This is a shameless promotion of Onetouch computers in Cork.  I met Glenn Fitzpatrick the other day and he was a great help for me with some of my PC and network questions.  He has a new website coming on line in the coming days but if you want to contact him he is available on info@onetouchcomputers.ie 

Drop him an e-mail he also does great deals on laptops and PCs – hmmm…

You may find this hard to believe but a lot of people do not regularly use e-mail.  So though you may put contact details on your website or blog that point to an e-mail link, the person in question may not have access to an e-mail program or even be familiar with how to use e-mail.

This may seem strange to someone who checks e-mail regularly and it is part of their life but tons of people do not use e-mail AT ALL.  So a simple contact form on your site can make all the difference to the number of contacts that you get.

There are also lots of people who have e-mail who never use it and rearely check it.  In a recent club newsletter I sent out using mailchimp I noticed that only about 30% of those on the list actually read or opened it.  So you need to be aware of this when dealing with people you want to contact.

There are lots of free or low cost e-mail programs that will handle this type of form easily.  Google will show some excellent one (I am not going to do this here).  But it is important that people find the form easy and not too many fields as all you want is to make contact not get their life history.

My oldest son has started to go to discos. Every six weeks there is one in our local GAA club and it is literally the hottest ticket in town.  Tickets sell out in hours for what is basically a few hundred boys and girls full of hormones drinking water listening to badly amplified music while trying to get away with as much as possible under strict supervision.

It made me wonder about this type of event that is self perpetuating and needs no publicity and has been a roaring success for years.  How could you sue it for your business , market?  Here is what I think is what makes this product red hot.

• First Time Ever: For most of the kids attending it is their first time going to an unsupervised event where they can try their luck with the opposite sex to the sound of Ladygaga making their ears bleed.  You should make your product or event have this sort of buzz.  Give it that never done before buzz.
• It is Safe Despite the aforementioned hormones it is completely safe while there as has more security than Fort Knox and in there there are a LOT of people in the hall watching what is going on.  Only water served!   Nobody is going to get the crap kicked out of them and there areno drugs (well not that can be seen).  Do the same for your event or product.  Despite it being new there should be a safe feeling to it.  Don’t cloud it in technical speak make it familiar but attractive.
• Price.  The price of entry is 15 Euro.  Not cheap by any means but the price point means that people value it that bit more.  It is a typical sports hall, bare floors, badly ventilated, DJ, speakers blaring music and some uncomfortable chairs.  Not actually worth it but it hasn’t stopped sales.  Think about your product are you under or overselling it?
• It Will End Soon Deep down the young hormonal teens know that they are only going to be doing this for one season and next year they will move onto another scene.  Hence they know they have to grab it while its hot.  If you present your product in this manner it will encourage people to buy/use it.  How many ebooks do you see with special offer or 10 days left for this special discount.  It is a technique that works.

Finally a note to parents who may have found this through Google.  He has not got a ticket for tonight’s as it sold out as the ticket pusher in his class was crushed to death in the rsuh for tickets yesterday so if you know anyone ….