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The 5 Biggest Mistakes in Direct Response Radio Advertising

How do we know what the 5 Biggest Mistakes are?

After over a decade in direct response, we have peered “under the hood” of hundreds of direct marketing campaigns across every type of category imaginable. Sometimes a new client will come to us after a failed attempt with another agency, or simply to get a second opinion on whether their campaign was or is being run optimally. As a result of this extensive experience, not only have we seen which decisions make campaigns successful, but also which decisions condemn campaigns to certain underachievement of their potential.

The most difficult part of writing about the “5 Biggest Mistakes” is narrowing down the list. It would be easier to write about the “Top 20 Mistakes”. Nonetheless, this paper presents the blockbuster mistakes that are a) way too commonly made, b) sure to doom a direct response radio advertising campaign, and c) relatively easily avoidable. In other words, get these things right, and you’ll live to face the lesser challenges with greater strength and greater knowledge.


Biggest Direct Response Radio Mistake #1: Faulty or non-existent testing methodology

There are many ways for a testing methodology to fall short, which is why this is #1 on the list. Testing the wrong variables, testing in the wrong order, testing too many variables, testing too few variables. The list is long. The point to remember is that success requires a scientific approach. That means disciplined and well thought out – a “ready-aim-fire” approach verses “fire-fire-fire”. Any good direct response agency has staff that understands the process for conducting scientific research, particularly research methods, statistics, and database management. The best DR agencies have applied this knowledge over time and have developed a proven testing methodology, along with the supporting technological infrastructure, that will get you from testing to profitability with the least amount of up-front time and money.

If you don’t follow a well-defined, proven testing methodology, you are throwing your ad dollars away. Period. You simply will not know why one ad works better than another or whether there are other approaches that could work better. You will just be out of money before you can determine whether your campaign has legs.


Biggest Direct Response Mistake #2: Inadequate data capture and analysis

The power of direct response radio stems in part from the ability to collect and analyze results from the bounty of data that can be collected - and to distill insights that drive further refinement of the campaign. As all experienced marketers know, it is the insights that lead you to grand successes. With the right tools, technology, and processes, it is possible to conduct station-by station analysis, look at performance by market, format, day of the week, daypart, and a whole host of other variables to understand what’s working and what’s not for a particular campaign. This is vital to the process of optimizing campaign profitability.


Yet many avoid this process, shield it from their clients, or conduct “analysis lite” on the data. The problem is that you can’t distill the insights if you don’t dive into the analysis. As a result, perfectly viable campaigns are being deemed failures. In these situations people declare “radio just doesn’t work”, and proceed to run away as fast as possible. Avoid this mistake by making sure your media buys are backed by thorough, detailed analysis, not a cookie-cutter approach cloaked in unproven, formulaic assumptions.


Biggest Direct Response Mistake #3: Flying blind

It still astounds us how many people, smart businesspeople, ask us to move forward with advertising before they know the basic key metrics associated with their campaign. We refer to this as “flying blind.” It is not unlike deciding to fly a plane surrounded by instruments that are providing you data you can’t use to make important decisions about flying the plane. Turn left, turn right, speed up, ascend, descend? Scary thought? It should be, because absent a tremendous amount of luck it spells sure death.

Every direct response campaign has a similar set of key profitability metrics and each one has a hurdle or break-even level that must be met in order to achieve some level of profitability. The big mistake is spending a dime before this exercise has been completed. Why? Because when you get the test results back, you won’t know what to make of the data. You won’t have a context within which to assess whether what you are looking at is good, amazing or awful. Bottom line: model the campaign, identify the key metrics, and know what those numbers have to be. And by all means, make sure your agency knows so they can maximize the profitability of your media campaign.


Biggest Direct Response Mistake #4: Having the wrong people on the bus

Each DR campaign is comprised of similar vendors. This includes a manufacturer, a creative and media buying agency, a sales center, a customer service group, and a fulfillment center. You can poll any one of these groups of vendors and there is one thing they would all agree on: not one of them alone can make the campaign a success. This is a classic team situation. If one member drops the ball, the whole team fails. As the client, perhaps the single biggest impact you’ll have on the success of the campaign is how you decide to choose the members of your team – who you put “on the bus”. Sales centers will always tell you they will meet the needs you’ve expressed (guess what, they’re good at sales!). Big agencies will always try to convince you that only they can get the lowest rates and only they can grow your campaign really big (as if suddenly the laws of market economics don’t apply). Will you choose the ones who say they’ve been around since the beginning of time and believe they know all there is to know, or the ones who are experienced but also unassuming enough to be constantly learning, improving, and giving birth to new ideas? Will you choose vendors who play nice with the other team members, or those who throw the others under the bus at the first sign of trouble? If you don’t choose wisely, your campaign could fail for reasons you won’t even understand.



