Post haste
Nov. 15th, 2015 07:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offcntrI started keeping a mailing list right about the time I started Off Center Ceramics. I was a stealth mailing list collector; I never really put out a sign-up sheet. Mostly I copied addresses off of checks, typing everything into a freeware Bulk Mail program I picked up in my Craft Center days. I flagged each entry by the year I got it, and when it got too complicated zip-code sorting for different shows, I started keeping separate lists for different geographic areas. I'd send out postcards at the start of Saturday Market in spring, Holiday Market in fall, and smaller runs in summer specifically targeted to my out-of-town shows.
Designing the cards is always fun. The Bears get involved, pottery is sometimes featured, props and sets may be built or bought. Bright, cheerful, usually pun-inflected, hopefully memorable. I don't really know how effective they are, but I usually get a handful of customers at any show who make a point of thanking me for the card.
It's getting harder and harder to get new addresses, though. I rarely take more than a handful of checks anymore. I used to use paper slips to process credit transactions, and would ask the customer for their mailing address, but since I got my Square reader, that opportunity's gone. My only option seems to be to join the (late) 20th century, and collect email addresses.
Some I get direct from customers, who've asked to know about my sales. Some I get from people who contact me with special orders after the show. (Some of those give me a postal address too, when I ship their pots.) Some I get when they ask me to email them a receipt from their debit/credit transaction. I've currently got a handful of emailing lists started, with no more than a half dozen names on each. So I'm dipping my toe into the electronic stream.
But I'm not sure how I feel about it. An occasional postcard in the mailbox feels welcome to me, more like a letter than an advertising flyer. An e-postcard, though, feels perilously close to spam.
But I guess I have to try it. My postal lists are aging out, as I discard very old entries or remove unforwardable ones. Email is the wave of the present--social media, everyone tells me, is the future--so I gotta try it. I'll try not to be annoying, by following these rules: Keep it brief. Keep it friendly. And for God's sake, don't send more than one or two a year.
Wish me luck.
Designing the cards is always fun. The Bears get involved, pottery is sometimes featured, props and sets may be built or bought. Bright, cheerful, usually pun-inflected, hopefully memorable. I don't really know how effective they are, but I usually get a handful of customers at any show who make a point of thanking me for the card.
It's getting harder and harder to get new addresses, though. I rarely take more than a handful of checks anymore. I used to use paper slips to process credit transactions, and would ask the customer for their mailing address, but since I got my Square reader, that opportunity's gone. My only option seems to be to join the (late) 20th century, and collect email addresses.
Some I get direct from customers, who've asked to know about my sales. Some I get from people who contact me with special orders after the show. (Some of those give me a postal address too, when I ship their pots.) Some I get when they ask me to email them a receipt from their debit/credit transaction. I've currently got a handful of emailing lists started, with no more than a half dozen names on each. So I'm dipping my toe into the electronic stream.
But I'm not sure how I feel about it. An occasional postcard in the mailbox feels welcome to me, more like a letter than an advertising flyer. An e-postcard, though, feels perilously close to spam.
But I guess I have to try it. My postal lists are aging out, as I discard very old entries or remove unforwardable ones. Email is the wave of the present--social media, everyone tells me, is the future--so I gotta try it. I'll try not to be annoying, by following these rules: Keep it brief. Keep it friendly. And for God's sake, don't send more than one or two a year.
Wish me luck.