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Offline Marketing - Best Practices?

by art72
3 replies
Hi all,

Currently, I have a structured offline marketing proposal laid out, about 75% of the software, and most of the products needed to start offering local businesses some web-based services. (*Mostly focused on inexpensive advertising and consultancy.)

Without getting too in to detail it concerns list management, hosting, consulting, and a strong focus on getting them on a monthly recurring plan ranging from $97 - $497 per month recurring.

Prior, I avoided this model as it will require providing for the demand, actually answering phones, emails, Skyping, etc... as opposed to doing strictly underground affiliate marketing. (*Which I could probably be doing more of, in all honesty - but I want to build a real business, this time around.)

My first question; if I am 'in control' of creating & managing a new list as part of my offerings - should I include a 'clause' within the TOS that "MyCompanyName" retains the right to charge "X" amount of money for the accumulated list of subscribers - if the client decides to 'break the annual contract'?

Who's intellectual property is that list?

I would assume, that if I am hosting the opt-in (*webpages), the autoresponder account holder, and managing their new lists... I have full-control the asset (list), correct?

Lastly, say I am aiming my services towards offline local business owners and shops, can I ethically, and legally email (*Not SPAM) an occasional offering to both the business owners (*my clients) and their 'prospective buyers'?

I am just trying to figure out "How to" maximize my efforts, and leverage the fact that I'll be building a list of my own clients (*business owners) - but, I am curious to know will this enable me to use a professional tact to also send occasional offerings to the managed lists too?

I'm trying to get this all in place, and have a least 10 clients signed by my 43rd birthday, which is April 22. Simply because I cannot condone the ignorance that my current job delivers! (* I complete $300-$500 in work everyday offline, and barley make $100 - tired, and ready to "Burn the Ships and Take the Island!"

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Art
#marketing #offline #practices
  • Profile picture of the author Marx Vergel Melencio
    Art,

    Originally Posted by art72 View Post

    My first question; if I am 'in control' of creating & managing a new list as part of my offerings - should I include a 'clause' within the TOS that "MyCompanyName" retains the right to charge "X" amount of money for the accumulated list of subscribers - if the client decides to 'break the annual contract'?
    You provide an annual service, and you have a service contract with your clients. If they breach any of the terms that they initially agreed not to breach, then you can either charge them for the entire year and continue providing the service, or they pay a pre-termination fee and have the service discontinued upon payment of this fee and all other pending service invoices if any. You can write that down in your service contract with them ...

    Originally Posted by art72 View Post

    Who's intellectual property is that list?
    Full exclusive ownership rights should belong to your clients upon completion of all outstanding payments for your annual service ...

    Originally Posted by art72 View Post

    I would assume, that if I am hosting the opt-in (*webpages), the autoresponder account holder, and managing their new lists... I have full-control the asset (list), correct?
    Your clients are paying for an annual service, and in effect, they are buying the output of that service. The output of that service is theirs, if they complete all outstanding payments for the services that produced that output. So:

    if your clients pre-terminate your annual service contract, then they pay a pre-termination fee as recited in your service contract. If they breach any pre-mutually agreed term in your annual service contract and refuse to pay within X business days with Y% / day payment delay penalties, then all output can be witheld from them and full exclusive ownership rights of the output can be transferred to you, but only if you have recited that in the service contract they agreed and signed ...

    Originally Posted by art72 View Post

    Lastly, say I am aiming my services towards offline local business owners and shops, can I ethically, and legally email (*Not SPAM) an occasional offering to both the business owners (*my clients) and their 'prospective buyers'?
    About sending relevant offers to your clients -- Since you already have an ongoing professional service provider-service buyer subcontractual partnership with your clients, then I think it's not wrong to offer them other relevant products and services from time to time, but make it a point to initially ask them who or the relevant department in their business to communicate with for such proposals, since they most likely have the appropriate channels within their organizational infrastructure to handle such correspondences; and

    About offering products and services to mailing lists that you build for your clients -- Based on what you described in your OP, your prospect clients want to purchase services for generating traffic, for converting that traffic into subscribers, and for managing that mailing list, among other things; and

    I think most if not all of them wouldn't want to work with a service provider that'd mail out offers to their mailing lists (the output of the services they purchased). So:

    Even if this were recited in your annual service contract -- I think this would negatively affect your contract sales significantly ...
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  • Profile picture of the author art72
    Thank You Marx, your response was very helpful.

    I certainly didn't mean to presume sending my clients subscribers emails with my offerings would be welcomed by my clients (or perhaps even the subscriber themselves) - I was simply trying to find means to make the subscriber aware that the services provided could also be beneficial to them also, if they have a business or are providing services. This of course could be done with a simple credit link at the bottom og the page reading created by: mycompanyname[dot]com - whereby, I may consider offering a 10% -20% discount to clients who agree to allow me to have that structured in the web page offerings.

    Lastly, the only other concern I really had, as I am trying to simplify this for all parties involved is figuring out a frequently asked questions page for support/troubleshooting, in an effort to NOT have to field tons of emails, or in the least reduce them.

    Again, Thank You!

    Art
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    • Profile picture of the author Marx Vergel Melencio
      Art,

      Originally Posted by art72 View Post

      This of course could be done with a simple credit link at the bottom og the page reading created by: mycompanyname[dot]com - whereby, I may consider offering a 10% -20% discount to clients who agree to allow me to have that structured in the web page offerings.
      Yes, that could work, but here's my advice:

      Don't offer that to your clients on the get-go (before they sign up). Don't even advertise that to prospects. Instead -- Offer that as an exclusive discount promo after they've signed up and after you've already built them a significant subscriber base -- I think they'd most likely be more receptive of that offer by that time and probably won't confuse the offer as a deceptive way to profit from the output that they've purchased from you ...

      NOTE: Let me be clear in saying that I'm not implying that offer as a deceptive way to profit from the output of the services that your clients'll purchase from you -- What I mean is prospects may get confused and become suspicious if you offer them that before they sign up and before you've shown the value of your services ...

      Originally Posted by art72 View Post

      Lastly, the only other concern I really had, as I am trying to simplify this for all parties involved is figuring out a frequently asked questions page for support/troubleshooting, in an effort to NOT have to field tons of emails, or in the least reduce them.
      Yes, that'd be good for prospects, but for clients that've already signed up for your annual service -- Many if not all of them'd most likely prefer to call in or email or chat with someone regarding their concerns (yes, even if it's something that's in your FAQ page that they just forgot about). And, with local B2B clients in the service industry -- Some of them'd most likely call you in or drop by your office for a face-to-face meeting ...
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