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Guerrilla Insights Into Direct Response Marketing
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Direct response marketing is a lot different from indirect response marketing, although
guerrillas like it best when the two are teamed up. The first is geared to obtain orders right
here and right now. The second is geared to obtain orders eventually. Although a fair
amount of standard, indirect marketing often is necessary to set the stage, to make
prospects ready to buy, and to separate your company from strangers, it's
when you initiate direct marketing that you first taste blood.
As you well know, we are living in the Age of Information, most of it very easy to obtain. But
information is hardly enough for a guerrilla. And information is not insight. It's the
combination of information and thought that leads to insight and it's insight that's going to
make you a stand-out in the direct response arena.
The first insight for you to absorb is that direct response marketing either works
immediately or not at all. Unlike standard marketing which changes attitudes slowly and
ultimately leads to a sale if you go about things right, guerrilla direct
response marketing changes minds and attitudes instantly and leads to a sale instantly if you go about things right.
When it works, you know it. You don't have to sit around and wonder. You don't have to wait
months and months for your message to penetrate the mind of your prospect. Your
time-dated direct marketing offer either results in a sale right now -- or
it doesn't.
To succeed with direct marketing in any medium, remember always:
1. Your offer is omnipotent. The best presentation in the world has a major uphill battle if
you make a weak or ordinary offer.
2. The market to whom you direct your message can make or break your campaign. Saying
the right thing to the wrong people results in no sale.
3. What you say and how you say it is easily as important as to whom you say it. Talk in
terms of your prospects and how your offer benefits them.
4. Carefully planning every cent of your campaign for maximum profits requires as much
creativity as your message. Guerrillas excel at this.
5. The more that people have been exposed to your other marketing, the more readily they'll
accept what you offer with your direct marketing.
Some principles of indirect marketing apply to direct marketing. You must still talk of the
prospect, not yourself, and you must make a clear and cogent offer. But from that
point on, direct marketing is a whole new ballgame. And its one that you can win with the insights of the guerrilla.
Stupid mistakes in horrid abundance have been made by otherwise bright companies when
testing the direct response waters. Fortunately, guerrillas can learn from these blunders,
making those waters a bit safer. Listing them would take an endless series of books, but
it's worth your time if I make a start by providing insight into ten of the most notable:
- Failure to attract attention at the outset dooms many
brilliant campaigns before they have a chance to shine. Envelopes, opening lines, mail subject lines and first
impressions are the gates to your offer. Open them wide.
- Not facing the reality of a direct marketing explosion
relegates your attempt to the ordinary, which means the ignored. Guerrillas say things to rise above the din, to be noticed
and desired in a sea of marketers.
- Focusing your message on yourself instead of your prospect
will usually send your effort to oblivion. Prospects care far more about themselves than they care about you. So talk to
them about themselves.
- Not knowing precisely who your market is will send you into
the wrong direction. Research into pinpointing that market will be some of the most valuable time you devote to your direct
marketing campaign.
- Mailing or telephoning to other than honest prospects wastes
your time and money. If you make your offer to people who don't really have a need for your offering, they'll be an
incredibly tough sale.
- Initiating direct response marketing without specific
objectives gives you too hazy a target for bullseyes. Begin by creating the response method for your prospects so you'll know
what your message should say.
- Featuring your price before you stress your benefit will be
telling people what they don't want to know yet. First, your job is to make them want what you are offering, then you can
tell them the price.
- Concentrating on your price before your offer is wasting a
powerful selling point. Even if your price is the lowest, people care more about how they'll gain from purchasing. Give
your low price at the right time.
- Failing to test all that can be tested is a goof-off of the
highest order. Test your price points, opening lines, subject lines, envelope teaser lines, benefits to stress, contact times
and mailing lists to know the real winners.
- Setting the wrong price means you've failed in your testing
and your research. Guerrillas are sensitive to their market and their competition, testing prices and constantly subjecting
them to the litmus test of profits.
As direct response vehicles become more sophisticated and
prolific, guerrillas have the insight to zero in on the exact people to contact, so as not to waste time or money on
strangers. Successful mailings to strangers net as high as two percent response rates.
Successful mailings to customers and qualified prospects net up to ten percent. Precision
leads to profits.
. . .
Copyright © Jay Conrad Levinson - All Rights reserved
Jay Conrad Levinson is one of the most respected marketers in
the world. He is the inventor of "Guerrilla Marketing" and is
responsible for some of the most outrageous marketing campaigns
in history - including the "Marlboro Man" - the most successful
ad campaign in history. Learn how Jay can make YOUR business
a huge success in his latest book (and arguably his best ever)
"Guerrilla Marketing for the New Millennium"
http://guerrillamarketingforthenewmillennium.com
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