Biggest Direct Response Mistake #5: A corrupted creative process

The biggest mistake in the creative development process is…not having a disciplined approach. This is too common and is easily avoidable. To avoid this mistake, you’ve got to communicate one thing very clearly: how do you define success? Agencies want to please the client. If you ask for an ad that will make you proud (even though you aren’t the target market), then you’ll get exactly that. If you ask for an ad that sounds and/or looks like all other ads, you’ll get that. You’ll get an ad that won’t stand out, won’t offend anyone, and won’t be created using the best direct response wisdom available. The ad will bomb. Every time.

Once you communicate the definition of success, allow the creative process to unfold. A professional direct response ad creator is someone who has learned a tremendous amount about what works and what doesn’t, on millions of other people's dimes. We’ve built a large database of direct response wisdom that can save you a lot of time and money. If you define success as an ad that reaches a certain CPO, and trust the creative process, you’re much more likely to get an ad that produces successful results. Now that will make you proud.


Final Words

Now that you are armed with knowledge of the top 5 Biggest Mistakes in Direct Response Radio, you are well on your way to boosting your chances of Direct Response success. To be sure, there are other mistakes to avoid. Knowing about these mistakes is half the battle. Knowing how to avoid them is the other half. How do you produce insights? How do you approach testing methodically? How do you know which vendors to choose? How do you develop breakthrough creative? How do you get the remnant rates on the best time slots?

Radio can be an enormously profitable customer acquisition channel for many businesses. We build and manage campaigns that range in size from $1 million to over $20 million in annual advertising spending. If you’d like to learn more about how to use direct response radio as an avenue for profitable growth, contact us at 1-866-488-3456 or by email at the5biggest@strategicmediainc.com.

You can also learn more about us at www.strategicmediainc.com.

The Power of Direct Mail and Print Advertising

Direct mail and print advertising pieces can be a part of a bulk package, using cooperative efforts and they can also be sent out separately through individual efforts. These mailings often include advertisements, coupons, and letters that can be useful to recipients in that zip code.

A cooperative mailing effort can include collaborating with other businesses to reach a vast number of people. Teaming up with these other businesses can involve your ads or coupons being sent out in bundle along with the other companies that are representing themselves. The coupon packages are usually sent to specific ZIP codes so that areas that would be interested in what you are offering would receive the information

Although cooperative advertising is a lucrative way to market your business, individual direct mailing can sometimes get a higher amount of feedback. Direct mail and print advertising can be sent on an individual basis. Companies that specialize in this type of marketing are able to help you design your advertisement so that it targets the customers in the area that it is to be sent.

Direct marketing, which includes direct mail and print advertising, is different from traditional advertising or marketing because instead of using contributing media it sends its message directly to the consumer. This form of marketing is also able to track the responses to their advertisements or marketing materials through purchases made by the customer. Promoting your product or service in this manner is a measurable way to conclude whether or not this form of marketing is working for you.

The way that your add looks and is presented can make the difference between gaining a new customer and having your ad disposed of. Recipients of an advertisement or direct mail piece will decide, in only a matter of seconds, whether or not it appeals to them. Customers receive a mass of competitive print advertisements on a daily basis and to ensure that yours if one of the few that is considered, it has to stand out.

The purpose of a direct mail advertisement is to be able to target your audience. Your target audience may be a group that lives in a certain area or ZIP code, a certain age group, a certain income bracket, men, women, etc. To be able to reach your target audience the advertisement must be geared towards their consumer wants and needs.

Direct mail and print advertising remains in demand amid the marketing community. A print advertisement can make a permanent impact on current customers, generate responsiveness from potential customers and emphasize your advertising efforts. Kathleen Whitlow is a copywriter and marketing agent of Taradel. The Internet print advertising center provides planning, designing, targeting, producing, and delivering of ads. For more information on their Internet Print Advertising Center please visit their website.

