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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 10:44 PM   #1
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Make $5000 per month and be a hero.
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In the last few months I've been able to make a pretty good profit offering a FANTASTIC service that was actually inspired by another warrior "Doran Peck", which I tweaked and refined.

I'm not sure if this can work for you as it requires a bit of prospecting and you'll need to be able to do some design work (or contract it out) but it's not terribly difficult.

I visit local businesses and close them on buying ad space on a giant postcard I'll be sending out in the mail to 10,000 local residents. I sell the spaces for $495 each and can fit 16 large ads on a 9"x12" postcard.

If you send them out using the post offices "every door direct" program, you don't need any list or permit, you just have them printed and you pick the carrier routes you want to saturate, and get them to the post office. This means that for $495 they get pretty much a GUARANTEED 100% exposure of their Advertisement, which only postcard marketing can do.

I've done 2 cards so far and had a tracked response of 13% on the first one and 22% response on the 2nd! I'm being 100% serious here and you'll see the same results if you get good offers on there for services that people frequently use. (Restaurants, oil changes, pizza, seasonal, etc...)

I can give more details and provide pictures of my last cards if you need proof, but I just thought I'd share what's working for me and what could be a very cool method of making some money for you. It's pretty awesome hearing things like "your ad got me more response than anything I've ever tried" type responses.
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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 10:59 PM   #2
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how do you figure out which businesses to talk to/offer this service? ie since you are sending this out to 10,000 residents, do you target businesses in that area only? and if you could share how you approach them, that'd be great.
thanks

and if you could share a template of the postcard, that'd be good too. I know similar ideas have been presented before too but very few have actually posted the tools and products used ...
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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 11:11 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by agonce View Post

how do you figure out which businesses to talk to/offer this service? ie since you are sending this out to 10,000 residents, do you target businesses in that area only? and if you could share how you approach them, that'd be great.
thanks
Great questions, and very important ones as well.

I've made a commitment to only featuring local businesses and primarily service industries.

auto mechanics, pizza, chinese food, massage therapists, jewelers, contractors, burger joints, restaurants, liquor stores, pet grooming, etc...

If you want to get high response, you cant put things like car dealers or normal "branding" advertisements or it's going to devalue the card. You have to put genuinely great deals for stuff people really want to clip out and redeem.

I've put a MASSIVE amount of research and strategy into this idea and it has been paying off great. I've made some mistakes along the way and learned from them but it's really running super smooth right now.

Closing the people isn't really that difficult so long as you present it well and talk to enough people to weed out the owners not interested. Once you get the first card out, it's going to get a whole lot easier because you'll have proven results and repeat advertisers, among other things.

I've came up with a zillion little facts about postcard saturation direct mail that I use that handle nearly any objection. It seems that I close around 60% of the owners that I get to talk to so far, but keep in mind I have a bunch of years experience in outside sales so your results may not be as strong. This is absolutely something that will work though, and you'll get to bring them in a ton of business for very cheap, instantly.

There are some more twists to it that I've done to increase the value tremendously but I want to give you guys a solid idea to work with first. I'm not selling anything here (which is against the rules obv).
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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 11:12 PM   #4
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Thanks for sharing Bob, It sounds like a great idea.
I have a few questions for you and I sent you a message about it.

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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 11:15 PM   #5
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Thank you for sharing this, this actually gave me an idea of my own similar to this that i might have to do a little research on.

But this "every door direct" program already has a local mailing list and mails them out for you?
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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 11:15 PM   #6
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agonce, sorry I missed a few things...

10,000 seems to be the best number to make all of this super affordable to the owners, yet still reach enough people in their surrounding area to produce a high response. I'd say an area of 2 square miles would be good to prospect in, and you can pick out the areas you want to saturate within that radius.

As far as templates, I've designed everything myself (I own a small design firm), using adobe photoshop and illustrator. I've set up different ad sizes and priced them according to size for the most part.

I have no clue what you can contract out ad design for so I can't help you there sorry. I'm sure fiverr would produce some good results.
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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 11:16 PM   #7
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approximately what does it cost you to print and mail 10k postcards? how often do you repeat the mailing: once /month?

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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 11:21 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by tsuccess View Post

Thanks for sharing Bob, It sounds like a great idea.
I have a few questions for you and I sent you a message about it.
I'd love to talk but I can't, I don't have enough posts to send PM's back, sorry!

Originally Posted by Katie C View Post

Thank you for sharing this, this actually gave me an idea of my own similar to this that i might have to do a little research on.

But this "every door direct" program already has a local mailing list and mails them out for you?
Thanks, it's a totally awesome system. "every door direct" is ridiculously cool, just google it. You basically just pick out the routes that a mailman would deliver (usually around 350-600 homes) and you only pay 14.2 cents each to saturate the entire route with your postcards.

These have to be large postcards though (8.5 x 11 or 9 x 12). To send them 1st class it's 88cents just in postage, so this program is truly amazing. No mailing list required, you just need to have it addressed as "local postal customer" and have a small indicia box that notes it as for the program. You pay the postage right at the post office that it's going out to.
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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 11:21 PM   #9
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Interesting idea. Sixteen ads on one card doesn't sound like very big ads to me. But then I have never seen a 9*12 post card. What is your expense breakdown? How hard is it to get prospects to say yes?

