Unique Card Marketing

Ever since we communicated the change in the the way Send Out Cards (SOC) does business,the response has been insane.  So many have expressed interest in no only simply utilizing the Send Out Cards service, but in potentially becoming a distributor due to the basic ‘no-brainer’ use of the product.  Now when SOC announced that they had a a big announcement that would “open the floodgates”, I will be honest, I was skeptical.  I’ve been in business for a long time, and heard a lot of ‘big news’ that simply was just fizzle and hype.  This has truly blown me away.  Kim and I are both so excited about this that there is just enough time in the day to do ALL that we want to do.  And with this announcement has also come a number of questions, so I will answer them here.

1. So What?

I like to think of it this way.  Send Out Cards has now done to the greeting card market, what Netflix did to the DVD market just a few years back.  Netflix allowed for ANYONE to affordably (much more affordable than Blockbuster or Hollywood Video) rent DVD’s with a low cost subscription service.  SOC has just done the same thing, but with greeting cards.  How affordable?  Think of it this way: If you send just 3 average standard greeting cards purchased at Walmart at $3.50 per card (and the majority of the cards are much more than that), you total for those 3 cards are $10.50.  With the SOC subscription plan at only $9.80 per month, you can send, from a selection of over 10,000 cards, 10 of comparable standard greeting cards with a customized message inside, and in your own handwriting, if you choose that option.  If you want to send a card with customized, uploaded pictures and graphics (a company logo, pictures of the kids, decked out Christmas card, etc), you can can send at least 6.  And that months point credits role over to the next month, just in case you don’t use them all.  But I think it’s very safe to say, that the AVERAGE household sends at least 3 cards – heck, my mom sends, on average, 4 cards per month.  EVERYONE, and I mean everyone, now can save money sending cards.  And like Netflix, it costs nothing to join.

2. What If I want to consider this as a business for myself?

Absolutely.  As stated above, this has now become a true ‘must have’ for everyone as it is going to save them money on all their greeting card needs – and I’m not even talking about holiday cards (that’s even bigger).  So again I think of Netflix.  What is someone had offered you a chance to profit every time one someone used Netflix, or subscribed?  Where do you think your life would be right now???  (I’ll give you a minute to think about that one)……

….yea, life would be a little different. Since I got into this business, I had really considered Send Out Cards to be a great personalized marketing and follow up tool for business.  That was the main thrust, as I saw it.  Yes, of course I felt there was the use for the average person, but with the $200 initial investment to use the system, I didn’t it was a quick enough return on the low cost of the cards to offset the $200.  Yes, if you use the system, it would eventually pay for itself.  But I like a quick return on my money.  Now, with the $200 or $100 initial fee GONE for the basic accounts which now all have the best features of the Send Out Cards system with the use of Picture Plus 2.0, the contact manager, ability to have your own handwriting loaded into the system, AND Send Out Cards will also send you back the installer package to put your own handwriting font onto your computer so you can use it in programs like Word, etc. , it has put Send Out Cards into the hands of EVERYONE.  So how positive would you be when you have what you already believe to be an outstanding business model, with a potential customer base of any company sending cards to their clients for birthday’s, holiday’s, follow up, sympathy (think Insurance company, Trust Attorney, etc), or any other company that would like to personalize their marketing.  Now take the potential customer base, and increase it by literally EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES.   That is why this is huge.  Does the average consumer balk at all about the $8.99 monthly subscription fee of Netflix??  Not at all, it’s exactly the opposite.  The love the idea they are getting such a deal combined with easy of use, and convenience.  The potential market IS everyone.

The following is  a quote from a facebook post by a fellow SOC Rep:

I have heard many Sendoutcards distributors say they now believe the can get 10 $9.80 subscriptions a month. Many have already started. Let me put that in perspective…

If you had 100 distributors in your organization who did this, just in your distributor group, you are looking at an extra $1240 a month is residual income. If those s…ame 100 fell in your Manager group, that’s up to $4340, in your Sr. manager group it is up to $7440, Executive $10,540, Sr. Executive $13640, Eagle $16,740.

This is NOT an income claim. It is only to show you what the new retail launch can do for your business with as little as a 100 motivated people.

