Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Casual Articles - Extreme Results: How To Use Direct Mail To Pull Double Digit Response Rates and Close Sales Fast
Entrepreneurs work harder than most Americans. They spend countless hours and enormous amounts of energy trying to reach business and financial goals that are often elusive. They seem to be doing all the right things: attending seminars, scouring the latest business books, networking, guerilla marketing, hoping, and praying.We all know of business owners who go through the same motions yet they are far more successful and don't work nearly as hard. And, they seem to have more fun. Surely you've seen situations where two people are in the same business, sometimes within a block from each other. The owner of the first business can be successful beyond measure. The other business can be close to bankruptcy.What is the difference? The difference is that the first business owner is allowing their natural brilliance to run the business. That natural brilliance is the Law of Attraction. We are all far greater than we think and we have truly amazing potential that most people are not even aware of. The real key to success in life and in business is accessing your "miracle mind" and unleashing your capacity for abundance.The best way to do this is to learn how to make the Law of Attraction work for you. The Law of Attraction is the most powerful law in the universe. It works just like a magnet. Our thoughts are energy and we attract and are attracted to the people, opportunities, and situations that are in harmony with what we focus our attention on.If business is bad and you spend your time and energy thinking about how bad it is, th
Attention is the first step in both the sales and advertising process and an extreme marketing program will attract attention. But direct marketing is a three-legged stool and in order to maximize your success you'll want to make sure all three legs of your stool are strong and sturdy. Those three legs are -
1. List – Make sure you send your mail to the right people at the right companies. Your list can account for up to 40% of your success.
2. Offer – Make sure you have an offer that gives the prospect a reason to talk with you or meet with you. And the offer isn’t what a great job your product or service is going to do for your prospect. Your offer is the stimulus for action. It's the “deal.” The quid pro quo. “I'll give you a free video, a premium, a special report, a chance to win if you’ll....”
The use of a premium, the proverbial “free gift,” has historically proven to be a very strong offer, pulling four times as many responses as typically is the case without a premium offer. And this is important. Because your offer can account for up to another 40% of your success.
3. Copy – If you invest good money using memorable, attention grabbing mailers...but give short shrift to the sales copy that goes with them, then all you have working for you is a GIMMICK. And a GIMMICK will only take you so far. So my advice is always this (and yes, I understand it's self-serving, but it's still good advice):
Unless you would hire yourself (or your staff member) out for pay as a professional direct response copywriter please DON’T write your own copy. The additional response you’ll gain by using the services of a skilled, experienced professional will be well worth the investment.
Especially when you consider that your copy accounts for up to 20% of your success.
Love and hate (but mostly love)
As I wrote at the beginning of this article, when you take your marketing to the extreme a lot of people will love it and a few will hate it. But hardly anyone will be able to totally ignore it.
For example, in a recent effort of my own I had two diametrically opposite phone calls in the same day. One call was from a somewhat irritated man who wanted his company removed from my mailing list.
No problem I said. A couple of hours later I had another call from a gentleman with a big smile in his voi
When a potential customer asks what do you sell, do you tell them you sell Trane, Rheem, Lennox, Carrier or any of the other manufacturers equipment?Do you sell equipment or do you sell your services? If you just sell equipment without putting the priority on service, you have a major problem.Please, stop selling equipment!I can hear you screaming, if I can’t sell equipment I will go out of business.I didn’t say you couldn’t install equipment, I just want you to stop selling equipment.Still don’t understand? Let me explain.What is the first thing you do when someone calls your office or you are out on a sales call and someone asks you what kind of equipment you sell, what do you tell them?99.99% of HVAC contractors tell them a particular brand (Trane, Rheem, Lennox, Armstrong etc).Once you do this, the customer puts you in the same pile as all the other contractors who sell that particular brand of equipment, even the lowball seller.You have set yourself up to be selling on price alone. And when you do, you will find that almost always the lowest price wins.Ok! So what should I do?Instead, you should tell the prospect that you sell whatever equipment is right for their home. And the only way you can tell what is right for their home, is to do a survey of their needs by looking at their home, and asking them a few questions.This will immediately separate you from all other contractors the prospect has contacted. Not only that but it also gets you into the home.Thi
When you take your marketing to the extreme many people will love it and a few will hate it. But you won’t be ignored. With a well thought out, well executed extreme marketing program it’s a good bet you’ll pull a response rate in the double digits –- and, close business relatively fast.
