The One Eyed Man is King.”
Erasmus (of Rotterdam)
We know that Erasmus wasn’t talking about copywriting when he spoke those words some 500 years ago, but he may as well been. In critiquing many 3D Mail sales letters the past 2 years, it’s become obvious that many who do their own copywriting can be blind. So for the next few weeks we’ll discuss a bundle of copywriting topics. First an introduction and the #1 thing you can do to kill any response.
The first thing you must realize when you create copy is that it is NOT advertising, but salesmanship in print. That means you want to write like you talk, don’t write to sell. The truth is the best copy would probably get you a failing grade in high school composition class. If you’ve written copy and a high school English teacher can’t find anything wrong with it, throw it out and start again!
Second, the same principles apply in business-to-consumers markets and business-to-business markets. I hear this all the time. The B2B people tell me it can’t work in B2B, and the B2C people tell me it can only work in B2B! They are fundamentally the same. Sure, there are some slight differences, but as a whole, the concepts and ideas we talk about over the next couple weeks can be easily applied to both group.
Lastly, as promised, here’s the #1 thing you can do to guarantee to kill your response. It’s what one of my mentors, Bill Glazer, calls copy kryptonite. It’s BEING BORING! Your copy can never be too long, but it can be too boring, and we’ll discuss that a lot as well over the next couple weeks.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Diversity leads to stability
On Wednesday we started a discussion on sequential marketing and how 2 + 3 = 1. If you didn’t read it, check out the blog entry below and that will make sense. I’ll continue today with a few other strategies in sequential marketing.
This may sound a bit weird coming from the 3D Mail Guru, but you’ll always want to use multiple media, multiple different ways. That means direct mail using 3D Mail and more traditional mail, email, faxes, phone calling, voice broadcasting etc.
Here’s the reason. Different people respond to different medias. Some like email, others fax, still others direct mail. You never want to rely on one sole way to get new or repeat clients to purchase. As one of my mentors Bill Glazer says, “Diversity leads to stability.”
Second, you want to keep adding touches until it is no longer profitable or you can no longer make the offer.
For years we used a 3-step new client sequence, and that was it. It worked exceptionally well for many years. We decided to test a fourth step to see if we could again be profitable. Guess, what? It worked and
for many more years we used a 4-step sequence.
Finally, if you read my emails, you know I’m against most Madison Avenue, brand building style marketing you see. However, there is an accumulative effect of such exposure that creates additional customers
over a long period of time.
Maybe they’re just not ready for what you got right now, or, after 3 letters, if finally hits them that maybe they have a friend or relative that could use what you’re offering. Whatever it is, sequential marketing can and will have that affect on your customers.
This may sound a bit weird coming from the 3D Mail Guru, but you’ll always want to use multiple media, multiple different ways. That means direct mail using 3D Mail and more traditional mail, email, faxes, phone calling, voice broadcasting etc.
Here’s the reason. Different people respond to different medias. Some like email, others fax, still others direct mail. You never want to rely on one sole way to get new or repeat clients to purchase. As one of my mentors Bill Glazer says, “Diversity leads to stability.”
Second, you want to keep adding touches until it is no longer profitable or you can no longer make the offer.
For years we used a 3-step new client sequence, and that was it. It worked exceptionally well for many years. We decided to test a fourth step to see if we could again be profitable. Guess, what? It worked and
for many more years we used a 4-step sequence.
Finally, if you read my emails, you know I’m against most Madison Avenue, brand building style marketing you see. However, there is an accumulative effect of such exposure that creates additional customers
over a long period of time.
Maybe they’re just not ready for what you got right now, or, after 3 letters, if finally hits them that maybe they have a friend or relative that could use what you’re offering. Whatever it is, sequential marketing can and will have that affect on your customers.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
2 + 3 = 1?
I know you may not be a math major, and I certainly wasn’t, but stay with me on this one as we start a discussion on sequential marketing.
Sequential marketing is a sequence of marketing, with each one clearly referring to the previous one, all sent in a fairly condensed period of time, usually 4-6 weeks. You’ll usually double your response with 3 touches. This is where my fuzzy math comes in. Let me explain.
