You know how there are some events that you remember very vividly…like your wedding day, the birth of your first child, eating Pho for the first time…things that for some reason stay etched in your brain forever.
One such memory we have is about 10 years ago, shortly before the Recession of 2008 became officially official in October.
It was August to be precise. At that time, we were in a retail print shop which we had acquired 4 years prior (that’s 2004 for the math averse).
Those four years were full of ups and downs as we tried to launch Zine while keeping the print shop going.
But that particular August afternoon, things were at a new low.
Our shop had two huge storefront windows. We were sitting behind the counter just staring out the windows. We had no work. No new projects. And no prospects. No customers had come in all day.
The only thing with some life in it was a fly on the window…and he was desperately trying to find a way out.
We were the picture of bleak.
We had printed 10,000 lead generation postcards six months prior, but were too poor to send them out. We couldn’t even afford to buy a list let alone pay the postage.
But somehow, a stroke of genius broke through and we realized we don’t have to mail all 10,000. We could target the mailing but first we needed a list.
So we googled local accountants and attorneys—people who we thought still needed business card and letterhead printing.
We pulled about 100 names and coughed up the 45 bucks to buy postage and mail them.
Well, about 50 of them came back as undeliverable. Buuut….
We had one call from an attorney, who happened to be a marketing consultant, and he happened to be looking for someone to print postcards. And our postcard happened to cross his desk that day.
That’s how we met Ben Glass. He not only became a loyal client who loved our work, but a friend and a mentor who opened our world up to marketing and what true business success looks like.
And here we are today…running a business we love, with clients we love to work with, and having more work and more clients than we know what to do with.
The moral of the story, boys and girls?
One postcard can change your life.
Our list wasn’t big, but it was targeted. Our postcard wasn't amazing...actually it was a cool postcard. But without a good list, your designs don't matter.
There are proven strategies that give direct mail the best chance of success. The team at Zine has helped people like Dan Kennedy, Ben Settle, Ben Glass, and other top marketers design and implement effective and stunning direct response campaigns that get results.
Our Million Dollar Direct Mail Campaign combines the best strategies to create a hands-off direct mail system that gets results. Click below for more information.
