On the seventh day of Christmas, Mesmerizzzed! gives to you -
seven direct mail steps,
six customer solutions,
FIVE MARKETING KEYS,
four sales methods,
three pricing strategies,
two engineered products and a focused target market.
Step 1 - Get the list right
No matter how good a job you do on your offer, the most important step in
any direct mail program is getting the list right. Be sure you have
discovered your focused target market and that the people you choose to mail
are the right people.
Step 2 - Get it opened
Creativity starts on the outside. Your envelope must have the right teaser
copy to make it worth the decision maker's time to open. Perhaps more
importantly, you must discover how you get through the gate keeper
(receptionist, secretary, etc.) and be sure it lands on the decision maker's
desk.
Step 3 - Headlines are everything!
Repeat after me - Every letter needs a headline! Every letter needs a
headline! Every letter needs a headline! What does every letter need? A
HEADLINE!!!
Don't just launch into your copy. Take the time to convey the most
compelling benefit you have to offer in your letter - give the reader a
reason to continue reading - or run the risk of having your letter tossed
immediately.
How many headlines should you try before you pick the one you will use? Two?
Five? Ten? Twenty? The answer is as many as you can conceive. We'll often
write fifty headlines or more before we even test the first one - and we
continuously test headlines against the control once we've launched a direct
mail program.
Here's a quick sample from the legendary Jay Abraham:
Headline # 1: "Auto Insurance at Lower Rates if You Are a Careful Driver"
Headline # 2: "How to Turn Your Careful Driving Into Money"
Headline # 2 pulled 1,200 percent better than headline # 1.
How important are headlines to your business?
Step 4 - Long Copy Wins!
We love it when people tell us that our sales letters are too long.
We ask them if they would read every word of a 24-page letter. They
immediately respond "no way!" After we negotiate the bet, I tell them the
headline is:
"This letter is all about YOU!"
We haven't lost that bet yet! They know they'll read every word.
The point is your sales copy needs to educate your reader on why to consider
your offer. If your copy is compelling, there is no rule that says you have
to keep your letters to a page. We routinely develop four, eight, sixteen -
even twenty-four page sales letters for our clients - that sell thousands of
times better than any one or two page letter.
How long should your next sales letter be? Long enough to motivate the
reader to take action now - that's all!
Step 5 - Make a compelling offer!
You must have a CALL to ACTION in your sales letter. There must be something
that the reader needs to do right now - or never have the opportunity again.
You must create urgency - they must do it now!
Everything in your sales letter is leading the reader through to your call
to action. The benefits of choosing your business, your emotional appeal,
your proof and credibility through testimonials, endorsements and awards,
your unique selling proposition, your guarantee - all lead the reader to
take action now!
Don't forget the "secret" closing to any sales letter - always, always,
always include a "P.S." that reinforces the urgency of taking action now!
Step 6 - Measure Results and Test! Test! Test!
You've got to track results. Why? Because you have to learn what works - and
do more of it - and what doesn't work - and stop it immediately.
What are you tracking? How many responses are you getting? How many are
turning into sales? Keep records of each for every mailing. You've got to
learn from the numbers.
You've also got to test. You'll test one envelope vs. another envelope.
You'll test one headline vs. another headline. You'll test one offer vs.
another offer.
The secret is to only test one variable at a time - you can't change the
envelope, headline and offer all at once and learn which variable caused the
change in results. Get in the game for the long haul, not the quick fix.
Step 7 - Commit to a continuous direct mail program!
Have someone ever told you direct mail doesn't work?
Most of the time, they are right. They did one mailing, maybe two, and
didn't get results.
Two things hurt them. First, their mailing probably wasn't designed for the
right target market, with great teaser copy, a compelling headline,
educational sales copy or an "action now" offer. It was a set-up for
failure.
Second, there was no commitment to stay with the program. Prospects need
multiple exposures to even be conscious of your existence. How many times
should you communicate with a target audience before you can expect results?
There's no magic number - although some suggest nine, twelve, fifteen even
as many as twenty-one exposures - but we know it's more than two! So, plan
your direct mail program for the year and start communicating with your
focused target market today!
________________________________________________