How do you send out 10K with out a permit? The http://www.uspseverydoor.com/ site states that for over 5K you need a permit. Are you sending them out in multiple bundles to avoid the permit?

I know I would like to see more information on this. Are you planning a WSO or anything?

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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 11:26 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by godinu View Post

approximately what does it cost you to print and mail 10k postcards? how often do you repeat the mailing: once /month?
Roughly $2500 total to print and mail. I'm planning to keep this going once a month, but it's been once every two months so far.

I own a design firm so it's tough to do this full time and keep it going each month but every other month is completely doable part-time.
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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 11:33 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by timpears View Post

Interesting idea. Sixteen ads on one card doesn't sound like very big ads to me. But then I have never seen a 9*12 post card. What is your expense breakdown? How hard is it to get prospects to say yes?
It's SUPER deceiving, when you see the card you'll never think there are 16 ads on it, but there are. You could actually put 19 on there and it still wouldn't look cluttered but it takes some design chops to make it all look pleasant.

Most of the ads are around 4" x 2" and some are as big as 4" x 4.5", these are really large ads to be honest. I also print it all on 14pt UV coated front and back card stock, which is unlike ANYTHING you'll ever see in the mail.

Every door direct is the only way you can print things double UV coated and send in the mail, because it doesn't have to go through processing and barcoding. The people get it and it feels amazing, plus because it's so gigantic it sticks out and dwarfs every other piece of mail.
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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 11:37 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by timpears View Post

Interesting idea.

How do you send out 10K with out a permit? The USPS - Every Door Direct Mail site states that for over 5K you need a permit. Are you sending them out in multiple bundles to avoid the permit?

I know I would like to see more information on this. Are you planning a WSO or anything?
You're correct, you can't send out 10k at once, but here's how it works:

In my area at least, there are 3 zip codes that I'm saturating, totaling around 20,000 homes. I pick the best coupon-friendly areas (a lot of research I did on this), and send 4000 to one post office, 5000 to the other, and 1000 to the other. So in about an hours time I can visit all three offices and get 10k sent at once.

You have to bundle them in 50 piece bundles each.
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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 11:52 PM   #13
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I am no sales man, so I am wondering how you pitch the prospects to be able to sell them so easily? This is way out of my area of expertise, but it is damn enticing. I would love to see a full blown report on how you do this, kind of WSO material. I know you have shared a lot with us here, but I am wondering what we didn't think to ask about. All the little details so to speak.

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Unread 28th Nov 2011, 11:56 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by timpears View Post

I am no sales man, so I am wondering how you pitch the prospects to be able to sell them so easily? This is way out of my area of expertise, but it is damn enticing. I would love to see a full blown report on how you do this, kind of WSO material. I know you have shared a lot with us here, but I am wondering what we didn't think to ask about. All the little details so to speak.
agreed that this is gold definitely. and that usps service I've never heard of before seems a pretty amazing tool to be used not just for this method/idea.

thanks for sharing!

p.s. +1 for a WSO on this. I will be the first to buy it if there is more material and step by step guides on there, especially on how to get the advertisers to agree to pay us the $$$ to put their ad on the postcard.

Question:
I see that USPS requires a mailing permit first. How does that work, do you need to have your own business or any individual can be approved for the permit?
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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 12:08 AM   #15
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Nice thinking outside the box, but what are you going to do if the postcard yeild no results for your clients? lets face it a postcard with only ads on them will end up in the trash pretty quick... how do you justify such a investment to your clients
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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 12:17 AM   #16
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Originally Posted by timpears View Post

I am no sales man, so I am wondering how you pitch the prospects to be able to sell them so easily? This is way out of my area of expertise, but it is damn enticing. I would love to see a full blown report on how you do this, kind of WSO material. I know you have shared a lot with us here, but I am wondering what we didn't think to ask about. All the little details so to speak.
I know very little about WSO's so I'm not sure if I will "make one" but here's some details of what's needed to make this successful. I started with a very simple idea and it gradually required a TON of research/preparation/strategy to get it to where it's easy and fluid.


Prospecting (how to find the best, easiest paying clients)
Contacting (the best methods and strategies to reach the owners and get your pitch across to them).
Pitching (putting together the perfect presentation that will sell them on your idea within about 2 minutes).
Closing (getting them to actually commit right away and fork over money)
Payments (how to accept all credit cards instantly in addition to checks and cash)
Designing (how to fit the ads perfectly so that they all stand out and are all extremely visible).
Printing (where to get the absolute lowest cost yet fantastic quality- and it's not gotprint!)
Preparing for USPS (how to get everything set up and ready for the post offices amazing new saturation program).


