3D Mail Results

Get the Right Match

2010-09-16T17:06:00.001-07:00

Over the past few weeks we’ve been talking about niche marketing, and how a narrow focused, laser targeting marketing effort gives you a huge advantage over your competition. To see where we started, visit the first post here at my blog. So see the last post, visit this one.

Today we’ll wrap up our discussion on the topic with the last of the marketing advantages niche marketing gives you, plus a great example, one of the best I’ve seen. Again, Thanks to Dan Kennedy for allowing me to share some of his thoughts on this topic. To get two free issues of Dan’s newsletter, plus a ton of other freebies, visit this link.

The movement of a product or service from generic to niche link to one of the most fundamental but also one of the most powerful strategies we talk about often: Message to market match. We’ve talked about this in the past, so I’ll only briefly cover it here. For more, visit this post. The basis is Dan Kennedy’s famous triangle connecting message with market with media:
The broader, looser and sloppier the match of message to market, the less it resonates, the harder it is to command attention and create interest. The narrow, tighter, more precise and comprehensive the match, the easier it is to secure attention and interest.

Alright, so how about a real world example? Here’s a link to a PDF you’ll want to check out. (I apologize in advance for the quality. It’s a scan of a copy, but it’s really good) This is an ad from a National Rifle Association publication. In reality, it’s an ad for a relatively common, widely available type of nutritional supplement intended to improve eyesight. You can find this and other supplements just like it in many vitamin retail stores, online and in catalogs.

BUT, in this case, a unique ‘wrapper’ was put around the product to make it specifically for the hunters who use rifles and a scope. Doing so makes this ad and the use of the publication possible. Merely running a generic ad for a generic product that does exactly the same thing would be a failure. When you study the ad you should also note how few words are about the product vs. how many are about the customer.

A Distinct Marketing Advantage

2010-09-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

Last week we started talking about ‘riches in niches - and subcultures.’ I told you that when you do target specific niches, you’ll have a distinct marketing advantage, specifically a distinct price advantage. To review, see the blog post. Today we’ll dive a little deeper into two other advantages you gain when you hit targeted niches.

Thanks to Dan Kennedy for allowing me to share some of his thoughts on this topic. To get two free issues of Dan’s newsletter, plus a ton of other freebies, visit this link.

First, you’ll get a distinct advantage in readership. For example, avid fly fisherman who subscribe to Fly Rod & Reel are infinitely more likely to consistently scour ever article and every ad for things that interest them than is the diverse population subscribing to a general interest magazine, like Newsweek. Avid fly fisherman will never NOT open and read a piece of direct mail clearly about fly fishing, but routinely discard all sorts of other mail unopened. To be honest, even “fly fishermen” is probably too broad of a topic. You’d be wise to narrow it down from there but where they fish (geography) fresh water vs. salt water, river vs. lake, etc.

Second, your costs will almost always go down. Niche and subculture advertising media often costs less than big, broad, mainstream media. It is easier and often much cheaper to buy traffic online and to succeed at search engine optimization for ‘odd’ and narrowly defined niches than for generic information.

Third, there is a big absence of competition. Because most marketers are too committed to “bigger is better, everybody needs to be my customer” thinking, you face a lot less competition when you laser target your marketing to a certain niche or subculture.

Lastly, and this is a big one in today’s economy, but when you target a specific niche, you get as close to recession immunity as you can. The last thing people cut back on is the thing that interests them the most. Later in the week I’ll show you some specific examples of what we’ve been talking about the past week. Stay tuned! Again, thanks to Dan Kennedy for his help with this post.

Blog Reader’s only Special

The trash can is one of our top 3-4 products we offer. And there’s no guessing why, it just works! If a mini trash can were to show up in your mailbox, you’d have to open it. This is one item that has to end up on the top of the pile. I’ve yet to find anybody who can stack their pile of mail on top of this thing.

You don’t even need a box for this item. Just tape down the lid and put your address label and postage directly on the outside of the can. I’ve mailed thousands of these and they arrive great each time. You can see a short video where I explain how to mail the trash can here.

This is perfect for a second, third or fourth mailing to a list of prospects who have not responded to your previous offers. No one can resist opening this and reading your letter.

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Riches in Niches

2010-09-02T16:42:00.000-07:00

We wrapped up last week with a few thoughts on branding, and specifically the way small business owners should think about branding (hint: it’s NOT like big, nameless, faceless corporations). To see where we ended last week, see the blog post. Today we’re going to start up a new topic, something that every business can use and implement immediately.

Today we’ll start a discussion on riches in niches and subcultures. This, on the surface, can seem rather elementary, but mastering this concept is certainly not, and once you do, you’ll have a big competitive advantage over all your competition.

“When everybody’s your customer, nobody’s your customer.”

America (and most other countries for that matter) are divided into niches and sub-cultures. Simplistically, niches are occupational and vocational. Subcultures are sorted by interest, belief, activity, etc. So, “insurance salespeople” are a niche; “deer hunters” are a subculture. There are life insurance sales people, property/casualty, auto/home, etc. There are deer hunters who only use bow and arrow, only hunt in the Midwest etc. Virtually any product or service can be customized, semi-customized or at least “have a wrapper put on it” to match it to a specific niche or subculture. You may think that’s not necessary because your product or service is useful or beneficial to everybody, including both insurance salespeople and deer hunters, but that misses the key marketing advantage born of human nature: people want, prefer, and place significantly higher value on what is (is perceived to be) specifically and exclusively for them vs. what is generically for everybody.

