Silly Farm Emails?

Ok. I hesitate with this cause obviously I am "slightly" competiting against them. But...I signed up for the emails long before this venture and keep getting them to see what they are doing, but is every other day just a bit annoying?

In some ways I feel like this little forum adventure is sparking it, but if they actually posted for advice I would tell them, that they are getting annoying. Are they or are you guys ordering because of the frequency.

Be honest, truley, I am curious.

Marketing, Marketing, Marketing!!!! Christmas, Christmas, and all the Winter holidays are prime marketing times, and everyone wants a piece of the pie. We can hit delete if we don't want to read the post. I get double the marketing mail from other places too, restaurants, clothes all of them. I can hit delete with my eyes closed now, they are that frequent. Oh and the mail, Oriental Trading sending 3 kinds of magazines, flyers, today it was an envelope with a free gift enclosed.....yep, you guessed it the free gift was 'free shipping'. You gotta strike while the iron is hot!

No, I don't buy any more or any less because of the blitz, but I do enjoy learning about all the new stuff available, I like the discounts, and I love the pictures and the utube videos. and I do use the delete key a lot more, infact when you brought up this subject, I went back to the deleted files just to look at the mailings. Each was new and different, and they were all very tasteful and great marketing.

I really like the little guy, and at one time Silly Farm was a little guy, but they have spent a big hunk of cash getting to be where they are in the market place, I admire them for that.

Metina, you know that I've supported you and When Sherry was sponsoring the competitions on your site, I supported her. I bought Shannons ebook direct from her, I buy glitters direct from Ericka, and American Painter Magazine direct from Jodi Carr. The prices aren't any better for me, but the friendships are priceless. And when I get to a convention or workshop with Silly Farm I support them too, because they are worth it.

Does that help??? is this what you wanted to know or did I just go off on a tangent.

Jenny

I got 2 just today about the Christmas party... That was over-kill!!! But yes, I do get a lot of emails from them and none are much different from the other... The one that irritated me was the 'Twilight one' Where they were trying to sell Twilight stencils. They showed a bunch of sayings but only had like 2. That was BS. That is my 2 cents!

I blocked them quite a long time ago from all my email addresses. Thing was I never asked to recieve them at all at any point in time.

I still emails from Illusion and from a few other vendors/dealers, etc.

Thing is I've never asked to be on anyone's newsletter list - except from associations I belong to (FACE, WBPA, Clowns Canada, etc.) as it is part of the member services.

I'm a rabid anti-spamming crusader!! I really do not like unsolicited email "advertising" and I am pretty vocal about it (as those from other forums will know! )

SuzySparkles wrote:I got 2 just today about the Christmas party... That was over-kill!!! But yes, I do get a lot of emails from them and none are much different from the other... The one that irritated me was the 'Twilight one' Where they were trying to sell Twilight stencils. They showed a bunch of sayings but only had like 2. That was BS. That is my 2 cents!

Do you belong to their forum? All the stuff that I saw about the party and Twilight was from/on the forum, and none of it was direct. It was like when Shannon put out her latest ebook, I saw that listed on the forums, not in direct email.

Jenny

I never knew SF had a forum.

I really tend to ignore the emails for the most part. I have placed 4 orders from there though in the last 5 months putting together my kit!!!

I don't mind getting emails at the frequency they send out, if there was something new each time. Getting the same with some days apart is annoying. It would also be nice if there is another bonus instead of free shipping in the states only. How about a shipping discount to the rest of the world?

No I don't belong to their forum, I didn't know that they had one... I got them in emails and actually after I posted that... I got another email from them, this one saying Save 10% and FREE Paint Brush for the Christmas Countdown... 3 in one day!!

They do always seem to send out promotions AFTER I have just received my order! It's so annoying!

I actually enjoy them even though they are slightly annoying. I like being reminded of new split cake color combos and new videos.

I also reeeeeally like checking if there is a coupon in there.

~Michelle

do they have coupons? I am so out of the loop! (I also tend to ignore spammy type email though)

Thanks for the feedback. I was just curious how others felt about getting so many emails. Who ever puts there's together does a nice job, but to send out so many is just OTT for me. As you know I only do my newsletters once a month(This month's comes out tomorrow). I just don't want mine to be all comercial.

I was just wondering where the fire was. When I first started getting them it was like once every two weeks which was fine, but getting them every day and every other day seemed a bit much. But, whatever works, works I guess.

Have fun at the party!

Do we have to sign up for it??

You should be on the list if you are part of the forum. If you aren't getting them then make sure to subscribe to it at the top of the forum. It is a double opt-in, so you will need to confirm your subscription.