Extreme marketing: A case study
Positive Response helped a leading call center operation put together an extreme marketing program targeting collision repair shops nationwide. What I’m going to do now is share with you the pertinent details of this campaign. Then I’ll give you a few specific ideas about how you can use a similar approach to generate leads and sales for your business, plus a few other direct marketing nuggets.
CSi Complete, (www.csicomplete.com) is the leading provider of phone-based customer satisfaction indexing services to the collision repair industry. After getting their attention –- and a meeting –- with my own extreme marketing efforts they engaged Positive Response to help them put together their program.
John Webb, Vice President of Marketing for CSi, reasoned this way: "It worked on me. So I figured it might work on somebody else. They [the mailers] are creative and impossible to ignore." What we decided on for CSi was a three-step campaign aimed at 300 collision repair businesses throughout the United States.
Step one: Message In a Bottle
CSi Complete’s first mailer was a Message In a Bottle –- a 32-ounce squeeze water bottle like the type you would take to the gym. The outside of the bottle was printed with an eye-catching graphic along with their logo and complete contact information.
Inside the bottle, which also served as the envelope, was a letter. The headline on the letter read, “Thirsty for more repair orders? Get ready to drink up!” Body copy talked about the many benefits of using the firm’s CSI services.
More importantly, the letter offered readers a free gift for talking with the company’s Director of Sales, and 13 months of service for the price of 12 if they signed up for CSi’s service by a specific date.
Step two: Bank bag mailing
Approximately a week later CSi sent out a second mailer. Mailer two was a 5.5” x 10.5” bank pouch imprinted with the words, “PUT MORE MONEY IN THE BANK.” It arrived in a 9-by-12-inch full-window envelope with the imprinted side of the pouch facing the window.
(Another attention-grabbing way of mailing this item is to mail it without using an envelope. To do this you simply tape down the zipper-pull and affix a mailing label and postage to the blank side.)
Inside the pouch was a letter. This time the headline read, “How to write more repair orders while lowering your overhead and improving workplace performance. And you can take that to the bank!”
This letter highlighted three ways CSi Complete helps collision repair shops bank more profits and reiterated our two-pronged offer.
Step three: Trash can mailing
After each mailing CSi’s telemarketing staff made follow-up phone calls to book tele-meetings with the company’s Director of Sales, Erich Keller. After two mailings and two phone calls a number of people had either booked a tele-meeting or indicated they were not a serious prospect for CSi’s service.
The remaining group, 208 companies in all, was sent a third and final mailing: a miniature trash can mailed in a box.
Inside the trash can was a wadded up letter with the headline, “Can do? Yes! CSi Complete CAN help you run a more profitable business.” An overline –- copy positioned after the name and address but before the salutation –- read in part:
“In case you’ve been throwing my letters into the trash, I wanted to do it for you this time. But before you trash this, my final letter, consider the story of A. Pake Zane. Why? Because it’s relevant.” Body copy in this letter punched up the key selling points made in previous letters and once again highlighted the two-pronged offer.
(A. Pake Zane is a gentleman I read about on the internet. He saw a box of rocks that somebody had put out with the trash. He thought they looked interesting so he hauled them off. As it turns out they were ancient stone artifacts which he later sold for $1,000.)
Body copy in this letter punched up the key selling points made in previous letters and once again highlighted the two-pronged offer.
Campaign Results
The campaign generated a healthy number of new accounts in a short period of time. All totaled the company’s Director of Sales conducted 42 tele-meetings (a 14% response) and closed sixteen new pieces of business.
Better yet, he closed more than half of this business –- nine accounts –- within the first three months. What’s more, we were able to generate several feature articles about the campaign in leading trade publications, including DM News, Target Marketing, Direct and Sales & Marketing Management.
How your business can use these mailers
The bottle, the bank bag and the trashcan is a tried and true trio of mailers that can be used by just about any business.
For example, think about your business and three key benefits you consistently deliver to the marketplace. The headline or opening on your message in a bottle letter could be as easy as adding one of those benefits onto the question that starts with, Thirsty for.... Another easily adaptable opening for a message in a bottle letter is this one:
“I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. First, the bad news: This Message in a Bottle won’t show you the way to buried treasures and untold wealth. Now for the good news: It will lead you to (insert your irresistible offer and/or compelling benefits here.)”
As for the bank bag, all you have to do is think about how your product or service generates an ROI, saves people money, or both. Finally there’s the trashcan, what I call the “fish or cut bait” mailer.
In my own marketing, and for clients, I’ve never seen the trashcan not be able to break down the resistance of at least a few more highly desirable prospects. Most people think it’s funny and while it’s not always a wise choice to use humor in direct mail, in this case it seems to work.
