DIRECT MAIL Profits…
DIRECT MAIL
More American fortunes are based on direct marketing and direct mail than on any other one thing, and mastering the profitable use of DIRECT MAIL
This has been my #1 media of choice for more than 20 years, and I have made more money for my clients with direct mail marketing than with many other media combined including e-mail and social media. anyone can benefit from improved, and smarter use of DIRECT MAIL, whether the owner of a small, local business or an international corporation, insurance sales professional, internet marketer, or self-employed professional in private practice.
I know from expereince that most people who use – or try to use and are unsatisfied with – direct mail marketing, to their own customers or to acquire customers, approach it in uncompetitive way, primitive and uneffective mannor…with all the focus on the copy, the offer, and gimmicks, and far too little attention given “THE list and connecting with the prospect.
Challenges Facing Direct Marketers Here’s What the Unlocking the truth direct mail is about!
The NEW Economy:
Consumers are becoming more discerning, thoughtful and increasingly resistant to irrelevant, common, unessential marketing messages.
This is all about unlocking the secrets of DIRECT MAIL that make your marketing message relevant, extraordinary, and important.
How Important are Lists:
It’s not brain surgery but using lists can be complicated, confusing, and frustrating that’s why I’m here (especially to those who don’t use them regularly).
When you hear what I have to share about lists, list selection, and list segmentation, you’ll ‘see the light’. You’ll have a better appreciation for lists, more motivation to use them, and you’ll know how to use them more effectively than 99% of marketers.
With full, in-depth understanding of ALL the puzzle-pieces including lists,
list selection, list segmentation and smart use of your lists, you will gain the competitive advantage – so you can make each marketing dollar do the work of ten. If you have been following my blogs that you know about the tools I recommend that will save you time and money.
- GROW your business even in the tough economy
- Find targeted customers (Most marketers are happy to attract anybody with a pulse
- And of equal or greater importance, extract a great deal more patronage and profit from your past and present customers and accumulated/unconverted leads through list division and better list use.
There is, I promise you, amazing, untapped “stored value” in your existent lists.
h1>Until next time, here is to your continued success!
.
About the Author:
Tim G. Little has a BS in Business Administration, and has worked in the magazine publication and circulation management for the past 20 years. As an Internet Publisher and Entrepreneur, he has developed a website to help small business entrepreneurs find the best mailing list and marketing programs ps: I would like to recommend a tool to you to help find Boost Sales… Gain Market Share.. . With Focused List Selection, Tips and Tools for Finding the Perfect List. Once you e-mail segments, track how they differently they react to messaging options. Free 100 leads from InfoUSA from your neighborhood or across the country you choose or call me for more details buy mailing lists Guaranteed and a 100 free leads if you open an account today!>
Buying Mailing Lists
The majority of small business entrepreneurs are destined to fail primarily because of the lack of business knowledge. Direct mail marketing is a field in which a little knowledge can be enough to destroy your business.
Buying Mailing Lists
The facts are cold prospecting to outside mailings rarely produces enough responses to produce a profit. You will more than likely buy a new customer at a loss as far as the upfront costs involved. Profits will be earned by retaining the customer for future sales.
Direct mail is a business in which one-tenth of 1 percent maybe the difference between profit and loss. The business of buying lists and direct mail is to create customers, not sales and that’s about making a profit by selling to the same customer again and again.
Do not make the mistake that buying a list and that coordinating a mailing is easy. This is a business for professionals who know products, markets, media, analysis and back-end control. Some one starting out in the business needs a great deal of luck, persistence and a helping hand to keep from an initial or continuous disaster.
Online Mailing Lists
E-mail lists will net normally a tenth of the response that direct mail campaigns. Unless you developed your own opt-in, targeted online mailing list. If you have a focused Website with a continuous flow of qualified unique visitors. Your hosting company can provide you with customer profiles based on geographic area, type of internet connection, how long they browse on your Web pages, which pages net the most unique visits, name and email address. Meet, Share, Collaborate – Try MegaMeeting.comVideo & Web Conferencing Now!