Network marketing has never been been about how many you you do, it’s how well you teach a few. The few that are looking for extra income or a change in their life.

And you have to keep in mind, that SOC, just like any other business, is one that is built.  It does NOT happen overnight.  So if you have any questions about what you have read here, let me know by either sending me a message on my contact page, or give me a call on the cell 626.757.1945

Since June of last year I my wife became part of a great business opportunity called Send Out Cards.  She was excited about the mass potential it held for her to be able to leave the corporate world, and make money from her own home based business.  Now I was never one for ‘home based businesses’ thinking they were just a bunch of bull that wanted you to sell things like herbal supplements to friends and family that no one would really use, and just tick everyone off while you were being the ‘salesman’.

However, with Send Out Cards (SOC), I instantly saw the huge advantage it held for MY profession of choice – acting, as well as the marketing and web consulting that I do.  I now had the ultimate tool to never have to buy bulk postcards EVER AGAIN.   And I could create postcards with my choice of headshots, my choice of design catered specifically to the recipient, in my own handwriting, and everything was done online.  It really got my marketing juices flowing – big time!  The icing on the proverbial cake was the cost of only .62 cents per postcard for me.

I’ve mentioned SOC on this site a couple places, and even have examples of the cards I send out which were created via the SOC Picture Plus 2.0 system.  I have even had a number of my readers inquire about, and signup for, a free gift account to try SOC out for themselves.  But now the game has changed – and all I can say is – OH YEA!!!  I’ve seen companies makes changes that just left me scratching my head in wonderment.  But this change is complete paradigm shift in the way SOC is doing business.  It used to be, that to become part of SOC, required a one-time signup fee which varied with the level of account you bought into.  That, (as I jump up and down in excitement) is no longer the case.  SOC has made it so that ANYONE can access the system via either a $10/mo. subscription which includes 20 points (with 20 points, you can send 20 generic postcards, or 10 customized postcards with pictures of your choice, or 10 standard greeting cards, or up to 6 custom greeting cards), or simply a pay-as-you-go program simply buying points when someone needs them.  They also upgraded a number of the unique features for those who choose to make SOC their own business by adding more of them to the system – signatures, your own handwriting fonts, tickets to ‘Treat ‘em Right’ Seminars, things like that.

Let’s do some math:

• Average Cost of only 3 standard greeting cards @ Walmart @ $3.50 ea = $10.50
• Total Cost of 10 standard greeting cards @ Send Out Cards @ $9.80/mo. subscription =$9.80
• 10 > 3 and $9.80 < $10.50 = Send Out Cards has become a ‘must have’ if you send more than 3 greeting cards of any kind (anniversary, birthday, thanks you’s, Christmas, etc) per month

Quite frankly, this shocked me that the company would be this forward thinking, and implement such a phenomenal shift in the way they do business.  But more importantly, it really allows EVERYONE instant access to such a great system that allows anyone to act on their promptings, and impact someone else’s life with a heartfelt cards, or gives one of the best promotional tools a business could as for, right at their finger tips.

Yes, there is still the great potential for SOC to be a terrific source for financial independence.  In fact, I think, and my wife agrees, this makes it even better for the person who really liked what SOC had to offer, but felt they weren’t enough of a ‘salesman’ to effectively push the program to businesses with the cost of the sign-up.  I’m may be going out on a limb, but I don’t think it really takes much to show how a $10/mo. investment could really help ANY business with such a remarkable marketing tool, as I really believe that just about every business could benefit from ‘appreciation marketing’.

Contact me if you would like to know more, I’d be thrilled to talk more about a terrific company that is doing terrific things!

When it come to referrals, few business rely on them more than the Real Estate Sector.  When it comes time to choose who to either help us purchase, or help us sell out house, very few people actually look in the phone book.  We all know it’s antiquated anyway.  People ask around.  Who did you use? Who would you use?  So it’s not only of vital importance that you do your job in properly marketing the house, or quickly finding matching properties for buyers, but going that one extra step AFTER the purchase or sale is what keep your name engrained in the clients head.  When you do something totally unexpected, once the transaction is complete, that will remain in memory far longer than the other aspects of the transaction.  And that is where greeting card marketing fits the bill very nicely.