You can also use the trashcan as a one-time mailer. For example, your headline or opener might read something like this:
“Since I know there’s a good chance you’re going to throw my letter in the trash I thought I’d go ahead and do it for you. But before you trash this letter for good, consider the story of A. Pake Zane.”
Suit the mailer to the target
These are just a few examples of how these three extreme marketing dimensional mailers can be put to work to generate leads and quick sales. As for other ideas, you are limited only by your imagination.
But keep this thought in mind. You want to suit the mailer to the type of prospect you are targeting and the level of commitment or sale you may be seeking. In CSi's case we were targeting owners and principals at collision repair shops, which are primarily small businesses. And we were asking them to make an initial commitment of only $2,000 - $3,000 spread over 12 months.
On the other hand, if your market is senior executives at Fortune 500 companies and the value of an average sale is $50,000 you'll want to make your mailers more reflective of that fact. For example, at this level maybe your message in a bottle mailer is an engraved martini shaker mailed in a box.
Inside your martini shaker is a letter with an opening along the lines of, "Time to shake things up? Let us help you mix up a winning combination for...(whatever key benefits your company's product or service delivers.)"
Here's another high-end example: One successful campaign targeting CEOs revolved around a "secret agent" theme. Each prospect received a locked metal briefcase. An accompanying note directed the prospect to a Web site.
At the web site, after entering a special code and reviewing some product and promotional information each CEO received the combination to the briefcase. Inside the briefcase was their reward, a handheld GPS unit. The program was highly successful.
Bigger impact means fewer mailers
Now let's talk about cost. Because you know for sure that purchasing and mailing a trashcan or a martini shaker calls for a bigger investment than...rolling out your basic direct mail package in a number ten envelope.
But keep this in mind. It's been said that the typical executive gets 175 pieces of mail a week. So if you're targeting business owners and upper level executives, especially those with larger companies...it's important that you make sure your mail will bust through the clutter and demand attention. Otherwise your marketing effort may be a bust. Also, because your response rates are going to be substantially higher, you won't have to mail as many pieces. Plus, in many cases people will hang on to your mailers and put them to good use. So even if you don't make a sale right away your selling proposition will be reinforced every time the prospect sees your mailer.
And then one day you'll get a phone call or an email that eventually leads to business.
Key factors will impact your success
Attention is the first step in both the sales and advertising process and an extreme marketing program will attract attention. But direct marketing is a three-legged stool and in order to maximize your success you'll want to make sure all three legs of your stool are strong and sturdy. Those three legs are -
1. List – Make sure you send your mail to the right people at the right companies. Your list can account for up to 40% of your success.
2. Offer – Make sure you have an offer that gives the prospect a reason to talk with you or meet with you. And the offer isn’t what a great job your product or service is going to do for your prospect. Your offer is the stimulus for action. It's the “deal.” The quid pro quo. “I'll give you a free video, a premium, a special report, a chance to win if you’ll....”
The use of a premium, the proverbial “free gift,” has historically proven to be a very strong offer, pulling four times as many responses as typically is the case without a premium offer. And this is important. Because your offer can account for up to another 40% of your success.
3. Copy – If you invest good money using memorable, attention grabbing mailers...but give short shrift to the sales copy that goes with them, then all you have working for you is a GIMMICK. And a GIMMICK will only take you so far. So my advice is always this (and yes, I understand it's self-serving, but it's still good advice):
Unless you would hire yourself (or your staff member) out for pay as a professional direct response copywriter please DON’T write your own copy. The additional response you’ll gain by using the services of a skilled, experienced professional will be well worth the investment.
Especially when you consider that your copy accounts for up to 20% of your success.
Love and hate (but mostly love)
As I wrote at the beginning of this article, when you take your marketing to the extreme a lot of people will love it and a few will hate it. But hardly anyone will be able to totally ignore it.
For example, in a recent effort of my own I had two diametrically opposite phone calls in the same day. One call was from a somewhat irritated man who wanted his company removed from my mailing list.
