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We looked last week at the first seven ways to boost the effectiveness of any mailing. If you missed the first seven last week, or are a new eletter subscriber simply visit www.mindcapturegroup.com and click on the section marked “articles” on the left hand side of the home page.
#8: MAKE YOUR MESSAGE CLEAR. Don’t be cute, or ramble on endlessly about product features. If the mailing isn’t “you”driven with lots of benefits for the reader they won’t respond. They’re too busy to try and figure out why you want their attention in the first place, and they won’t waste precious time on a poorly written mail piece.
#9: TEST, TEST, TEST. Look for ways to fine tune your mail pieces through testing. It could be simply testing one headline versus another or the look of the outside envelope. Never stay content. Once you hit on a mail piece that’s working, there’s the temptation to revamp it completely or change it too much. Do simple tests such as a new headline, or different offer to get an accurate picture of why the changes performed or didn’t perform better versus your control piece.
#10: TRY AN ODD SIZED OR COLORED ENVELOPE. I call this misdirection at the mailbox. People have developed excellent radar at sorting out junk mail, and advertisements. If you use an odd shaped or different colored envelope you’ll immediately increase the chance of your mail piece surviving the garbage can, getting opened and actually looked at and read.
#11: MAKE IT LOOK “PERSONAL”. Use a regular stamp and hand-address the outside envelope if possible. Avoid mailing labels if possible. The less it looks like bulk mail, unwanted advertisements, or predictable, the better your odds of it getting it safely sorted and read.
#12. FOCUS ON IDEAL PROSPECTS ONLY. With the rising costs of postage and the time involved to put together a successful promotion, you’ll be served best by identifying ideal prospects and focusing on them exclusively. It’s much better, for example, to target a list of 200 prime prospects versus a larger list of 2000 that may not have as strong a need or desire for your offering.
#13: MUST HAVE AN OFFER. Direct marketing is intended to sell a product or service immediately or generate qualified leads. To make this happen you need an enticing offer to get someone to take action right away.
An offer combines various elements such as the product itself, trial period, the price, guarantee, incentives, terms and time or quantity limit to name a few. Test, test, test to find out which combination creates the best response to your offer.
#14: USE TESTIMONIALS AND STORIES. Third party endorsements are the most powerful form of proof you can use to crack through today’s skeptical prospect. Testimonials should be used in every direct mail piece you create and use.
Weave true stories about your product or service into your offers. We all love stories. Since we were children stories have been used as a powerful learning tool. Use them to capture the reader and hold your prospects attention throughout the sales letter.
Next week will pick up with point #15. Thank you again for your time and the opportunity to share marketing strategies to build your business. See you again next week.
Helping Others Achieve Marketing & Communication Breakthroughs
Sincerely,
Tony Rubleski
For additional marketing resources visit www.mindcapturegroup.com.
