| |
| |
|
Advertising Information |
|
|
|
How to Know if Direct Mail Will Work for Your Business
Here's a great lesson that applies to direct mail. Ready? Some people say one thing and do the opposite. In other words ... One shouldn't pay attention to what people say they'll do as much as what they actually DO. For example, it seems most readers of the National Enquirer don't want to admit they read it. Just ask people, "You read that tabloid stuff?" "No way! Not me." Maybe they're afraid of looking silly to others? Maybe their embarrassed to admit buying a paper with headlines like, "Brad Runs To Jen As Angelina Lays Down The Law." Perhaps they fear people will think they're too shallow? Un-sophisticated? Doesn't matter. What matters to the National Enquirer, of course, is that millions of readers each week buy it. Whether folks admit to reading tabloids or not there are a whole lot of those papers being sold. So the old rule applies? Don't pay attention to what people SAY they do as much as what they DO. What's this got to do with direct mail? Plenty. If anyone should LOVE direct mail it would be a magazine editor. Direct mail is used to sell millions of magazine subscriptions each year. But check out what William Baldwin - - editor of Forbes magazine - - wrote in the July 4th 2005 issue: "The junk mail industry, says Chana Schoenberger in the story beginning on page 90, is giving a new lease on life to Xerox. This firm sells a $500,000 color printer ideal for customized advertising circulars. Junk is a lucrative sector of the ad business, with a $51 billion annual volume that dwarfs the outlays for magazine advertising. Lucrative, and wasteful. I don't know if the catalogs I get from Land's End cost more to make than the shirts, but surely they weigh more. Between printing and mailing it costs at least half a buck to send a first-class pitch to someone. If 90% of the recipients chuck the envelope unopened into a wastebasket, then the pitchman is spending $5 just to get one advertisement read. Isn't there a better way of getting people's attention? ?" Now? please ignore the fact Mr. Baldwin writes this even as he gets a Land's End catalog in the mail. This means, of course, that either he, or his wife probably bought something from it. Which is why he continues getting a Land's End catalog in the mail regularly. Also ignore the fact that direct mail sales letters have been used to launch prominent magazine-publishing empires over the years. Mr. Baldwin says direct mail is lucrative (for the "junk mail industry") yet wasteful (for those using it) at the same time. Am I missing something here? Doesn't he know much advertising is "wasteful", and direct mail sellers only mail things out over and over again because it's profitable? How many advertising dollars are spent (and wasted) targeting people who won't buy because they're not the right audience for the sales pitch? How much ad money is wasted paying for commercials on T.V. nobody watches? Direct Mail is Targeted Marketing There's no better? or more cost efficient way? of reaching those most interested (and most likely to buy) your product or service than direct mail. And after you reach the person most likely to buy you're able to hit all their emotional hot buttons. Give them all the reasons they should buy from you. Tell them your story. Person-to-person. Is there any waste? Sure there is. People live busy lives. Even if your sales pitch reaches the right person it may not reach them at the right moment in time. They might not have time to read it today. Or this week. They might not be ready to buy again. Your pitch might end up in the trash before it even gets read. Overall ... doesn't matter. Know why? Because if you've mailed correctly a certain percentage of prospects are going to read your pitch. They're going to respond they way you want them to. They're going to buy ... or call for more information ... or send for the free sample. You're going to be offering people something they want. Maybe even something that makes their life easier. Or helps them out in some way. Or lets them be more productive. Or enhances their quality of life somehow. So how do you know if direct mail is good for you? Well ? despite everything you may have read about response rates ? the test is simple. First thing though ... forget about the fact everyone says they don't like getting "junk" mail. The majority of people who get lots of "junk" mail (and say they don't like it) get on mailing lists after buying something through the mail. Now ? Determine beforehand if a mailing can make money on paper ... then do a live test mailing. If, for example, you get a 16% response rate but your overall mailing costs exceed your net profits then your mailing is a failure. Bottom line ? if your net profits from a direct mail campaign are a lot higher than your costs to do the mailing then you've got a winner. Some direct mail companies run successful advertising campaigns with less than a 1% response rate. They mail millions of ad pieces. But their mailing costs are low relative to their huge profits - - even with low response rates. Response rates aren't nearly as important as actual profit margins. Small businesses usually can't keep mailing costs extremely low. If you don't mail tens-of-thousands of pieces you won't be able to get letters and envelopes printed in bulk for pennies-a-piece. Don't let that bother you. If the numbers work ? and your product or service is priced right ? then maybe only a few orders out of every 100 sales letters will make money. So what are you waiting for? Sit down. Work the numbers. Do a test mailing. I bet if you think about it hard enough you'll be able to figure out a way to make direct mail work for you. If you need some help contact me. And don't worry about what people say. Pay attention to what they do. Joe Farinaccio is a direct-response copywriter. Joe specializes in writing sales letters and direct mail packages for small businesses. To learn how you can do direct marketing for your business, or get help with your sales letters and direct mail packages visit his website at http://www.sales-letters-and-marketing.