Here’s a biggie. The movement of a product or service from generic to niche permits price increase, which provides you better profit margins, which in turn affords you more money to reinvest into marketing and advertising and allows you to out-spend your competition in order to get a client. This is a very good position to be in!

That’s it for this post. As we move forward over the next few posts I’ll show you some real world examples from my clients, and other businesses, who are successfully selling to very targeted niches and subcultures. I’ll see you then!

Branding You

2010-08-30T16:19:00.000-07:00

Last week we started a discussion on a topic I normally don’t talk too much about, branding. But there are ways to use branding effectively while still adhering to our direct response marketing rules. We’ve covered them in two separate blog posts. See the first one here and our most recent discussion here for your review. Today we’ll talk about the last two ways to use branding
the right way in your business.

Thanks to Dan Kennedy for allowing me to share his thoughts on branding with direct response marketing.

When you do develop brand identity, develop a ‘customer culture’ with it so your brand is theirs. Think Starbucks or Disney. The customers are part of something, not just people being sold to. But, whatever you do, DON’T blindly copy big companies advertising practices. Very, very carefully learn from the very few smart ones, like Disney. But remember they are playing in a different
league with different rules and different means of keeping score… as example, you may keep score by profit white they must keep score by stock price. And they have more resources than you do.

For most small businesses, personal branding is far superior to corporate/Business branding. People prefer to do business with other people rather than nameless, faceless institutions. Put yourself out there! If you’re looking to learn more on personal branding,I highly suggest you look into Kennedy’s How to Create Personality in Copy.

It’s an in-depth presentation, by Dan Kennedy, about creating rapid, responsive fans… i.e. customers for life… by carefully, painstakingly developing yourself as a heroic, fascinating and unique “character” with whom your customers have a continually evolving relationship.Get more information here, and in the search bar on the top of the page, search for “How to Create Personality in Copy.”

Not the Golden Arches

2010-08-26T15:20:00.001-07:00

Last we started on a topic that I’m sure surprised a few of you. We talked about branding. No, not like golden arches, or swooshes, but in ways most small businesses can actually accomplish it. To review, see the blog below.

Before we get going, I want to restate a very important idea from the last post. You need a very carefully selected target niche or sub-culture that your message(s) resonate with. This is critical. A brand, or brand identity is a recognized symbol that represents and calls to mind WHAT you and your business are about, but it’s all moot if you don’t have a specific WHO in mind. For more on the WHO in your business, see this blog post from a few weeks ago.

Further, don’t confuse ‘brand identity’ with logo and slogans, color schemes, etc. These are simply devices used to convey or support you brand identity. Brand identity is first and foremost about your ideas. These ‘representative things’ are a distant second. For a book relevant to this topic, check out “Made to Stick” at Amazon.

Lastly, don’t mix-up your brand identity with your unique selling proposition (USP). A USP answers the question: Why should I, your client, choose to do business with you versus any and every other option available to me?

(Thanks to Dan Kennedy for providing that gem on a USP. If you’re not yet receiving Dan’s No BS Marketing Newsletter and you’re in any way responsible for your businesses marketing, you absolutely must. Fix that here) Next week I’ll show you the type of branding you really should be involved in as a small business owner. I think you’ll really like it. Until then, keep on marketing!

Branding?

2010-08-18T16:45:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week we wrapping up our series on the 7 most powerful words and phrases you can use in your marketing. See all 7 at the blog. Today, we’re moving on to a different subject, and I can hear some of you gasping right now…. BRANDING.

I know you loyal readers are probably saying, “Travis is anti-branding!” And to a certain extent, I am. But hear me out during this and future emails. I think you’ll be surprised and what I am talking about.

First off, I’m all for creating and working on a name-brand identity and recognition for yourself and your business. BUT, and it’s a big BUT, do it as a by-product and bonus of a solid, accountable, profitable, direct-response advertising and marketing. You’ll want to avoid buying it outright such as with big, dumb corporate image marketing.

Dan Kennedy refers to this as the “Direct Marketing diet,” in his book, No BS Direct Marketing for Non-Direct Marketing Businesses. If you like the kind of marketing I give in these tips, this is required reading. Get it here at Amazon.

Next, when you do create a brand for you and your business, do it where it counts, with a carefully selected target niche or sub-culture marketing. Small enough that you can have impact with whatever resources you have, defined narrowly enough that you can create a compelling message for it.

A giant market is only good for someone with a giant ad budget. As Dan says in his book mentioned above, “You don’t want to spend your time peeing in the ocean.” A great example of this is Michael Gerber’s E-Myth series. Sure, Gerber sacrifices corporate American, and likely will never get 5,000 copies snapped up by Intel, but he’s created a nice little niche with small business owners and those who want to start their own businesses. That’s it for this post. Have a great week!

Marketing Tip Reader’s Only Special - Get 30% off The Message in a Bottle Now Through Aug. 31st, one of our best sellers!

One item that is becoming increasingly popular lately is our message-in-a-bottle mailer. If you’re looking for a way to cut the clutter, this is definitely one way to go.

The bottom of the plastic bottle comes off for easy access. Simply remove the bottom, roll up your letter and insert it! Put the bottom back on, slap the address label on, add postage and drop it in the mail. It’s that simple. Or, we can do it all for you! Just give me a call about complete implementation for you. Your letter has to end up on the top of your customer’s
stack of mail, and who could possibly resist opening the bottle and reading your letter?

A few tips when using this item. First, you don’t need to put this bottle into a box; you simply mail the bottle “as is.” You’ll want to use a 2” x 4” mailing label or smaller for the recipient’s address, and add your postage stamps or metered tape to the bottle as well. We’re finding that response is not affected when using a metered stamp, so use whichever one is easier for
you to implement.

