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Wednesday, March 11 2009

    By Joe Vitale

Hypnotic Marketing's Joe Vitale gives his mesmerizing tips on how to make your direct mail a smashing success. What are his tricks of the trade?

So many of you seem willing to spend hundreds, even thousands, of dollars on a direct mail gamble, that I feel compelled to give everyone a brief lesson in what it takes for direct mail to work.

Far too many people try it and then say "Direct mail doesn't work." They often say the same thing about advertising. Well, it may not be the fault of advertising or direct mail. It may very well be that the three keys to success were not covered.

There are three legs to a successful direct mail campaign: the list, the offer, and the creative. Blow it on any one of them and the whole campaign will die. But get the three elements right and you just might be able to laugh all the way to the bank.

1. The list. This is THE most important element. Don't think because you can get a list cheap, or even for free, that it's something you can use. Don't think because thousands or even millions of people will read a publication that you should advertise there. Those people may not be your prospects. The best list for you may be the one you pay an arm and a leg for. The more targeted the list of prospects, the better. If you are selling a book on, say, gambling, you want to find a list of people who gamble AND who buy books on gambling. Try any other list and you may end up saying, "Direct mail doesn't work."

2. The offer. What you offer to the list better be something they cannot get anywhere else, while also being something priced to make a profit for you. If you offer a book on gambling that anyone can buy down the street for two dollars less, you'll end up saying, "Direct mail doesn't work."

3. The creative. How you present your offer to your list has to be done professionally, so that all of the emotional hot buttons are triggered while also maintaining interest and going for the sale. Some of the best copywriters are paid upwards to $15,000 to write a single sales letter simply because the creative aspect of your campaign is that important. I've known many people who tried to write their own letters and ended up saying, "Direct mail doesn't work."

Direct mail DOES work. Just ask Robert Ringer, who launched his series of best-selling, self-published books with direct mail and advertising. Or ask John Kremer, who has successfully used direct mail to sell his own books. Or ask me, as I've used it to sell some of my work. But, again, those three key elements have to be there or the direct mail or advertising won't net you a dime. Hope this helps you save - and make - money.

Posted by: ATI admin AT 01:31 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email

 

Email Marketing Done Right - We've been lied to - It's not all about the "Open",...initially

Toyota & GMC; Preferred Vendor- Marketing & Eccomerce

What emails yield the highest open rates, and which are relevant to your campaigns success? 
Let's begin by addressing the "Open".
It's not enough to get the email solicitation (for lack of a better word... perhaps informational piece? Nah.. we all know it's a solicitation... 

Any email deployment company can promise high open rates, but if they aren't opening the message for the right reason it will yield limited results. We have tested this time and again. 

Example Market Test: 

We deploy an email campaign with the subject line: "What do you think of Candi's new Bikini?", and yield an impressive 15% track-able open rate. Not bad ... if that's my only goal... We'll call that subject line "A". 

We launch another email to the same business prospect list, this time with the subject line "B"; "Dealers add profit with Security System Installs". "B" yields a mere 2.5% open rate... but wait...

Now you may think the first subject line is the way to go, however let me share further results...

Test Subject line "A" received 5 click-throughs to the landing page with further details and order options.

Test Subject line "B" received 200 click-throughs to the landing page with further details and order options 

The question is.. what are we trying to sell? Security Systems? or "Pictures of girls in Bikinis"...
Which yielded the best return?.... 

The fact is, "it's not all about open rates"... It's about relevancy. Now.., what could we do with the contact records of those who "Opened" our email based on a relevant Subject Line?.... We now know they are in the market or have a need or interest in what we have to offer, based on the fact that they opened, our relevant subject line... and what could we do with the contact records... the knowledge of which business prospect took further action; i.e. clicked through, based on that 'relevant" subject line?

This leads me to the final word in my headline...'initially"... Once an email is opened based on a relevant subject line....action was taken (click through), the highest yielding "OPEN", on an outbound email marketing lead generating initiative is the "follow-up" email to those recipients who opened and read your initial email based on a relevant subject line. We've seen anywhere from 35% clear up to 65% open rates on follow up letters... Now how could this change your prospecting efforts?