Tangible Tidbits 2010 #33: Cee Lo & E-Sales Circulars

I'm pretty sure most of you are not from New Jersey, but today's Newark Sunday Star-Ledger ran an article in the entertainment section about a song that is a mega-hit on YouTube, but can't be aired on radio or music video stations. The name of the song can't be written in print publications either. If you're familiar with Cee Lo or the song, then you know to which one I'm referring. Apparently, everybody who is anybody knows this tune...and I'd never heard of it (not exactly surprising). :o Well, I checked out YouTube today after reading the article, and I have had the song playing on an endless loop for most of the day while working! LOL Aside from it having a good dance-in-your-seat beat -- the article likened it to the style of Smokey Robinson, although Smokey would never use foul language -- whenever the words penetrate my brain, they in turn make me laugh out loud, chuckle, and genuinely smile. I am not easily offended, so the language doesn't bother me. The concept in the song is something anyone can relate to...and I just find the delivery completely amusing! :D Maybe part of the reason I like it so much is because the song reminds me of someone I used to know who liked to talk dirty. We lost touch a while ago, and this song makes me feel like he's not so far away. I hope we meet up again someday. ;)

ANYWAY, before I forget again this week, the new Focal Piece of the Month went up last week. I know a few people saw it, so thanks for remembering to look for it! :)

I have a decision to make regarding the Virtual Mall (VM). I receive emails semi-regularly from vendors about special sales and promotions they are running. We can only update the website once a month right now, and the Virtual Mall is something that is beyond my capability to handle updating myself. So, I was thinking about sending out a separate message to those interested in keeping up to date with the various opportunities presented by the VM vendors. A weekly Virtual Mall Deals & Discounts message could be sent on Wednesday or Thursday, and it would be clearly marked to differentiate it from the Sunday (and occasionally Monday) Tangible Tidbits newsletter/messages. I would start out by sending it to the existing newsletter list, and then anyone wishing to be unsubscribed from that mailing can opt-out by sending a response email with "Remove" in the subject line. If someone decides that she wants to be removed from all correspondence, then she can respond with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line, and I will remove that name from both lists. My concern is that this second weekly message will be viewed as spam. My goal is obviously not to annoy anyone, but to offer information about special sales and promotions that they may be interested in checking out at the Virtual Mall. What I have been doing up until now is just "filing away" the messages if the time frame doesn't fit with our updating schedule, but I realize that is doing my audience a disservice. On the other hand, I don't want to take valuable time away from other necessary tasks to draft and send out these messages if people aren't interested.

Any feedback on this issue would be greatly appreciated. I do have a few messages held aside for Back To School and Halloween sales (ALREADY??), so if there IS interest in receiving this kind of "e-sales circular," please let me know. Next week, I'll report my findings and if it's a go, the first Virtual Mall Deals & Discounts issue will go out September 8 or 9. Naturally, if anyone just can't wait to find out about the discounts being offered, feel free to contact me directly and I can give you the scoop. ;)

Something Tangible had a number of sales and custom inquiries this week, so I'm happy about that. I'm not quite on track to make my sales goal for the quarter (50% more than last quarter), but we still have a month to go. We are past the half-way mark to making at least as much as last quarter, so surpassing that figure would still demonstrate steady growth. Can't ask for much more than that in this economy, right? :D

I hope people in the NY Metro area enjoyed the break in the summer heat we had this past week. Looks like we're expecting another scorcher this coming week! :p

Take care and catch you during the three-day Labor Day Weekend next time! :)