Dale King: Today, I'm interviewing the Founder and CEO of PostcardMania, postcard guru, Joy Gendusa. Hello Joy, how are you?
Joy Gendusa: Doing great, thank you.
Dale King: Joy, tell us how and when you started PostcardMania.
Joy Gendusa: In 1997, I was a graphic designer, and I ordered a batch of postcards to send out to drum up some new business. I had the worst customer service experience. The New York postcard supplier,
which I won’t identify for this interview, printed its toll-free number on the back of my cards. Can you believe that? Tthe vendor put its own marketing needs ahead of those of its customers. When I protested, the company agreed to remove the telephone number from the cards – for $50. I remember thinking to myself. "I’m going to start my own postcard company"- and PostcardMania Inc. was born. It was that simple. I started my own postcard company because I got frustrated with another company's service.
Dale King: Joy, tell our readers how and when you got started marketing on the Internet.
Joy Gendusa: We put a website up – as just an online brochure about seven years ago thereabouts… It has evolved quite a bit since then. There isn’t any big story on ‘how we got started’ – I just realized that we’d better have a presence there if we intended to reach people nationwide. I realized that it was important to have a presence there no matter what. You can check it out at http://www.waybackmachine.com - it’s pretty funny to see where we were back then!
Dale King: Were you successful right away, or did you struggle, like most of us do.
Joy Gendusa: Struggle is an understatement. I think that perseverance is a major reason why we eventually became successful – that and never giving up (smile). Seriously though, I remember not being able to sleep and thinking that maybe I should go get a job. Sometimes the responsibility felt like too much for me – people relying on me for their livelihood, wondering if I’ll succeed or fail…
Dale King: Some Internet Marketing experts advise newbies to steer clear of certain areas of Internet Marketing, like selling e-books on how to make money, advertising services, SEO services, copywriting, etc., because it's too competitive. Do you agree with that assessment?
Joy Gendusa: Absolutely NOT. If you have a valuable product or service that has a decent profit margin that actually HELPS folks that need it, then use the internet to it’s full advantage which includes SEO, Pay-per-click, and of course great sales copy. You should also use the web for PR, publicity, announcements, etc. Too competitive? Competition is GREAT. You just need to be the best at what you do and keep trying to improve and letting the whole world know it.
Dale King: How is Internet Marketing different now, as opposed to when you first got started online?
Joy Gendusa: It is ever changing and evolving and it’s extremely interactive now. People are looking for DATA, information, help on making business decisions… When we first put up a site it was purely a sales tool – a simple brochure – about eight pages. Today we spend a great deal of our site on education. That way, if someone is looking for information/education on marketing to help them they could find it at http://www.postcardmania.com – If we supply the ‘help’ perhaps they’ll rely on us for direct mail postcards too…it’s about giving way more then what’s expected. Now we use the site to capture identities too.
Dale King: How important has goal-setting been to your overall success?
Joy Gendusa: Goal setting has been a major part of our success. It’s actually one of my favorite things to do – conceive of what we can accomplish in a given time and set targets to attaining those goals.
Dale King: How important has reading been to your overall success?
Joy Gendusa: I wish I had time to read more actually. When I do read I get very inspired and usually start naming some new goals! I read about landing pages on http://www.marketingsherpa.com and immediately implemented what I read. Our leads went way up and our cost per lead went way down. Instead of putting our home page on all our postcards we put specific landing pages so that the subject matter of the postcard that interested the person in the first place is continued on the landing page. So if we send a postcard to Fitness Centers or Gyms and we show some samples on the card that they could choose from – well, the landing page will have more samples and a link to even more. It will also have a free report they can download in exchange for their contact info – the report gives them great tips to have success with direct mail. The concept is that the landing page continues the communication whereas the home page is more generalized and requires the prospect to search for what they’re interested in…
Dale King: If you could recommend one book that all Internet marketers should read, what would it be?
Joy Gendusa: Most Internet marketing books are full of a bunch of technical gobblygook… I read a great book written by Siouxie Boshoff and it’s in plain talk so you can at least see what you need to be doing…it’s called How to Get Your Website to the TOP of the Search Engines and you can get it at http://www.visualedgedesign.com/seo_book.htm
Dale King: In your opinion, what technology has changed Internet Marketing the most over the last 5 years?
Joy Gendusa: Oh I can’t answer technical questions at all… but I think they’re calling it Web 2.0 which basically means new interactive stuff like realtime blogging and other interactive capabilities.
Dale King: What person has influenced you the most in your lifetime, and how?
Joy Gendusa: L. Ron Hubbard. I use the management system he developed and wrote volumes on. I have no formal education and I could NEVER have handled growing my company to over 143 staff without the invaluable tools provided in his system. Plus, on the humanitarian side of things studying his works has made me strive to be a better person.
Dale King: If you could give my readers one piece of advice, what would it be?
Joy Gendusa: Keep learning and reaching for knowledge. The internet is constantly changing. Listen to others that have been there done that and make sure you make them clarify what the heck they’re saying! There is so much terminology being created daily in regards to the internet and it can be so daunting. Don’t think you sound stupid because you need to clarify data.
Dale King: Thank you very much. I appreciate you taking the time to do this interview.
Joy Gendusa: My pleasure!
Joy's website:
http://www.postcardmania.com
Breaking News: Three Leading Businesses Sponsor Marketing Bootcamp
Warning: This interview is the exclusive property of Joy Gendusa. It may not be reprinted in any format...period!
