Has anyone tried EDDM

http://www.bing.com/search?pc=COSP&p...keting%2F+eddm

You might want to look into putting a postcard together with local businesses for the sole purpose of not only making a little money, but getting your ad on the card for free every time you mail. Check out any products by Bob Ross, a long-time WF member. They are excellent.

Search for Bob Ross here on the forums. His stuff is gold for EDDM.

EDDM will waste your time and money for your product. As will ads in coupon books, valpaks and other shotgun ad methods.

Realtors have the keys to your kingdom. Target those in an area where water isn't the greatest and the affluent homes.

If your water catches on fire, selling your home is going to be tough.

Now, you may consider holding a workshop (mass sales) for people in the For Sale By Owner markets too, a good water system adds great value to a home, all things being equal, the FIZBO with water system could have an advantage of a neighbor's house listed with realtor.

So, find successful realtors, do a JV, offer them a unit for referrals, get creative.

I assume you sell home units so find those people going into homes every day...realtors.

Lots of JV opportunities there,

gjabiz

Why do EDDM when you can just put an ad in a newspaper?

Gja is right, EDDM will be a waste of your money here, you've got to take a more targeted approach.

A bit of a side track...but I agree with the targeted approach as the more experienced postcard mailers point out.

One of the best water purification demos I witnessed...and it wasn't for home filters...it was for a portable lifesaving device was at a camping show.

The product basically filtered "ANY" kind of wet material into drinking water.

They demo'd a muddy mess of water and sheep poo and scooped it up into their manual filter and in a few moments produced a glass of pure drinking water. Powerful demonstration for people going into the Australian outback.

At another "Home Show" the water filter guys were doing really well targeting the female audience....particularly Asian women.

I noticed because my wife is of Chinese descent and the salesman targeted her with a very specific pitch aimed at "family health" and "water purity"

My wife is a fitness/health type and also has experience of the "putrid" water supply that most of the Chinese population has to access.

At the time...

There also was a lot of "guardia" issues in the press in Australia so the thought of "pure water" was also being pushed everywhere.

She was really dragged into the presentation and would have purchased had I not suggested to think about the need and have a look after the show.

I guess what I'm saying is...

Demonstrations that appeal to the female buyer may have a greater impact and you may get more milage targeting moms with kids via group demonstrations at childcare groups or play groups where you can get a number of people together and demonstrate how "clean water" helps their family "stay safe".

You could offer those demos as a community service and then make some in-home bookings from there.

It is hard for a man to resist when their wives who have just borne their children have the conversation about "Do you care about our family's health?"

There is some leverage there...

I looked at the site and some of the related YouTube videos that pop up.

Major product advantages as I see it:

Safety
Taste
Portable
No electricity needed
Optional Fluoride filtration for those on city water? (It was mentioned in one of the related videos.)

So, I'm thinking demos/displays at camping supply, Recreational Vehicle stores, sporting goods stores, home improvement stores, natural food stores, and so on.

Reach health conscious and "taste aware" restaurant and lodging facility owners and managers.

You have a lot of market segments you can target and work with the other businesses that serve those segments. Realtors as gjabiz suggested. Kitchen and bath remodelers and plumbers...

So, I'll throw EDDM back on the table for discussion - as long as it's to people or business owners
in specific interested market segments. I don't know, I think that might still be too much of a shotgun approach, but I'm asking the experienced EDDMers? Perhaps hand addressed envelopes and letters?

I think PPC, banners on relevant websites/blogs, display ads/advertorials in trade magazines and consumer magazines in your segments (OUTDOORS...). Also, publicity campaigns. Support your local animal shelters - I think those workers and volunteers will be interested in your products.

Dan

I am already doing expos as part of my advertising However, you did bring up a good point, I should probably do a video of my product purifing different types of water sources. I do this at the shows but have not done them on a video. Then probably should target, hikking, camping, survivalist, and others with the video. That might get visitors from on line to visit my site. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thank You all

Do you sell them in people's homes? What is an average price point?

The water systems can be used for outdoors and home use. No I don;t go to peoples homes. I sell online and at events. The price point depends on the size and numbers of filters they have. check out my website.

I'd like to address a couple of things...

your second sentence indicates that you not having the success you want JUST marketing online.

I can tell you why: ...You are breaking the most crucial rule of marketing...or even being in business for that matter...

Never let your customers or prospects move at their own pace....motivate them and do it often...or your competition will do it for you.

This reveals the inherent, and sometimes crippling weakness of online marketing...that is...YOU can't do a dam thing...until someone out there decides to go looking for you.

Is that a position of strength? when you must wait for someone else to make a move before you can make your move?....until that happens you sit and wait and sit on your thumbs....until someone decides he needs to worry about water purification.

in reality how often do you think that happens? ....apparently not often enough right?

