MG> While it's true that without a short-run, there is 
 MG> no long run...it is the companies who realize the 
 MG> cost of alienating a target audience...and 
 MG> don't...who survive and prosper.
Exactly!!!  You said the entire thing in a nutshell!  Without any customers 
to start with, we wouldn't have any business.  Much as I dislike the entire 
idea of fax advertising (it's not the legallity of it - here it is legal - 
it's more than that, it's the questionable ethics of it) it has been one of 
the tools which has made it possible for me to run a business out of my home. 
 Since I can't get around I dont' have the option of commuting - either I 
work out of my home or I'm on welfare.  I have never been a parasite in my 
life.  Without any start up money of my own, I didn't have anything to put 
into the pot to make me an original investor in the company.  The guys that 
did had no big savings - we aren't wealthy people.  We didn't have the 
thousands of dollars it takes to run a TV ad campaign until after we had 
built up a client base by putting flyings on cars in parking lots (got as 
much negative feedback from that as we did from faxes) publicity stunts at 
conventions downtown (nearly got arrested for that - not me, our salesman) 
which then built up enough income to start things like newpaper ads and fax 
ad campaigns.  Plus we heavily invest in word of mouth by giving away free 
services to every customer who brings us a paying client.  The fax ad 
camapigns were not a matter of being too cheap to spend money on other 
advertising, it was a matter of not having the money to spend.  It brought us 
a significant boost to our customer base, which enabled us to keep the 
ocmapny alive and have neough income to advertise in other ways.  alientating 
future potential customers is a *very* high price to pay, but as you say, 
without a short run there would have been no long run.
--- Maximus 2.01wb
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