Choosing A Professional E-Mail Marketing Firm

By Deborah Sexton

If you don’t have the time or the expertise, it’s a wise option to hire an expert to set up your e-mail marketing program. There are many companies that specializes in HTML development and marketing. These companies are appealing to businesses who simply want to hand over the entire job, from e-mail design to delivery and tracking, to someone else.

Naturally, you’ll pay more than if you did the job yourself, but you’re paying for expertise. These companies know how to design an e-mail and subject line that makes it past spam filters and gets good open rates and click-throughs. Just as you may not want to record your own radio ad, you may not feel comfortable doing the design and delivery of your own e-mail ads.

Also, e-mail marketers can answer questions such as: What’s the best time and day to send e-mails? How can you improve response rate? What does the click-through information suggest about how future deliveries should be approached? What should you do with all the data you’ve collected about the e-mail campaign? The bottom line is, you’re paying more, but you’re hiring a professional service, and thus can expect to get better results.

While it may seem like such companies are only for large businesses, many are more than happy to work with small shops — and, in fact, some are geared specifically toward doing so. Further, some will handle specific parts of the e-mail marketing process, such as design only or delivery only, making their costs to you more flexible and manageable. And keep in mind, if you spend, say, $1,200 with such a service and get good results — better than what you would’ve had on your own — the service more than pays for itself.

Information for this article was supplied by Jason Sherrill, president of InetSolution, a company that offers Web site software and development, Web site hosting, consulting, and products to make Web sites easier to use, less expensive, and more secure. For assistance in creating or fine-tuning your Web site, contact him at http://www.inetsolution.com.

Turn Your Passion to Profit!

BallStars - A Profitable Discovery!

Steve Moyer had been hunting unsuccessfully for a business he could launch and run while keeping his full-time job as a private school’s food service director. He tried selling items on eBay. It didn’t work out. He tried opening a Yahoo store. It didn’t work out. Then his wife, Monica, who had been skeptical of his previous entrepreneurial efforts, found the BallStars system.

“She called me and said she had found something that looked really cool—and she was on board with this idea,” says Moyer, who lives in Dartmouth, Mass. “That’s when we decided to get this going.”

After Moyer’s wife did a SWOT analysis, looking at Ballstars’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, he recognized the system’s profit potential and set his sights on turning the business into a full-time endeavor, called Game Ball Images. “We saw that there wasn’t anything like this in our area, and we decided to go for it,” he says. “I’d like to go full-time within five years.”

Think Big, Act Smart!
On the one hand, you probably won’t achieve success without dreaming big. On the other hand, you do have to be realistic — and work hard, of course. That’s what Steve Moyer quickly realized when he and his wife, Monica, launched Game Ball Images, a Ballstars business, in March 2007. “We’ve set realistic goals. I didn’t go out thinking that I was going to be a millionaire started, although it’s improving weekly,” he says. “We knew it would be a process, and we took on the mindset that this was a marathon, not a sprint.”

Moyer laced up his running shoes, so to speak, by sending out press releases to local newspapers announcing his launch. He also has become heavily involved in local activities, including fund-raisers. “We’re doing it on a shoestring budget, trying to get as much free press as we can,” he says.

For instance, Moyer got involved in a fund-raising effort for a new athletic field in a nearby town. “There was an event with bands and auctions, so we set up a display with some balls and let people do silent bidding on them,” he says. “We didn’t have to pay to participate because we donated the proceeds.”

Next, Moyer went after photographers, who can offer his service to their customers and submit orders to him. “We called them and gave them samples, because they have the market cornered for youth sports,” he says.

Seeing Is Believing!
Since Steve Moyer started Game Ball Images, his Ballstars business, early last year, he has found that the best way to get customers is to get in front of them — literally. Moyer, whose company is located in Dartmouth, Mass., often sets up a display at local events, including fund-raisers and football games.

