A good example of one small niche company...
 

This is from the "Catalog Age" website...

(Direct Newsline) Portsmouth, NH--If you’re looking to target a small niche, being the first in that market will make you the one to beat, said Don Devine, president of specialty cataloger Lighthouse Depot. In a session at the New England Mail Order Association conference here, Devine said that in his experience, the first one in a small niche will be the survivor.
Lighthouse Depot, which sells lighthouse-themed gifts, first mailed in August 1994 to 136,000 names. The mailing resulted in a 3.8% response and $295,895 in sales. For its first year, the company reported $750,000 in sales, $200,000 more than the $550,000 it had projected. Circulation quickly grew to 5.5 million within the next five years. Twenty-four percent of orders are now generated online.

The company continually faces two big challenges, Devine said. One is finding new prospects; Lighthouse Depot buys space ads in 20 national publications regularly. The other challenge is convincing vendors to create lighthouse-themed products the company can have a catalog exclusive on.

About that 24% of online orders. . .
 

Michael,

Of that 24% or online orders, do you know how many of them came to the website as a result of the 20 national magazine ads?

Or is the 24% generated by online methods exclusively? I'm guessing that most of those people respond to the space ads by logging onto their website. I could be wrong, I'm really curious.
Mike McGroarty
"The Dumb Ole Dirt Farmer"

"How I picked up 1,617 newsletter subscribers in 47 days.---FREE!"
http://www.homemadebooklets.com/The-Secret.htm




"How I picked up 1,617 newsletter subscribers in 29 days.---FREE!"

Re: About that 24% of online orders. . .
 

> Michael,

> Of that 24% or online orders, do you know
> how many of them came to the website as a
> result of the 20 national magazine ads?

> Or is the 24% generated by online methods
> exclusively? I'm guessing that most of those
> people respond to the space ads by logging
> onto their website. I could be wrong, I'm
> really curious.
> Mike McGroarty
> "The Dumb Ole Dirt Farmer"

> "How I picked up 1,617 newsletter
> subscribers in 47 days.---FREE!"
>
> http://www.homemadebooklets.com/The-Secret.htm

Mike,

I was told by the CEO of the company that they get about 17% of the 24% Internet share from their catalog and space ads. The remaining 7% comes from on-line tools like search engine positioning and banner ads.

Take care,

Mike Winicki

Jim Straw has commented on this...
 

Jim has said in numerous posts that in order to be a successful internet marketer, (I'm paraphrasing here) you have to use successful mail order methods. This post seems to prove the point.

Maybe Jim will pipe in here and remind us of what he actually said. I tried to find it in his newsletter back issues; but got so wrapped up in just re-reading them, I ran out of time!

I've read Jim's newsletters for awhile, and I did not realize how much my head would spin in amazement by going back and re-reading. Try it!

They are here:

http://www.businesslyceum.com/archives.html

Damn it he's amazing - how does he do it?

Tim Spencer

> Mike,

> I was told by the CEO of the company that
> they get about 17% of the 24% Internet share
> from their catalog and space ads. The
> remaining 7% comes from on-line tools like
> search engine positioning and banner ads.

> Take care,

> Mike Winicki




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