How Direct Marketing Can Benefit Your Network Marketing Business

E-Mail: As a business owner you should or will have very soon a very big rolodex of business cards filtering in. Make sure to save these. You can use these business contacts as well as others in your Network to market your business in the form of email. Setting up some kind of informative newsletter is an example of how you can market your business without seeming like the pushy annoying salesman. This will give you the opportunity to show your target market your overall knowledge of the business your in which can lead to them either referring others to your opportunity or at the very least give you credibility. The downside to this kind of mass e-mail marketing is that your e-mails/newsletters could end up in the recipients spam e-mail folder. To prevent against this make sure your contacts are aware you will be sending them e-mails periodically and they should put you on their approved sender list.

Internet Banner Ads: This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. The purpose of these ads is to attract traffic to a website by these ads linking them to the advertisers website. Web banners function the same way as traditional advertisements are intended to function: notifying consumers of the product or service and presenting reasons why the consumer should choose the product in question, although web banners differ in that the results for advertisement campaigns may be monitored real-time and may be targeted to the viewer's interests. This can be an affective way to advertise if you are placing these ads on sites that your target market will be visiting, so it is vital to do the necessary leg work in order to be assured your advertising dollars are being spent wisely. Cost for Internet Banner Ads can vary be sure to be crystal clear of those charges before placing any ads.

Pay Per Click Ads: This advertising model is primarily used on search engines and content websites. In this type of advertising the advertiser only pays when their ad/link is clicked bringing the prospective customer to the company’s website. The largest operators of PPC ads are Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter. The cost of pay-per click sites vary depending on the company and the amount of exposure they can provide to you. These prices range from as low as $0.01 per click to upwards of $0.50 per click. Advertisers bid on keywords they wish their company website to be linked to. The popularity of a keyword obviously will determine the amount you will pay per click.

All three of these advertising methods have proven track records of success. So in that case you cannot go wrong with whichever you pick. In evaluating which will work for your specific business doing the proper research is recommended before implementing any of these strategies. Concentrating your advertising dollars in effective ways is the foundation of any successful business structure, look into these three methods to kick start or sustain the success of your venture. Discover how a normal, everyday surf bum cracked the $200K a month code with The">http://www.reversefunnelexpress.com">The Reverse Funnel System at http://www.ReverseFunnelExpress.com/ today. Also, visit The Reverse Funnel Blog.

Direct Response Advertising, Is Everybody Really Doing It?

Many of products you use today got their initial launch through DR advertising: TheraBreath; OxyClean, the Ab Roller®… and the list goes on.

Ironically, many people think they know nothing about it and are not affected by it. It is the most unsuspecting, yet highly workable, marketing method today. Why? TV. A newsblaze.com article Why You Can't Ignore the Power of Direct Response Ads to Boost Sales, cites television as reaching a whopping 98% of the homes in the U.S.

And according to a study from the Electronic Retailing Association, called The Evolving Role of Direct Response Television in Multichannel Marketing Execution, multichannel marketers are growing the DRTV industry. (Multichannel marketing is offering customers more than one way to buy something -- for example, from a website as well as in retail stores.)

Bob Francis, the Vice President of Commercial Production for Event Management Services, Inc. is a pioneer in the world of direct response. With 25 years under his belt in the DR advertising industry and accolades like having been the creative genius behind the well-known 8-Minute Abs campaign, when Francis comments on what it takes to be successful in DRTV, people listen.

To hit it big with Direct Response, one needs:

• A product that has mass appeal

• A good ratio between hard cost & retail price

• An irresistible, generous offer -- give away way more than what the consumer pays for (Victoria Principal’s skin care line is a great example).

An added advantage is to have a consumable product. “Once they [consumers] like it, wear it or use it and get compliments three days in a row, you can guarantee when they run out they will buy it again.” says Francis. “Consumable products have lifetime customers.”

DRTV is not just for celebrities. Today’s small to medium businesses can reap the rewards. The benefits include:

• Building brand name recognition

• Retail backup – in other words, take your product with proven DR advertising and sales backing it up, that retailer is already ensured they have a product that is going to sell in their stores.

What’s the ultimate goal of DR advertising? Going to retail. George Foreman made millions before taking to retail. Jane Fonda’s videos were once sold via Direct Response – now you can even rent them at video stores.