The other option is to append email addresses to the mailing list or customer lists that you already own. List service providers can do this quickly and in-expensively in contrast to purchasing opt-in lists that your list compiler will email blast for you.
Testing Mailing Lists
The sins of list usage include testing a starter mailer on only one list. It is recognized that response varies depending on:
- Copy – of the words used
- Package – how those words are clothed
- Offer – the proposition
- Timing – the time of the proposition is received
- Market – The list or medium, to which the offer
It is evident that one test cell does not constitute the end of testing but only the beginning of direct mail campaign.
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The Ever-Evolving List Industry
My latest issue of Direct Marketing News, 30th anniversary edition just arrived in the mail. I love this publication dearly, since it covers everything from e-mail list compilers, searching the net, to Web analysis.
This edition covers the history of direct response from Bob Stone co-wrote the book “Successful Direct Marketing Methods” it was a business best seller and I have a copy.
Lester Wunderman another direct marketing legend in 1967 addressed the Massachussets Institute of Technology on the practice of direct marketing and paved the way for thousands of direct marketing practitioners.
The list industry was a hot place during the 1970′s for entrepreneurs with good ideas and marketing knowledge. The new technologies were just starting to replace the old card and file systems. Imagine companies like IBM keeping their customer lists on index cards.
Today, again the industry has changed with the digital era and marketers are more focused on data quality and costs factors. The engine behind the growth of direct marketing during the digital age was the technology behind it. Marketers were starting to store large amounts of data and the engine that drove the growth were the list and data guys.
Those list and data guys introduced the innovative techniques like age enhancements and demographics. The key differences over the last 30 years is that the quality and depth of the data that was available had increased greatly.
Today, fast access to information and the ability to merge great amounts of data became more feasible and the ability to append demographics and other information gave lists the ability to do greater segmentation. Later came modeling, analysis, reaching the right people with the right message and later the internet.
The Money Is In The List
Close List Selection and Analysis
Is the first step to ensuring a successful direct response program both online and off.
The money is in the list and in this sense the internet has not changed this fact. Today, it is much less expensive to collect and test different offers with the speed of the Internet. This is the same way publishers have sold magazine subscriptions and books since the beginning of the century.
The only difference today is that the Internet has made it much faster and cheaper to compile permission based opt-in lists online.
Even a great product at a reduced price would be useless if it is presented to the wrong prospects. You must target your prospect to generate traffic for your product by Web site or mail.
Most lists fall into two categories compiled lists or direct response lists. Compiled lists are phone directories annual membership rosters, and manufacturing directories.
Response lists are just as they imply they have responded and purchased a targeted product or service recently, because of this fact they are most likely to purchase a similar item again.
Response lists are common for magazine subscriptions or lists of prospects that have purchased life insurance or indexed annuities recently.
Standard Rates and Data Services (SRDS) are directories of response lists. They will include quantities and descriptions of each list for sale.
Direct Marketing Strategy:
The offer is often referred to as the deal.
This is what people get for there money. Whether you’re planning a direct marketing strategy, evaluating a campaign or writing an ad much of the work revolves around three important elements. The offer the list and the creative and these elements work together or separately to make your direct marketing promotion work.
The offer is the product or service being sold and includes any warranties, guarantees, features, and price and credit terms. The offer could also be the actions someone needs to take to place an order like a shopping cart or form on a Web site or reply card in a bulk mailing.
Offers separate general advertising from direct response. General advertising often excludes the critical information that should always be included in direct response advertising.
Direct response puts all the necessary information together in an offer and tells the reader exactly how to respond. People expect offers in direct response advertising. You must give the prospective customer a reason to respond like limited offer or special bonus, since the purchase is impulsive in nature.
The offer is often referred to as the deal. This is what people get for there money. Whether you’re planning a direct marketing strategy, evaluating a campaign or writing an ad much of the work revolves around three important elements. The offer the list and the creative and these elements work together or separately to make your direct marketing promotion work.
The offer is the product or service being sold and includes any warranties, guarantees, features, and price and credit terms. The offer could also be the actions someone needs to take to place an order like.Who’s the leader in your market?