No problem I said. A couple of hours later I had another call from a gentleman with a big smile in his voic
Imagine if someone wanted to sabotage your business - put yourself in their shoes. How would they do it? What are the weak spots they would target? You may find such an exercise a bit creepy but it might offer some interesting perspectives on your business continuity planning, your plans for dealing with emergencies.It is often difficult to step back from the day to day running of the business and take an overview of potential risks and threats. Business continuity planning offers particular challenges because our natural reaction is to think things through logically, whereas disruptions such as fires or equipment failure usually trigger a chain of totally unexpected consequences.So try to look at things from different angles and spot the connections and vulnerabilities. Think like a saboteur. In the first glance they perform the risk assessment – how is this business vulnerable? In the second glance is the business impact analysis – what would hurt most?The saboteur enters the successful hair salon, newly opened and causing a stir among the competition. Laid proudly on the front reception desk is the appointment book: hand written and bursting with future customer appointment dates and times. In the blink of an eye it is stolen and critical information is lost!The saboteur enters your business. They imagine how easy it would be to - leave that tap running in the toilets above your office change the 3 to an 8 on your price list or big event date overload that shelf which is abov
Approximately a week later CSi sent out a second mailer. Mailer two was a 5.5” x 10.5” bank pouch imprinted with the words, “PUT MORE MONEY IN THE BANK.” It arrived in a 9-by-12-inch full-window envelope with the imprinted side of the pouch facing the window.
(Another attention-grabbing way of mailing this item is to mail it without using an envelope. To do this you simply tape down the zipper-pull and affix a mailing label and postage to the blank side.)
Inside the pouch was a letter. This time the headline read, “How to write more repair orders while lowering your overhead and improving workplace performance. And you can take that to the bank!”
This letter highlighted three ways CSi Complete helps collision repair shops bank more profits and reiterated our two-pronged offer.
Step three: Trash can mailing
After each mailing CSi’s telemarketing staff made follow-up phone calls to book tele-meetings with the company’s Director of Sales, Erich Keller. After two mailings and two phone calls a number of people had either booked a tele-meeting or indicated they were not a serious prospect for CSi’s service.
The remaining group, 208 companies in all, was sent a third and final mailing: a miniature trash can mailed in a box.
Inside the trash can was a wadded up letter with the headline, “Can do? Yes! CSi Complete CAN help you run a more profitable business.” An overline –- copy positioned after the name and address but before the salutation –- read in part:
“In case you’ve been throwing my letters into the trash, I wanted to do it for you this time. But before you trash this, my final letter, consider the story of A. Pake Zane. Why? Because it’s relevant.” Body copy in this letter punched up the key selling points made in previous letters and once again highlighted the two-pronged offer.
(A. Pake Zane is a gentleman I read about on the internet. He saw a box of rocks that somebody had put out with the trash. He thought they looked interesting so he hauled them off. As it turns out they were ancient stone artifacts which he later sold for $1,000.)
Body copy in this letter punched up the key selling points made in previous letters and once again highlighted the two-pronged offer.
Campaign Results
The campaign generated a healthy number of new accounts in a short period of time. All totaled the company’s Director of Sales conducted 42 tele-meetings (a 14% response) and closed sixteen new pieces of business.
Better yet, he closed more than half of this business –- nine accounts –- within the first three months. What’s more, we were able to generate several feature articles about the campaign in leading trade publications, including DM News, Target Marketing, Direct and Sales & Marketing Management.
How your business can use these mailers
The bottle, the bank bag and the trashcan is a tried and true trio of mailers that can be used by just about any business.
For example, think about your business and three key benefits you consistently deliver to the marketplace. The headline or opening on your message in a bottle letter could be as easy as adding one of those benefits onto the question that starts with, Thirsty for.... Another easily adaptable opening for a message in a bottle letter is this one:
“I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. First, the bad news: This Message in a Bottle won’t show you the way to buried treasures and untold wealth. Now for the good news: It will lead you to (insert your irresistible offer and/or compelling benefits here.)”
As for the bank bag, all you have to do is think about how your product or service generates an ROI, saves people money, or both. Finally there’s the trashcan, what I call the “fish or cut bait” mailer.
In my own marketing, and for clients, I’ve never seen the trashcan not be able to break down the resistance of at least a few more highly desirable prospects. Most people think it’s funny and while it’s not always a wise choice to use humor in direct mail, in this case it seems to work.
You can also use the trashcan as a one-time mailer. For example, your headline or opener might read something like this:
“Since I know there’s a good chance you’re going to throw my letter in the trash I thought I’d go ahead and do it for you. But before you trash this letter for good, consider the story of A. Pake Zane.”
Suit the mailer to the target
These are just a few examples of how these three extreme marketing dimensional mailers can be put to work to generate leads and quick sales. As for other ideas, you are limited only by your imagination.
But keep this thought in mind. You want to suit the mailer to the type of prospect you are targeting and the level of commitment or sale you may be seeking. In CSi's case we were targeting owners and principals at collision repair shops, which are primarily small businesses. And we were asking them to make an initial commitment of only $2,000 - $3,000 spread over 12 months.