Francis’ acumen lies in not only writing, producing and directing Direct Response ads, but also in assessing what products are viable candidates for this type of marketing approach. He imparts his knowledge to entrepreneurs from many different industries nationwide at marketing boot camps organized by Joy Gendusa, CEO of PostcardMania, and Marsha Friedman, CEO of Event Management Services, Inc.

One factor Francis claims he loves is disabusing entrepreneurs of the misconceptions of direct response advertising. Direct Response advertising is very workable today because:

• The costs of production is low

• With the advent of cable TV, media time is inexpensive

• You can target your audience with cable like never before

“You can’t just utilize one channel of advertising these days,” says Francis. “DR advertising coupled with an aggressive web and retail presence can boom your business.”

Bob Francis is one of the pioneers in the direct response advertising industry. Bob began his career in 1983 as the producer of the hour long infomercials for the Lowry Group and National Super Star, two Real Estate seminar companies. Bob's biggest and most notable TV commercial hit was "8 MINUTE ABS" which he wrote, produced and directed and which sold over twenty million dollars in the first eighteen months it aired. It is still being sold on the internet today.

Karla Jo Helms is the Vice President Public Relations for PostcardMania, (www.PostcardMania.com) named one of the fastest growing privately-owned companies by Inc Magazine. They help small businesses all over the country to expand through the use of direct mail marketing techniques. For more information on Bob Francis’ educational seminars, visit www.PowerMarketingMania.com

The Fundamentals of Direct Response Radio Advertising

Direct response radio advertising, at its core, works in the same way regardless of what type of business you are in. Whether you own a direct-to-consumer model business, a retail business, a web business, or some combination thereof, direct response radio advertising can help you grow. And grow profitably. The fundamentals of direct response radio, then, must start with a discussion of how radio advertising works within the context of a basic business model. The purpose of this article is to convey the fundamentals of direct response radio advertising that apply across businesses.

First, Two Important Concepts

Throw out all you think you know about advertising, radio advertising, and especially direct response advertising. It's best to begin with a clean slate, a blank whiteboard so-to-speak. There are two important concepts I want to introduce before moving forward.

Concept One: Radio as A Highway From Your Business to Your Potential Customers

Think of radio advertising as a 5,000 lane highway from your business to groups (station audiences) of your potential customers. The many lanes on this highway are the many different radio stations and radio networks that are available for you air your radio advertisement. It is on these "lanes" that you send your message to your customers.

The lanes are clustered in such a way that they reach groups collections of customers who have similar tastes and demographic profiles. Therefore, some of these lanes lead to groups that have a high concentration of people who match your target customer profile. As a result, advertising on those lanes (stations) is more profitable than others with a lower concentration of your target customer profile. These groupings are the radio formats, which are used in radio advertising to enhance the efficiency of, or return on, advertising efforts. For more about radio formats, see our summary at http://www.strategicmediainc.com/radio-advertising.php.

Concept Two: Radio Advertising is a Profit-Driver, Not a Cost Center

At this juncture, the one thing many business people can't seem to put out of their mind is the one of "how much does it cost" to advertise on radio. We've written extensively about this question because it is one of the most common that we get. The problem is that imbedded in this question is the presupposition that radio advertising is a cost. The concept that one needs to fully grasp is that radio advertising is not a cost center. That is, it does not stand alone without any relation to revenue or profit. It is detrimental to think of direct response radio advertising as a cost because that leads to managing as though it's a cost, which means minimizing or eliminating it. Contrast this with managing it like it's an investment, and maximizing the return you realize on it.

Direct response radio advertising - by its very definition - is a profit-driver. If it's not driving a profit, it would not exist - or at the very least it would not be called direct response radio advertising but instead "brand" or "awareness" advertising. Profitability is a fundamental aspect of direct response radio advertising.

On To the Fundamentals

Now that we've cleared our minds and allowed for two basic concepts about how to think about radio advertising, let's move on to the meat of the fundamentals of direct response radio advertising.

The Basic Formula

We'll begin with the basic formula involved in all direct response advertising:

You buy placement in radio media to air your radio ad, which gets your message broadcast to a certain number of people. This results in a cost per person reached with your message. In advertising this is known as CPM, or cost per thousand impressions of your ad.

Some percentage of those people will respond (call, visit your web site, visit your store), giving you a response rate.

Of those who respond (otherwise known as leads), a percentage will be converted into customers (orders), and by that conversion rate generate profit and revenue.