There's also a lot of stuff that I had to figure out, organize, and apply like:

the best color schemes for the ads and card background.
"naming" your card so that it creates a powerful brand
helping the advertisers pick out the best offers that will return the highest responses from your card,
picking out the best areas to saturate
finding the carrier routes online and organizing them for the post office
how to price the individual ad spaces to make the most money for you
factoids about direct mail that you'll need to know to sell them
rebuttals, responses, and objection crushers
prospecting scripts and techniques- I've successfully used cold email, cold calling, and face to face.

I've also got this freaking incredible bonus to the advertisers that I'm doing right now that doesn't cost much more at all yet should add a crapload more response. I can't wait to see the results when my next card goes out in a week or so.

There's a ton of work that goes into this if you're starting from scratch, but really the gist of it is simply sending out a big giant postcard to 10,000 local residents full of AWESOME deals on it from local businesses. This is most guaranteed method of bringing in business for something that I can ever imagine. That's why you become the hero.

The local pizza owner that advertises on my card said that he spent $30,000 on radio last year and almost $30,000 in the local paper and saw no significant results. After ONE mailing from my card he got more coupons redeemed than he could count. they literally stopped counting them day after day and he said that surprisingly they were "new" faces.

Hearing this kind of stuff from local people will make you feel awesome, and it's neat to see yourself responsible for bringing them in loads of new business rapidly.

Sorry if this sounds like a sales pitch, but I'm really not selling you anything at all (in here or on PM).
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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 12:20 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by YellowGreenMedia View Post

Nice thinking outside the box, but what are you going to do if the postcard yeild no results for your clients? lets face it a postcard with only ads on them will end up in the trash pretty quick... how do you justify such a investment to your clients
It is not only ads. Consider this:

you are a pizzeria owner. where would you rather spend the money on advertising, Groupon (where you target people who are mostly interested to save some bucks and dont plan on going back) or on a system like this one where you reach 10,000 residents who will for sure come back to you after, say 50% off their first pizza (or whatever you plan on offering) an offer included in the postcard.

So I guess what we need to do is:
-find services that people use often in a certain area
-go visit those businesses and explain them your idea
-get them to offer one DEEP discount (like 50% off or even better FREE) to make the postcard look catchy to the person receiving it
-get them to pay a 'SET UP fee' and then extra fee for every month they want to run it

this should definitely work in my opinion
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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 12:32 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by agonce View Post

agreed that this is gold definitely. and that usps service I've never heard of before seems a pretty amazing tool to be used not just for this method/idea.

thanks for sharing!

p.s. +1 for a WSO on this. I will be the first to buy it if there is more material and step by step guides on there, especially on how to get the advertisers to agree to pay us the $$$ to put their ad on the postcard.

Question:
I see that USPS requires a mailing permit first. How does that work, do you need to have your own business or any individual can be approved for the permit?
Thanks for the kind words. I tried a lot of different pricing models and I talked with some experienced salespeople who I thought would help me, but I kept running into dead-ends at first because my prices were too high for local owners to commit to right away and I didn't have all of my objection-handling prepared.

I spent night and day for about a month getting everything to be near-perfect and it's been smooth sailing since. I sold 16 ads in 10 days working maybe 2 hours a day after that, so I know it's possible!

USPS does NOT require a mailing permit. It's kind of hard to explain because there's actually two kinds of programs within that program, and that requires a permit but the one I use doesn't require one at all. It took me a lot of calling and researching to figure it out but it's easy now.

I even had the USPS hotline give me bad information but I eventually figured it all out. the program is so new and rarely used, that you most likely will be the only person in your area to ever have used it. The postmasters will be all confused and I've literally had to tell them what to do, seriously! They love it though because it puts a bunch of business into their local post offices that they don't usually see.

You can buy a permit if you want, which allows you to send over 5k postcards per day but it costs like $400 or something and it's really not necessary AT ALL.



Originally Posted by YellowGreenMedia View Post

Nice thinking outside the box, but what are you going to do if the postcard yeild no results for your clients? lets face it a postcard with only ads on them will end up in the trash pretty quick... how do you justify such a investment to your clients
I was kind of nervous at first because I put SOOOO much effort into this and you just cross your fingers that ONE mailing will bring in a ton of results but I'll tell you... once you see what 10,000 super jumbo postcards looks like on your front porch and you knwo that EACH one is going to be put into the hands of a local resident, you'll see how results will be guaranteed.

I know there's results because they've already proven it, I've done two cards and they got double digit responses which is incredible.

Part of my mistake in the beginning stages was that I wasn't "branding" my card, now I have it set up to where it's a well known thing and is expected (and I've never spent a dime on advertising for it). An unbelievably powerful tactic is to PUT YOUR OWN AD on it! free freaking advertising instantly to 10,000 locals. FREE FREE FREE to you! How awesome is that!? Everyone else is paying for it.

Yes most people will throw it in the trash like you said. Maybe 9,000 people will throw it out in the trash right away! But you're not concerned with the 9,000 people who throw it out, you're concerned with the 1000 people that save it and clip the coupons and use them!
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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 12:42 AM   #19
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Any smart business owner will take you up on this offer if you can present it correctly to them. They're constantly bombarded with salespeople and they may possibly have had a bad experience with mailings before, but with the right pitch and presentation you'll be able to sell them on it EASILY.

this kind of stuff will open doors for you as well, I've gotten a bunch of design work from these advertisers because I've won their trust. when you bring them in an a**load of new clients for very cheap, you're going to be able to sell them on your other services without a problem.

