How To Succeed With Direct Marketing

We’ve all had good bosses and bad bosses over the years. Most of the time you want to forget about the bad ones as quickly as possible A few years back, one of my bad bosses left me with this little bit of wisdom. I guess there was a silver lining after all…

To succeed in direct marketing efforts, simply answer three questions.

1. Why do anything?
   Your materials have to paint a pain point that the audience will identify with immediately. No one takes action because they simply want to; they take action when they need to. This is where you prove that you understand their industry or needs or desires. The use of audience specific jargon or terms and relevant photos is very appropriate. This is the first part of the hurt & rescue operation. Show them the pain first, only then should you move on to how your offering can rescue them.
2. Why (insert company/product/service name here)?
   Once you illustrated a pain point that needs solving, you now have to convince the audience why your solution is the right one to choose. This is where most companies fail by listing product features: the biggest hard drive, a faster processor, more horsepower, higher gas mileage, etc… Features are great, but people identify with benefits more so than features. The iPod is a great example of this. Apple could have said “Huge 30GB hard drive – 15% bigger than Creative Labs Zen player”, instead they promoted “1000 songs in your pocket”. This particular benefit statement is great because it not only addresses memory size but form factor.
3. Why now?
   Lastly, you have show the audience why it’s beneficial to them to act now. The concept of now is as powerful as the pain point. Typically direct mail pieces focus on a short term lower price, free upgrade, additional pieces (by one get one free), and free downloads. These are great but I challenge you to find way to add additional value and immediacy without adding cost. The primary reason behind this challenge is commoditization. As products move into a commoditized market, a lot of companies are relegated to fighting on price. The more you can elevate your brand by offering value instead of price cuts, the better you will fare in a commodity market.

So there you have it. Three seemingly simple questions that will get your marketing material noticed and responded to. My firm continues to use this equation with our clients. It really makes you focus on what separates you from the competition. And in the direct marketing space your competition is more than your head on competitor firms. The typical consumer is flooded with over 3000 marketing messages every day. Your material is fighting with billboards, radio ads, newspapers, email, voicemail, TV, and every other marketing medium – not to mention the rest of the junk mail in your mailbox. If you don’t elevate you’re wasting budget dollars. And no one in small business – or any size business for that matter – tolerates waste for very long.

Nick Rice