Second, your prospect will be opening the bottom of the bottle, NOT the top. I always like to put a message on label that reads, “Twist Bottom to Open.” It may be obvious to you, but not to your prospect!

Get 30% off The Message in a Bottle Now Through Aug. 31st. Check out the discounted pricing here, and be sure to check out the video on that page for more tips on using the message in a bottle for maximum success.

3 More Power Words

2010-08-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

Today we’ll wind down on conversation on the 7 most power words and phrases you can use in your marketing. To review the two most powerful, visit this blog post. For phrases three and four, visit this post. Today, we’ll wrap with the final 7 most powerful words and phrases you can use. Thanks again to my mentor, Dan Kennedy, for allowing me to use some of his thoughts in this post.

First up today, FINALLY…

This works great whenever you are selling against a group of prospects who have had previous disappointments, frustrations, skepticism or offering a new solution. This is a POWERFUL word. It telegraphs a complex message, as in, “Finally – A Weight Loss Plan That Actually Works… From Hollywood Stars and Women Right Here in Seattle As Well.”

Next, one of my favorites: “Photo Enclosed, Do Not Bend.”

This is a great way to get an envelope opened. It only requires a printed photo of you, your product, your customers, your town, etc. to validate the claim.

There are variations of this, much like our X-Ray letter, which we stamp in red on the envelope, “X-Ray Enclosed, Do Not Bend.” Inside, we include a ‘real’ x-ray of a happy, smiling, client. See more on the x-ray here.

One of the best ways I ever saw this used was the Reagan Ranch and the Young America’s Foundation a few years back. They had the words, “photos enclosed, do not bend,” on the outside of the envelope. Enclosed were pictures of teens and young adults volunteering their time at the Ranch. If you’re looking for a good lesson in direct mail, I highly suggest you get on the Reagan Ranch and Young America’s foundation list.

Last and it goes hand-in-hand with “Photo Enclosed, Do Not Bend,” is “Personal and Confidential.” It serves the same purpose as above. However, some care is required, and what’s immediately seen by the prospect must really be personal and confidential, or else you’ll lose out from the get go.

Read What our Customers Have to Say

2010-08-09T11:31:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week we started a discussion on the 7 most powerful words you can use in you marketing, and we hit on the two most powerful you can use. To review, check out the blog. Today we’ll hit two more words and phrases that will really hit home with your clients or prospects.

The third most power word or phrase you can use is:

“Read What our Customers Have to Say”

People are much more interested in what others like them have to say than about what you or your sales staff has to say. Any version of this line on an ad, brochure, and website will draw readership.

Jazzing up this statement can also make it more interesting. It’s also best to tie it to the prospect your targeting. For example, in our American Retail Supply business, when we target Denver area retailers, we’ll use a line like:

“Read What 33 Denver Area Retailers Have to Say About American Retail Supply’s Service”

You’re looking for a, “wow, that’s me,” reaction from your prospect, and this is one way to get it.

Another very powerful phrase in marketing is, “Your Choice.” The book of the month club made this famous many moons ago with offers like, “Choose any 5 books for just $1.” This exact model was used for many years throughout the 90’s as well in the music industry, “Buy any 10 CD’s for just $1.”

This strategy has even hit the fast food industry. Wendy’s now offers value meals and has grouped different side items that are all priced the same, advertising more choices than just French fries. Subway also does this and has tied it into their wildly successful campaign using Jared. If you can get a prospect involved in choosing, you make a ‘yes or no’ decision go away altogether.

Next week we’ll talk about the final three powerful words and phrases you’ll want to use in your marketing. See you then!

Marketing Tip Reader’s Only Special - Get 30% off The Message in a Bottle Now Through Aug. 31st, one of our best sellers!

One item that is becoming increasingly popular lately is our message-in-a-bottle mailer. If you’re looking for a way to cut the clutter, this is definitely one way to go.

The bottom of the plastic bottle comes off for easy access. Simply remove the bottom, roll up your letter and insert it! Put the bottom back on, slap the address label on, add postage and drop it in the mail. It’s that simple. Or, we can do it all for you! Just give me a call about complete implementation for you. Your letter has to end up on the top of your customer’s stack of mail, and who could possibly resist opening the bottle and reading your letter?

A few tips when using this item. First, you don’t need to put this bottle into a box; you simply mail the bottle “as is.” You’ll want to use a 2” x 4” mailing label or smaller for the recipient’s address, and add your postage stamps or metered tape to the bottle as well. We’re finding that response is not affected when using a metered stamp, so use whichever one is easier for you to implement.

Second, your prospect will be opening the bottom of the bottle, NOT the top. I always like to put a message on label that reads, “Twist Bottom to Open.” It may be obvious to you, but not to your prospect!

Get 30% off The Message in a Bottle Now Through Aug. 31st.

Check out the discounted pricing here, and be sure to check out the video on that page for more tips on using the message in a bottle for maximum success.

7 Powerful Words

2010-08-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

As any good copywriter will tell you, all words are not created equal. This should come as no shock to anybody who’s been marketing their business for any length of time. But which words are better than others? Over the next few tips, we’ll go over the 7 most powerful words you can use in your marketing. Think of this as a checklist when you’re crafting any new ad, or revising an older one. Let’s get started.

First up… FREE

Yep, still the most powerful in almost all split-testing. In fact, current split-tests of single word teaser copy on the outside of an envelope prove it still out-pulls all challengers. With everything that’s changed in the economy the past 2 years, it’s still really hard to beat FREE.

