Attention, entrepreneurs and small business owners! Join us for a live chat on creative ways of showing clients your appreciation this holiday season. Barbara Corcoran, spokesperson for PictureItPostage, real estate contributor for the TODAY Show, and author of "Use What You’ve Got", a bestselling business book, will lead the chat. She has some great tips on creative ways to thank your clients and break through the clutter to reach new customers. Talk with Barbara and a group of incredibly imaginative and successful mom bloggers who are also business owners themselves about their ideas and yours for taking extra special care of your clients this year! We'll have a special offer from PictureItPostage to give you the opportunity to increase your brand exposure and make your mailings pop - so don't miss this awesome, informative Talk!

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Category:MONEY AND WORK
    • X

      Angie

      Deb - that's a great idea.

      about 1 year ago

      Mishelle Lane

      Deb: I'm noting that one. A photo with a quote. Yes!

      about 1 year ago

      BarbaraCorcoran

      Dawn, I sent exactly the same invitation because they were really well designed and carefully worded, and I couldn't think of another way to improve them. I also learned by calling the recipients that no one was opening my envelope.

      about 1 year ago

      debontherocks

      We do a ton of direct mail with one of our business streams and have experimented and tested persistently through the years. One of our small tests three years ago STILL pays off with sales--a small card that featured a beautifully designed quotation that was meaningful to our audience (pre-school teachers). They SAVED the card, pinned in on office bulletin boards. Have to experiment to find what is meaningful to your customer base.

      about 1 year ago

      JodiG

      Everyone fails but successful people try something different when they fail :)

      about 1 year ago

      Brandie

      That's awesome!!!

      about 1 year ago

      Momtrends

      Aha!

      about 1 year ago

      Cooper

      That is inspiration, Barbara! Persistence and creativity - unbeatable combo!

      about 1 year ago

      Dawn Camp

      So you sent the *exact same* invitations, the only difference was the PictureItPostage?

      about 1 year ago

      Dawn Camp

      What a great story!

      about 1 year ago

      Emily

      Very cool!

      about 1 year ago

      Melissa

      Thats amazing Barbara!

      about 1 year ago

      JodiG

      Wow - great lesson though!

      about 1 year ago

      Mishelle Lane

      Wow. That's awesome! Maybe I should order some with me and my camera!!

      about 1 year ago

      JollyMom

      That's awesome!

      about 1 year ago

      Jenrab

      How awesome is that!?

      about 1 year ago

      MompreneurEllen

      boy, isn't that true... it was your own test marketing!

      about 1 year ago

      Audrey

      I love it... it really does define how amazing they are.

      about 1 year ago
    • BarbaraCorcoran 18 comments
    • Let me tell the end to the story, which is a happy ending using PictureItPostage. Alas! I put my smiley face, the same one you see in the blue blouse looking back at you, on the stamps and sent out the same printed invitation and a miracle happened: the real estate agents who never opened my first envelope saw my face, had the hoped for response that had previously escaped me, and overwhelmingly replied with "wow, how clever is that?!" Most importantly, they opened the damn envelope and actually read the invitation! To date I've had over 300 people signing up and I know the only difference between my failed attempts and the last one was using the PictureItPostage. Let me not forget to mention the other very important reason I got the successful ending to the story, was because I was willing to try a bunch of stuff until I landed on something that worked. I'm sure you've met this word before: persistence!
      about 1 year ago
    • X

      Melissa

      thanks for the tip, barbara!

      about 1 year ago

      BarbaraCorcoran

      Melissa, I wish you luck with the 20% design discount, but I don't think it's the way to go and let me tell you why. First people won't believe it's a real discount when they get it, they'll think it's a gimmick you manufactured just to hook them in. Second I receive a thousand cards offering this and that and although I like the idea of a postcard to reach people because it's easy to read, the fact is it can't possibly convey anything substantial enough about your business that would be convincing enough to make them give you a shot. I think a much better approach would be to review people's blogs and actually re-design a tiny piece of it and send it their way with your pitch. This way they can actually see how good you are at what you do and everyone respects somebody that goes above and beyond the call of duty in selling their product and are willing to actually give out a free sample.

      about 1 year ago

      Kate

      Oh, I wish I had the skills to redesign all the time. I hate depending on others for that part of the "business".

      about 1 year ago

      Melissa

      aww - thanks everyone :-)

      about 1 year ago

      Brandie

      Great idea!

      about 1 year ago

      Melissa

      Thanks, Kate! I think people sometimes feel bad asking for a blog redesign - like I'll be offended that they want something different. (when I redesign my site all the time ;-)

      about 1 year ago

      Dawn Camp

      Smart!

      about 1 year ago

      Mishelle Lane

      That's an awesome idea, for sure!

      about 1 year ago

      JollyMom

      Smart!

      about 1 year ago

      MompreneurEllen

      Yes! Great idea Melissa. I just got a card from an event planner who did something similar... and you can be sure I kept her card...right. over.here.

      about 1 year ago

      Emily

      Sounds like a great idea!!!

      about 1 year ago

      inkscrblr

      That is smart. I like coupon codes.

      about 1 year ago

      Audrey

      GREAT idea!

      about 1 year ago

      Kate

      That's a great idea, Melissa.

      about 1 year ago
    • Melissa 14 comments
    • I have a blog design business, so I'm sending out cards offering 20% off a blog redesign! Hoping a coupon code will make people hang on to the card ;-)
      about 1 year ago