I posted this in another section and I got 0 replies. Come on guys, I need some advice!!! I got my hands on a huge directory of e-mails of local business owners. I see a lot of potential in this. Does anyone have any ideas or experience with this? Is there any service or product that I can sell them, online or offline? I need ways to monetize this!! Thanks Craigs
Create a local membership/forum site. Promote how their business can benefit greatly through exposure to worldwide audience. By all means don't sell anything yet. You'll be able to think of something to monetize later. All you need now is to get their trust first. Once you get the trust, you've got a captured audience. 'hope this help. Good luck.
Yes, beaglejuice is right. I would not just send an email to these people promoting some product or service. This list could be a goldmine if you nurture it. So here's what I would do if I were in your situation: 1) Find out the names of the business owners (could be tough if they're not part of the directory, but you can try WHOIS, etc.). 2) Check out the website (if any) of each business and/or do some homework on their biz to see what opportunities there are for bringing them more traffic/sales. (Are you good at SEO, email marketing, YouTube, etc.?) 3) Send each business owner a personalized (i.e., not a mass-mailed letter that's the same for everyone) message saying something like what's in the sample letter that's described in the attached report. You'll need to adapt the letter to your situation (will make more sense when you read the report). 4) Wait for replies. 5) Follow up with them. See the attached report for more details. (This report is from 0ff1in3Biz.c0m Gold Membership.) This method is about contacting business owners and offering them Internet Marketing services like web design, SEO, email marketing, traffic generation, etc. That's by far the most lucrative thing you could do with your email list, IMO.
Thanks for the advice guys. I'm still kinda lost with what to do. If anyone has a lot of experience with this and wants to JV, pm me. I'm sure this e-mail list has huge potential. It's targeted and contains legitimate small and big businesses.
Funny, this reminds me of when I found a huge business membership site and I scraped lots of emails. I then sent out one email and my website got blacklisted and it hurt my reputation. I think they knew of their issue and had a few fake businesses listed to find out who was spamming their members.
Email them about marketting services , about how you can provide them marketting services online..taking their business to another level through e-commerce integration
