| |
| |
|
|
|
These Four Things Will Make Your Direct Marketing Successful
Direct marketing is built on four things. The other way to look at it is that when you think direct marketing is not working only one of four things can be wrong. Let's look at each. 1. The Target - This is who you are sending your marketing to. The target is your list and the list is your market. These are the people most interested in what you have to say, what you have to offer and what you have to sell. These are interested prospects, hopefully, that will want what you have to sell. If this group does not want or need what you have then your target needs changed. Your target does not represent your market in this case. When working with list brokers, you can specify what your ideal target, ideal client or market should be. This is where most people think of demographics. How big a company is, what the income is or sales level is, where they are located, their age, their family size, etc. All of this defines your target and the tighter the definition of your target, the higher the probability of success. TO-DO: Write out the description of your ideal client. Contact list brokers and see how many of these there are. Make sure to specify geographical areas. Determine the cost of such a list. Buy the list and start mailing to it over and over and over on a frequent, consistent basis. 2. The Vehicle - This is what you are sending to your list. In the world of direct mail its pretty simple: A letter, A postcard, A catalog or a three dimensional package. Professional companies like letters. People that are on the run, multi-tasker entrepreneurs may prefer postcards. C-level officers buying high ticket items may prefer a package. Consider this when determining your direct marketing campaign budget and base it on what you think your target market will want. 3. The Message - This component of direct marketing is what you are saying to your market; to your audience; to your list. This is also where you develop and communicate the offer that you are seeking a response to. Your job with the message is to communicate benefit oriented information and advantages that will motivate the prospect to take some type of action. The action might be a sale, a phone call, a visit or a web-site visit. Think of a coupon. That is a response mechanism. The prospect sees the value and product offering on the coupon and visits a place of business and redeems it, all conforming to benefit communication and motivation to action. 4. Frequency - So many times people try direct marketing and give up because of low response. They typically give up before giving the campaign enough time to work. We are inundated with marketing messages everyday, therefore it takes repetition and consistency of delivering that message to match up with timing and desire to the point where the prospect will take action. The rule of thumb is 6-8 times will create the top of mind awareness in the mind of your prospect so that they think of you, your product or service when their need or want arises. Concentrating on just these four marketing components will help you develop the highest probable direct marketing campaign for your products and services. Get a free 7 step PR plan by sending a blank email to prplan@market-for-profits.com or get a report on how to instantly add 50 people to your network by going to http://www.market-for-profits.com. Also visit http://www.directmailmarketingsuccess.com for over 300 tips, techniques and tactics on direct mail. Al Lautenslager is a speaker, author, business owner, consultant, a certified guerrilla marketing coach who helps businesses and professionals increase their revenue through focused marketing and an increased client base. He is the bestselling co-author of Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days and a featured business coach for entrepreneur.com. He can be contacted through his website, http://www.market-for-profits.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
12 Lessons I Picked Up from Attending Seminars So you just dropped a tidy sum to attend a seminar or some other three-day event. Now it's over and you're exhausted. Customers: The Key To Successful Marketing How well do you know your customers?What is the primary reason your customers or clients come to you? Or purchase your product or service? What is the Number One problem you solve for them? Do you know? Are you certain? If you don't, your marketing could be missing the mark, and you could be missing out on sales.Uncovering Your "Key Selling Point"This is the Single Marketing Message that is the central message in all of your communications about your business, product or service. SMS for the Estate Agent - Targeted Marketing Tool, or Legal Minefield? Imagine having at your disposal a means to immediately inform house buyers that you have just the property they are looking for. Potential buyers have given their details and their preferences - imagine that you can send them this information no matter where they are or what they are doing, they can read it at a time that's convenient and can act accordingly in their own time. Unique Gift Items - 3 Creative Ideas With promotional items there are standards: t-shirts, mugs, note cubes, calendars, magnets and keychains. Then, there is the really creative. Tradeshow Booth Cures - Knick-Knack Knockouts Okay, we were kidding about the smoke, but not about the mirrors. Mirrors are exceptionally useful Feng Shui devices, especially in regards to manipulating the flow of energy. Postcard Direct Mail Marketing Tips And Ideas Postcards are perhaps the least expensive way of reaching a large number of people with your sales message. Although they have their drawbacks, they are cost-effective at attracting new customers. How to Use Marketing Judo to Beat Big Competitors If yours is a small business and you have big or even huge competitors, you may be laying awake at night wondering how can you possibly beat them. You can't out-advertise them, or out-promote them, and you probably won't be able beat to its prices. What is a Marketing Plan Anyway? Building a business that grows steadily in size and profits is like building your dream house. First, you identify what kind of home you want, then you and your architect plan and create blueprints for your house, then you'd build it, move in and enjoy it. Ten Crucial Questions Ten Crucial Questions for Your Business Future I'ma business coach. I've worked with hundreds of small, medium and very large business, and over the course of the past eleven years, I've asked my business coaching clients endless questions which have helped them achieve much greater levels of success than they would have otherwise. Using Business Cards as Invitations Business card size works well for invitations to special events.What do you visualize when you think about invitations? More than likely you are thinking about a wedding or a party. Meaning and Marketing - The Hurricane I step outside my back door and look at some large limbs lying on the ground. They are all dead. Chill Out With A Summer Time Marketing Plan Is your business experiencing a summer time slump? Traditionally only industries related to travel enjoy a boost in business during the warmer months. The rest of us tend to take vacations, clean up our desk and while away the time playing computer games while we wait for business to pick up. Direct Mail Offers: Eight Steps to Making them Effective Every direct mail package you drop in the mail should contain an offer. The offer is the incentive or reward that motivates prospects to respond to your mailing, either with an order or with a request for more information. So What Do You Do? Once you have the attention of a business prospect, at some point in the conversation, the prospect will ask you, "So what do you do?". In most cases, you will only have 60 seconds, to catch the interest of the prospect. Are You Attracting or Repelling Prospects? There are basically two ways in which you can either attract or repel prospects. I call these Attraction Marketing and Repel Marketing. Networking Magic YES-- it is true that Networking is an art that must be mastered. However, for those of you that are new to the networking game and the art of mastering it, please READ ON. How to Get a 100% Return on Your Marketing Investment Guaranteed! One of the most effective ways to market your products/services is to create strategic alliances. Strategic alliances are partnerships with companies who sell to a client base similar to yours but they sell different products/services. Marketing Tips- Who Are You Competing With? Before you can market, you need to know who you are marketing to. Who is your customer? How will you market? Will you cold call, mail, set appointments or employ a walk in approach? Be careful with the walk in approach as many businesses do not permit soliciting. Keeping Marketing Simple / Ten Simple Steps 1. Business CardsIt is very important to market yourself via business cards. Pay for Performance Pricing Models for Search Engine Optimization I do think that it is entirely possible for an SEO and client to work out a pay for performance pricing structure that is fair to both. Logistically, though the tracking involved to this would add additional layers to the total process of ranking and reporting.
|
| home | site map | |
| TaraHOST © 2007 | |
| |