If you’re offering free, don’t hide or bury the offer. Put it right up front or at least tease it in the headline, a pre-head or sub-head. Here’s an example from my mentor Dan Kennedy and how he uses it as a pre-head:

If you’re main headline is “Relief from Back Pain, No Matter How Long You’ve Had It” and your offer is a free report and DVD that goes on to sell an exam, add a pre-head:

FREE Consumer Report & DVD Reveals…
Relief from Back Pain, No
Matter How Long You’ve Had It!

Running second to Free, is NEW, and for good reason. How often do you ask people, “what’s new?” We’ve been conditioned to believe that what’s new must be better, and we’ll gladly get in line and wait for it. Think the ‘new’ iPhone 4. Also, think about men’s shaving razors; first two blades, then three, four, and now five. Then vibrating, then with vibrating with ‘moisture control’...It goes on forever.

There are the first two, FREE and NEW. Probably nothing earth shaking, but stay tuned for later this week as I’ll reveal a few more powerful words you need to be using in your marketing and advertising.

Blog Reader’s Only Special - Get 30% off The Message in a Bottle Now Through Aug. 31st, one of our best sellers!

One item that is becoming increasingly popular lately is our message-in-a-bottle mailer. If you’re looking for a way to cut the clutter, this is definitely one way to go.

The bottom of the plastic bottle comes off for easy access. Simply remove the bottom, roll up your letter and insert it! Put the bottom back on, slap the address label on, add postage and drop it in the mail. It’s that simple. Or, we can do it all for you! Just give me a call about complete implementation for you.

Your letter has to end up on the top of your customer’s stack of mail, and who could possibly resist opening the bottle and reading your letter?

A few tips when using this item. First, you don’t need to put this bottle into a box; you simply mail the bottle “as is.” You’ll want to use a 2” x 4” mailing label or smaller for the recipient’s address, and add your postage stamps or metered tape to the bottle as well. We’re finding that response is not affected when using
a metered stamp, so use whichever one is easier for you to implement.

Second, your prospect will be opening the bottom of the bottle, NOT the top. I always like to put a message on label that reads, “Twist Bottom to Open.” It may be obvious to you, but not to your prospect!

Get 30% off The Message in a Bottle Now Through Aug. 31st.

Check out the discounted pricing here, and be sure to check out the video on that page for more tips on using the message in a bottle for maximum success.

2 More Ad Essentials

2010-08-02T10:55:00.000-07:00

So where did we leave off last week? That’s right; we left off with one of our 7 ad essentials, the use of premiums/free gifts in your business. See the post below to review. Today we’ll cover the last two ad essentials you should have in any marketing you do.

The first thing we’ll cover today is your website. In business today it’s virtually required to have one. But most people don’t use them properly, and I’m as guilty as anybody. You want to use your website wisely as an extension of the direct mail you’re sending.

Here’s an example for my business where I’m guilty. I mail lots of promotions using my own 3D Mail items. My favorite is the bank bag and I’ve been known to have some boomer specials on them throughout the year. I’ll send out the direct mail piece with the bank bag and the special pricing. Then I’ll tell them something like, “go to the website and check out the bank bag, but DON’T order there; you won’t get the special pricing, use the included fax back, or call me…”

It’s pretty stupid. If I were smart (and what I’ll be doing in the future), I’d have a separate, dedicated website where they can get the special pricing. If you’re going to use your website, you want it to be congruent with the special promotions you’re having, or your better not using it at all.

Finally, there’s brand identity. I know, I’m against such dumb, “Madison Avenue” branding. HOWEVER, if you do achieve a brand identity through your thorough and constant messages and advertising like I teach, then you should use it. If you’ve got it with your audience, use it.

In one of our businesses, American Retail Supply, we have a good ‘band name’ and recognition among our target audience, especially with our good, repeat clients. They know, recognize, and respect our name and logo. They already know what we stand for and what we’re about. When marketing to them, we will use our logo, name, etc. to our advantage along with (not in place of) our tried and true direct response marketing techniques.

So there they are. The 7 ad essential you should be using with any marketing you use. You can see all 7 at my blog if you want to review or catch up. Have a wonderful andprofitable week!

Gift with purchase

2010-07-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

We’re continuing our segment on the 7 ad essentials you must include in your marketing. Last week we hit the topic of a deadlines and how vital they are to success in direct mail marketing. To review, visit the blog post below. Today we’ll move on to something I feel is completely overlooked by most marketers, a premium/free gift.

We’ll start with a quote from my mentor Dan Kennedy:

“Too many marketers deal with premiums almost as an afterthought. This is a huge mistake. I know for a fact that premiums can and do drive sales, and that a change of premium, with no other changes, can dramatically alter the results of a promotion. For this reason, just as much careful thought should be given to the premium as to the main offer.”

Research has shown that a direct mail letter with a premium/free gift offer can out pull a sales letter alone by as much as 300%! Before we get too far into why they work so well, you may be thinking, “What is a premium?”

A premium/free gift is anything of value your prospect/client/patient receives for taking some action that you want, and it doesn’t have to be just with a purchase. Many times it may be good to offer a premium/free gift just for responding to your advertising, with no purchase needed. Or, you may want to use the premium/free gift when an existing client refers a new buying client.

Often, the best premiums are not even tied to what you are offering! It’s often an unrelated item for the personal use of the buyer and not even for their business (if you’re selling B2B). The key is that is has perceived vale. It may not cost a lot, but it should look like it costs a lot.