Just from two cards sent, I have a few advertisers that will basically allow me to run their whole marketing strategies due to the results. I've found that most of these small shop owners have almost no clue about marketing and are making serious mistakes.

You're going to find that they ask you about what they should offer, which kind of makes you feel really powerful, which is cool. And believe me, there's some killer offers that you can apply that will produce mega results via direct mail. It gets tricky though because you have so many options like "buy 1 get 1 free", % discount, $ discount, buy 1 get 1/2 off..., package deals, straight pricing, free offers, and so many more.

I've got an auto shop on my next card that I convinced to put a coupon in for a COMPLETELY FREE state car inspection. This is due annually in new york and costs like $21 normally. He's actually going to pay the states $6 fee on each one just to get new clients. there are 16 mechanic shops on his road and competition is ultra fierce, so I cant wait to see his results, this should be unbelievable for him. 10,000 local residents are GUARANTEED to see that they can get a ny state car inspection for free from him.
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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 12:51 AM   #20
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Originally Posted by bob ross View Post

Prospecting (how to find the best, easiest paying clients)
Contacting (the best methods and strategies to reach the owners and get your pitch across to them).
Pitching (putting together the perfect presentation that will sell them on your idea within about 2 minutes).
Closing (getting them to actually commit right away and fork over money)
Payments (how to accept all credit cards instantly in addition to checks and cash)
Designing (how to fit the ads perfectly so that they all stand out and are all extremely visible).
Printing (where to get the absolute lowest cost yet fantastic quality- and it's not gotprint!)
Preparing for USPS (how to get everything set up and ready for the post offices amazing new saturation program).


There's also a lot of stuff that I had to figure out, organize, and apply like:

the best color schemes for the ads and card background.
"naming" your card so that it creates a powerful brand
helping the advertisers pick out the best offers that will return the highest responses from your card,
picking out the best areas to saturate
finding the carrier routes online and organizing them for the post office
how to price the individual ad spaces to make the most money for you
factoids about direct mail that you'll need to know to sell them
rebuttals, responses, and objection crushers
prospecting scripts and techniques- I've successfully used cold email, cold calling, and face to face.
Yes, those are the things I am interested in knowing. Those are the things that would make an awesome report that many of us would be i8nterested in buying from you. I am not even sure where to go to research and find out about those things. I am not good at research unfortunately.

You said you could show us a copy of one of your cards. I would love to see that.

Tim Pears
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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 10:12 AM   #21
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I sure will upload one of the cards I've sent. Im using my phone now but ill upload it later.
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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 04:44 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by bob ross View Post

I sure will upload one of the cards I've sent. Im using my phone now but ill upload it later.
Would love to see it!

Seb

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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 05:14 PM   #23
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Very cool Bob, way to go.

Just another example of the money that is out there to be made when you TAKE ACTION.

Need Help With Your Google Places Results?
Let Me Create 50/100 High PR Citations For You!
Just $50/$100 - PM Me When You're Ready
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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 09:15 PM   #24
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Sorry took a while, I just got home and I had to spend a few minutes blurring out the companies names (not going to put them on a forum).

This card is 9" x 12" wide, measure that out and you'll see how large this postcard is. the front of this card holds 8 spaces but I've done layouts where you can easily hold 9 or 10 and still not have anything cluttered.

It took me A LOT of trial and error to figure the layouts out. For reference, the liqour store ad on the left side is the size of a business card.

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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 09:28 PM   #25
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Also, here's what 600lbs of postcards look like when they get delivered. each box that the opened ones are completely full as well.

Just freaking imagine that for $495, a business owner can have a large ad on EVERY SINGLE one of those cards and be GUARANTEED that 100% of it's targets will see it and hold it in their hands.

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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 09:47 PM   #26
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man man man , cant thank you enough. You may not believe me, but today I got a mail with large Discount coupons and they were using the same strategy as here.

thanks again! you should have sold this as a WSO, even though I doubt that people will actually take action and do this. I know I will

one more question: where did you get the flyers printed out? can you suggest me a cheap solution to print these?

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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 10:01 PM   #27
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Originally Posted by agonce View Post

man man man , cant thank you enough. You may not believe me, but today I got a mail with large Discount coupons and they were using the same strategy as here.

thanks again! you should have sold this as a WSO, even though I doubt that people will actually take action and do this. I know I will

one more question: where did you get the flyers printed out? can you suggest me a cheap solution to print these?

Agon
No problem. There's a LOT of information that could be put into a WSO but I'm more concerned with showing you guys that you can start this stuff up in a moments notice and start making thousands seach month while being a hero to the business owners.