“With these products, people need to touch and hold and feel it,” he says. “They have to run their hands across it and see that it’s not a sticker. That’s what draws them in—the ball in their hands. That’s why I have a goal of being at a tournament of some sort every weekend this summer, whether it’s baseball, soccer, or lacrosse.”
Moyer’s local Pop Warner league has 32 teams and thousands of kids participating, which made getting in front of all of those people quite a challenge. Wisely, Moyer contacted the league commissioner, who gave him permission to attend the annual meeting and provide personalized packets for all the teams. “The packets had price lists and information such as turnaround times,” he explains. “It took a few months to talk the commissioner into letting us do it, but we were finally able to get in there.”

That initial packet distribution led to numerous orders, which in turn has led to other orders as people see the BallStars balls that others have purchased. “It’s just part of getting the product out there. We even give away free stuff, but it’s the price you pay to get it out there. You have to give some to make some.”
While seeing truly is believing, prospective customers still need an explanation of the many ways BallStars items can be used. “I just try and have a conversation with them, and tell them what we are and what we do,” Moyer says. “I let them know this is a unique item, a keepsake that you can just put in your trophy case. It’s not like paint on ball; it’s permanent, and you can add the player’s names on there, and it looks really nice. Sometimes it takes 45 minutes, and sometimes you have them at hello.”

World Wide on the Web!
Game Ball Images is based in Dartmouth, Mass., but thanks to its Web site (www.gameballimages.com), it’s potentially a global business. Steve Moyer, who owns the one-year-old business with his wife, Monica, has stayed far away from the cookie-cutter sites sometimes associated with small, independent businesses. He recognized the importance of having a professional-looking site that attracts the attention of prospective customers. “I also knew that the most important thing was to rank high in search engines,” he says. “Having a top-tier Web site does all the work of attracting people through key words and images. It’s all about content, content, content.”

Game Ball Images’ site gives customers reasons to buy, Moyer says, and it shows customers different ways to use Ballstars products. “We show people that it’s the customization that makes these things different. You have to show the different ways to customize them, what you can use them for, and how they go about doing it,” he explains.

It’s also important to keep the site fresh so that it stays high in search engine rankings, Moyer says. “Keeping it up-to-date is a lot of work. You have to do something every day, even it’s something small like tweaking key words and pictures,” he explains. “People don’t just walk into your online store. You have to attract them.”

Buckingham Rocks and Rolls All Night and Parties Every Day with BallStars!

Who says sports balls are only for sports fans and athletes!

I proved this wrong last night. I have been a Kiss fan for over 30 years, I did a lot of paintings, and drawings growing up. I started painting kiss on guitar picks and would give them away. Then I started sending them to web masters of some of the Kiss web sites where they would display them on the web site. I was able to build a relationship with some of the promoters.

As a result I was invited to an event last night where Kiss drummer Eric Singer would be on hand for autographs and they had bands playing. I had done some art work for Eric in the past as well as the band Mr. Speed who is a Kiss look alike band.

To make a long story short, I made some buttons and a BallStars mini home plate of Eric and a Baseball of Mr Speed. I also made a football and a basketball of Eric`s fav team. I sold out of the buttons in about 2 min! I did not even get them into the building! The promoters saw the items I gave Eric and they pulled me to the side to talk. They not only promote Kiss and Kiss merchandise but coach baseball and football. They want to have me work with them in the spring. Eric liked what I gave him, he then signed one of the home plates and gave back to me along with a signed photo, pick, and drum head.

As far as Mr. Speed, The baseball was signed and they gave it to one of their fans that have been following them from the start. They gave it to him saying that this is the ONLY one in the world like it and you have it!.

I just thought I wold share this with you.... Mark:)

Mark is owner of Buck's House Of Color - www.buckshouseofcolor.com

Blog - http://www.buckshouseofcolor.blogspot.com/

Setting up Shop

Although Marshall B. Lewis runs his BallStars business from his home in Riverview, Fla., he fully recognizes the value of getting plenty of exposure in the local business community. For instance, he recently set up a display table at community league’s football game, and was inundated with requests. The table display included marketing posters provided by BallStars.

