My advice to would-be entrepreneurs searching for a venture to call their own is this: Do what you know. Maybe you’ve taken a desktop publishing course and think you can lay out brochures for a living. But if you’re hot in demand with your friends to redecorate their homes, an interior design business may be your true calling.
However, while common sense dictates that you translate your skills to a money-making venture, be aware that you may have to modify your talents to fit the unique demands of your small business.
Karen Klemens learned this with her newsletter, “The Healthy Dog!” a no-nonsense consumer watch fact sheet covering dog care.
Klemens, who lives in southern California, has a degree in journalism and has made her living doing marketing and public relations, currently as director of communications for The Music Center of Los Angeles. When she launched her biweekly newsletter a year ago, she soon found out that what works for a concert hall may not necessarily do the trick for a publication.
“I understand marketing concepts, but I’ve had to be very creative” with the newsletter, she said. “I thought, ‘Oh it will be simple.’ But it’s a different audience and I have to know my audience as well. I’ve had to redevelop some of my marketing skills and figure out what I’m doing wrong.“
Her marketing strategy for The Music Center involves a certain geographic area. With the newsletter, Klemens is trying to reach a certain type of person -- the dog owner. One of her first attempts was through a classified ad, which ran for six months in “Dog Fancy” magazine. The ad offered a sample newsletter to callers. But while 300 people responded to the ad, only two of those calls resulted in paid subscriptions. However, when she followed up with a postcard to those who had requested her newsletter, Klemens had better luck. People seem to need a reminder, she noted.
Klemens’ next move was to design an attention-getting flyer that reads in large print, “Bark! Woof! Nudge! Nudge!” and in smaller print, “Find out what your dog is talking about. Subscribe to The Healthy Dog!” She posts these in an LA park frequented by dog owners. One glitch with that tack, however, is that even though the flyers are inexpensive to produce, they don’t weather well and have to be replaced often.
Recognizing the park as a Mecca for dog owners -- and thus potential subscribers -- Klemens has also spent time there handing out copies of the newsletter as well as her business card. Klemens looks for other opportunities to mingle with pet lovers. She attends dog fairs, she went to a blessing of the animals event and has even engaged fellow diners at restaurants in pet talk, leaving them with her business card. She also leaves copies of the newsletter at hotels and other establishments in dog-friendly areas of the state. And when Klemens heard that President Clinton’s dog Buddy was being neutered, she sent the president a copy of the newsletter issue which covered spaying and neutering along with a congratulatory note on his decision. In return, she got a “signed” letter from Buddy with an 8 x 10 glossy photograph of the chocolate Lab.
Klemens started the newsletter after adopting Janczi, a vizsla, and Diablo, a German shepherd, both of whom were former animal actors that had had their vocal chords cut so they couldn’t bark. The dogs had been mistreated, and when Klemens searched for information on restoring the animals’ health, she found that much of what is written for pet owners is either incomprehensible or talks down to the reader.
The Healthy Dog! is one sheet, printed on both sides with easy to digest information, ideal for the busy pet owner, Klemens said. It’s issued 24 times a year, subscription cost is $30. For more information, call 888 WELL DOG.
“It’s been a big learning process and it’s been a great process for me, personally,” Klemens said.