I wish you the best of luck, unfortunately I'm not totally comfortable with revealing the print source at this point.
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Unread 29th Nov 2011, 10:02 PM   #28
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I'm bookmarking this thread and may look into this for my area in Dallas TX. The image above looks like a lot of work!
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 12:07 AM   #29
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i signed up and it looks like about a 4-500 investment for me at first to mail to like 1000 ppl?

maybe someday!
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 01:43 AM   #30
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Because Bob Ross is gladly sharing his money-maker....I thought I'd toss in mine that might give someone here some "Hope" for a "Good 2012".

Some years ago, I did what Bob's doing but my "piece" was a 11 x 17 sheet of 60lb Vellum Bristol folded in 1/3rds with many good Coupon Offers. My fee also was $495 for 10,000 and yes...it was a LOT of work.

So....I created some that paid a good gross and a lot less work.

Back around 2004 or 05 in the Stationery section of WalMart I saw a Folder holding 5, 8 1/2 by 11, Magnetic Sheets for about $5.

I bought a couple of batches and went home and designed a "Refrigerator Magnet" that would appeal to businesses wanting to reach....Hold Onto Your Hats....NEW HOME BUYERS!

At the Top was Columns of "Important Phone Numbers" which were Handy and Appreciated by the New Home Owner.

In the middle was a 12 month Calendar and at the bottom was 6 rows & 4 columns down where Business & Professional Categories were listed in Alphabetical Order....which made it easy to find any of my 28 Sponsors.

I started out by getting a List of 100 New Home Buyers for my small town area. I mailed these in a nice envelope with a cover letter...welcoming the New Home Buyers to our town and their new home and...also included some Paper coupons from some of the sponsors.

I charged each of the 28 sponsors....$1.80 per Magnet.....$180/mo for 12 mos. 28 x $180/mo = $5,040/mo Gross....x 12 = $60,480/yr and my cost was around $2 per envelope.

The idea was that the New Home Buyers would put these Magnets ON their fridge so as to be easily seen. Which is what they did.

I did this until 2008 when the housing market started going down. Then gave it up.

However....this year 2011....I discovered there were a little over 1,000 homes sold in my area....so....I put on my Sales Shoes and went back to some of my old advertisers and whammo...bango....most wanted to go for a ONE-TIME Last Week of Year Mailing....with the year 2012 on the Calendar.

This time though...I charged $390 for 1,000 (39cents ea) $390 x 28 = $10,920 Gross....so...still a nice "score" for mailing out 1,000 envelopes again with a cost of around $3 per envelope.

And....if the RE Market starts to come back after the 1st...I might start it up again.

The Recipients LOVED these Mags...and so did my sponsors.

You'll have to do some Googling to find a supplier and...if worse come to worse....you can print these out on your regular Printer (cold ink)

Have a great Christmas,

Don Alm....."playing Santa"
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 03:03 AM   #31
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This is pretty cool. I think better format than those valpak coupons since all the deals are on one sheet and it might have longer shelf life. Would probably put a graphic to encourage people to "put it on your refrigerator" or "keep in your car" as well.
How is redemption handled?, do people tear coupon( could affect another coupon) or do they just bring the whole card in and get it "marked" off.
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 03:42 AM   #32
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thanks bob to share this with us..i am surely going to use this method but with my unique way..i got the idea to do something different and i know with direct mail system i am going to get really good response.
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 04:32 AM   #33
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this is some good info. i was looking at the website for the usps and it is asking to apply for a license. how do you avoid doing that?
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 05:49 AM   #34
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Great idea and I should think about the same to implement. Or any other based on same concept to earn money.

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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 06:05 AM   #35
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What a cool business idea- and it works!

Thanks for sharing with us
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 06:44 AM   #36
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Originally Posted by ikan_sith View Post

this is some good info. i was looking at the website for the usps and it is asking to apply for a license. how do you avoid doing that?
I think he mentioned it earlier in the thread, mail 5000 or less and you don't need a permit

Seb

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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 06:55 AM   #37
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Hello Bob

I would really like to know where you are getting these printed. I have a good resource that I have used for other things. I priced out doing an 8.5 X 11 version of what you are doing and they can do 10000 like you describe, delivered to my door for $1658. I haven't priced 9 X 12.

Also, what software are you using to do you layout. I assume you provide camera ready art to the printer?

I know how sales can be. nobody wants to be the first one to jump on something new. How do you deal with this in the sales process at the start?

Thanks

Seb

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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 12:40 PM   #38
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Could someone give me an idea of how i would go about getting money upfront then mailing these out? this sounds like a great idea i just dont have the capital to get everything printed first
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 01:53 PM   #39
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Originally Posted by bob ross View Post


Part of my mistake in the beginning stages was that I wasn't "branding" my card, now I have it set up to where it's a well known thing and is expected (and I've never spent a dime on advertising for it). An unbelievably powerful tactic is to PUT YOUR OWN AD on it! free freaking advertising instantly to 10,000 locals. FREE FREE FREE to you! How awesome is that!? Everyone else is paying for it.
Yes, I can see doing this in conjunction with starting a local money saver website to get an additional way to create revenue monthly.
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 02:28 PM   #40
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Hey Jeffrey!....here's the answer to your comment about HOW to start ventures like this...which I've been doing for many years. Here's your question;
"Could someone give me an idea of how i would go about getting money upfront then mailing these out? this sounds like a great idea i just dont have the capital to get everything printed first."

