Re: A Niche Card Will Sell More Than A General Card Any Day!

I appreciate you bringing up the topic. I have a small telephone company that sells "free" long distance access around a large metro area. With long distance rates dropping to next to nothing and cell phones going "flat rate" or damn near, it's really hard to sell a "calling card" service.

I've decided to create a "discount" buying network that gives away the "long distance" as a premium. I'll make my money on the sale of the card (maybe even make it a small monthly fee to increase my cash flow) and from participating merchants to get listed on the card.

I like the idea of using the web, and I agree that people need something in print. Since my market is more rural than metro I really like the idea of "punch cards".... I'm sure there's a simple solution that will work well to create value for the consumers and the merchants.

If anyone has any ideas on how to best present this to the merchants, I'm open. I was thinking of having 'lunch and learn' presentations with several business owners at once. Existing customers (a few will be pre-set up as merchants in the program) could bring in other business owners/managers (decision makers) for a free lunch (on me) and hear the 20-30 minute presentation, and then sign up.
Any thoughts?

> Vondre' wrote

> Vondre' Maybe more per sale but surely not more total dollars. What were
> you selling that you think would bring in more dollars then a general
> discount card? The reason there are a lot of general cards is that there
> are a lot of people to use them. These cards are designed for the masses.
> Niche marketing in this situation is risky at best. If I'm running a
> fundraiser at a school, I'm going for the local food joints. Niche
> marketing on the net works because you get to go after the underserved
> market the big boys are willing to give up to you. That won't work so well
> on a local high volume card. The following words don't relate to discount
> cards, but marketing in general.

> Reminds me of a young guy I know who wanted to start a business and make a
> full time income. I told him for the money, a landscaping business is a
> good choice. He said there are one hundred of them in his city. So whats
> the problem? Take 2 customers from each of them and you'll have a great
> little business going. Now if he instead chose to coif evergreens in that
> wonderful "niche" market, you know the ones that look like
> cartoon characters, I really doubt he would be as succesful as he now is.
> I'm selling jewelry on the net and through home parties (the daughters do
> the Parties), and my philosophy is the same way, and working. There are
> something like 100,000 sites with jewelry. There are probably 100,000
> brick and mortar places to buy jewelry. I'm not trying to steal all their
> business, just 500-600 sales a month! Piece of cake! I always go for
> volume markets and have always done pretty well. I used to manage a
> grocery store doing about $500,000 to $750,000 a week. Wall Mart moved in
> next door. Guess what? Shortly after the grand opening celebrations were
> over, business actually went up. Why? Because Wall Mart's market is a much
> larger circle around the store then a traditional grocers market is. It
> brought more customers to the area and they shopped both stores.

> The long and short of it is that marketing is never as easy as it looks.