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Consider These Pressing Facts Before You Renew Your Yellow Page Ad Your Yellow Page Ad Deserves More than 10 Minutes of Thought a YearBefore long, your Yellow Page directory rep will be paying you a visit. It's an annual event that happens several months before next year's directory goes to press. CD Business Cards- Why Use Them? CD Business cards are the electronic version of the now outdated paper business or social card. They are the smaller squared version of the CD-R family. Seven Ways to Kick Up the Power of Your Print Advertising - More Small Business Power Tools If you're a retailer and the only kind of advertising you do is built around sales events, you don't need much in the way of advice. All your advertising needs to do is spell out as clearly as possible what's on sale, the amount to be saved and your store's name, address and phone number. Bad Seduction - Advertising Techniques That Dont Work I just read some advertising suggestions on an Internet marketing site that are beyond annoying. They are flat-out bad advice. Create Your Own Business Cards, Part 2 This is the second part of creating your own business card. If you missed the first one, let me know: mailto:webmistress@janes-place. Advertising Your Holistic Business The most basic answer is the same answer as to the question, how does advertising work? Advertising works through repetition, and Holistic Hometown offers you that repetition.What all successful companies know is that advertising it a process. The Internet and Beyond - 12 Tips on Writing Better Brochures Every year thousands of online businesses fail. None of them begin with the idea they'll fail, in fact they have high hopes of success, but they fail all the same. How To Use Pictures To Immediately Start Increasing The Response Rates Of Your Marketing There should only be one, over-riding reason why you're doing anything in your marketing.Know what that reason is?Of course! To increase the response rates of your sales promotions!Because that leads to. Secrets And Top-Tips Of Mail Order Advertising Good Advertising creates more production, thus greater consumption, faster turnover and lower sales price per unit. To a great extent it determines the success or failure of the mail order operator! When working up an advertising program remember that what is genuinely desirable to you may or may not appeal to the majority of your prospects! Different types of merchandise or services demand completely different advertising media. Advertising In The Local Press There are three main reasons why I would hesitate when deciding to advertise in the local press:? Everyone else is doing it? Nobody buys a paper for the adverts? The odds are it won't workJust because everyone else is doing it, doesn't mean it's a good thing, or more importantly - that it actually works! However it seems the natural thing to do - you need to raise your profile, make the local community aware of your company, so you why not advertise in the local paper? Well, because?Nobody buys a paper for the adverts. In fact, do most people buy a local paper these days? As many local papers are free, their only income is through selling advertising space. LED Score Boards LED scoreboards can be utilized in most of the sporting event for eye-catching effects replace traditional scoreboards. This high- tech lighting system is both energy - efficient and able to produce a very bright light. The Future of Voiceovers: Hold Your Tongue...Possibly Forever "Do we need to cast a voice-over talent for this project?"That's a valid question any producer might ask when creating an advertisement, corporate audio-video presentation, video game, etc. Of course, the answer depends on what elements the producer and client feel will best communicate with the audience. How To Tell If An Advertisement Costs Too Much People say it all the time: "This advertising costs too much!" They practically go into cardiac arrest when they see how much the advertising for certain media in certain markets is going to cost them. It is pretty easy to get sticker shock when you see that a sixty-second radio commercial on a popular Los Angeles station could cost you a thousand bucks. Yellow Page Advertisers: Your Calls are Going to Decrease - Heres the Remedy Response rates to Yellow Page advertising are decliningThere's no getting around it, traditional Yellow Pages arein trouble. Fewer people use them every year. The Secrets of High Money Classified Ads When used effectively, classified ads can be one of the quickest and most inexpensive ways to increase your sales. A well written classified ad can generate thousands in sales, yet could cost you pennies to write and run. 100 Excellent Words and 70 Action Getting Phrases for Ad Writing 100 Excellent Words Absolutely. Amazing. What To Do With Your Business Cards Without a plan to distribute your cards, there'sno need to print them in the first place.Many fall into the trap of thinking all thethinking about business cards is over once theorder is placed. Add More Pizzazz To Your Ad For More Profits I recently completed a Marketing Makeover for an Adthat wasn't generating results for the owner of a Piano Tuning Business.Here is the original ad:========================================A BETTER PIANOA well tuned and adjusted piano is a beautiful instrument. Is Advertising Art? Oh Grand and Glorious Southern Guru, I am perplexed. What ails thee, my peabrained little grasshopper? My sleep has been short, my walls have been climbed, my hair has been pulled. Do I Need Raised Letter or Full Color Business Cards? If you've been searching around for business cards that will best represent the image you want to portray for your business, then you've no doubt encountered many options. The Big Two, as I like to think of them, are "Raised Letter" and "Full Color.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
