Marshall Who are you trying to reach? If your 're trying to reach the general public, advertising in the Classifieds, like I suggested before, is probably your best investment. If you're trying to reach schools and churches, take the time to go though the Yellow Pages, and make a data base list for every school and church in your area. Then send them a post card. It's less expensive than a letter, but the post office will return bad addresses. Call up the schools and churches you got back and ask for their correct address. (Some of them use a PO box). Send the post card several times a year. You don't have to offer a discount. You just want to get you name out there. But expect only about 1% - 5% of them to call. The same with the piano teachers. Look to see if there is a Music Teacher's Association chapter and/or a Piano Teacher's Association chapter. If you can't get a free chapter roster, join the group, and they will give you one. Then make a database of their names and address and send them post card, just like the schools and churches. Again, you'll only get a 1% - 5% return. All of this is a lot of work on your part, but it's much cheaper than paying for a mailing list of the geneneral public, and paying someone else to do the marketing for you. The bottom line, Marshall, is that there is no quick and easy way to build a business. I feel you're pain and frustration at not getting any business. But unfortunately it take time to build a business. and if you don't have another source of income, it can be very difficult. That is one reason why a lot of small business fail in the first three years. With the way the economy is these days, it's even more difficult. But hang in there. I've noticed a slight increase in phone calls in just the last three weeks. Maybe it will turn around for you, too. Good luck, my friend. Wim -----Original Message----- From: Marshall Gisondi <pianotune05 at hotmail.com> To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Sun, May 16, 2010 5:59 pm Subject: [pianotech] marketing Hi Everyone, I'm exploring the idea of a mailing list. Yes am aware of the 1% to 5% return etc, but I'm thinking this might be a way to get some additional work. I think someone here e-mailed me regarding a mailing list company but I cannot recall who it was nor the name of the company. do any of you out there have any recommendations on mailing list companies you've used? I know Info USA is one of the expensive ones, but cheap isn't good either. I could sit down and dig and dig for address of churches etc. but these records are not always acurate as well. So any ideas would be great. I know word of mouth is the best, but I need to get some more mouths first. I feel like a dentist. :-) Thanks everyone. Marshall Marshall Gisondi Piano Technician Marshall's Piano Service pianotune05 at hotmail.com 215-510-9400 www.phillytuner.com Graduate of The School of Piano Technology for the Blind www.pianotuningschool.org Vancouver, WA The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. Get started. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100517/8d341d2e/attachment.htm>
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