From this formula, you will derive your media "CPO", or "cost per order", which is found by dividing media spend by the number of orders achieved with that spend (media spend in the numerator/number of orders in the denominator). This is the amount it costs you in radio advertising to acquire one new customer, which is why it is also called "cost per acquisition" ("CPA").

The important question at this point is this: Is the lifetime value ("LTV") of each of your customers, on average, greater than this CPO? This fundamental question applies whether your business is a direct response advertising business (which includes radio advertising, print advertising, DRTV, catalog, or internet) or a traditional retailer. Every business pays to acquire a customer, and every business has a certain propensity to retain that customer over a period of time in a relationship consisting of subsequent purchases and therefore profit streams. Regardless of whether your business uses direct response radio to acquire new customers, or it uses one of the other approaches to customer acquisition, your success will be fundamentally based on whether your business model facilitates a strongly positive lifetime value. If it does not, there is little that radio advertising, or any other form of advertising, can do to change this.

If your LTV is not greater that your CPO, your business isn't profitable and you'll want to stop advertising so you can make the changes to both the advertising and the business model that will result in profitability. Even if LTV is greater than CPO, you will want to increase that amount to maximize your profitability. To do this, you'll need to increase LTV and/or decrease CPO. This process is called business (or campaign) profitability optimization, and it is absolutely essential to the long term success of any direct responses radio advertising effort.

Improving Lifetime Value
There are a number of ways to increase the LTV of each customer. Let's look at three of the main ways:

1. Increase price without increasing cost. One way to do this is by increasing the percentage of orders that include high-margin upsells. Retailers do this all the time. They put super high margin items right at the checkout. Direct response advertisers can learn a lot from this. Identify widely appealing, complementary items and ensure they are offered as part of the sales process.

2. Increase repeat purchase. You have paid to acquire that customer, now develop a relationship and continue to meet their needs to drive repeat purchase. If they only buy once from you, you don't have a very viable business unless that first purchase is incredibly high margin.

3. Reduce your cost structure. Take advantage of your increased volume to negotiate better product costs, shipping costs, etc.

Improving Cost Per Order

Just as there are a number of ways to increase LTV, there are also many ways to decrease the CPO.

1. Reduce the media cost per person reached. Also known as CPM, this is a standard metric used in advertising. It reflects the cost to reach 1000 people. (remember that CPM stands for "cost per thousand" impressions of your message). This is a constant focus of any good direct response radio agency, and the element in direct response radio advertising that has received the most attention. This is why every dollar of media in direct response radio is remnant advertising. But that's not all that should be considered when looking to reduce CPM. Leveraging database technology and using scientific testing methodology, it is possible to identify the optimum schedule to use in placing the media. Thus optimizing the media schedule can meaningfully reduce CPM.

2. Increase response rate. Again, media scheduling will play a role here. In addition, use of radio formats to effectively target the right customers is vital to optimizing response rate. But perhaps the greatest impact on response rate in direct response radio advertising is the messaging in the radio ad itself. Great direct response radio ads significantly enhance the responsiveness of the media dollars spent. Your radio agency's ability to create radio ads that elicit response from your potential customers is a crucial element in direct response radio advertising success.

3. Increase conversion rates. Increasing the percentage of inquiries that become customers can have an enormous impact on campaign profitability. The factors that will most impact conversion rate are your sales scripting, web copy, product offers, pricing, and your guarantee or return policy. As much as any other variable, these factors need to be tested and continuously refined.

Implications and Conclusions

Now that you understand the fundamentals of direct response radio advertising, let's look at the implications and conclusions that these fundamentals illuminate:

1. The role of database technology and analysis
By now it is clear that optimizing both lifetime value and cost per order maximizes your business profitability. But doing these things also requires capturing and analyzing an enormous quantity of data. To do this in a way that allows for distilling insights requires a robust database specifically tuned for direct response radio, along with well-refined analysis approaches. Fortunately, database technology and robust analysis are a part of the services your radio agency will provide for you.

2. The importance of ongoing testing
Any discussion of the fundamentals of direct response radio advertising (or any type of direct response advertising) would be incomplete without addressing the topic of testing. When you look at the above approaches to maximizing campaign profitability, you see the key metrics that must be impacted. But how do you actually impact them? How do you know whether offer A is better than offer B? or C? How do you know whether copy D drives a better response rate than the control? How do you know whether the sales scripting or the pricing structure could be improved by certain changes? The only way to know these things is to test. As a result, testing is a never-ending element in direct response radio advertising efforts. If you are not testing, you are slowly going out of business.