1. First and foremost, greeting card marketing is not necessarily the best use in mass mailings.  If you have plans to announce an open house or recent sale on a vast scale, then it’s not always cost effective.  Sometimes it is best to bulk buy the cheap postcards at .15 cents each for 100 or .10 cents each for 1000, and so on, as long as those cards are all generic and not meant for a personalized touch.  But what if you have some specific prospective clients you are working on, and would like to customize a greeting card with, then bulk printing is most definitely not going to work.  You need a system that allow for total and complete customization of the card.  For example, maybe you put of picture of the house you just sold on the front of the card, and then on the inside, put a picture of the prospective clients house with the words sold displayed nicely, with a note saying “This could be you”, or “Wouldn’t this be nice?”, or “We did it for XXX, let us do it for you”.  Whatever you want.

2. The idea that I really like is sending a ‘thank you for the business’ cards that contains a number of items.  First is a gift card to Home Depot to ‘help with those initial improvements’ or a Starbucks cards for ‘those late nights redecorating’.  Also included on the inside is a calendar and a list of phone numbers they may need if they are new to the area – a trusted plumber, electrician, handyman, non-emergency police number, and the like including a small percentage discount if they mention you, as the realtor.  The choice of numbers is totally up to you, but I believe it would be a stellar idea to develop a referral program with those individuals.  So when the client calls, and mentions you to get the discount, a referral fee is paid back to you by the contractor.  Otherwise, it’s business they may not have received. And you can do all of that with Send Out Cards.

3. I really feel the gift card option is a great attention grabber as client has just allowed you to hopefully earn a nice commission, and $25 thank you is really negligible in terms of the business generated.  But what I really advise is sending a card with a ‘referral bounty’.  In other words, after the purchase or sale, a client refers another client to you who comes under contract either for the sale or purchase of a home, the original client will earn $25 or $50 (I really don’t think it has to be higher than that as most people would be very happy with an easy $50 just for telling someone else about YOU) once the sale or purchase has been completed.  Easy money for them, more business for you.

4. As far as the design of the card, the options are only limited by your own creativity.  Imagine the visual impact when a client opens up a thank you card and sees, spanned across the entire card, a picture of them with the sold sign in front of their new house, with a note saying ‘thanks’ and the gift card inside.  You firms logo placed where ever you like, both on front and on back, AND your picture as the realtor will create an everlasting impression on that client, in addition to the wonderful job you did for them in either selling or purchasing their new home.

Photography, by it’s very nature, is such a visual medium, that other visual mediums are always the best way to promote your business.  It really doesn’t matter which area of photography you specialize in – portrait, actor headshots, corporate, landscape, real estate, fashion, black and white, digital, film, or industrial – the list goes on.  (And for the record, doing web design, I am an amateur photographer myself  and these are my own images.)

I think it goes without saying that any photographer who is looking to promote themselves as a business, or even just a hobby, HAS to have a website.  When it comes down to the essentials, your potential customer wants to see not only the type of work you do, but the style as well.  I’ve been in the entertainment industry since the late 1990′s, and have had my share of headshot sessions.  And while all photographers had specialized in headshots, the style was vastly different.  So you need to have that digital medium to properly display your work, as well as all the relevant SEO to have the site rank on the search engines.

However, let me ask you a question.  What can be even more powerful than classy looking gallery on your website?  A referral by one of your previous clients, that’s what!  Referrals from happy customers can bring in more business than a potential customer just happening to see your website.   (I know this first hand, as the photographer my wife and I used for our wedding, was the same one my brother used.)

This is where card marketing comes in.  You can use postcards and custom greeting cards to not only promote your business, but offer incentives for referrals as well.  Let me give you some examples.

