Email and Fax Marketing

[mmaedelins]

Hey Everyone,
I sell commercial insurance and have been targeting auto repair shops lately. I needed a break from cold calling and decided to research email addresses and fax numbers from local auto repair websites. I emailed them basic info and faxed them a copy of my flyer. Has anyone had any success with this type of marketing? Any tips/suggestions for making this worth my time? Any great websites where I can collect this info easily, quickly and for free?

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Fax blasting is illegal. Emailing is fine as long as you follow the CAN-SPAM Act rules. The main issue is sending the emails since most services require double-opt in.

 

[mmaedelins]

I thought business to business faxing is fine. Ugh...I'll make sure to look into that! I certainly don't want to do anything illegal.

"Emailing is fine as long as you follow the CAN-SPAM Act rules. The main issue is sending the emails since most services require double-opt in."I'll look up the CAN-SPAM act rules but what's double-opt in?

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

No, it's not fine. Faxing to businesses is illegal with hefty fines. It's a civil court max of $500 per fax but a FCC fine of $11,500 per fax.

You will find companies still promoting this as legal since they know they're not the ones on the hook. You are. The blast has your info on it, not the fax blast company's.

 

[mmaedelins]

So I'm finding mixed info. The law states that as long as the fax numbers are obtained from a public source (all of the fax numbers I have are), it is okay as long as the recipient can call or fax back to opt out of future faxes. On the other hand, the law also states that if the recipient is not happy with the 'junk fax', he/she can call the Federal Trade Commission to complain and I may be issued a $500 fine. Ugh...what to do? what to do?

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

New Jersey Attorney Law Review Blog - New Jersey Lawyers & NJ Attorneys Blog

If you want to play with it - be my guest. Be prepared in case you're sued. You might even win. Who knows.

 

[mmaedelins]

Ok, not worth the potential fines to fax. Good thing I only sent out 20 and not 200 or 2000! Okay, well what about emailing? As long as I have an opt-out option, it should be okay??

 

[DHK]

Remember this: If it's too easy to do, it won't work. Either everyone else is already doing it... or there's a reason why they're not.

There is no substitute for just going out there and 'seeing the people'.

 

[mmaedelins]

I understand...but I want to do as much as I can including getting out there, cold calling, distributing flyers, etc etc etc. Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure what the etc. is and am still trying to figure that out....

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

If you want to get flyers out, just hire someone - $8/hr and tell 'em to flyer up business areas.