It’s also wise to reveal the gift of give options rather than have a mystery gift. When you do reveal the gift, a picture is worth a thousand words. Always include a picture of the item, as this is much more effective than only describing the item.

Lastly, premiums can lower your cost per transaction. It likely seems nuts to you that premiums can actually lower your cost pre transaction,, but here’s how it works.

Let’s say you mail out 10,000 sales letters, with no premium and you get a 2% response rate. That would be 200 responders. Let’s further assume that you can be profitable with those 200 responders.

Now let’s say you offer the premium, and response goes up to 3%. This is not an out-of-the-ordinary response when you offer a premium. You now only need to send out 6,700 pieces of mail to get the same 200 responders as you did without the premium.

And, for easy math, let’s say each mailing cost $1.00. You would save $3,300 on just the single mailing. Your premium cost you $5 each for the 200 responders for a total cost of $1,000. You still save $2,300 over the offer without the premium!

7 Ad Essentials - Deadlines

2010-07-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

We’re continuing our segment on 7 ad essentials you must include in your marketing. Last week we talked about your basic business info, maps and directions and offers. In case you missed it, or if you’d like to review, visit the blog here. Today we’ll discuss a biggie, deadlines!

Last week we talk about having an offer. A deadline goes hand-in-hand with offers. Pure and simple, if you don’t have a deadline, you don’t have an offer. Most businesses that aren’t tuned in to direct response hide their deadlines in tiny sized type hoping you won’t see it. This is just the opposite of what you want to do. You want to create urgency; you want them to act now, which is just the opposite of what most big, dumb companies do.

Something to consider with your deadline is people are more motivated by fear of loss than personal gain. So often a deadline where they ‘lose out’ on something after an elapsed time is better than gaining something if they respond early. Some ways to use deadlines include:

Response required within “X” number of days
By a certain date
By a date stamped in RED on your letter
Limited to the first “X” number

Deadlines are a great way to create urgency which is what you want to do. Don’t hide them and be sure to make them very clear to your clients or prospects.

It’s always great when you can incorporate “reason why” copy as well. This means you actually have a reason why, and you explain it for both your deadline and your offer. one of the best “reasons why” is an anniversary sale. In fact for one of our businesses, American Retail Supply, we just celebrated our 40th Anniversary. When you give a reason why, people will accept it at face value. They’ll think to themselves, “Oh, that’s why I’m getting a discount” instead of being cautious or skeptical.

You can also blame a “common enemy” as a reason for both a promotion and deadline. In the past I’ve used my accountant as the “enemy.” The story goes that I had a great idea for a promotion, but the “lousy bean-counting accountant” wouldn’t let me. So when he went on vacation,I did it anyway! Sure, it’s not a great reason, but it’s good enough, plus it gives me a great story to tell in my advertising. Everybody loves to read a story!

It’s always good to have a name for your offer. In the above examples we obviously named it the Anniversary Sale, and “My accountants Away” offer. There’s a ton of others you can use. Just a few are:

Birthdays
Holidays or events
“Empty the Shelves” event for overstocked inventory
“One Week Only” Sale
The list could go on.

Finally, with deadlines, multiple deadlines are very effective and work well with long deadlines. For instance, you could use something like:

This offer expires in two weeks, but if you respond in the next two weeks you’ll get an additional FREE gift.

The power of taking something away over time is a very strong way to get people to act sooner rather than later.

7 Ad Essentials

2010-07-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

I hope you had a fun and safe 4th of July celebration over the weekend. I certainly did, even if it did rain a little (only in Seattle!). So last week we briefly spoke about one of my favorite topics, the Robert Collier principle. If you want to review, or are unfamiliar with that term, you really should go check out the blog post here.

For the next several tips we’ll discuss what I call the 7 essentials for any advertising you do. The first few may seem obvious, but you’d been amazed at how many critiques I get and they’re missing some, or most of these essentials.

The first thing you always need is your basic business card information. You and your company’s name, full address, website(s), phone number, fax, e-mail, your Facebook page,etc. Again, this may seem basic as you read this but it’s amazing how often these little things get overlooked. Plus, be sure you have the information correct! I’ve heard horror stories of wrong phone numbers, misspelled websites, etc.

Next, if client’s coming to your brick-and-Mortar place of business is an option whatsoever, you MUST include a map and directions to your location. Not everybody knows where you are located or will remember, even your best clients. If you leave a prospect or client wondering or confused they won’t do anything!

If you don’t have an offer you don’t really have an advertisement. Offers are vital with any direct response and direct mail campaign. Quite frankly, it’s what makes direct response marketing what it is.

With offers, it’s almost always better to give them an ‘either or’ option instead of only one. For example, you may have a basic and deluxe version, Gold or Silver Editions, etc. These will almost always out-perform a simple yes/no option.

Here’s an advanced tip. When 65% or more of your clients start taking the deluxe option over the basic, add a “Best” option. You’ll want to keep the other two, but it’s been my experience that 10-20% will start taking the “Best” option when you present it.

Later in the week we’ll cover a few more of the 7 essentials all your marketing must contain.

Blog Reader’s Only Special

About two weeks ago, I sent you a message about my friend Brian Tracy's moving day offer, and how if you acted fast, you could obtain a bundle of bargains on some of some of his best products during Brian Tracy's Moving Day Sale of 2010.

Check it out here.

Response has been overwhelming. I'm writing today because I want to make sure you get in on the deal. It's pretty straight forward. Brian moved offices recently and is up to his eyeballs in products. Until they started unpacking, they didn't even realize what they had!

Well, Brian's moving challenge becomes your windfall because he's allowing me to practically give away his products to you. You can find an abundance of some of his best stuff right here.