Try card marketing for yourself for free by sending a card to anyone you like, at no cost, and then getting their feedback. You owe it to yourself and your business to at least give it a try

1. Wedding Photographer:  On a couples 1 year anniversary, send them an anniversary card customized with one of their best wedding photos as the cover.  On the inside, add a couple additional photos such as the couple cutting the cake, or the first dance, and make the offer that if they bring the card (or have a promo code), they will receive something like 20% off an additional photo session, or offer a free picture or package ‘upgrade’.  Offer anything you like as an incentive, as it might generate a session the couple might not have thought of doing.  And this can also hold true to ANY photographer looking to generate repeat business – just use whatever image the client originally contracted for.  And something that is so very cool – Send Out Cards now has a 8.5″ x 11.2″ BIG CARD which the client could even frame, if they chose to.

2.  Referrals:  Here’s another idea I LOVE!  Give a previous client an additional reason to refer new business to you in the form of a discount or outright monetary reward – a bounty of sorts.  When I remodeled my kitchen, the guy who installed my countertops would give $50 to each booked job referred to him to the referrer – which in this case just happened to be my wife’s sister.  But the idea still works.  Give the person a little extra incentive to add to your business.  It rewards you with new customers, new business, and potentially new referrals, and it rewards them with a little green.

3. How about just saying “Thanks for the business”.  Thank you goes a long way in this world where it seems like ‘thanks’ is in short supply.  The best thing you can do for your business (and this holds true for any business) is engraining your name in the clients head for what it is you do.  And a nice simple card (designed ANY way you want) saying thanks will mean so much to each client – just think about how it would make you feel!

And keep in mind, these are just a few examples of how card marketing can be such a valuable tool for your business in follow up marketing, appreciation marketing, and referral generation.

I got thinking about the concept of quality of life the other night in the most random of ways – by tearing out the walls a closet.  Unrelated? You would think so.  But here’s the thought pattern.  The master bedroom, when we bought the house, was really to adjoined bedrooms where they previous owner had torn out a wall.  The small ‘room’ has an amazing view of the mountains, so that is where we keep our bed.  But the room is small, and had an extra closet that I was using for my clothes.  Well, we decided to rip out the closet, and reclaim some floor space as the ‘other’ part of our room had two closets, and we have two armoires.  So yesterday, with the help of my two boys who had a BLAST taking hammers to some drywall, I removed three very short sections of wall.  What amazed me was that the room looks twice as big now with the closet gone, and now we have room for a sitting area where we can read and admire that great view.

As I admired my handiwork, I pondered how such a small change made such a large impact on the room itself.  The same can be said for our lives – small changes can make large impacts.  And you don’t need a ‘self-help’ book for this.  You can do it.  Actually, it’s kind of ironic that I saw an article just the other day saying how worthless most self-help books were.  But that doesn’t belay the fact that there are so many areas we, if we make some small changes , we will have such a better quality of life.

I think it goes without saying that the main area where we all feel quality of life suffers is in our finances.  When finances, or lack thereof, cause stress, it spills over into so many facets of our lives.   It feels like you’re always $100 short each month.  And when money is short, not only do stress levels rise, but you are unable to do the things necessary to untie those knots.  Each of us is different in those needs, but a just a few extra dollars every month could make such a huge difference, just like removing the closet made such a large difference in my bedroom.  I took down a barrier, and now my bedroom is much better for it. What barrier do you have?

I am going to challenge you to take down that barrier, do a little reconstruction in your life.  I don’t your needs.  A vacation? Car repairs? College tuition? Added Retirement? Pay off some bills?  Or how about just to be able to meet those bills without worrying?  I am starting to do it.  My business is starting to move now that I have taken down my barrier, and it is true with others we have talked to about our business.  Are you curious?  You should be, because what I do is simple this:

I reach out in kindness to others, and provide a vehicle for financial independence

If you’d like to know more, contact me, and I’ll let you try the whole system completely free – no obligation – nothing else, although you may get a thank you note and a Christmas card!

In the process of looking up some image ideas for a web design I am doing for a client, I came across a story out of the United Kindom talking about the benefits of mental patients receiving cards from loved ones.

More people should send cards to friends or relative who are mentally ill to help boost their chances of recovery, according to experts.

