With a little innovation, postcards can break through the clutter and
deliver direct mail advertising messages to your audience
instantaneously. Here are eight powerful ways to use postcards:
My colleague Denny Hatch is one of the most respected of the “old school” direct marketing copywriters and publishers operating today. He says the reason so many Internet marketers get it wrong is that they fail to apply DM selling techniques online.
While the unit cost of a creative direct mail campaign is often higher than that for many online marketing
efforts, direct mail advertising has four unique strengths that online marketing can’t quite match.
When the ad’s intent is to generate a response, copy trumps art, says marketing consultant Ruth Stevens, writing in Direct (12/08, p. 16). In a visual society, why is copy more important than graphics?
“The death of traditional marketing” is all the buzz. But if you need to generate leads and close deals fast, killing traditional tactics could also kill cash flow.
What
makes digital printing so superior for creative direct mail marketers?
There are six reasons, according to Crystal Uppercue, marketing manager
at EU Services, a full-service direct marketing production facility:
Postcards continue to be one of the most versatile options in direct mail marketing. Crystal Uppercue, marketing
manager for EU Services, a direct marketing production facility in Rockville, Md., says postcards are especially effective at the following:
No other means of
advertising can be tested, refined, and tested again with the same
mathematical precision as creative direct mail. What should you test? Crystal Uppercue, marketing manager at EU Services, recommends focusing on these three components:
Bob Bly, author of Bly on Direct Marketing,
has been keeping a close eye on Internet direct mail. He says
the following six techniques show the most promise in terms of
increasing click-throughs and conversions:
My monthly e-zine, including copy and layout, takes me just an hour or two per issue to complete from start to finish. I want to share the formula with you, so you can
produce an effective e-zine of your own.
I’ve started working on a major long-term project. The book, tentatively titled The Persuasion Manifesto (the name a copycat of the pretentious Cluetrain Manifesto), is a compilation of the most successful persuasive communications techniques ever developed.
In a recent DM News column, I apparently offended a segment of the blogging community by suggesting that perhaps blogs might be “an utter waste of time … ” Here’s what all the hoopla has taught me so far:
There are two types of marketing in the world today: (1) “Traditional” marketing with its relatively larger budget and reliance on standard methodology and mainstream media, and (2) “guerilla” marketing, which is reliant on non-traditional tactics...
It sounds like a good idea: survey customers to find out what they want, and then let their answers shape your product development and marketing. But in reality, it’s often a bust.
Afraid the recession is here to stay a bit longer? If so, you're not alone. Many economists are predicting doom and gloom. Here are 14 strategies companies use to maintain—even
increase—sales, while their competitors struggle to stay afloat.
Text messaging is not only a
relatively inexpensive medium, but it can quickly drive a high level of
consumer response and action. If you’re considering text message promotions, be sure to:
Asked if he could write an effective direct mail package on a
complex electronic control system, a well-known copywriter replied, “It doesn’t matter what the product
is. You are selling to people. And people are pretty much the same.” Wrong.
Hiring a freelance copywriter is no small responsibility. Make the right choice, and you get great copy that brings in leads, sales, and profits. Make the wrong choice, and you end up pouring thousands of dollars down the drain.
One of the biggest misconceptions about writing to CEOs, CFOs, and other senior executives is that they speak some alien language that has only a passing resemblance to the conversational or written English you and I use every day...
Since time immemorial — or at least for the quarter century I’ve been in direct marketing — people have vigorously debated the merits of long vs. short copy.
Are there certain industries whose business model is dependent on not helping customers — businesses designed to actually be more profitable when not giving customers the best advice, products, and service? Here are some that have been suggested to me.
Is Blockbuster lying to us? Some people think so. Blockbuster’s new commercials promise, “The end of late fees.” But of
course, that’s impossible: if there is no penalty for returning a movie
late, you could keep it forever.
“Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement,” wrote Samuel Johnson. Today we know he was right: to break through the clutter and generate a profitable response, direct marketing must make a big promise.
I was asked to comment on an article on business writing two authors had submitted
for publication. The article's premise was
that, even in our technological era, writing skills are more important
than ever. Here was the reply I gave:
“What’s the most effective length for a business-to-business sales letter?” a reader asked me the other day. Let me see if I can give some sensible guidelines to answer this common question.
False logic, a term coined by master copywriter Michael Masterson, is copy that manipulates, through skillful writing, existing facts to help readers come to conclusions that those facts, presented without the twists of the copywriter’s pen, might not otherwise support.
In these challenging times, getting good advice from a competent direct mail
marketing production partner is more important than ever. Crystal Uppercue, marketing manager for EU Services, says you should expect these six essential capabilities from a partner:
Some time ago, I wrote a column “10 Marketing Books Actually Worth
Reading,” in which I recommended ten classic direct marketing books. Here are 11 of my favorite selections from the new crop of books on business persuasion:
“Amateurs may talk about creativity, but professionals insist on structure,” copywriter Martin Chorich recently said to me. In direct marketing, structure is key: if your copy does not follow the formula for persuasion, it won’t work … no matter how creative...
When I write copy, that audience is the prospect. But with SEO copywriting, you are pandering to another “audience” … the search engines … and not the reader. Here, in my opinion, is a much better approach to writing Web copy:
Consumers today are extremely adept at detecting B.S. Conversely, people can sense when a person or organization is being honest and respond positively to that. This suggests the following guidelines for “truth in advertising” … in particular, honesty in direct marketing:
It’s no secret that direct marketing isn’t what it used to be. Costs are rising, response rates are falling, and it’s tougher today than a decade ago to get long-running controls in the mail. So, what’s wrong with direct marketing?
When I first got into direct marketing, I took a course in direct mail copywriting with legendary copywriter Milt Pierce at New York University. He explained a phenomenon called RECENCY, part
of a formula called “RFM” — for “recency, frequency, and monetary.”
It’s common knowledge that “free” is the most powerful word — and the most irresistible offer — in direct marketing. But can you guess the second-most powerful word or phrase — and the second most irresistible offer? It’s “one dollar.”
Internet direct mail typically generates a response rate between 1 and 20 percent. The copy in your e-mail plays a big role in whether your e-marketing message ends up at the bottom or the top of that range. Here are 15 proven techniques...
As we rapidly gain experience and test results from Internet direct mail, we are learning more every day about what works in this new medium. Here are some techniques that seem to be successful in increasing click-throughs and conversions.
Direct mail, in the hands of a knowledgeable pro, can be a powerful promotion that builds an awareness of an event. Here are 10 proven techniques for creating direct mail that works.
I’ve received a ton of unsolicited advice on how to make my Web site better. Unfortunately, more than 90 percent of their suggestions are almost totally off the mark … and would be a complete waste of my time and money.
Even in today’s increasingly fast-paced and competitive multimedia
environment, the proven maxims of direct mail marketing remain true,
with some adaptation to present realities. Warren Hunter, chairman and
CEO of DMW, offers his contemporary interpretation of the four most costly mistakes in direct marketing:
Even after a decade’s worth of experimentation, online advertising
continues to befuddle many marketers and business owners. To help clear
up the confusion, Joe Plummer, chief research officer of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) and coauthor of The Online Advertising Playbook, offers these five tips.
Unfortunately for entrepreneurs, selling can be
terrifying. But when you
make that first big sale, you realize it’s also exhilarating. Here are
a few successful sales techniques to get you started.
William Sullivan, senior database administrator for Certegy Check Services of St. Petersburg, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud in connection with the theft of confidential data on more than 8.4 million customers over a five-year period ...
When deciding whether to use direct mail, e-mail, telephone, catalogs or some other means to market your product or service, remember this key point: The medium that generates the most customer responses doesn't always yield the best return on investment (ROI).