On the other hand, if your market is senior executives at Fortune 500 companies and the value of an average sale is $50,000 you'll want to make your mailers more reflective of that fact. For example, at this level maybe your message in a bottle mailer is an engraved martini shaker mailed in a box.
Inside your martini shaker is a letter with an opening along the lines of, "Time to shake things up? Let us help you mix up a winning combination for...(whatever key benefits your company's product or service delivers.)"
Here's another high-end example: One successful campaign targeting CEOs revolved around a "secret agent" theme. Each prospect received a locked metal briefcase. An accompanying note directed the prospect to a Web site.
At the web site, after entering a special code and reviewing some product and promotional information each CEO received the combination to the briefcase. Inside the briefcase was their reward, a handheld GPS unit. The program was highly successful.
Bigger impact means fewer mailers
Now let's talk about cost. Because you know for sure that purchasing and mailing a trashcan or a martini shaker calls for a bigger investment than...rolling out your basic direct mail package in a number ten envelope.
But keep this in mind. It's been said that the typical executive gets 175 pieces of mail a week. So if you're targeting business owners and upper level executives, especially those with larger companies...it's important that you make sure your mail will bust through the clutter and demand attention. Otherwise your marketing effort may be a bust. Also, because your response rates are going to be substantially higher, you won't have to mail as many pieces. Plus, in many cases people will hang on to your mailers and put them to good use. So even if you don't make a sale right away your selling proposition will be reinforced every time the prospect sees your mailer.
And then one day you'll get a phone call or an email that eventually leads to business.
Key factors will impact your success
Attention is the first step in both the sales and advertising process and an extreme marketing program will attract attention. But direct marketing is a three-legged stool and in order to maximize your success you'll want to make sure all three legs of your stool are strong and sturdy. Those three legs are -
1. List – Make sure you send your mail to the right people at the right companies. Your list can account for up to 40% of your success.
2. Offer – Make sure you have an offer that gives the prospect a reason to talk with you or meet with you. And the offer isn’t what a great job your product or service is going to do for your prospect. Your offer is the stimulus for action. It's the “deal.” The quid pro quo. “I'll give you a free video, a premium, a special report, a chance to win if you’ll....”
The use of a premium, the proverbial “free gift,” has historically proven to be a very strong offer, pulling four times as many responses as typically is the case without a premium offer. And this is important. Because your offer can account for up to another 40% of your success.
3. Copy – If you invest good money using memorable, attention grabbing mailers...but give short shrift to the sales copy that goes with them, then all you have working for you is a GIMMICK. And a GIMMICK will only take you so far. So my advice is always this (and yes, I understand it's self-serving, but it's still good advice):
Unless you would hire yourself (or your staff member) out for pay as a professional direct response copywriter please DON’T write your own copy. The additional response you’ll gain by using the services of a skilled, experienced professional will be well worth the investment.
Especially when you consider that your copy accounts for up to 20% of your success.
Love and hate (but mostly love)
As I wrote at the beginning of this article, when you take your marketing to the extreme a lot of people will love it and a few will hate it. But hardly anyone will be able to totally ignore it.
For example, in a recent effort of my own I had two diametrically opposite phone calls in the same day. One call was from a somewhat irritated man who wanted his company removed from my mailing list.
No problem I said. A couple of hours later I had another call from a gentleman with a big smile in his voi
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” Henry David ThoreauWhen Henry Thoreau said this, he was living in a different era, an era in which the internet did not exist. For David Thoreau comprehending meta-data and link building would be impossible but he still realized an ultimate truth. That it is not true appearance that is significant, the way it is perceived by others is what truly counts. For search engine optimization, this is an important concept. In SEO, there is a lot that could be seen but it’s what is perceived that counts. It counts more that a website is perceived to be popular than if it really is or not. However, it seems that the opposite holds true for SEO as a career. Some perceive it in an unfavorable light, but there is a great opportunity for those who grab it. In reality, Search Engine Optimization is a viable profitable and opportunity rich career choice.Search Engine Optimization is the process of optimizing a website to rank highly on major search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. [1] SEO is a subset of internet marketing and is really a process of optimizing a website for any user (or robot) that will visit it. Comparable to optimizing a brick and mortar store by hanging signs and bringing in more foot traffic and inevitably more sales because the new sign made the store more visible. Such is SEO, except the store is a website, and the signs, traffic and visibility are all virtual.Because of the increased use of the internet and searc
Better yet, he closed more than half of this business –- nine accounts –- within the first three months. What’s more, we were able to generate several feature articles about the campaign in leading trade publications, including DM News, Target Marketing, Direct and Sales & Marketing Management.
