| Author |
Title/Content |
Knowledge
Level |
Provided
By |
| Jeff
Dobkin |
Direct
Marketing Questions
|
Novice
to Intermediate |
 |
Questions People Ask Me the Most About Direct Marketing
– Part 1
by Jeff Dobkin
Jeff Dobkin is the author of
How To Market a Product for Under
$500 and
Uncommon Marketing Techniques. He is also
a speaker, writes response-driven sales letters, engaging web content,
persuasive catalog copy; and exceptional direct mail packages. He
also is a marketing analyst for direct marketing packages, ads,
catalogs, and campaigns. To place an order, or to speak with Mr.
Dobkin call 610/642-1000. Visit him online at
www.dobkin.com.
With 25 years’ experience creating marketing
action plans, writing ads, direct selling ads and direct mail
packages, and assisting small and medium size firms with their
marketing and direct marketing, certain questions have come up
repeatedly throughout my career.
What the heck is
marketing, anyhow?
So many people are involved in marketing, but
most people don’t know the definition. Even when you ask
marketing people the definition, they hem and haw. Perhaps it’s
because marketing is such a broad-based term, it’s like
asking for the definition of “Business.” My definition
runs “Marketing is selling to a defined audience.”
When you offer your products to anyone, that’s
selling. When you place your customers in groups you can define,
and separate them from everyone else in the world, and target
your sales efforts specifically to them, that’s marketing.
What is direct
marketing?
A manufacturer takes out an ad in a consumer
or trade magazine. Someone sees the ad and calls and orders the
product—or, more likely, sends an inquiry. The firm sends
literature, then the customer places an order. Simple. Lots of
business sales are direct.
Direct marketing means you have no sales force
to move your products into the marketplace, and you solicit buyers
by selling directly to them. No representatives to get your products
onto retailers’ or consumers’ shelves. And no retailer
or wholesaler link in the distribution chain. You do it all yourself.
To me, direct marketing is selling to a consumer or business directly
from a magazine or newspaper campaign, direct response TV ad,
or from a direct mail package. I’m not really concerned
with whose shelves our goods wind up on, just that they move off
our own shelves and we get paid in a timely fashion.
What is a good
response to a mailing?
Probably the most-asked direct marketing question,
ever. And people are usually looking for a number like 2%, 10%,
or 25%.
A successful single mailing (for orders) is any
mailing that breaks even or better the first time out. Because
you learn from this mailing, the chances of tuning it up for the
second time to increase the response are very good.
Percentages are no indication of success. If
you are offering a free watch, you may get a 90% response for
the watch, but no sales on the back end. If you are offering a
free brochure about your $2 million printing press, response can
be .002%—but if one press is sold, the mailing is a success.
Without knowing the mailing objectives, profit per order, the
offer, the list, and the audience, any percentages have little
meaning.
The simplest formula for success in a direct
offer is the cost of the mailing, plus the cost of fulfillment,
subtracted from the amount of money you received. Even when you
plug in this formula, the additional credibility you get for your
next mailing is not taken into account.
To take a guess at percentages—which is
probably why you’re reading this—1% to 2% for an offer
is usually considered good to excellent. When planning for success,
figure out if you will break even at 1%. If not, better rethink
your package, offer, product, or price. As important: Is your
offer hard or soft (do you ask for money with the order, or bill
later?), and are you asking for an order (direct sale) or for
an inquiry (lead generation with a two-step selling process) so
you can send a harder-hitting, longer package? Then, what is the
lifetime value of the customer (will he order again and how often)?
Will all this additional hoopla convert your mailing to being
profitable? Most magazine publishers would be happy at.5% conversion
to subscription rate; some of our own free-gift-with-inquiry offers
have drawn 20% to 25%.
Which works better,
long or short copy?
Copy is king, but it can be a real killer. Professionally
drafted, well-written long copy works best. But… and like
my Aunt Mildred, this is a big but — if the structure is
incorrect, if it is anything but the most intriguing, spellbinding,
interesting writing, if the benefits are brought in too late,
if the offer is too late or misplaced in all the clutter, or if
any of a million different bad things that can happen with long
copy happens, there is a much greater possibility you will lose
your reader, and as he drifts away, your whole package will be
trashed rather than read.