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The Robert Collier Principle

2010-07-06T17:06:00.000-07:00

We’re going to briefly going to talk about one of my favorite topics and strategies in marketing. In fact, we teach it and talk about it often in my monthly newsletter, The Copywriter’s Corner. It’s the Robert Collier principle.

Robert Collier is a famous copywriter and author who who said, as a marketer, you want to enter to conversation already going on in your client or prospects head. Using current events, holidays and borrowing from celebrity is a great way to do this. To steal a line from a political newscaster, “Which of these stories will they be talking about tomorrow?”

Current events are relatively easy, but you usually need to act quickly. Even big stories have a relatively short shelf life. As I write this, the oil spill in the gulf, and immigration are on the news, the next “Twilight” movie is due out any day and it’s expected to break all kinds of records.

Politics is always an easy target, regardless of what side of the fence you’re on (just be sure the match that message to your market, like we talked about last week here). Over the past few years we’ve had bail-outs, an election, cash for clunkers, and on and one. In November of 2009, we gave our Copywriter’s Corner members a ready to implement 3D mailer using gold medals to tie in to the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Holidays are also a great way to get in your client’s head. There are the obvious ones like 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween, etc.

Using celebrity is also a great way to use the Collier principle. Unfortunately we know way more about Snookie than we should, and who knows what the Lohan girl will do next. See how easy that is?

Blog Reader’s Only Special

I mentioned the Copywriter’s Corner above. This is sent to my 3d Mail Inner Circle Members. Each month we send you a turn-key, ready to implement 3D sales letter that use can use in your business. It’s part of our 3D Mail Sample Kit and Sales Explosion Guide. You can watch my short video here, and see if it’s for you.

Target Your Best Clients

2010-06-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

I hope you’re enjoying our ongoing discussion on message to market match and the marketing triangle. So far we talk about the markets you choose and the message (what you say). You can review those links at my postings below.

Today we’ll move on to Media which means the devices you use to get new clients to your business and how you get past clients to buy again. Remember, we’re using Dan Kennedy’s Marketing Triangle as a basis for our conversation.

By media, I’m talking about any means of delivering your message to your target audience (your market). These can include (but certainly not limited to):

Direct mail
Yellow pages
Newspapers
TV
Radio
Websites
Blogs
Videos
Seminars
Tele-seminars
Webinars
Car racks
Signage
Billboards
Banners
ValPak style mailers

The list goes on and on.

I know some of you probably have some pre-conceived notions about some of the media listed and think of some of them as bad or good media. To be honest, there is no such thing as a bad or good media, just as there is not good or bad tool in your toolbox in the garage. There are tools that are more appropriate than others, say if you want to pound in a nail, or screw in a screw. One does better than the other for certain jobs.

The same is true with your media. Here’s an example. If you’re targeting people over the age of 70 for vacation rentals in Florida during the winter, relying solely internet websites, online videos and e-mailis foolish. You’ll need to use other media to reach those people such as direct mail or magazine/newspaper ads.

However, if you’re targeting college aged spring breakers to come to Lake Havasu, then the web may be a perfect place and you’ll probably want to rule out the yellow pages, Val-Pak etc.

You want to limit yourself to those media that are paid the most attention to, and the ones that are preferred and given creditability by your target audience. And, most importantly, one you can affordable reach.

To know if they are affordable, that means you must track your lifetime customer value (LTCV) and short term customer value (STCV) as some media can and should be ruled out and make others more attractive.

The Words You Say

2010-06-24T14:38:00.000-07:00

Last week we started our discussion on “Message to Market Match” and I introduced you to Dan Kennedy’s famous marketing triangle. Last week we had a great discussion on the Market (who) side of the triangle. To review where we’ve been see my blog post here.

Today we’ll move on to Message (what), or the things you say or write to your market (who). Remember, we’re using Dan’s Marketing Triangle as a basis for our conversation.
Your marketing messages are the things you say or write about your business/product/service to entice people to do business with you. They can include your:

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Unique Value Proposition
Elevator Speech
Sales letters
Web site copy and images
The offers you make
The social proof you use
Testimonials, etc.

This is not an exhaustive list, but I think you get the idea. We talked about the ‘who’ last week. Your job is to make sure your messages match your target market.

This is vitally important. For example, if you’re a charity targeting republicans over the age of 55, you probably don’t want to quote JFK. However,a quote, image, and extensive use of Ronald Reagan would probably be very appropriate.

On the flip side, if you’re the same charity targeting young democrats, quoting Regan is probably worthless. But using an image of Obama on the first page of your letter with a quote from him would almost certainly boost response.

The words, images, phrases, etc. you use play a vital role in having just an OK response and having excellent response. Later this week we’ll talk a bit more about howto craft your messages to match your markets.

Marketing Tip Reader’s Only Special

Recently my friend Brian Tracy informed me of a problem he was having...

He has just moved his office, and found a supply of amazing products that he didn't even know were there! He has been in that office space for more than 20 years, so it was bound to happen; a lot can get lost or hidden in a 20 year period.

So he asked me to help. And now I'm asking YOU to help. Don't worry, you don't have to lift any boxes or move any heavy furniture...

All the hard work is done, all I need you to do is click here now to see how you can help yourself to all the wonderful valuables Brian and his team uncovered while moving and changing suppliers.

I call it Brian Tracy's Moving Day Sale of 2010, and it's all about you getting your hands on hi best products for just pennies on the dollar. I must give you fair warning, there is a tight 30-day window on this offer.