How your business can use these mailers
The bottle, the bank bag and the trashcan is a tried and true trio of mailers that can be used by just about any business.
For example, think about your business and three key benefits you consistently deliver to the marketplace. The headline or opening on your message in a bottle letter could be as easy as adding one of those benefits onto the question that starts with, Thirsty for.... Another easily adaptable opening for a message in a bottle letter is this one:
“I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. First, the bad news: This Message in a Bottle won’t show you the way to buried treasures and untold wealth. Now for the good news: It will lead you to (insert your irresistible offer and/or compelling benefits here.)”
As for the bank bag, all you have to do is think about how your product or service generates an ROI, saves people money, or both. Finally there’s the trashcan, what I call the “fish or cut bait” mailer.
In my own marketing, and for clients, I’ve never seen the trashcan not be able to break down the resistance of at least a few more highly desirable prospects. Most people think it’s funny and while it’s not always a wise choice to use humor in direct mail, in this case it seems to work.
You can also use the trashcan as a one-time mailer. For example, your headline or opener might read something like this:
“Since I know there’s a good chance you’re going to throw my letter in the trash I thought I’d go ahead and do it for you. But before you trash this letter for good, consider the story of A. Pake Zane.”
Suit the mailer to the target
These are just a few examples of how these three extreme marketing dimensional mailers can be put to work to generate leads and quick sales. As for other ideas, you are limited only by your imagination.
But keep this thought in mind. You want to suit the mailer to the type of prospect you are targeting and the level of commitment or sale you may be seeking. In CSi's case we were targeting owners and principals at collision repair shops, which are primarily small businesses. And we were asking them to make an initial commitment of only $2,000 - $3,000 spread over 12 months.
On the other hand, if your market is senior executives at Fortune 500 companies and the value of an average sale is $50,000 you'll want to make your mailers more reflective of that fact. For example, at this level maybe your message in a bottle mailer is an engraved martini shaker mailed in a box.
Inside your martini shaker is a letter with an opening along the lines of, "Time to shake things up? Let us help you mix up a winning combination for...(whatever key benefits your company's product or service delivers.)"
Here's another high-end example: One successful campaign targeting CEOs revolved around a "secret agent" theme. Each prospect received a locked metal briefcase. An accompanying note directed the prospect to a Web site.
At the web site, after entering a special code and reviewing some product and promotional information each CEO received the combination to the briefcase. Inside the briefcase was their reward, a handheld GPS unit. The program was highly successful.
Bigger impact means fewer mailers
Now let's talk about cost. Because you know for sure that purchasing and mailing a trashcan or a martini shaker calls for a bigger investment than...rolling out your basic direct mail package in a number ten envelope.
But keep this in mind. It's been said that the typical executive gets 175 pieces of mail a week. So if you're targeting business owners and upper level executives, especially those with larger companies...it's important that you make sure your mail will bust through the clutter and demand attention. Otherwise your marketing effort may be a bust. Also, because your response rates are going to be substantially higher, you won't have to mail as many pieces. Plus, in many cases people will hang on to your mailers and put them to good use. So even if you don't make a sale right away your selling proposition will be reinforced every time the prospect sees your mailer.
And then one day you'll get a phone call or an email that eventually leads to business.
Key factors will impact your success
Attention is the first step in both the sales and advertising process and an extreme marketing program will attract attention. But direct marketing is a three-legged stool and in order to maximize your success you'll want to make sure all three legs of your stool are strong and sturdy. Those three legs are -
1. List – Make sure you send your mail to the right people at the right companies. Your list can account for up to 40% of your success.
2. Offer – Make sure you have an offer that gives the prospect a reason to talk with you or meet with you. And the offer isn’t what a great job your product or service is going to do for your prospect. Your offer is the stimulus for action. It's the “deal.” The quid pro quo. “I'll give you a free video, a premium, a special report, a chance to win if you’ll....”
The use of a premium, the proverbial “free gift,” has historically proven to be a very strong offer, pulling four times as many responses as typically is the case without a premium offer. And this is important. Because your offer can account for up to another 40% of your success.
3. Copy – If you invest good money using memorable, attention grabbing mailers...but give short shrift to the sales copy that goes with them, then all you have working for you is a GIMMICK. And a GIMMICK will only take you so far. So my advice is always this (and yes, I understand it's self-serving, but it's still good advice):
Unless you would hire yourself (or your staff member) out for pay as a professional direct response copywriter please DON’T write your own copy. The additional response you’ll gain by using the services of a skilled, experienced professional will be well worth the investment.
