EDSR INFORMATION 02-14-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page2of4 III Public Relations Release Direct Mail advertising Magazine advertising Web site The second phase involved a sales video designed to be mailed to consumers who responded to the company's advertising and PR efforts and to function as the company's primary sales agent. • The StepMate web site went live in May of 1999, and has been up and running ever since at www.steprnate.com. • The company's Public Relations effort began in May of 1999 with distribution of a story on StepMate to newspaper editors throughout the country. The StepMate story was included as one of several on a disk,which is circulated by the North American Precis Syndicate to newspapers on a regular basis. • The direct mail effort was sent out in two waves in August and September. • Magazine advertising for the Brand broke with a 1/3 page 4 color ad in September issues of Prevention and Arthritis Today magazines. Second and third waves followed with the October issue of Prevention, and the November/December issue of Arthritis Today. (Arthritis Today has a bimonthly circulation of 626M and Prevention a monthly circulation of 3,000M.) Results achieved as a result of this marketing activity are noteworthy: • • Over 700 newspapers across the country have run the press release as of mid- December, 1999. • By year-end, the company had mailed out nearly 800 copies of the StepMate video and 45 literature packs. • Most importantly, by year-end,the company had filled 33 orders for a total of 246 steps. Orders have continued into January despite the lack of any new consumer advertising since November 1. In the course of marketing the StepMate product and processing the resulting consumer responses we have also learned a good deal about our target market: • It is primarily female by more than a 3 to 1 margin • It is heavily skewed towards 70 and 80 year olds, significantly older than the 50 and 60 year olds we had anticipated. • Respondents who view the StepMate video tend to be interested in purchasing the product by almost a 4 to 1 margin over those who are not. • The target market we have identified tends to like to see and feel the product before committing to a purchase. • The only apparent"barrier" to purchase identified to this point has been price Alk ($79.95/step.)