What are you waiting for? Check it out now.

Who's Your Who

2010-06-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

Last week we started our discussion on “Message to Market Match” and I introduced you to Dan Kennedy’s famous marketing triangle. We briefly touch on the Media portion (see image below). There will be more to come on Media in the coming days. To review where we’ve been see my blog post here.

Today we’ll move on to the markets, or the ‘who’ in your business that you choose. Remember, we’re using Dan’s Marketing Triangle as a basis for our conversation.
The “Markets” side of the triangle refers to who you select and choose as your clientele, with a big emphasis on SELECT and CHOOSE. Believe it or not, you, through your marketing, advertising and other messages, select your own clients. To say it simply, if you have bad clients you have no one to blame but yourself.

There’s never been a worse time for an, “Anybody is my client” mentality. I can’t tell you how many times I’m consulting with clients and I ask the simply question, “Who is your client?” and they either say, “I don’t know…”or, “Everybody in Milwaukee.” (Assuming they’re in
Milwaukee.)

Quite frankly, it’s too costly to attract ‘everybody’ with one broad brushstroke. It’s a huge mistake to have too big a targeted market with too few resources. Leave that to big, dumb corporations.

So I’ll leave you today with a brief, concise definition of how you should target your ideal market:

A good market is identifiable, affordably reached group with shared interests, needs, fears, desires which you believe are well matched to your knowledge, product service and expertise.

Later this week we’ll tackle the ‘Message’ side of the marketing triangle. I’ll see you then!

Message to Market Match

2010-06-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

Alright, so after a brief break we’re back this week with an all new series of tips, just for you, my loyal reader. If you recall we ended last week talking about mailing lists and how to get them. See my blog posts below and start from the top down if you’d like to review. Today we have a brief entry on message to market match.

Message to Market Match means you’re matching what you’re selling, the media you’re selling it through, and the words you write to very precise and targeted prospects.

The best way I’ve seen or heard this described is by my mentors Dan Kennedy. I’m not even going to try and top it,so just see the images below. For more on Dan and his outstanding No B.S. Marketing Newsletter (to which I am a subscriber for 7 years, Keith for nearly 20!) visit this link.
When I say media, I’m talking about the format, and appropriateness for the task you’re trying to accomplish. For example, a retailer sending a ‘stand-alone’ postcard who’s holding an event in the mall is probably OK. If you’re sending a ‘stand-alone’ postcard to business owners expecting them to invest in new accounting and order taking software which is a $10,000 investment, for their business…BAD!!

I’m not saying the postcard doesn’t have a place in your marketing to the business owners. It may very well have its time and place. But to expect a postcard to do the heavy lifting is not smart.

Second, you want to start with people you already understand, and for the vast majority of you that will be the niche you serve. For example, I write to other business owners and salespeople who obviously are interested in growing their business with direct mail and doing it creatively (or why else would you be getting this!). I know and can speak our language, can identify with you, and thus can make a stronger connection with my copy. The same should go for you, when writing to your own niche. The good news is you can get a very good response with just OK copy if you make sure you’re sending it to a highly targeted list.

To Your Direct Mail Success,
Travis Lee

www.3DMailResults.com

How To Get Mailing Lists, Part 2

2010-05-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

So last week I left you with the basics on getting commercially available lists for your business. As usual I posted that last conversation on my blog. To review, go over to the blog. Today we’ll go over some other ways to grow your mailing list.

One way to grown your existing list is to use “turn-key” vendors who can get you lists that match your target audience. Then, they do the entire direct mailing for you, including the writing of the copy, printing, mailing, all the grunt work you shouldn’t be doing. we do a lot of this for our clients here at 3D Mail.

There are two others that I would highly recommend you check out. One is Dean Killingbeck's New Customers Now program. Dean works with restaurants, auto repair shops, chiro's, dentists and others to get new people moving into your area and introduce them to your business. Check out the site and tell Dean Travis over at 3D Mail Sent ya.

The other is Rory Fatt's Royalty Rewards. Royalty Rewards is a complete "auto-pilot" rewards/loyalty program that is great for getting your clients to come back more often and get them to buy more each time they come in. A great combination! Here's a video you can watch on Royalty Rewards. It's hosted by Rory and my dad Keith. We did a webinar on this a few months ago. Check it out here. I give both my highest endorsement.

A third way to grow your list is by compiling it yourself through lead generation marketing. We've discussed lead generation marketing before so I'll be very brief here.

Lead generation marketing is the ultimate ‘pull’ marketing strategy. It allows people who are interested in your product or service to pull information for themselves about you and your business, rather than
the usually ‘push’ marketing that you usually see.

Almost all “Madison Avenue” marketing is push marketing. What you need for prospects to ‘pull’ information from you is great bait, or a lead generation magnet. This is something that you’re prospects request from you. They come in many forms, but the most typical is free information about your business or industry.

That's a wrap on our discussion on mailing lists. I'll be back next week with some more great information for you. See you then!

To Your Direct Mail Success,
Travis Lee

www.3DMailResults.com

How To Get Mailing Lists

2010-05-20T12:04:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week we discussed the lists you should be using in your business. If you missed that discussion or want to review, go on over to the past blog entries to catch up. Today we’ll talk about ways to get lists, and how to grow your own in-house list.

One way to get a list is to rent commercially available lists. This article discusses the basics of renting lists. We'll get to other ways of growing your list in upcoming tips.

First, understand you will be RENTING these lists for one-time, two-time or multiple use and the price will go up with each option. The lists will be “seeded” with false names and addresses that deliver your mail to the list owners, so they can police the use of their lists.