Suzy if you pm me your email, I will foward today's to you, but you will need to subscribe for future ones. You can do this throught the newsletter now as well.

I just received my first newsletter and I love it, Metina! Thanks so much!!!

Your newsletter is awesome! Any recommendations on how to print it out properly. I tried printing it and it was in 4 pages and chopped off the tops of the designs. The designs are beautiful, thank you all for creating it for us!

Metina, Thank you for the newsletter..I love the 3 step by steps.....

Hmmm...printer friendly is something I hadn't really considered. I will contact the company and find out our options.

-Metina

I tread carefully here ..............
Is the amount of mail or does the issue lay in the supposition that they are selling product very well. Even thought they are often priced higher than the smaller stores.

I have bought from Silly Farm for 10 years and I do not get emails.
You must sign up to get their mail.

I joined this forum using one email but am sent the newsletter to three of my email addresses. It was not something I signed up for.

I also get newsletters or contact emails from other small stores owned by painters we all know (or know of). These are emails I did not sign up for.

Competition is competition. We sell different products but when forum members here are looking for a certain brand I can not tell them here what I have. But I still post here thereby supporting your shop. Yes, you want to promote your shop. Of course ! and you spend time here working on the forum to promote that - but competition can be your best ally. Who do you think will refer buyers to you for the brands they do not have - most likely it will be the shops. And those will be the smaller stores.

I can assure you the competition for your store is reading this forum. Just as all the painters here posting tips and tricks are teaching their competition by posting their how tos publicly. You survive against the competition thru smart marketing. Silly Farm is in your face just like Land's End, Vista Print, Zappos..... and yes they are in a marriage with FABAIConvention. They fully survive together each feeding the other.

And all us smaller shops - we're the fire.

I am not going to tell you I've never tired of reading posts that claim only successes and post only pictures and always are very self promoting. But I have a delete button and a junk mail option. I don't watch the YouTube promotional how to's - oh yes I check in on the competition from time to time but really I paint better than that so there is nothing there for me to learn from - but I know dang well for a fact all the new locals in may area are watching them.

Listen I did not open my store to compete with anyone. I opened it because in 2003 I said I should and 6 yrs later I finally did - well behind the curve. I cater to body artists because so many photographers, models and MUA's ask my advice on body painting. And suppliers in my area are lacking. I also plan a retirement that does not include me personally painting the kiddos.

No matter your business one must keep an eye on the competition but most importantly keep ones eyes forward. Find a marketing strategy that makes you feel good, and then do a great job and build a reputation. Big businesses and good business growth comes from that, and with longevity.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

A couple of comments, if you are getting the newsletter to several addresses, please unsubscribe them. The first two months that I was doing these, my subscribe button was on the forum and it was not a "double-opt in" and lots of people got "subscribed" without yours or my knowledge. I know this cause someone subscribed a lot of "groups" that don't go to people and several peeps who can't stand being sent my sort of emails and made quite a stink over it. I pay for my email service based on the number of emails, so please unsubscribe.

Additionlly, if you review my policy on "unsolicited advertising" it is only regarding unsolicited. If someone says they are looking for this or that and you carry it or know someone who does, please speak up. To not allow this goes totally against the whole point of my starting this. Unsolicited is when you have no posts under your belt and you send out two promoting your new shop. This happen just a couple of weeks ago and they were stunned that I asked them to refrain. I also have no problem with folks putting their web address and products they sell in their signature as you can see that many on here do.

My only request is that members respect the number hours that I have put in building this forum. I use my shop to support the costs so that I can continue to offer prizes and giving my time freely.

There are many members who contribute to the forum on a "serveral times a day basis" and make sure to take any opportunity opened to them to promote their wares, but while acting within my simple request. Since they are constantly contributing and helping members and the forum grow, I welcome it.

And thanks for the thoughts on marketing. I am currently putting together the newsletter schedule for next year and can be honest when I say that I feel a little pressure to send it out more often having seen all of theirs. But mine is a different sort of work if you will. They do a super nice job and I can't IMAGINE what Heather pays for photoshoots and graphic designers. It truley does show their commitment to success.

I hope this makes sense and again, thanks so much for the feedback.

-Metina

So why don't you post the newsletter to the forum and have all the forum members unsubscribe?.....that would save a whole lot of separate e-mails, and allow all 720 members to see it.

Jenny

I have no problem putting a link to the newsletter up after the newsletter goes out, but since we don't get all 720 regularly visiting I hate for them to miss out!