Table of Contents

1. Editor's Musings
2. Article: by Joy Gendusa
3. Recommended
4. Internet Sites Reviewed
5. Freebies and Other Good Deals
6. Joke of the Week

1. Editor's Musings

From now on, the Roundup will be available on my web site only. Subscribers will receive an email message letting you know the ezine is published, and a link to the web page.

Many other newsletter publishers have adopted this method in an effort to bypass unpredictable email filters. I've tried to avoid doing it, since I understand that not everyone has a fast Internet connection. However, my recent experience with email filters was the last straw.

I exchange emails regularly with a friend (M) in another city. Suddenly, M started telling me she hadn't received my messages. Upon investigation, we learned that her ISP's new s*p*a*m filters were flagging my messages as suspicious and filing them automatically in a special folder. Since my emails to M usually covered gossip about mutual acquaintances, jokes, complaints about life in general and anecdotes about my family, we were at a loss to know why the content was being red flagged.

"That does it," I said to no one in particular. I no longer will waste my time struggling to write the Roundup in such a way that it will get through the filters … because I have no idea what the filters are red flagging these days. I thought I had a handle on it, but clearly, there's no way of knowing. If my chatty personal emails don't make it through a filter, this newsletter doesn't stand a chance.

Therefore, my new delivery policy - with apologies to anyone it inconveniences.

2. Article: There's More To Marketing ROI (Return On Investment) Than Meets The Eye by Joy Gendusa

All too often people look at marketing ROI in terms of response rate: in other words, “I sent out 10,000 pieces of direct mail and only got 39 responses which is terrible.” This is wrong think.

When it comes to marketing ROI, you have to realize that the term means Return On Investment and the return is measured in dollars (or your local currency). Let’s say you spend $2,000 to get out a bulk mailing of 5,000 pieces and you get 10 calls as a result. Doesn’t look like much. But of these 10 calls you close 6 and get immediate sales of $12,000. That’s marketing ROI! And that’s not even taking into account the future sales to those 6 new customers. It could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The same simple mathematics apply to any other marketing efforts: radio ads, press releases or articles in magazines, print ads, yellow pages, web site, etc.

Obviously you need to keep track of response from each marketing campaign you do so that you can weed out unsuccessful campaigns and strengthen successful ones.

Case in point:

Jeff Lee, CFO of a very successful consulting company, Measurable Solutions, has adopted a successful small business marketing strategy based on direct mail marketing. Key elements are mailing out a newspaper and full color postcards. The design is done in house and the printing and mailing is done by a specialized postcard printing company. In his own words...

"We get our best response from mailing out a newspaper and back it up with postcards. Depends on the postcards. Some postcards have pulled better than others.

The professionalism of the postcards is something that is effective: it gets attention, it keeps the image that we want to keep, it creates the reach, it creates the response and keeps our leads in a very high range.

"We probably average around 7,500 post cards per week. Out of 7,500 post cards we’ll get in an average of 15-20 leads. Of the 15-20 leads at least a third of them come to our introductory seminar. So say 5 or 7 people show up and they pay $1,700 a piece. Off of that we close a further $30-40,000 for services.

“The money we have put into the postcards is like a drop in a bucket compared to what we get back. We know that the more promotion we send out, the more return we’re going to get. It always works.”

That is excellent marketing ROI. Measurable Solutions spend about $2,275 for 7,500 full color post cards. That includes printing, postage, mailing (including the mailing list). From that they get between $8,500 and $11,900 in immediate response for an introductory seminar and an additional $30-40,000 follow-up sales.

Spend $2,275, earn $40-50,000. You don’t need to have majored in advanced math and rocket science to work that one out: that is what is meant by marketing ROI!

Results of direct mail marketing vary from business to business but the principle holds and always works: if you send out enough promotion, you will make sales and maximize your marketing ROI. Don’t worry about response rate if your marketing ROI is high.

3. Product Recommendation: *** Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything ***

This best selling book isn't for everyone -- but it's not your typical dry economics book that you waded through in university. Controversial in nature, written with a dry wit, the content invites us to deviate from conventional "knowledge" and look at things from a different perspective.

The author, Levitt maintains that many mysteries of daily life could be answered by asking the right questions and by drawing connections between events and happenings.

If nothing else, its a good read.

4. Internet Sites -- reviewed by June Campbell

*** Scottish Business News***
Business news direct from Scotland.

*** Editors Choice Awards 2005 ***
Check out Intelligent Enterprise magazine's list of top businesses in the IE categories.

*** Make Your Desktop Make You Smarter
In this article, a management consultant argues that too much information damages productivity.

*** Exploring Mission Statements on the Web
This article examines mission statements and shows how many of us have used them incorrectly

5. Freebies and Good Deals

a. Increase your personal productivity and get more time and balance for your personal life Subscribe now for your free "Timely Time Management Tips" Go to: www.topica.com/lists/timemanagement and click ""subscribe"" or send your email to:timemanagement-subscribe@topica.com

6. Joke of the Week: Mistaken Identity

"A certain little girl, when asked her name, would reply, I'm Mr. Sugarbrown's daughter."

Her mother told her this was wrong, she must say, "I'm Jane Sugarbrown".

The Vicar spoke to her in Sunday School, and said, "Aren't you Mr. Sugarbrown's daughter?"

She replied, "I thought I was, but mother says I'm not."

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