Your first sentence actually contains the starting point of the answer to your obstacle. "my systems are unique and I believe they will pay off in the end"

well that's good...people want to know you believe in your product...is that commitment and belief apparent in the sales material?...in your personal presentation?

You mention your system is unique...of all the things you could have mentioned, you chose unique...so it must be a primary reason why its better...is the reason they are unique reflected in the material?...the pitch? Can a person easily understand why the whole "unique" thing directly impacts them?

"pays off in the end" ...is how that happens immediately evident and clear?

If you could just have a casual conversation with any random home owner ( not a sales conversation, a normal conversation)..don't you think that in the course of that conversation you would invariably affect his thinking about water purification systems? ..in some way or other you would nudge his thinking right? ...you ( being the expert) will probably even tell him something he never knew before.

At the very least you've educated him...probably got him thinking about water purification..and at some point soon now he's probably gonna go online and look for something.

Finally, you ask about a particular medium..the EDDM mail.

Here's the thing.....isn't every human being a potential customer for you?

So, you just need a way to have that conversation with...anyone who drinks water.

Which means, you just need a way to get in front of the eyeballs of some water drinking person at each every house in town right?

Its called EDDM ...it will allow you to have that conversation with everyone at the same time...nudge their thinking...get it rolling toward you a helluva lot sooner than waiting for them to eventually get around to it.

The question you should be asking isn't "will EDDM work for me" ...the proper question is....Is my message...my conversation working for me.

EDDM is just the messenger...your online stuff is just the messenger.

Which one is going to get your message in front of more customers quicker?

Good Luck sir !

I think your website needs some work.
Your accessories link doesn't work, and some of the brand names don't display properly on my phone. You also display 2 prices... which are both the same price..?

I don't know a whole lot about water filtration. You need to walk me through what I need to know. You show products and prices. I am not going to read every description to find out which system will benefit me the most. You need to lead, direct, educate me on what I need.

I know you don't sell in homes... but see what you can do to adapt part of this....

I use to sell water softening systems for Rain Soft years ago. They put a washer and dryer on display and had people enter to win it. On the form, it said someone would contact them about their water system. They then called every lead and offered a water sampling test. While demoing the unit they had the homeowner interact with the presentation and gave them all of their cleaning supplies for the next couple of years. This helped offset the cost. They made it more about buying their cleaning products in bulk right now, the softer was an after thought.

What is the weight difference between hauling one of these and a gallon of water? How much will it save vs buying bottled water?

I feel like EDDM would get quite expensive. I would find a way to get better targeted with your approach or focus on newspaper ads in a specific county where you could reach a large group of people with not as much cost.

Some very intresting point of views. I did check the accessory link on my computer and it works fine I'll check the phone site and see what the problem is. As for the other things I can change some of my site to refelect the systems pros. such as a bottle of water is 12 oz. and cost you $1.79 where as the smallest systems is 1.5 gallons and cost about $.18 cents per 12 oz glass. It seems I am going to have to do a lot of education for people to understand the value of the product.

IMHO....you should be at every sort of "happening" (expo, trade show whatever)

Biz to Biz....Home shows....Health shows....spa shows (yes there are shows for spa owners) ....Beaty/skincare expos -spas (Novelle Esthetique runs big ones)....Restaurant/Hotel trade shows...
Fitness trade shows
Network
Get on Linkedin and strategically connect with prospects
Post interesting not salesy stuff

Join local networking groups (probably find on LinkedIN)

Network locally....go to biz breakfasts, biz happy hours

IMHO it sounds like your product sells better face to face....at shows, or locally
you might look into why it is not selling online....could you tweak your website, presentation?
video...powerpoint presentation?

while you tweak the online - work offline
I have learned - think global, act local

eddm IMHO would be a waste of money that you could spend on getting booth, table at shows
and/or tweaking your presentation materials
How about your marketing materials....do you have good handouts, presentation folders, reminder and follow up cards?
You might do better to get a postcard and use to follow up on (former) prospects who said no or who you were not able to connect to for presentations rather than sending EDDM

Yes...great visual ideas for shows....I like

I am still thinking about that sheep poo in Oz...yow....gag me...but what a visual that must have been

show and tell

I am listening and I am not missing the point. I do shows every week In fact I have one tomorrow. I use muddy lake water on my light model, which is transparent so they can see how it works. It is the only model that uses food grade polymers. The water purification bottles are food grade polymer as well. Most of the shows in this area are survival and gun shows. No camping, outdoor showss but I have also registered for the home show which is in December. I do have friends who are into hiking, camping, etc who take the go Berkey to these events and I do sell quite a few of these. Yes you can buy cheaper filtration systems but they do not work near as well as mine. You are correct I am now doing up some information on bottled water and other purification systems to show why mine are better. Has anyone read the testing results? They are under shop with us/ Testing. I do appreciate all your input and I am getting ideas from you.n\ Thank You all so much