1) You make up a Sample (aka a MockUp) of the EXACT item you are proposing to put together....
2) along with 2 or 3 Sample Ads!
3) You then make up a "Rate Sheet" that shows;
a) How Many you're printing
b) Who you're sending them to
c) Your Fee for doing this (I usually show a "Set Up" fee plus my
charge for the project)...with a Total Price....that I offer as, 1/2
on Acceptance and balance of 1/2 on Proof...
OR....a 10% Discount if the WHOLE amount is paid NOW on
Acceptance.

Most of my advertisers have paid me the whole enchilada on Acceptance to "Save Some Moola"! So....you do NOT have to be concerend about where are YOU....going to get the money to do this? Your ADVERTISERS will Fund the project with THEIR money!

That's why programs like this are VIABLE....especially in these days of "Pre-Obaminizing of our Country"!

So....b4 we've been completely "Obaminized"....this is a way for ANYONE to;
1) Make up a Sample
2) Go see some potential advertisers and...get THEM to Pay YOU... UPFront. Then you...take their money and make up the program and Rinse and Repeat

Don Alm....still FREE and refusing to be "Obaminized"
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 03:11 PM   #41
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thanks for all the kind replies guys, I hope you can make some money with this concept and also bring in a lot of business to the struggling local owners!

I think this method really delivers a whole lot more, because it immediately establishes you as a guy that gets them significant results. I'm totally all for mobile sites, seo, building websites, etc.. but nothing is going to get someone a sh** ton of business as rapidly as something like this, and for super cheap.

That means once you run one or two of these cards, you're going to have 15 to 30 clients that are more or less willing to take your word as gold and will be super receptive to other services you'll be able to provide. This will open a lot of doors for you, and will start bringing in referrals as well. I don't really know of any other way to get a couple dozen clients within two months or so.

Some information about me, I have four small kids and my wife stays home with them, so I've been able to do this whole system completely by myself during the few hours I have when I'm not working full time doing graphic design.

This system may sound somewhat complicated but it is INCREDIBLY easy once you get it started because your clients will start advertising over and over and you won't have to keep soliciting new business constantly.

I'm going to give you some more helpful information...

Printing:
Unfortunately I don't want to give up my printing source because if I ever put a WSO out I guess that could be valuable enough information to warrant paying for it. I agree with Don Alm saying at some point about how it's not worth giving out that kind of information for free, just try to do your own research for now.

You can however get these all printed and shipped to you for under $1,000 at gotprint.com. (note: I do NOT personally recommend using gotprint because they have caused nightmares for some people, but at least it's a source that will print them that cheap).

I was originally ready to have another warrior (Doran Peck, who turned me on to this idea in the first place) print me these cards for around $1100 but I couldn't reach him at the last minute and I needed to figure something out FAST. I ended up eventually finding an incredibly high quality printer that gets me the cards under $1100 and they are absolutely amazing quality. UV coating on both freakin sides!

Logistics:
Big Jeffrey asked about getting paid up front and how to do this with no capital. I started this with no capital reserved for it and I haven't yet forked out any money whatsoever of my own. You simply collect the money from the business owners before you send everything out. I wish it was easy to just get a check from them the first time you see them but unfortunately that will not be the case. You'll have to deliver the ad proofs to them in most cases first, so they know you're not scamming them.

Since I do my own graphics, I've never needed to outsource it but I'm positive you can find people cheap to make advertisements like this for each company, and sometimes the businesses will already provide you with ads ready to go. Fiverr or warriors for hire I'm sure are great places to look.

If people are selling websites for $600 and outsourcing a whole website design for $200, then I'm positive for five or ten bucks you can find a cheap designer to make you an ad, while you pocket the rest. If I had free time I would design ads for $5 or $10 all day long, they are very simple to do for the most part.

the mailing of the cards is what is going to take some research and navigation, because the usps is still not familiar enough with this new program to make it clear to everyone. You DON'T need a permit and you CAN mail as many cards as you like without one if you do it over a couple days, or if you split it up between zip codes. I could easily explain the whole way to do it step-by-step but it's too much to type at this point.

Again, I spent a ton of time researching and making mistakes to figure all of this out, so it's tough for me to just spill all of the secrets.

God there is SO MUCH killer information that I want to give out but I just can't at this point. I'm open to answering further questions and trying to help you guys get something like this started but I can't spill all of it at this point, ya know.

Here's some reasons why it would be good for you though:

1.) You become an instant hero and marketing expert to small business owners. No other person they've ever dealt with will have given them the results you will in such a rapid amount of time.

2.) You will get repeat advertisers, which means $500 or so every month will be guaranteed from each of them, for basically as long as you continue running the cards.

3.) You will get referrals like crazy from their business owner friends because you have accomplished amazing results.