3. Success in direct response radio advertising is about more than costs
As we've mentioned, one of the biggest questions we get is "how much does it cost to advertise on the radio?". Done correctly, direct response radio advertising is not a cost center, it's a profit center. It's a very efficient way to acquire new customers at a low CPO. To learn more on the topic of radio advertising costs and how to budget for radio advertising, see our article at http://www.strategicmediainc.com/radio-advertising-articles/.

4. Nearly any business can grow profitably with direct response radio advertising
It is difficult for me to think of businesses that cannot benefit from the kind of radio advertising that we are involved in. Direct response radio advertising is different from other forms of advertising because it is accountable for results, and the only way it can be accountable is to leverage a set of technological and human systems and processes to accurately capture, analyze and interpret results of the advertising. Once you have that in place, you have established a continuous improvement loop. Therefore, provided you have a profitable business model and a good product that delivers on a unique and relevant promise, your business can profitably acquire new customers with direct response radio advertising. That's the ultimate promise of direct response radio: the ability to grow your business profitably at the rate you want to grow it. Once you establish profitability, you need only increase your media spend to drive higher revenues and profits.

The Fundamentals in Perspective

Direct response radio advertising does not stand alone in creating a business. It works in combination with your business model to acquire new customers at a low, and therefore profitable, CPO. What makes direct response radio advertising so attractive is its efficiency and flexibility, which results in comparatively low CPO's relative to other mediums.

This article explains the fundamental elements involved in how nearly any business can use direct response radio advertising to acquire new customers and grow both profitably and rapidly. Once you understand the fundamentals of radio advertising, you're ready to embark on the process of building a direct response radio advertising campaign. That process involves developing a radio advertising strategy, creating radio ads that drive response, and implementing a radio media plan that delivers your message to the right people for the right cost.

Jeff Small, CEO of Strategic Media, Inc., a leading direct response radio advertising agency. Jeff Small has over a decade of experience building profitable direct response radio advertising campaigns. Learn more about profitable direct response radio advertising strategies at www.strategicmediainc.com or by calling (207) 871-9958.

Direct Mail Advertising - Tips and Tricks

Direct Mail Advertising Tips

It typically takes at least three to five pieces of direct mail advertising before you get a response, and sometimes a lot more! To improve your response rate, you should be using a highly targeted direct mail advertising list.

To obtain a highly targeted direct mail advertising list, rent one that has some common element: industry, occupation, etc...

Once you have a highly targeted list, write a headline for your direct mail advertising that hits the target audience's hot buttons. With a good headline and good copy there’s no reason why you can't up the standard 1% response rate into the 3% - 5% range.

To find out what your target audience would be most interested in, poll some of them. There is no point sending out direct mail advertising if your offer is not appealing.

Use postcards for your direct mail advertising rather than letters. You can get them out the door faster, there is less copy to write, you'll save money on the printing, you'll save money on the postage, and you can mail more often and more pieces.

Set up a system to track and measure every single inquiry on the mailer. This way you can determine if the inquiries are coming after the first, second, third, etc.. piece of direct mail advertising received.

Use a two-step sales process. Get them first to raise their hand by making an inquiry and then you take over and do a more rigorous qualification after that.

Make your direct mail advertising date-sensitive. This forces a response sooner rather than later.

Send out a small, 500 - 1000 piece, test sample. This way you can make changes to the direct mail advertising copy or change your list before you make a big investment.

Bottom Line on Direct Mail Advertising Direct mail advertising can be an effective tool. The key to maximizing your return with it is to be smart about it. Use the tips above to create a direct mail advertising campaign that will get you the results you need.

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About the Author

Joshua Feinberg, co-owner of Computer Consulting 101, gets computer consulting businesses more steady high-paying clients. Now you can too with your free access pass to proven computer consulting secrets at http://www.Computer-Consulting-101.com

Direct Mail Advertising - 3 Essential Ingredients

Your headline is the absolute most important factor in direct mail advertising. Make sure your advertising appeals to the needs and the hot buttons of your intended audience. When you are using direct mail advertising you need to put yourself in the consumers' shoes. That’s why targeting is so important. Find out what appeals most to your target and what they need. Then appeal to those needs and interests in the headline of your direct mail advertising.