“I don’t want to be a salesman and jump on people, and with the table, they come right to me. I had samples and information that people could take with them,” he says. “I got at least seven sales, and one of the teams asked me to come back next week for a fund-raiser,” he says.

As Lewis becomes more comfortable with the camera included in his BallStars package, he hopes to shoot photos at the games. In the meantime, he’s also getting plenty of exposure via his Web site, www.bawlhogs.com, which features a full library of product images and an online design service where customers can upload their photos or graphics and purchase the product.

Small Business, Big Dreams: Dartmouth couple starts sports achievement memento venture!

By ROBERT BARBOZA
Editor
December 26, 2007 5:20 PM

DARTMOUTH — Remember back in junior high school, when your basketball team won the league championship, capping off a great season playing hoops with the kids who later became friends for life? Or the Sunday morning when you scored your first touchdown in pads and a helmet?

If those childhood memories are a little hazy a few decades later, don't you wish you had a personalized memento of that special sports achievement sitting on a desktop or a bookshelf to help you relive those youthful glory days?

Steve and Monica Moyer of Dartmouth are hoping that their new business, Game Ball Images, can help your family preserve such treasured memories by imprinting a photo of your player or team and their accomplishments on one of the many sports products their fledgling company offers.

The home-based business can print a photo of your future All Star on everything from a regulation-sized souvenir football to a hockey puck, from a softball or rubber miniature of home plate.

"There's 28 different items we can print photos on," mostly sports balls of all sizes, said Steve, a food service manager at St. George's School in Newport who readily admits to being a fanatic about sports. When not working or helping to coach his son Nathan's Dartmouth Youth Football League team, he keeps busy pursuing marketing leads and turning out the mementos.
Monica, a graphic designer who is now home tending twin four year olds, takes care of most of the design work involved in creating the personalized souvenirs for customers spanning the globe. With her expertise in Photoshop and other graphics software, it's a small business partnership made in heaven.

It was the arrival of twins Emma and Aidan that prompted the young couple to look around for a part-time business that could be operated out of their home, Monica said.

Finding an advertisement for a company called Ball Stars, they decided to investigate further, and ended up becoming a local licensee for the firm, which supplies the mementos, production machinery and related accessories such as display cases for their products.

The photo transfer process is relatively quick and easy, with a client's printed photo or digital image being heat-transferred onto the sports souvenir object chosen. Creating an expanded web site featuring all their products, and easy templates for customers to design their own mementos, has helped draw business from all over the country, and even overseas.

One internet order was for 13 personalized soccer balls for a youth team at an American military base in Germany, Steve noted, and other orders have come in from as far away as India. The enhanced web site (www.gameballimages.com) has made the Dartmouth couple one of Ball Stars' most successful new licensees, the couple indicated.

Indeed, much of the internet business in the first year has come from distant places such as California, Michigan and Texas, while local orders are generally coming from setting up displays at youth sports tournaments around the region.

The family plans their weekend tournament visits as family outings, using a digital camera to capture "a player right out on the field" in an action shot to be used to make a memento, Steve said. "We can take a bunch of action shots and have customers pick the picture they want right off our computer" set up on the sidelines, he noted.

"It's the type of product that really needs to be seen" to be appreciated, Monica added. "That's why we like to go out and set up on site."

Unlike a trophy or team plaque, "You can always look back at it and say, this is what I looked like back then," Steve suggested. That personalized touch is what seems to draw customers, he indicated, noting, "The only limit to the creative possibilities is your imagination."

It was that entrepreneurial imagination that prompted the couple to launch their little business, which they would eventually like to see turn into a full-time operation with a storefront complete with a showroom.