Read the entire article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1219290/Friends-mentally-ill-ignored-warn-experts.html

And I’ll give an example of a card we just sent that had a ‘put a smile on your face’ result.    My nephew hit a home run during his tryouts for little league.  Normally, I would have just called him and said how awesome I thought that was.  But because I knew I could send him a card so inexpensively @  under a dollar plus postage (see cost analysis for SOC), that I sent him the card you see to the left.  Nothing over the top, and took me about a minute to create it, but the result was wonderful.  We found out just yesterday that he loved the card so much, he actually had his mom frame it and hang it in his room.  It’s so cool that something so simple and easy could make the day of my nephew so much that he wanted it framed.

Need to increase sales?  Not meeting your sales quotas?  In this time of a down economy, it’s not always the easiest thing to do.  So sometimes it help to look to those who have been leaders in their fields.  For over 12 consecutive years (1963-1977), Joe Girard [complete bio] was the #1 retail salesman in the world, and established sales records that have yet to be beat.  And these records are in the toughest business in the world – automotive sales.  So let take a look at some of those records that are in the Guinness Book of World Records:

• Most new retail sales in one day (18 automobiles)
• Most new retail sales in one month (174 automobiles)
• Most new retail sales in one year (1425 automobiles)
• Most new retail sales in 15 year career (13,001 automobiles)

All of those automobiles were new retail purchases.  No wholesale, no fleet, and he was never in management.   He AVERAGED a staggering 6 sales per day on a sales floor that had 41 other salesmen who only averaged 5 cars per month.  Funny thing was that he was actually fired from his first automotive sales position for being ‘too aggressive’ – apparently the other salesmen didn’t like having to actually work. And in 2001, he was inducted into the “Automotive Hall of Fame”.

So what was Joe Girard’s secret?  He didn’t have one.  Joe said,

“If there is one word I detest, it is the word secret.  There is no secret.  If there was a secret nobody would be sharing it with you.  There are no secrets.”

But Joe did have an attitude that no one else seemed to have.

“Life is a game and you gotta know what you are playing.  Whatever you do and whatever you are selling you are not selling.  You must never stop learning more about this game… what makes people tick, what makes people buy, what makes people do what they do”.

But there was something that Joe did,

“I will burn my name in your brain.”

And how did he do that?  Joe Girard’s main tool was greeting cards.  Every year he commissioned an artist to draw up 12 cards, and then send them out.  That’s all he did.  He would send out one card every month.  And the very first card he would send to any new prospect, whether they purchased a car or not, simply said one thing “I like you”.  That card was followed up by cards for all the major holidays, but he also sent birthday and anniversary cards.  Joe went out of his way to get the contact information of every person  he met, and everyone he knew received a card each month.  What an amazing example of follow up.  It is said that Joe’s cards coming every month, that his contacts almost considered him a part of the family.  Here is his simple, but highly focused checklist.

• Keep in touch with people regularly.
• Send them “Thank you” notes.
• Send them season’s greetings.
• Send them news and information that will be beneficial to them.
• Send them free goodies.

Wouldn’t you like to have your customers think that way of you?  When people thought of a ‘new card’, they immediately thought of Joe Girard.  To Joe, it was always about RELATIONSHIPS, and the nurturing of those relationships.  And what was true for Joe, I think, is even more true today.  People WANT AND DESIRE a personal touch.  They want to be made to feel special, and in today’s high tech society, it seems ‘personal’ has gone right out with yesterday’s trash.  Well, time to make it personal again.  And I can show you how to send a card to whomever you’d like, no strings attached, for FREE and see how powerful Joe’s method can be.  Send just a few cards each year, and imagine what the odds will be that YOUR name is the first to come to mind when they need that product or service.

NOTE:  We are building relationships, and relationships are not built by sending nothing but ads at every contact.  Send something that is beneficial to the needs and wants of your clients and prospects.  For example, if you are a realtor, send tips on how to best get the highest value for the potential clients home, or make that customer work for you by offering a ‘referral reward’ for anyone they refer to your office who sells or purchases a home.

Think of it this way.  Do you want your ‘flyer’ thrown in the trash, or your ‘greeting card’ put onto the refrigerator, or bulletin board? Show your appreciation by giving them something – a heartfelt greeting card.   Simply put, appreciation is greater than self promotion.