For your direct mail advertising to be successful you need the right lists. You're spending money sending out your mail. Make sure the people who get your direct mail advertising are the right people.

Your direct mail advertising must outline a two-step sales process. This type of process motivates your target to take immediate action. They must reserve a seat, request a report, set up a free no obligation mini needs analysis, etc.... Direct mail advertising does not actually sell your company or the services that you offer. Its purpose is to convince the target to take action or to raise their hand to show they are interested. Good direct mail advertising gets them interested enough to make an inquiry or other type of response. Once they do that then you sell them on what your company offers.

The Bottom Line on Direct Mail Advertising Direct mail advertising can be tricky. The essential components of a direct mail advertising campaign are a standout headline, acquiring the right list, and instigating a two-step sales process. If your direct mail advertising accomplishes these three things then your chances of success with this type are marketing are significantly increased.

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About the Author

Joshua Feinberg helps computer consultant business owners get steady, high-paying clients. Sign-up now for Joshua's free audio training that shows you how to use field-tested, proven Small Biz Tech Talk tools at http://www.SmallBizTechTalk.com/blog

Direct Mail Advertising: How I made $47,325 in 30 days by mailing 2,200 letters

The following tips on creating a direct mail advertising campaign have been street-tested and will bring you huge returns in a short period of time.

In Fact, these tips enabled me to generate over $47,000 in mortgage commissions in less than 30 days!

Keep reading and I will share 3 key elements to creating an effective direct mail advertising campaign:

Key Element #1: The prospect list - Mail to a targeted list of prospects

Here are a couple of ways to find targeted prospect mailing lists in your niche:

Look in your industry trade publications. I found great list providers for my direct mail advertising campaigns in the back of Mortgage Originator Magazine - A popular mortgage industry publication.

Or, search Google.com for: your industry + "mailing lists". For example, I am a mortgage lender so my search would be: mortgage + "mailing lists" in Google.com.

By the way, when purchasing a prospect list for your direct mail advertising, be sure to get some kind of personal information about your prospect to use in your campaign.

Here is an example of personal information I use in my direct mail advertising campaigns:

* The prospect's current mortgage company
* The prospect's original loan amount

Key Element #2: The Envelope - How to get your letter opened

The envelope must entice your prospects into opening and reading the enclosed letter.

Here are some ideas for getting your envelope opened:

1. Insert a personalized "RE:" line above your prospect's name in a window envelope.

I found that the original lender's name works well in my campaigns:

RE: ABC Mortgage
John Doe
123 N Main St.
City, State Zip
---Bar Code---

2. Use this text with your return address in the upper left corner of the envelope:

Administrative Office
1234 South Broadway Pkwy.
City, State Zip

Confidential Information

Personal and Confidential

Key Element #3: The direct mail advertising mail piece - Get your desired result

The purpose of your direct mail advertising mail piece is to get your prospect to take a desired action. For me, that action is picking up the phone and calling me for a loan.

Here are some tips to help you get your desired result from your direct mail advertising mail piece:

1. Personalize the mail piece

If possible disclose small pieces of personal information about your prospect to get their attention and build rapport.

Here are some examples of personalized text I use in my direct mail advertising campaigns:

"Based on your original loan with ABC Mortgage in the amount of $250,000 your new payment would be $924.05."

"Based on our calculations, this loan program may save you $32,841 in interest charges over the next 5 years and $197,046 over the life of your mortgage!"

2. Include a few "bio lines" under your signature. Tell them a little bit about who you are.

Here are the "bio lines" I use:

To your financial success,

My Signature
Hartley W. Pinn, Jr

Senior Mortgage Planner
10 Years Mortgage Experience
Licensed Financial Planner
Married with 3 children

3. Offer a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) in your mail piece

If you don't currently have a unique selling proposition for your direct mail advertising campaign - Find one. What makes you different from your competitors? What makes you better? Why should a prospect use you over a competitor? Answer these questions and you will have your unique selling proposition.

Here are some sample USP lines that work well in my direct mail advertising campaigns:

"No House Payment Until April 2006!!! Imagine what you could do by skipping your February and March house payments."

"Additionally, we specialize in loan programs with No Points. We can pay this customary closing cost because we are paid directly from the new lender."

4. The call to action

Ask them to take your desired action:

"Call now and ask for me personally so we can discuss your individual needs and goals."

