> That's a very direct marketing approach-- probably more > likely to work than my more passive > search-engine-optimization and other online marketing has > worked.
On the one hand, we are huge beneficiaries of (a) cheap unlimited national telephone service (b) free (to us) computer databases (c) free information. On the other hand, we're flooded - overwhelmed - by too many people pitching too many things, to the point where "if I see another ad I'll get sick". What I believe in is 'surgical marketing', a campaign that delivers, by telephone, a short and concise message to a very specific audience. Prerequisite to this campaign is a functional, working product with a track record, adequate documentation and real-time, online technical support. > I was doing quite well with SEO before Google decided > I was evil(which is why I scoff at their 'do no evil' slogan > which is a blatant lie to me). My first reaction was "how did 'deciding you were evil' become manifest?", but then I realized how that could happen. Following that train of thought, I came to thinking that your best bet might be a tie-in as an oem for a hardware company, like Gateway, Dell or some upstart. They could present the monitor part as an integral piece of the computer system, rather then an add-on of possibly questionable premise/motive. > > I am a big believer in the eye-candy stuff, but opportunities are > > limited by the nature of the product. System monitors have it a little > > easier because they may (especially at first) find noteworthy > > exceptions to show in blinking red, but "back office" systems ... > > Well, best I've come up with so far is a "reminders" screen that pops > > up during startup containing reminders for high priority items in > > several tables (schedule, do-list, problems, changes, etc.). I'm > > thinking about using a treeview for this screen to get more out of the > > real estate, but that would require operator interaction versus "I've > > done it for you". > > I'm finding that there's two distinct markets for the system/network > monitors-- those that are very educated and insist on a very > robust product(which Overseer admittedly is not currently), > and those that like eye candy and aren't as educated. There's > a few in the middle that recognize Overseer does what they > need now and it's less expensive than the alternatives(which > are more robust, usually). Generally, I'm having a hard time > making a decent buck on Overseer. I'm lucky to make $1k/month > in sales most months, and that includes some environmental > monitoring hardware I resell... Better than nothing, tho... I think you're in an arena where a great deal of money can be made. One question you may or may not be decided on is "do you really, really want that kind of money?". I've been back and forth on it, but my last encounter - where a great deal of financial backing came in sight - led me to realize that the simple life is much better. I really don't like what big money does to people, so I adjusted to go after a tiny niche market or two. For my kids sake, I'd like to leave them enough for financial security, but not the curse of wealth. Bill > Derek _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