"For us, it's a marathon, not a sprint. We know we have to start slow, and we're not going to make money right away," Steve said.

Like many other small business owners, he and his wife have learned that success takes time and hard work. "We can dream," he suggested, sounding a little like one of those Little Leaguers thinking about playing in Fenway Park some day.

To find out more about Game Ball Images, visit their web site, or call Steve or Monica at (508) 542-4080.

Reprinted from The Chronicle.SouthCoastToday.com Website.
Serving the Dartmouth & Westport communities

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071226/PUB02/712260414

Getting Customers

After launching his BallStars business, Bawl Hogs, just a few short months ago, Marshall B. Lewis is finding it surprisingly easy to find customers. He contacted about five area high schools, sending some of them an introductory e-mail and giving others a more personal touch.

“I visited them and left some samples, and everybody loved them,” says Lewis, who lives in Riverview, Fla. “I’m happy about the way things are going.”

Lewis’ sample kit included his business card, a list of prices, and, in some cases, a ball. “I can’t give everybody balls, so I put together a PowerPoint slide showing the package and e-mailed that to the schools,” he explains.

He keeps the e-mail’s file size small enough (well under six megabytes) so that recipients have no difficulty receiving the information. “I’ve already sold eight balls,” says Lewis, who expects to receive many more orders after the schools receive funding to purchase the balls. “I’m also pursuing football leagues and a city recreational league. One team wants to give balls to all 30 of its kids. They’re just waiting until the season ends to see how the team places.”

Lewis, however, isn’t simply waiting around for business. “I’ll be sending out fliers to the basketball coaches next,” he says.

Balls And Ornaments Are A Natural For The Holidays

With the holidays fast approaching, Marshall B. Lewis expects good things for his fledgling BallStars business, Bawl Hogs, including healthy sales of Christmas ornaments and balls as Christmas gifts.

“There’s an organization on base that originally wanted T-shirts for their 5K Christmas run, but I showed them the balls and ornaments, and they may use those instead,” says Lewis, who serves in the Air Force. “They’re looking for awards, as well as items for the goodie bags they give away after the run. They would put the name of the race on the item.”

Custom photo products boost spending of retail and online print customers!

PMA Data Watch: Custom photo products boost spending of retail and online print customers!

If you are still thinking about whether to expand your photo services beyond traditional printing services, consider this: According to the 2007 PMA U.S. Consumer Photo Buying Report, only about 40 percent of digital camera owners ordered standard photo prints at retail or online in 2006. About 40 percent of those retail and online print customers, however, also ordered custom photo products in 2006, on top of their prints, and their average spending on those products was $51. This figure includes photo CDs and DVDs ordered at stores or online, as well as, photo greeting cards, posters, calendars, and other custom items ordered by print customers. It does not, however, include blank CDs and DVDs, printers, and printer consumables purchased by the same customers for custom photo creations at home. According to PMA Marketing Research data, custom photo products in 2006 comprised the equivalent of a $20 ($51 x 40 percent) premium on every retail/online print customer's spending.

• 67 percent of digital camera owners that made prints in 2006.


• 40 percent of digital camera owners that made prints at retail/online.


• 40 percent of retail/online print customers that ordered custom products.


• $51 is the average retail/online print-customer's spending on custom products.


• $20 is the premium in print customer's spending from custom photo products.

Published December 10th, 2007
View Article: http://www.pmai.org/index.cfm/ci_id/1198/la_id/1.htm

source PMA Marketing Research

Retiring with Ballstars

Marshall B. Lewis knows exactly what he’ll be doing when he retires from the Air Force in two years: He’ll have a successful BallStars franchise. Lewis, who designed everything from Web sites to coins during his armed forces career, purchased a BallStars Pro 5500 system in August after discovering the system’s profit-making potential.

“I was trying to find something in graphics, and I love sports too, and BallStars puts the two together,” he says. “I polled friends and family members about putting their child’s photo on a ball. Everybody I spoke with thought it was a great idea.”

