. I have been looking for someone to turn the business over to that would be willing to let me continue to do the marketing and split the proceeds 80(you)/20(me). Yes, Perry 80/20 again! If this is of any interest to you leave a comment and I’m sure someone on Perry’s staff will make sure we get each other’s email.
JC
Hi JC,
I love the idea. If we could get in contact with each other that would be great. Looking forward to talking.
EC