Home-Based Catalog Marketing : A Success Guide for Entrepreneurs

Why did over 100 million consumers spend 40 billion in 1991 shopping by phone or mail? Because they wanted to maximize their leisure time and avoid expensive, time-consuming hassles at retail stores and shopping malls. Today, more than ever before, catalogue sales are big business, and "Home Based Catalog Marketing" shows entrepreneurs, small business owners, and people looking to build extra income how to capitalize on this rising consumer demand by starting up and operating a successful catalogue business in the convenience of their own homes. William J. Bond explains their operation in a highly motivational, yet thoroughly practical, way that makes each step clear and manageable. The book offers practical, easy-to-follow guidance, and shares numerous illustrations of successful catalogues as well as anecdotes and success stories. The book supplies everything needed to design, produce, and market a competing catalogue that turns readers into satisfied customers who keep coming back for more, including: how to select the best products (or services) for the 90s; how to master creative writing strategies that really sell; how to design offers that maximize product or service appeal; how to test copy approaches, sales, theme, and mailing lists; how to manage and grow a catalogue business; and how to get free publicity on radio and television There is also a special chapter that lists the 125 essential points to getting a catalogue-selling business up and running.

Marketing catalogs from home attracts many people because of the convenience, low start-up cost, and chance to convert a hobby into a business. Bond's introductory guide describes the market for mail order, then takes the reader through selecting a product or service, designing and printing a catalog, and marketing and managing the business. Bond ( Home-Based Newsletter Publishing , McGraw, 1992) writes in a readable style, offering a a detailed table of contents and many illustrations. Though his advice on marketing is excellent, John Kremer's Mail Order Made Easier ( LJ 7/90) better describes the mechanics of mail order. An interesting development Bond does not discuss is the proliferation of home-based catalogs in "cyberspace." Suitable for public libraries with high demand for books on the topic.
- Robert Kruthoffer, Lane P.L., Hamilton, Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

For the many seeking to start their own business but who lack adequate start-up capital, the option of a home-based business is particularly attractive. Among the possible types of businesses that can be run out of one's home, catalog marketing is especially appealing because it taps into the at-home shopping and the specialty market (both of which are burgeoning) and because one does not need to tie up a lot of money in inventory. Bond, author of two other titles in the publisher's new Home-Based Success Guides series, provides specific and detailed nuts-and-bolts advice for anyone considering such an enterprise. His topics range from choosing office furniture to building mailing lists to selecting paper stock for catalogs. Recommended for any small-business collection. David Rouse