Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Dear Paul,

If you're just sending cards to your window cleaning customers in the Minneapolis area, you might want to work with local print and copy shops that offer printing on demand services.

This approach makes your message and the item itself more personal because it's one business supporting another, so there's scope here for joint promotion.

With print on demand you simply print the number of pieces you want and that's it. No large quantities to produce. And many of these companies are set up with envelope printing and mail merge, so you could offer postcards, seasonal related items, holiday promotions, anything, just as long as it's carrying on with the conversations people are having in their heads at that time.

This keeps you more visible, it gives you greater presence of mind and can also be used to drive traffic to your website.

As a small (but obviously pretty savvy) business owner, you might want to look into the marketing resources afforded by Bill Glazer and Dan Keneddy.

www.glazerkeneddy.com.

There are local Glazer Kennedy chapters around the country, but according to my list (I'm a member of the Philadelphia Chapter), there doesn't appear to be one in Minnesota. I think the closest groups to you are in Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Madison). You'll find more details atwww.dankennedy.com.

Perhaps you could form a group in Minneapolis?

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

I personally like hand-written thank yous. If you're talking about several of them, set aside a day each week or an hour for a couple of days to write them. They don't have to be long -- just sincere.

I get such amazing response for simple hand-written, hand-addressed notes.

I received a personal hand-written "thank you for ordering...let me know how you like the item" on a Post-It Note last month. I appreciate when someone takes the time to do that.