Especially when you consider that your copy accounts for up to 20% of your success.
Love and hate (but mostly love)
As I wrote at the beginning of this article, when you take your marketing to the extreme a lot of people will love it and a few will hate it. But hardly anyone will be able to totally ignore it.
For example, in a recent effort of my own I had two diametrically opposite phone calls in the same day. One call was from a somewhat irritated man who wanted his company removed from my mailing list.
No problem I said. A couple of hours later I had another call from a gentleman with a big smile in his voi
The question is - Our new marketing manager just spent $65,000 for a new trade show exhibit. She loves it, but it doesn't seem to draw people in. Are there lessons here for us?There are different scenarios but the main problem is - there is a new Marketing Manager. New broom sweeps clean. Wants to start all over. It does not work. What went wrong?" T here are five basic concepts to understand before changing exhibit designs.1) DO THE MARKETING PLAN BEFORE DESIGNING THE BOOTH….Remember - Form Follows Function. Sometimes new managers come with great ideas, sometimes more time would have allowed a better integration of exhibit form with marketing message. Do a marketing plan for Each Show.WHY? Because each show will draw different attendees with different expectations and you need to focus on the attendee, not your ego. All marketing messages must be integrated, so a new exhibit with an old message - or vice versa - is jarring to your audience.2) NEVER DESIGN ANYTHING IN A VACUUM….Let the folks who are going to work the booth have input. Experience on the floor is invaluable when upgrading or designing a new exhibit.WHY? They know the problems with lack of storage space, lost keys, theft, crowded demo areas, poor lighting, off-message graphics, difficult set-up, and shipping disasters.3) IT'S TOUGH TO BE A MISSIONARY….Way-out designs may scare away prospects because you do not look like "their" type of company. Sure it’s fun to explode on the floor
On the other hand, if your market is senior executives at Fortune 500 companies and the value of an average sale is $50,000 you'll want to make your mailers more reflective of that fact. For example, at this level maybe your message in a bottle mailer is an engraved martini shaker mailed in a box.
Inside your martini shaker is a letter with an opening along the lines of, "Time to shake things up? Let us help you mix up a winning combination for...(whatever key benefits your company's product or service delivers.)"
Here's another high-end example: One successful campaign targeting CEOs revolved around a "secret agent" theme. Each prospect received a locked metal briefcase. An accompanying note directed the prospect to a Web site.
At the web site, after entering a special code and reviewing some product and promotional information each CEO received the combination to the briefcase. Inside the briefcase was their reward, a handheld GPS unit. The program was highly successful.
Bigger impact means fewer mailers
Now let's talk about cost. Because you know for sure that purchasing and mailing a trashcan or a martini shaker calls for a bigger investment than...rolling out your basic direct mail package in a number ten envelope.
But keep this in mind. It's been said that the typical executive gets 175 pieces of mail a week. So if you're targeting business owners and upper level executives, especially those with larger companies...it's important that you make sure your mail will bust through the clutter and demand attention. Otherwise your marketing effort may be a bust. Also, because your response rates are going to be substantially higher, you won't have to mail as many pieces. Plus, in many cases people will hang on to your mailers and put them to good use. So even if you don't make a sale right away your selling proposition will be reinforced every time the prospect sees your mailer.
And then one day you'll get a phone call or an email that eventually leads to business.
Key factors will impact your success
Attention is the first step in both the sales and advertising process and an extreme marketing program will attract attention. But direct marketing is a three-legged stool and in order to maximize your success you'll want to make sure all three legs of your stool are strong and sturdy. Those three legs are -
1. List – Make sure you send your mail to the right people at the right companies. Your list can account for up to 40% of your success.
2. Offer – Make sure you have an offer that gives the prospect a reason to talk with you or meet with you. And the offer isn’t what a great job your product or service is going to do for your prospect. Your offer is the stimulus for action. It's the “deal.” The quid pro quo. “I'll give you a free video, a premium, a special report, a chance to win if you’ll....”
The use of a premium, the proverbial “free gift,” has historically proven to be a very strong offer, pulling four times as many responses as typically is the case without a premium offer. And this is important. Because your offer can account for up to another 40% of your success.
3. Copy – If you invest good money using memorable, attention grabbing mailers...but give short shrift to the sales copy that goes with them, then all you have working for you is a GIMMICK. And a GIMMICK will only take you so far. So my advice is always this (and yes, I understand it's self-serving, but it's still good advice):
Unless you would hire yourself (or your staff member) out for pay as a professional direct response copywriter please DON’T write your own copy. The additional response you’ll gain by using the services of a skilled, experienced professional will be well worth the investment.
