This is the 23rd issue of The Better Mousetrap. Can you believe it? Many of you have joined our mailing list after the first issue. So we have archived all the 22 previous issues on our web site. It is easy to review all of them. Just click here for the list or go to the Cheshire Group web site and click on the link that says The Better Mousetrap E-Mail Newsletters.

    We hope that you are continuing to enjoy The Better Mousetrap Online Newsletter. Many of the articles in this newsletter come from our book, Morsels from THE BETTER MOUSETRAP. Just click here to order your copy. Or visit our web site at www.cheshiregroup.com so that you can learn more about The Cheshire Group and see samples of our work.
   

REAL ESTATE AGENTS NOW USING MOBILE MARKETING.
Putting text-messaging to the test.

In this economy it is critical to be quick to adapt to new tactics that can give your company a “leg-up” against the competition. For the real estate industry many agents have adapted mobile marketing as their way to make them stand out. Mobile marketing uses text-messaging and mobile-web services which have helped many agents in this beleaguered industry.
    Three year old Knovolo LLC, based in Seattle, Washington has been offering real estate agents this service: Need to sell a home, condo, or an entire subdivision? Surrounded by competition? Want an edge? Knovolo’s cost-efficient content management system will provide you with a unique text code for placement on your FOR SALE sign. Buyers can send a text message to a 5 or 6 digit number and receive detailed information about what you are trying to sell - in an instant! A call to action goes like this; “For more information, text this keyword to this short code.” The keyword is what is put in the content of the text message and that identifies the particular campaign or listing. The short code is the six-digit phone number to which you send a text message and receive a response.
    Keywords have to be short such as “home” or “house” rather than “house for sale.” Keep in mind you are requiring someone to text-message and a keyword [phrase] such as “house for sale” is a whole bunch of extra characters.
    The service has been successful in cities like Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles, according to the company, where people are very techie, good with texting and use their phones a lot. Knovolo charges between $50 and $150 per keyword per month.
    When people are looking for an agent to help sell their house and everyone else has the same “bag of tricks” the agent with this kind of service differentiates him or herself. A valuable asset in this kind of housing market.
    Can this technique be applied to your business?
    Visit Knovolo at www.knovolo.com

HOW TO COLLECT E-MAIL ADDRESSES FOR YOUR IN-HOUSE MAILING LIST.

Ok we all want to get the most effective direct marketing program for the lowest cost. When you compare the cost of postal mail with e-mail [$1 a piece versus just pennies] it should be a no-brainer, right? However how do you get those customer e-mail addresses? We’ll bet most of the names on your in-house list don’t contain e-mail addresses. And those names that have e-mail addresses have they “opted-in” to let you use their names in a mailing? Estimates are that in a typical in-house mailing list of a large corporation less than 45% of the names have e-mail addresses and of those maybe 29% have opted-in to receive e-mails from your firm. For small companies the numbers will be significantly lower. What to do?
    One of the least expensive and fastest ways to boost an e-mail address collection is to use “data appending.” At a cost of just pennies/record you can append valid e-mail addresses to anywhere from 10% to 30% of your list. But be careful of vendors who promise to append to 35% to 85% of your names. These most probably are warning signs that the vendor is not a legitimate e-mail appending firm. Stick with well known vendors such as FreshAddress, Walter Karl or TowerData.
    You should only try appending on names that you already have a business relationship with such as customers or inquirers, not prospects. And it is recommended that you do not ask for additional names at locations where you already have business.
    To begin, you send your list to the vendor for matching against a large database of opted-in names. The match is done on a first/last name and company name/postal address.
    After the match, the next step is cleanup and validation. This compares the names against the FCC wireless blocked list, the DMA's Do-Not-E-mail file, spam traps and house file opt-outs.
    Finally the vendor sends an e-mail on behalf of the client, selling customers on the benefits of receiving e-mail but offering the option to opt-out.
    The vendor sends the client the appended names and you can then get busy creating your-mail marketing program.
    For more information on creating your prograsm just get in touch with The Cheshire Group at www.cheshiregroup.com or 978 664-3040.

BARBARIANS AT THE GATES!
What you can do to close the gates.

BETCHA DIDN'T KNOW.
Courtesy of Dr Robert Amsterdam.

    In the 1400’s a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have ‘the rule of thumb’
    Many years ago in Scotland , a new game was invented. It was ruled ‘Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden’...and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language
    The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
    Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S . Treasury.
    Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.
    Coca-Cola was originally green.