If it is poorly structured or uninteresting,
most people will place your expensive marketing material in the
pile to read sometime between later and never, and it’ll
wind up just getting thrown out. Unless it’s forceful, motivating,
and drives readers to read the entire length and act now, they
will just file it in the round file without ever a second thought.
Sending a direct mail package is like owning
a retail store: the longer you keep your potential customer in
your store, the more likely he is to make a purchase. The longer
the reader stays in your package, the more likely he is to send
for your product. For example: Publisher’s Clearing House’s
big magazine-stamp mailings. They hide the free prize stamps deep
in the package—the longer you look for them, the more likely
you are to find something you like and place an order.
For the majority of offers and packages, I recommend
short copy. And I say that short copy is best because it works
best in most packages. However, for the ingenious, and for selling
higher- priced products: If you can keep your customer tightly
focused, your chance of sales is greater with long copy.
Should I use envelope
teaser copy?
The first word on teaser copy is YES. If your
mailing is commercial, sent bulk, and has the look of anything
that is not a personal letter, use teaser copy. Yes, yes, yes.
But there is also a grave danger in using envelope
teaser copy. The big danger inherent in teaser copy: being too
specific. If your envelope copy is too specific and your teaser
is not of interest to the largest segment of your audience, your
offer on the last page to give away that new lawnmower to the
first 10,000 respondents won’t even be seen. The whole envelope,
unopened, will be tossed out. It’s the biggest danger in
all of direct mail.
Teaser copy can make your package really work
hard for you, but it can really work hard against you if it isn’t
appealing to your entire audience. When in doubt, don’t.
Stick to tried-and-true openers: Free Offer Inside...New Pricing
Enclosed...See What’s New...Limited Time Offer - Please
Open Immediately. They’re boring, but still effective.
If your mailing piece is sent first class, chances
are it will be opened even without teaser copy, especially if
it has just your own name and address in the corner card (no company
name). The only copy to enhance this (if you want to) is to say
“FIRST CLASS MAIL” under the stamp area.
What is the BIGGEST
mistake made in marketing?
This mistake is made by 99% of the companies
marketing products or services. It’s a mistake made by almost
every firm I have worked with in the past 25 years. The biggest
mistake in marketing—and not just direct marketing, but
any marketing—is not following up multiple times. This mistake
is made by people who spend a lot of time, energy, and money on
an ad or an inquiry-generation program. When they receive the
highly qualified lead it brings in, they send a brochure and a
letter. At best, they call about a week later. When a sale is
not immediate, they hang up, and they never call back or send
another letter. Then they say their campaign failed. What a mistake.
A single letter and brochure is not a campaign. A campaign is
not a single effort of anything—why do you think they call
it a campaign? A campaign is a sustained effort over time.
I recall some books quoting that a face-to-face
sales call costs $172, and that most larger sales are closed on
the fifth contact. It always amazes me that otherwise intelligent
people send a letter and brochure to their best prospects and
call it quits when those prospects don’t respond with an
immediate purchase.
Why would anyone think it’s faster or easier
to sell a product off a page or two than sell something in person?
Why should it take five in-person meetings to make a sale and
only one contact in print? The biggest mistake made in marketing
is not contacting a well-qualified buyer, who has expressed an
interest in your product or service after the first mailing, a
second time with harder-hitting additional marketing material
or letters.
What is the biggest
mistake you can make in a mailing?
Without a doubt, mailing to the wrong list will
ensure your mailing fails. The mistake is not doing enough research
into which lists to test and mail to. In direct marketing, the
list IS your market. Do your homework by finding the absolute
best possible list, then test it.
Additional time and thought here won’t
be wasted. No glitzy brochure, exceptional offer, and great free
gift will make a tuna canning factory purchase bottle caps. If
you use a list broker, make him do his homework and EARN his commission
by digging deep and buying the best.
This article is © PatentCafe.com
Jeff Dobkin is the author of
How To Market a Product for Under
$500 and
Uncommon Marketing Techniques. He is also
a speaker, writes response-driven sales letters, engaging web content,
persuasive catalog copy; and exceptional direct mail packages. He
also is a marketing analyst for direct marketing packages, ads,
catalogs, and campaigns. To place an order, or to speak with Mr.
Dobkin call 610/642-1000. Visit him online at
www.dobkin.com.
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