We know that using 3 steps will almost always double our response. Let’s say we’re mailing out 500 bank bags as the first step in a sequence to our in-house list. We get a 4% response rate, or 20 responses. Now let’s say we send a postcard as our second step and the mini trash-can as our third step.
When you do the math and calculate response and return on investment, you’ll almost always get 20 additional responses from steps 2 and 3 combined. So my fuzzy math would mean:
Step 2 (postcard) + Step 3 (trash can) = The same response at Step 1 (bank bag)
The math may not hold exactly with each marketing sequence you do, but you’ll usually be within a few percentage points either way.
Later in the week we’ll talk about a few other sequential marketing strategies you can use.
Sequential marketing is a sequence of marketing, with each one clearly referring to the previous one, all sent in a fairly condensed period of time, usually 4-6 weeks. You’ll usually double your response with 3 touches. This is where my fuzzy math comes in. Let me explain.
We know that using 3 steps will almost always double our response. Let’s say we’re mailing out 500 bank bags as the first step in a sequence to our in-house list. We get a 4% response rate, or 20 responses. Now let’s say we send a postcard as our second step and the mini trash-can as our third step.
When you do the math and calculate response and return on investment, you’ll almost always get 20 additional responses from steps 2 and 3 combined. So my fuzzy math would mean:
Step 2 (postcard) + Step 3 (trash can) = The same response at Step 1 (bank bag)
The math may not hold exactly with each marketing sequence you do, but you’ll usually be within a few percentage points either way.
Later in the week we’ll talk about a few other sequential marketing strategies you can use.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Get Back Lost Clients
On Thursday we wrapped up our series on referral marketing (check out the blog to see the last few entries) and I told you we’d start a topic on the 3rd easiest client to sell to. Did you know who that was?
If you said reactivating your lost clients, you’re right! For my money, a lost client is the 3rd easiest client to sell to after you own, active clients, and the referral clients we just finished up talking about.
So why don’t clients return? Here’s a list I’ve come up with:
Starting on Thursday I’ll walk you through how you get get your lost clients back with some specific ideas and strategies that I’ve used in my businesses, and my clients. See you then.
Speaking of lost clients, we have a very successful 3-step lost client campaign already put together! See it all right here! There’s even a short video staring yours truly and I explain how to use each of the 3 steps.
Every good marketer knows that in times of recessions, getting cold clients is one of the hardest things to do! One of the best things you can to do for your business is to have a systematic, proven way to get your lost clients to come back and purchase again!
This is one of them.
http://www.3dmailresults.com/new-product-detail.aspx?ProductID=711
The month of November is Lost Client Reactivation Month! For the rest of the month, you’ll get my lowest prices for any quantity you want, just $0.29 for each set of 3, one boomerang, one compass, one bug, minimum 96 pcs.
Be sure to call in for this special and let me know you’re Taking advantage of Lost Client Month!
If you said reactivating your lost clients, you’re right! For my money, a lost client is the 3rd easiest client to sell to after you own, active clients, and the referral clients we just finished up talking about.
So why don’t clients return? Here’s a list I’ve come up with:
- They were dissatisfied with your product or service.
- They no longer require what you offer (they moved, retired, left the company, etc)
- It’s no longer convenient to do business with you.
- They switched to another provider of your same product/service.
- They’re embarrassed or feel they let YOU down (you’d be surprised how many fit this category).
Starting on Thursday I’ll walk you through how you get get your lost clients back with some specific ideas and strategies that I’ve used in my businesses, and my clients. See you then.
Blog Readers Only Special
Speaking of lost clients, we have a very successful 3-step lost client campaign already put together! See it all right here! There’s even a short video staring yours truly and I explain how to use each of the 3 steps.
Every good marketer knows that in times of recessions, getting cold clients is one of the hardest things to do! One of the best things you can to do for your business is to have a systematic, proven way to get your lost clients to come back and purchase again!
This is one of them.
http://www.3dmailresults.com/new-product-detail.aspx?ProductID=711
The month of November is Lost Client Reactivation Month! For the rest of the month, you’ll get my lowest prices for any quantity you want, just $0.29 for each set of 3, one boomerang, one compass, one bug, minimum 96 pcs.
Be sure to call in for this special and let me know you’re Taking advantage of Lost Client Month!
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