4.) You will be able to sell other services to them because they now trust you.

5.) You will make a lot of local people happy because they get killer savings on services THEY LOVE USING, and you get it delivered right to their door for free.

6.) You can EASILY recruit salespeople to do the selling for you. On my first card I got three calls from media sales people wanting to do the selling but I'm greedy and don't want to hire anyone yet.

7.) You can scale this infinitely. work on a card for the next part of your city, the next village, the next town, the next city, etc...

8.) You'll make 5k easily each time you send these cards out and you can send them on any schedule you want, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, weekly, whatever!

9.) You'll get a ton of free services and products from these happy business owners. I've got one diner, a japanese restaurant, a pizzeria, and a chinese take-out place, and an italian pastry shop that welcomes me and my family to stuff our faces for free. Free car repair work, free oil changes, free wine, free pet grooming, etc...

You're going to be their knight in shining armor. Newspaper salespeople wont' deliver these kind of results instantly, neither will seo guys, web guys, valpak guys, placemat guys, coupon book guys, or any of the other guys that they've been used to. You're going to give them something that will absolutely deliver them loads of response in a short burst of time. I tell them it's literally like groupon without any of the crushing cost!

Sky's the limit on this one, but be ready to do some heavy research before jumping in on this blind (like I did!), so you don't end up screwing up the postal stuff especially.
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 03:20 PM   #42
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Originally Posted by midasman09 View Post

Hey Jeffrey!....here's the answer to your comment about HOW to start ventures like this...which I've been doing for many years. Here's your question;
"Could someone give me an idea of how i would go about getting money upfront then mailing these out? this sounds like a great idea i just dont have the capital to get everything printed first."

1) You make up a Sample (aka a MockUp) of the EXACT item you are proposing to put together....
2) along with 2 or 3 Sample Ads!
3) You then make up a "Rate Sheet" that shows;
a) How Many you're printing
b) Who you're sending them to
c) Your Fee for doing this (I usually show a "Set Up" fee plus my
charge for the project)...with a Total Price....that I offer as, 1/2
on Acceptance and balance of 1/2 on Proof...
OR....a 10% Discount if the WHOLE amount is paid NOW on
Acceptance.

Most of my advertisers have paid me the whole enchilada on Acceptance to "Save Some Moola"! So....you do NOT have to be concerend about where are YOU....going to get the money to do this? Your ADVERTISERS will Fund the project with THEIR money!

That's why programs like this are VIABLE....especially in these days of "Pre-Obaminizing of our Country"!

So....b4 we've been completely "Obaminized"....this is a way for ANYONE to;
1) Make up a Sample
2) Go see some potential advertisers and...get THEM to Pay YOU... UPFront. Then you...take their money and make up the program and Rinse and Repeat

Don Alm....still FREE and refusing to be "Obaminized"
Don brought up a good point about having a mockup, it's absolutely crucial and it's probably the biggest pain in the butt to deal with at first, because you don't have a track record yet. I couldn't believe how fast it was to get advertisers to get on board on my SECOND card, because I was able to show a finished product from my first card which had all these local businesses that they know.

If there's a bunch of local businesses on this card and you freely tell them to call them to see their results, you're going to get a ton of YES'S! easily.

1/2 down is perfectly acceptable, but don't get too upset if they say no to that because they are nervous. You can move on to the next one or if you're in a smaller town where you don't want to burn through prospects, you can spend more time with them and make them more comfortable. But ALWAYS get paid before you go to print.

Half the fun is determining what prices you want to charge them... you can pick a bunch of prices for different size ads, or you can even make them all one price and each size is "first come first serve" so if they want a big space they better act quick!

I sold a few "small spaces" for $395 at one point, but I never had any intention of giving them a small space. After print, I showed up with a regular big space for them and told them it was for free this time. Now next time they advertise they'll have NO problem paying full pop for the big ad!
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 03:41 PM   #43
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Quick fun story:

On like the 3rd day of my initial prospecting, I started visiting shops that I see around town that advertise a ton. This was in July and it was over 100 degrees out and my AC sucks! I was sweating so bad that I couldn't take it anymore and was miserable.

I went home and started cold calling in the basement using my laptop and googlevoice because my kids are so loud upstairs! There's this beauty school right near me that trains all these girls how to cut hair and get a state beauty license. I noticed they just opened within the last couple months but they had been doing TONS of advertising (commercials, billboards, news ads, etc...) so I called and this girl answers the phone and says WE DON'T ADVERTISE, then slams the phone off.

So I'm thinking, WTF! I see advertisements all over the place. So I got on the website and cold emailed the owner, and he writes back wanting to know the price. I crossed my fingers and send it all out and he takes the WHOLE FRONT SIDE, $2800.

I just pulled up the emails and blurred out personal info, but this is exactly how simple it can be if you take action with a good product/service. Email isn't always going to work this smooth and I advocate face-to-face but I've been successful using all sorts of different contact methods and have it all scripted and refined now.

