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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Anybody use ADBASE or a similar contact database?
Wally Nell, Photographer
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CAIRO | EG | EGYPT | Posted: 3:38 AM on 09.26.09 |
->> I have thought about using a contact database similar to ADBASE for a while now to expand my list of clients. Has anyone on SS used a database like this? Has anyone used ADBASE? What are your thoughts about it?
What other contact database companies are there apart from ADBASE with a good reputation for being up to date?
I specifically want to expand my clients in the Middle East and Europe, so if you have any international experience to share about, I would love to hear that.
What about an email campaign versus a mailing campaign? Both? It goes without saying that any mailing, whether email or by mail, would be followed up with phone calls.
For an email campaign, how do you get past the SPAM issue? I.e. client does not want to have unsolicited email. Pretty understandable, but my question is how can one make an email campaign work? |
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Michael Clark, Photographer
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Santa Fe | NM | USA | Posted: 3:15 PM on 09.26.09 |
->> Wally -
I used Adbase to expand my marketing reach - especially with the larger Ad Agencies. Agency Access is the other reputable option. Adbase had been a round forever and has great customer service in my experience. Both are good options as far as I know.
As for promos, I send out four print promos per year and e-promos every six weeks. I don't follow up with calls as that isn't too productive normally. Instead I contact art buyers and photo editors that click through my e-promos a few times via email and try to set up face to face meetings when they show interest and I am in their area of the country.
E-promos work well and photo buyers expect them so the spam issue isn't that big of a deal. The client can unsubscribe at any time and a few do every once in a while. The bigger issue is just targeting your clients and making sure they publish or need the type of work you produce - so that you aren't sending car images to a Gardening magazine or something like that.... |
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N. Scott Trimble, Photographer
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Lake Oswego | OR | USA | Posted: 4:36 PM on 09.26.09 |
->> Same as Michael, but with Agency Access. I compaired between the two and while AdBase was around longer, Agency Access I thought had more contacts that suited me, including Europe, for the price point.
Has it gotten me any solid work yet? No. |
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Wally Nell, Photographer
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CAIRO | EG | EGYPT | Posted: 5:39 PM on 09.27.09 |
->> Thank you for some replies. Maybe I can ask another question: has anybody had particular success using an agency like this? I know in the early 90's, the philosophy was that if you could send out say 12 cards by mail, say once a month or so, to x number of AD's, with appropriate images, followed up by phone calls; you would eventually be able to get a reasonably flow of work coming in. For those still using these agencies, do you think this is still true?
The digital age has kind of changed the dynamic of self-marketing. Where as we had junk-mail in the past, we now get SPAM. In the past you mailed a card and it arrived as a card or postcard visible to the AD, i.e. not in an envelope. If the image held his/her attention, perhaps it got stuck on his/her bulletin board or something. Now they get an email, that does not get opened until the AD decides to junk it or open it, and you do not have the added impact the initial visibility a physical postcard had.
Anybody care to give some opinions on that?
Bottom line, is it worth spending the money and promoting yourself this way these days? |
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Allen Murabayashi, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 6:28 PM on 09.27.09 |
->> wally,
- you can assume < 20% open rate when you send unsolicited e-mails.
- you can assume ~40% open rate when you have qualified list of people who know who you are.
then you need to look at "click-thru rate" (CTR) next, which will be much lower.
if you send 1000 emails:
- 200 people open
- let's generously say that 50 people click through
once they get to your website, what are you hoping for them to do (i.e. what is the "conversion")?
- if your goal is to have them look at your work, then you can use campaign tracking in Google Analytics to determine this with a very high degree of accuracy.
- if your goal is for them to license something, you can also track this with google analytics.
- if you don't have any goals defined for the campaign other than "hire me," you might want to consider developing more defined goals because otherwise the money you spend on the send will seem like a huge blackhole.
i think that adbase and agency access can work for you, but you have to just be aware that the conversion rates are low in general, so the way around that is to either 1) highly qualify your list, or 2) send to a much larger list.
allen |
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Stanley Leary, Photographer
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Roswell | GA | USA | Posted: 3:12 AM on 09.28.09 |
->> Allen's points are true for just about ay sales. I use Adbase and it does help expand your list beyond your town.
Going to events and networking is another way to expand and using a little more fun. |
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Kevin German, Photographer
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Ho Chi Minh City | Vietnam | | Posted: 5:16 AM on 09.28.09 |
->> I used AdBase for on year last year and now my collective, Luceo Images uses it for the group. We have all seen sales from the campaigns that we've sent out that more than pays for the service. Allen is very correct however in that you have to qualify your list and expect about 2-3% click through ... that is considered successful. The trick of it is consistency. You may not see a sale from a client until a year later.
Beware, however, the customer service reps are terrible. They are all selling cars to you and will tell you whatever you want to hear. They promised us a European list 6 months ago. Very disappointed with their customer service. |
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Wally Nell, Photographer
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CAIRO | EG | EGYPT | Posted: 5:17 AM on 09.28.09 |
->> Thanks Alan and Stanley, that was the type of information I was trying to get an idea of.
My list will be highly focused, but directed to people who will mostly not know of me, and mostly European or Middle Eastern.
My website will be redesigned by that time to reflect a 'hire me' objective rather than sales. It has content right now, but pretty amateurishly done. (In my days of trying to figure things out! ... way back...)
Thanks for the input. |
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Wally Nell, Photographer
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CAIRO | EG | EGYPT | Posted: 5:18 AM on 09.28.09 |
| ->> Oops, Kevin posted while I was typing. Thanks Kevin for your input as well. |
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Manuello Paganelli, Photographer
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Los Angeles | CA | USA | Posted: 9:15 PM on 09.28.09 |
->> Also check http://www.freshlists.com
I worked with them in the past and they are great!
Owner is Karen Hansen
www.ManuelloPaganelli.com |
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