The Interactive Book of Lists is the #1 source for fresh content and unique insights on Leading Companies in local markets. Learn how you can elevate your sales prospecting, business research and marketing to the next level. Your marketing plan SWOT analysis will define your unique selling proposition and your competitors unmet customer needs, gaps and weaknesses. This will be your source to analyze weaknesses with a strategic plan that will gain market share with a unique competitive advantage.
The data sheet and a free 30 day trail:
.6 million registered users
9.1 million unique visitors per month
61.1% Male
38.9% Female
Median age: 47
College educated: 87%
Average HHI: $92,780
User portfolio value average: $500,000+
Over the past 30 days:
49% influence purchasing decisions at their company
63% are in top or middle management
83% read business news online
80% shopped online
74% made a purchase online
*Source for “over the past 30 days”: Nielsen @Plan, Spring ’09
The Interactive Book of Lists is a digital, searchable compilation of the print edition of the Book of Lists; a powerful regionalized business intelligence tool that outlines companies who are leaders in their categories of business.
bizjournals is the online media division of American City Business Journals. It operates the Web sites for each of the company’s 40 print business journals and separate online only site with local business news and information for Los Angeles.
bizjournals’ 3.6 million registered users rely on the site for updated news and information on their local communities.
View the Interactive Book of Lists tutorial video
* Gain insight on your competition by accessing the Interactive Book of Lists’ enhanced Company Profiles. Access fresh company data, contact information and news UPDATED 24/7 by our professional research team.
* Receive customized alerts around the clock on opportunistic companies and competitive updates to your business
* Grow your professional network with qualified leads and contacts. Export contacts into CRM platforms such as Outlook, Salesforce, Thunderbird & Mac Address Book
Before List Selection Define Competitive Advantage
The first and most critical step before writing your 2010 marketing plan and looking at strategic database strategy is to define your competitive advantage in the eyes of your customer base.
This could be the difference between a 25-50% increase in your sales or marketing response rate during the first 90 days of 2010.
The competitive advantage for my marketing plan and the ultimate marketing system. That’s what sets my system apart from everything else out there. So, that’s why a marketing manager can go with confidence in approaching prospects because he’s got something different and unique.
These are profits going to the bottom line because we didn’t increase the money spent to create those results. We didn’t have to do more advertising. We didn’t have to hire more people.
We’re freeing up capital because we’re better allocating the scarce resource and that’s so important, because it is the number one step and the first step in the marketing system because it is essentially the elevator sales pitch.
It’s the compelling selling reason that that company is in business. It is what sets that company apart, what makes that company unique from all of the competition, and it’s so important because with so many different kinds of businesses in the same business.
Find something that will differentiate you from the competition, and the reason you have to do that is because if people don’t perceive a reason that’s different to do business with you, then they’re only going to shop price, and they’re only going to go to the lowest price seller, and they’re only going to watch for the ads that give them the lowest price.
The first step is we met with the owner/president and staff to get their perspective of why your customers purchase your product rather then the competition, and you have a complete questionnaire that goes through what questions you should ask.
The next thing you do is call or email or survey customers, and in your survey questions you need to have to get the customers’ perspective of what might be unique.
From this information you determine your competitive advantage and then this becomes your mantra, your direct marketing headline in e-mail, mail or sales call.
A good example of a company using their competitive advantage is Domino’s Pizza, the dramatic impact for that company because they came out and they looked at all the competition and they surveyed customers, and they talked to prospects, and they asked what’s most important to them. At the time speed was becoming and was a void in the industry. No one was delivering a pizza fast.
For free consultation or email at
So, they did. They said, “We’ll get it to you in 30 minutes or less or it’s free.”Dominos Pizza, the dramatic impact for that company because they came out and they looked at all the competition and they surveyed customers, and they talked to prospects, and they asked what’s most important to them, and at that time speed was becoming and was a void in the industry. No one was delivering a pizza fast. So, they did. They said, “We’ll get it to you in 30 minutes or less or it’s free.
For free consultation or email at timglittle@charter.net
Click Here for list inquiry!>
Lead Generation
Define Your Target Market
Your direct mail campaign needs to go to the people most likely to purchase them, and your mailing lists need to be chosen carefully. Do you know your market or target audience? Define your market and target your business niche.
