Surround Your Customers and Clients

How Bonner Deals with the 'Can Spam' Law

With servers all over the world and spammers thumbing their noses at any kind of regulation, spam is the bane of world business. I once figured out that dealing with spam could cost two full work weeks every year for the average executive.

Instead of spam, Bonner uses the pop-up. Go to The New York Times Web site (or any number of others), and sometimes a Bonner pop-up will appear on your screen.

The "IN THE NEWS" section above contains Bonner's latest pop-up. Another one:

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Click for details, and you'll get the magnificent 25-year-old letter still going strong, still bringing in business.

Takeaway Points to Consider

• Old direct marketing rule of thumb: It's five times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to sell to an existing customer.
• Never forget that the Internet is essentially a print medium, and that long copy works, but only if compellingly written.
• How can you surround your customers or clients? What new products, services or line extensions can you come up with that will bring in additional revenue and cut out your competitors?

• Need ideas for new products or services? Go to your existing customer base and use surveys or focus groups or both.
• If you go the focus group route, you will very likely be better off hiring professionals who specialize in this form of market research. The information and data they can elicit are more accurate and actionable than that acquired by bumbling amateurs who are likely to load the questions to fit their agenda.