Mailing List—self promo
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- gramme
Has anyone here ever bought a mailing list for a self-promo campaign? If so, was it useful? Are there any reputable companies out there that provide good, updated lists which are actually useful for people in our particular industry?
Searching on Google shows myriad results... no idea where to start looking, or what's legit.
I know the best mailing list is the one I make myself, but I don't have time for that.
- gramme0
What I'm wondering is that even with a reputable company that does their homework, does that homework ever involve finding out which companies/organizations outsource design work? For example, I'm targeting museums, and am wondering if there's a way to find out which ones outsource their design work vs. keeping it in-house... that is, without picking up the phone and spending hours calling each and every one.
Realizing I prolly should've started this process a couple months ago.
- utopian0
Museums List
http://www.museumsusa.org/museum…
- crayz0
I watched one get sent 2 days ago to 1500 addresses and the hit rate for people even opening them was awful . i think in all about 90 people opened it. and there was about 10 hits from the news articles in the mailer.
- plus they sent out 500 mailers to postal addresses and not one related phone call in over 2 months.crayz
- pixelbeat0
If you don't have the time but you need to promote something, use a social network and look for a good idea.
You can't just sent a promotion to thousands of ppl just for the sake of promoting. It's going to hurt your brand, your product & I going to hate you because you going to became a natural born spammer. So, don't do that to yourself.
And, because I want you to save you a few hours of your life I'm going to tell you this. If you think that buying a list, or scrapping/datamining a bunch of mailing list you can succed on promoting through email? The answer is no. Most spambots has so much AI on, that can sent a coffee the their creators while they eat your whole effort.
Best thing to do, is think about Twitter, maybe a contest, give something to the people. If your product is good, I can help you reposting your tweet.
I don't mean to sound brag, but I spent so much time on this sh*t.
- "Most spambots has so much AI on, that can sent a coffee the their creators while they eat your whole effort." what?bigtrick
- hahdMullins
- Spambots are using complex pseudo artificial intelligence algorithms to filter, retain and prevent spam to get distributed everyday. 97% of all e-mail traffic in 2008 was spam, do you know that?pixelbeat
- distributed everyday... Do you know that spam was the 97% in all email traffic in 2008.pixelbeat
- akrokdesign0
be selective.
hit right on.
point and shoot, oh maybe not that one. lol.
- bigtrick0
be interested in how this pans out. you are talking about print mailers, right gramme?
if so, where did you get your printing done?
- dMullins0
IMO, think about the spam you get in your inbox.
It's not very targeted, so 99% of the people delete it and never think twice.
The less targeted your demographic, the less successful it will be. If there's some way to get culled data based on your preferences, it might be mildly successful, but don't expect great results from this, as it is essentially cold calling -- i.e., the worst type of salesmanship.
- gramme0
pixelbeat, this is not email promotion. It's a printed promotion, basically takes the form of an exhibit catalog of my work, that will be sent to museums (art, history, science), art buyers, publishers, and furnishing brands a la Herman Miller, Vitra, etc. Some of the work that's already on my site, but a lot of different / new things.
What I'm hoping is to compile a list of at least 50 companies that outsource design work, and identify the right marketing person (decision-maker) to send these to.
The books are being printed this week. Perfect-bound. Small size but chunky at 80 pages / 5.1875" x 8.5". Straightforward but light-hearted profile of my studio and tons of images w/ project descriptions. Will be sent in black bubble mailers with uniquely written/addressed letters for each recipient. Mailing labels will be hand-written.
I'm printing 100 books digitally on an Indigo press, so let's say if by year's end I manage to mail out 80 of them, and get 4 decent clients, I'd consider it a success.
Unlike my last promo piece, this is much more straightforward. It's largely come about as a response to a growing number of people who ask for a studio brochure of some sort. Alas, only available for prospective clients since I'm dropping a tidy chunka change.
Now that I think about the time involved in writing tailored letters with each book, I might as well just dig in and build my own list.
Thanks all for the input.
- I really want to design exhibit catalogs and more books in general, hence the format.gramme
- pixelbeat0
Oh, I see.
Have you tried over B*hance? You can shoot pictures of the final work and post them in your profile including an email for inquiries. Then you can select who you like to send this material.
What about L*nkedIn? Pretty much every professional on earth has an account on those two web services.
I know you don't have time but considering the investment that you're doing, it's just a couple of weeks to set this up. It's the right way.
- gramme0
Do potential clients (for designers) actually hang out at B*hance? Or is it just more designerly navel-gazing?
- 23kon0
gramme, you could still follow pixelbeats advice though.
take some nice photos of the promo piece, put it on a site and promote the site too.
why not have a form for people to fill online along with their company name and address for if they want a copy (obv just send to the types of companies you want to send to).buy or research your own email list - that way its promotion for much cheapness. if they like it then theyl order one from you.
some folk might even look at the site and not want a copy but keep you in mind for that sort of work in the future.
- pixelbeat0
B*hance it's a pool of creative talents, I don't know if potential clients will find you there. Use it as an online support tool, just that.
- akrokdesign0
i was in boarder (book store) for about 7 minutes.
there was a interview with a canadian illustrator. she said, she mailed posters 4 times a year but the respond(s) was weak. it wasn't untill she meet the people they more likely look at her stuff.
also she did some free stuff for a magazine and that gave her more work then the posters.
- calculator0
I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that mailing stuff out is a waste of time and money.
- gramme0
I think it depends on what you're mailing, how relevant it is to the recipients, and how good your list is. I've heard of studios getting pretty good results from such promos. The thing is, I don't even need a huge success rate for this to pay off. Say I only get three or four clients out of 80 mailings. I'd consider that to be pretty good.