When possible, you should be able to segment households by income level, businesses by size, and workers by job type, education, and many other factors.
The Standard Rates and Date Services directory includes over 12,000 detailed pages of list information and this is only the beginning of your list search.
The first step in the list process:
· Widen your list selection to include everyone in your list universe and than begin narrowing your search to specific traits.
· Define your target market by researching your customer database and find desirable characteristics and include income, age, gender, zip codes, states, and purchasing behavior.
· Decide if you need a compiled list or a response list. Response lists describe people that have responded to a recent mailing or offer by credit card or internet.
· Response lists are consumers that have purchased by direct mail recently and because of this, they are more likely to purchase again magazine subscribers are a good example. Anyone that has made a purchase by credit card are very responsive to direct mail. When purchasing response lists, look at Recentcy – when they purchased. Frequency- How many times the prospect purchased from owner. Unit Sale – purchase amount and source-origin of the name.
· Business lists-The bulk of business mailing involves complied lists and these lists are sorted by Standard Industrial Classification or specific manufacturing or service industry codes. An advertiser will mail by a cross section of SIC codes, company characteristics and geographic areas. Segmentation can further narrow your target. Age of business, sales volume, type of business by SIC and ownership is it private or public, headquarters or branch office and credit Dun @ Bradstreet credit rating.
· Whenever possible, always test at least 4 new lists during any large mailing. Purchase a minimum of 5,000 nth or (random select from the entire database). Key-coding and tracking lists will determine your best performers and the most profitable opportunities. A little known secret Make it known to your list manager that you would like to purchase a test list and if it performs well you will roll-out a much larger mailing depending on the response. The list manager will be more likely to give you the very best names in the database as far as regency, frequency and unit of purchase since he wants you to come back to buy the larger list.
· Always CASS lists to verify correct zip codes and to ensure addressing problems are checked and corrected (NCOA) National Change of Address your list to ensure that your entire mailing is deliverable. Your mailer may outsource these services to correct addresses that have moved. These are services that will improve your response and detect delivery problems before your campaign is mailed.
Contact Information
Timothy Little – Marketing Consultant with over 15 years of successful direct mail and database marketing experience!
Service Description
* We will customize and write a strategic marketing plan based on your competitive edge and Unique Selling Proposition
* The Free marketing audit is focused on your hidden assets can be done by phone or fact to face.
* The marketing audit will save you between $10,000 – 100,000 in advertising costs
* We will help you to discover your assets and grow your business in several ways Guaranteed.
* Develop selling skills to increase sales
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Marketing plan development with a focus on your unique selling proposition including market needs, demographics, analysis, strategy, break-even analysis and marketing budget. I have innovative database techniques to increase response rates with testing and analysis.
Telephone: Call 313 268-9951
Email address: Tim G. Little
Welcome To Tim Little’s Marketing Lists
Welcome to Tim G. Little’s Marketing List Broker Web site.
While the economy had a devastating effect on the direct marketing industry this year, reports based on online surveys of business to business marketers found that nearly 40% plan to increase spending next year.
The biggest gains for 2010 will be online, while many marketers will spend more money on a lower-cost, more measurable medium. Direct marketing and events spending will rise. Online services with the largest projected gains will be Web site development, email marketing, list purchasing, online video, and podcasts.
You must understand your customer base with direct response testing and analyze to find out how they want to receive their information. Next, develop a marketing plan and program that will maximize that communicative source with testing and analysis.
Customer acquisition was cited as the top marketing goal for 2010 and marketers will use a diverse group of campaigns to attract new customers.
Getting back to the basics using highly targeted direct mail to break through all of the clutter maybe a good thing to test.
Getting smarter about measuring return on investment and employing methods that make marketing more effective would be a good start.
Wasting money running after social media and non-measurable advertising opportunities can waste time and focus. Develop methods that are measurable and productive expense projects makes much more sense in today’s very competitive marketing environment.
For free consultation or email at timglittle@charter.net
FREE eBook “Boost Sales With Lists”