Lewis, who lives in Riverview, Fla., (www.bawlhogs.com) says it’s the kind of item he would’ve loved as a kid. “We had trophies, and those are fine, but th is is more personal,” he says. “Plus, being down here in Florida, the weather is always good, so they play sports year-round. There are so many different areas to sell the product.”

Those plentiful business opportunities have given Lewis high hopes for Bawl Hogs, his fledgling BallStars initiative. “If things start to blossom, I will do BallStars full time,” Lewis says. “Then I’ll have the freedom to do whatever I want. That’s my goal.”

Autograph Signings - 4 of 4

Another great opportunity to promote your BallStars business is by attending autograph signings as available in your area. Marc Dominguez, Texas Photo Ball, Little Elm, Texas, realized this opportunity when DeMarcus Ware, a linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys, came to his neighborhood Albertson’s grocery store to do an autograph signing. Dominguez got in line with his seven-year-old son. Unfortunately, it was their bad luck that the person ahead of them was the last one chosen in line to get a turn.

While Dominguez feels a BallStars ball signed by a professional athlete makes a great display sample, he also got the business card of the Demarcus Ware’s business manager. “Often, at autograph signings, the athletes are selling a product for them to sign,” notes Dominguez. “For example, they may provide a football, which the fan must purchase for $25 and then it can be signed. I plan to talk to these business managers about offering a higher quality ball with the athlete’s photo on it that can be sold to fans to be signed,” he says.

To find out more about the Dominguez Family visit their website at www.txphotoball.com

Getting Established In Photo Ball Business - Part 3 of 4

As with any new venture, plan to spend a certain amount of time learning how to use the system, learning the graphics software, and getting the word out that you offer BallStars balls. While doing all this can be a full-time job, unless you will not need to be generating income to live off of during this time period, you may find it prudent to keep your full-time job until the business is firmly established and earning a regular income.



This was the case with Marc and Monica Dominguez, Texas Photo Ball, Little Elm, Texas. Their greatest motivation for purchasing the BallStars system was to allow Marc, who was burned out from his current career, to shift gears and do something more enjoyable.

He says, “My original intent was to go full-time, but I had to change that. I am now doing BallStars part-time because I am still building my base of clients. My contact list of parents and coaches is growing, but I know that it will take at least two years to build up the business to the point that I can quit my full-time job.”

A plus to a BallStars franchise is it can easily be operated out of a home, garage, or basement so overhead costs can be kept down while the business is getting started. “My business is located out of my home,” says Dominguez. “I converted one side of my garage to my Texas Photo Ball work area. I purchased one table. I use the shipping crate as the system stand, and the transport pallet holds my current excess inventory. I lifted the pallet onto cinder blocks to keep it safe. I also use a free-standing five-shelf unit to hold my working inventory.”

Because Monica has an MBA and Marc has almost completed the coursework to earn his MBA, they didn’t need much business advice. The couple has mainly used BallStars to provide information about shipping, costs, and marketing.


Monica has taken over the responsibilities for the management portion, while Marc concentrates on sales. Says Marc, “It is a family effort whenever we go to a sporting event, I will have everyone doing something. The kids enjoy passing out fliers. They think every flier they pass out is a sale. I told them it is a potential sale.”

Another plus of the BallStars system is there is not a long learning curve. “Learning to use the BallStars press was easy for me,” says Dominguez. “It has been a little more challenging to learn the Adobe Photoshop program. I had to sit myself down and go through many tutorials before I could produce good-quality art. Luckily, most of my sales have been on standard templates created with the easy-to-use BallStars software. And I am still committed to getting better at Photoshop.”


The Dominguez family goal for this first calendar year is to gross $25,000. “Our first- year revenue goal has been adjusted from my original goal because we are only doing it part time right now. I will be happy to pay off the system in the first year,” says Dominguez.