Especially when you consider that your copy accounts for up to 20% of your success.
Love and hate (but mostly love)
As I wrote at the beginning of this article, when you take your marketing to the extreme a lot of people will love it and a few will hate it. But hardly anyone will be able to totally ignore it.
For example, in a recent effort of my own I had two diametrically opposite phone calls in the same day. One call was from a somewhat irritated man who wanted his company removed from my mailing list.
No problem I said. A couple of hours later I had another call from a gentleman with a big smile in his voi
We all know, that in actual fact designers not only create images that are designed to catch the eye of the consumer, but to make a business appear professional also and indeed the core purpose of their work is to help convert potential customers into actual customers via brand/image and marketing materials linked in with this.Is that all? I’m sure a lot of business owners think that really is all there is to the design industry that serves them and the many designers that populate it.In some cases (for some designers) that really is all there is to it – they don’t operate on many other levels other than to make their designs professional, pretty, and eye catching.However there really are other aspects that must be considered when you commission a design to develop the brand image for your business, a couple of these are explored in more detail now;1. Target Market; Recently I was approached by a company interested in brand design; their product and service was one that should be targeting both men and women, and yet when I was shown the design they had received already for another designer I immediately noted some glaring issues with it.The design itself was eye pleasing and on the surface of it a less experienced person may observe that it was a professional effort; but the designer had produced something which featured a stylized woman as the central figure within the logo and not only that despite the stylized nature of the image, she was clearly of oriental heritage.I qu
Attention is the first step in both the sales and advertising process and an extreme marketing program will attract attention. But direct marketing is a three-legged stool and in order to maximize your success you'll want to make sure all three legs of your stool are strong and sturdy. Those three legs are -
1. List – Make sure you send your mail to the right people at the right companies. Your list can account for up to 40% of your success.
2. Offer – Make sure you have an offer that gives the prospect a reason to talk with you or meet with you. And the offer isn’t what a great job your product or service is going to do for your prospect. Your offer is the stimulus for action. It's the “deal.” The quid pro quo. “I'll give you a free video, a premium, a special report, a chance to win if you’ll....”
The use of a premium, the proverbial “free gift,” has historically proven to be a very strong offer, pulling four times as many responses as typically is the case without a premium offer. And this is important. Because your offer can account for up to another 40% of your success.
3. Copy – If you invest good money using memorable, attention grabbing mailers...but give short shrift to the sales copy that goes with them, then all you have working for you is a GIMMICK. And a GIMMICK will only take you so far. So my advice is always this (and yes, I understand it's self-serving, but it's still good advice):
Unless you would hire yourself (or your staff member) out for pay as a professional direct response copywriter please DON’T write your own copy. The additional response you’ll gain by using the services of a skilled, experienced professional will be well worth the investment.
Especially when you consider that your copy accounts for up to 20% of your success.
Love and hate (but mostly love)
As I wrote at the beginning of this article, when you take your marketing to the extreme a lot of people will love it and a few will hate it. But hardly anyone will be able to totally ignore it.
For example, in a recent effort of my own I had two diametrically opposite phone calls in the same day. One call was from a somewhat irritated man who wanted his company removed from my mailing list.
No problem I said. A couple of hours later I had another call from a gentleman with a big smile in his voice chuckling to me about “the really cool mailers you’ve been sending me.” He scheduled a meeting.
Research has shown that well done extreme marketing much more often elicits the latter response than it does the former. In fact, in one extensive test program the response rate for an extreme marketing effort was 74% better than for that of a more conventional effort. To which I say, go forth and do likewise.
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.casualarticles.com/article/31069/casualarticles-Extreme-Results-How-To-Use-Direct-Mail-To-Pull-Double-Digit-Response-Rates-and-Close-Sales-Fast.html">Extreme Results: How To Use Direct Mail To Pull Double Digit Response Rates and Close Sales Fast</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.casualarticles.com/article/31069/casualarticles-Extreme-Results-How-To-Use-Direct-Mail-To-Pull-Double-Digit-Response-Rates-and-Close-Sales-Fast.html]Extreme Results: How To Use Direct Mail To Pull Double Digit Response Rates and Close Sales Fast[/url]
Related Articles:
Simple Steps to Great Web Design
Franchising Companies Relationship Strategies
Determine the Viability of Your Target Audience BEFORE You Begin Marketing
Bookmark it:
|