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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 04:03 PM   #44
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Originally Posted by Sebulba View Post

Hello Bob

I would really like to know where you are getting these printed. I have a good resource that I have used for other things. I priced out doing an 8.5 X 11 version of what you are doing and they can do 10000 like you describe, delivered to my door for $1658. I haven't priced 9 X 12.

Also, what software are you using to do you layout. I assume you provide camera ready art to the printer?

I know how sales can be. nobody wants to be the first one to jump on something new. How do you deal with this in the sales process at the start?

Thanks

Seb
Hi Seb, I mentioned a little about the printing in a post above. I design everything in adobe illustrator and sometimes in photoshop, then it goes to adobe indesign, but keep in mind I'm a graphic designer so I have the tools and skills available for this. Don't get discouraged though!

There's a lot of free designing software out there and you don't need anything fancy, or just simply outsource it to someone on fiverr or another warrior! These clients you'll be dealing with are not going to expect some super duper graphic masterpiece, and neither are the local homeowners. Just some good deals in a coupon format and their logs will be absolutely fine.

Getting your foot in the door with this new idea is kind of an advantage, because it is actually NEW to many of them. You're not going to find many people that have been exposed to something just like this, although you may run into people who have been used to things like valpak or direct mail that's shared between a ton of advertisers, not where it's a postcard that just features a few that don't compete.

Say you target a suburb 23,000 people in it for example. There's actually only going to be around 10,000 residences because each home has roughly 2.2 people in it and a lot of them are kids.

That means that for a few hundred bucks, a business owner can get a coupon INTO THE HANDS of EVERY SINGLE RESIDENCE in their town, instantly. Do you see how powerful that is?

Not everyone reads the newspaper, not everyone opens junk mail, not everyone sees your tv commercial, not everyone searches for you on the internet, not everyone hears your radio ad, not everone looks at your billboard....

but EVERYONE gets their mail, and EVERYONE has to look at your postcard. They can also store it and look at it later when it's convenient, they can give it to a friend or relative who might find it useful, and they might very well find that they want to get a discount on their next pizza, oil change, haircut, bottle of wine, nail service, or breakfast...
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 04:45 PM   #45
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While Bob has given more than enough information in this thread for anyone to get started with this and start making money, I have to say...

With all due respect, either spills the beans on the printing source or sell info in a WSO.

I know you said you aren't trying to sell anything, but let's be real here, plenty of people have said that in the past and then just used the thread as a presell to the WSO.

Nothing really wrong with talking about maybe selling a WSO, no shame in wanting to be paid for all of the hard work you've done. I just don't get why people post 90% of things and then say they aren't gonna sell a WSO and THEN turns out they do.

Either sell it or spill the beans. I'm sure there are plenty of people here that would be willing to pay for your info if you decide to go that route.

No disrespect intended, hopefully I didn't offend.

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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 05:10 PM   #46
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Hey Bob....in this day of Websites and especially Mobile Sites....why not consider setting up a "Discount" Site that has "Printable Coupons" and... instead of using Giant PostCards....why not Regular PostCards (4 1/4 by 5 1/2).....with the URL and a QR Code to the OnLine sites?

Some college guys in Arkansas put a Coupon Site together a few yrs ago. Don't know if they're still doing it but, at the time it was unique.

http://www.collegetokens.com

Don Alm
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 05:23 PM   #47
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Hi Bob,

I am amazed at your generosity by giving us all this information. Yes, this does require a lot of work but as you say, once you get it up and running, it sure is a profit maker

I have one question if you don't mind;

what is the weight of the paper you are printing on?

Thank you, Eva
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 06:42 PM   #48
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Don: I'm totally for mobile integration but at this point I'm focusing on straight print. I'm trying to get the offers in front of people without anything possibly hindering it.

I really should be adding we codes though for sure. Funny that an old print veteran is suggesting new technology to a young "print" guy!

Direct mail is still considered a really safe, proven medium for a lot of the owners I've spoken with, where mobile and web stuff is often still tough for them to understand the value. It's just easier to sell and produce imo. Promoting an online coupon directory would certainly be effective via this card though as you mention.

I use 9x12 because its so extremely noticeable and "in their face". Funny thing is, ONLY big postcards qualify for the super low postage. It's actually over ten cents cheaper to mail the giant ones! More space equals more ads and more money at lower postage using this program.


Eva: thanks. I print everything on 14pt cardstock with UV coating on both sides. It feels like a big placemat actually. Normally you can only use UV on one side in the mail, but via this postal program you can use it on both!
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 07:03 PM   #49
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Originally Posted by bob ross View Post

Eva: thanks. I print everything on 14pt cardstock with UV coating on both sides. It feels like a big placemat actually. Normally you can only use UV on one side in the mail, but via this postal program you can use it on both!
Thank you for your detailed information and insight, Eva
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Unread 30th Nov 2011, 07:50 PM   #50
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Do you put expiration dates on the coupons?
If so how many days from the time of print?

and

With your reoccurring clients do you send the coupons to the same area or do you branch out to new zip codes the following month?

Thanks,
Mark

P.S. To Bob and all of the warriors, thanks for this great thread.
Greatly appreciated.
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