Let’s Talk Data

Putting Your Money…where your mouth is

One of the things that drives me batty is hypocrisy.

You can see it in every aspect of your life, both personally and professionally.

As a consultant, in business for nine years (hard for me to believe that!) I see it daily and it just rubs me the wrong way.

I meet people who claim to work as consultants and want the professional salary and benefits that go with being a professional, yet they are very tight when it comes to investing in a good chair for the office, a decent working PC and a phone that doesn’t whine!

How many software companies have you worked at where they are too cheap to buy everyone a legal copy of software — made by someone else? Or get a decent printer (or even an extra one!) so that the staff can get things done on time with decent results?

I could go on and on… Am sure you see the same thing.

I’m not advocating a full out and out blow out of a budget, but why is it that some people and companies can’t seem to invest in themselves?

I have worked with some marketing companies that don’t clean their mailing lists — don’t use business firmographics to analyze customers, and certainly don’t invest in multichannel marketing.

Bottom line: when I look for partner companies, I look for those people who truly put their money where their mouths are. If you are selling it to someone else, you damn well be using it yourself.

As a target marketer, I know that “birds of a feather flock together” — segmentation works. And, my husband & I are in the process of trying to move from our lovely home in the Syracuse ‘burbs to somewhere in NoVA where my sisters live. We’ve always loved the Washington DC area and are ready for a change.

So, in order to help get the word out, I designed a postcard inviting 1000 of our closest neighbors to learn about our house and to visit on an open house night. My experience tells me that people who live near me in neighborhoods similar to mine are likely great prospects (or friends of prospects!) for my house.

I know quality makes a big difference so I used one of my regular sources, Axciom, to buy the list, and one of my other favorite vendors, Modern Postcard to get the news out in the form of a jumbo postcard.

I’ve used both of these vendors countless times for my clients, but not in a soup to nuts creative push for my personal business. Fingers crossed I’ll be posting from the data capitol, DC, soon!