"Be sure to visit www.YourWebsite.com to view this Free Video: "How to Get Paid For Refinancing". Discover how to use your mortgage loan as a tool to secure your financial future. It's the most informative site on the web!!"

Well, that's it! I wish you all the best with your next direct mail advertising campaign. The only thing left for you to decide is how much money you would like to make over the next 30 days? Mail more letters and you will generate more sales!

To download a complementary direct mail advertising letter that has produced more than $2,500,000 in mortgage commissions over the last 12 months visit:

http://www.Mortgage-Leads-Generator.com/a/refiletter.htm

Please feel free to reprint this article as long as the resource box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.

Direct Mail Advertising; Email Is Not Like Postal Mail.

by Bobette Kyle

One of the most popular and potentially effective advertising methods is direct email. If you deliver a well- written message and execute delivery properly you will be rewarded with new leads, sales, and traffic to your Web site. If the message is poorly written or you commit a netiquette faux pas, however, your efforts could end in disaster.

If you are new to Internet marketing, you might equate direct email to direct postal mail. The concepts are very similar; in both you broadcast a standard message to a large number of individuals in hopes of receiving positive responses. To the uninitiated, it is logical to assume you can approach the two in the same way. It seems like the only difference is the means of communication. If you are thinking this way, STOP! STOP! STOP!

Many people perceive unsolicited commercial message (UCE) - spam - differently than junk mail from the postal service. The sender pays for direct mail sent through the postal service. Not so for UCE. Spam on the Internet ties up the recipient's resources by using storage space, slowing down systems, and sometimes crashing equipment. For this reason and others, many abhor spam. Some assertively condemn spammers. If you spam you will undoubtedly be reported to your ISP and email provider. Depending on the circumstances, your accounts could be closed and your Web site may be shut down. Need I say it? This is NOT the result you are looking for from your email marketing program.

Some email advertisers feel that as long as there are unsubscribe instructions in the email or they only send one message it is okay to send unsolicited email. A few use never-passed legislative proposals in their defense. In marketing, perception is far closer to reality than loophole rationalizations. Some recipients are offended whether the unsubscribe phrase is there or not and they are offended even when they receive only one message from you.

Different individuals define spam differently. Some consider all forms of UCE or unsolicited commercial postings spam. This means that if you send advertisements without prior permission from the individuals you will get complaints. In all likelihood you will be reported as a spammer. Because service providers generally have user agreements that are stricter than current U.S. state and federal laws, you are likely to be reprimanded, have your site shut down, and/or be put on a blacklist if you send out UCE.

Spam/UCE Law

As of this writing there are no U.S. federal laws governing UCE. Some states, however, have laws that regulate UCE. These states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. Depending on the state, allowable claims range from $10 per message up to unlimited damages. Most state laws allow opt-out procedures. In other words, companies can *legally* add a recipient's email to a list without his/her knowledge as long as a means of removal is provided. For details by state, go to http://law.spamcon.org/us-laws/index.shtml.

International laws are stricter. Seven countries - Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Norway - have opt- in laws. In order to legally send UCE, you must first have the recipient's permission. Other countries have opt- out directives or pending legislation. EuroCAUCE provide details at http://www.euro.cauce.org/en/countries/index.html.

Worldwide, there is much discussion about UCE and laws are changing quickly. There are several sites you can monitor for details about UCE. These include the SpamCon Foundation (law.spamcon.org), the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE, www.cauce.org), and the spam section of The Open Directory Project (dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Abuse/Spam).

More Email Marketing Resources

SpamCon Help for Email Marketers: http://www.spamcon.org/marketers/index.shtml

SpamCon Links to Blacklists: http://www.spamcon.org/directories/shared-blacklists.shtml

WebSiteMarketingPlan.com Links to Email Advertising Resources http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/sr10.htm

Wilson Internet Links to Email Advertising Articles http://www.wilsonweb.com/cat/cat.cfm?page=1⊂cat=me_Email- Gen

About the Author

Bobette Kyle is author of "How Much For Just the Spider? Strategic Web Site Marketing." She used techniques detailed in the book to bring her own site, WebSiteMarketingPlan.com, from a ranking of 17 million to 59 thousand+ in less than four months. http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com/sr.htm

Copyright 2002 Bobette Kyle. All rights reserved.

Direct Mail Advertising - Tips And Tricks

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