Second, you’ll probably wind up working with a List Broker. A good List Broker can be of great help to you and can usually help you uncover ideas that you did not originally consider. You’ll find the List Brokers in your own area in your Yellow Pages, under MAILING LISTS and LIST BROKERS or similar categories.

Third, you will need to educate yourself about available lists, in order to clarify your ideas about what you want BEFORE meeting with or talking with List Brokers. You can start at your nearest major city, main public library, where you’ll find a current or one-year-old copy of a huge directory called “SRDS”, for ‘Standard Rate And Data Service’.

While at the library, you should also read some back issues of trade magazines like Direct Marketing and DM News. In a couple of hours, you can become conversant in the terminology, the language of the list business, so you can ask smart questions and deal with List Brokers.

There’s more on renting lists, but I think you’ve got the basics covered here. Next week we’ll talk about ways to grow your own in-house list without have to buy or rent a list. See you next week.

To Your Direct Mail Success,
Travis Lee

www.3DMailResults.com

The Lists You Should Be Using

2010-05-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

So where’d we leave off… That’s right, using direct mail and lists. To see where we started off last week, see my first blog post on the subject. To see where we left off last week on the use of lists, see that blog post below. Today we’ll pick up where our last post left off on the lists you should be using in your business.

The first thing to know is that all lists are not created equally, nor should they be. Today we’ll go over the four different kinds of lists you’ll encounter, in order of importance, starting with the most important.

First and foremost is your list of current and active clients segmented and sorted by a myriad of
topics. They can be sorted by SIC code in B2B, the products or services they’ve purchased, they’re buying behavior (do they buy only on sale, or at full price, one time of year, or year round, by brand etc), demographics and psychographics and many others. Your task as a marketer of your business is to ID and filter the segments that make the most sense
in your business.

A distant second to your sorted and segmented in-house list is your in-house list unsorted. While this certainly is better than advertising to the unwashed masses, it’s certainly not as good as having your list sorted and segmented as we described above.

Third on the list is a response list. A response list is a mailing list of individuals who have responded previously to direct mail offers, hopefully selling similar/complimentary to your. You can further segment these lists by the demographics and psychograpics we have discussed in previous posts.

Finally, there are complied lists of consumers and businesses. This is basic consumer and business data taken by survey, public records etc. There can be and is money in lists like these. You need to be sure you’re getting the right kind of demo and psychographics to match your copy and your offer to them.

There are few more kinds of lists out there, but those are the one’s we’ll concern ourselves with the most. So how can you go about getting those lists? We’ll talk about that a little later in a separate post.

Marketing Tip Reader’s Only Special

As we discussed, getting the proper list should be your #1 priority when starting a new direct mail campaign. You’re in-house list should be your most profitable one. But what if you’re ready to move to cold prospects? How should you start? I’ve teamed up with a list
company to make that quick and easy for you. Just some of the benefits include:

95% Average deliverability rate. Your mail gets delivered and into the right hands each time.
92% Delivery guarantee. Other list companies only guarantee 90%. You mail will get delivered, opened and read.
Updated monthly so you have the most up to date records and information
100% Nine digit zip codes

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Date of Birth
Interests and Hobbies
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New Movers
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Plus Dozens more!

We can also supply your business data including:

SIC codes
Sales volume
Employee size
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Emails
Website information
Women Owned Indicator
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And dozens more

3D Mail Results is now truly your One-Stop-Shop for everything you need for your next 3D Mailing. Copywriting, grabbers, lists and fulfillment! Give me a call at 888-250-1834 and we’ll started on your next successful 3D Mail campaign!

To Your Direct Mail Success,
Travis Lee

www.3DMailResults.com

The #1 Reason to Use Direct Mail

2010-05-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

So, did I do a good enough job of teasing you and leaving you hanging with my last email? To review our conversation from earlier on the benefits of direct mail, see my blog post.

So the #1 reason to use direct mail is that we get to use lists! I know you’re probably saying to yourself, “Well… Duh, of course we use lists.” But let’s go over the power we get when we use them correctly.

In no other media can we laser target and shrink our world to the exact demographics (like age, gender, income, etc.) and psychographics (like what they buy, where they buy, they’re interests, hobbies, charitable giving, etc.) like we can when we use well selected.

I’ll steal a line from my mentor. Dan Kennedy:

“If you want a list of one-legged midgets in Akron, who have 2 kids, a dog, is married and bowls in a league on Wednesday nights, you can find that list. Now, admittedly it won’t be a very big list, but you can get with a little digging.”

You certainly can’t do that in radio and TV. There’s a reason they call it “broadcast” media. You cast a big, broad message and hope something sticks. If you’ve ever advertised in or investigated newspapers, TV, radio etc, they’ll tell you something like their average listener/viewer/reader is male, age 19-45, has a household income of 25K-150K etc.

Now, for big, dumb companies with marketing budgets to burn, that may be good enough, but not for me. I want to know their age within a few years (say 40-44), their interests, what kind of car they drive, their voting preferences, what books they’re reading, and I can get that, plus whole lot more with a direct mail list.

There’s enough information there for you to ponder for a few days. We’ll continue next time on the different kinds of lists you can and should use. Have a great week!

To Your Direct Mail Success,
Travis Lee

www.3DMailResults.com

Direct Mail Strategies

2010-05-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

It’s no secret that I’m a big believer in using direct mail or why else would I be in the 3D Mail business! However there are a lot of great reasons to use it.

The biggest reason to use direct mail is it’s as close as we can possibly get to one-to-one, nose-to-nose, toes-to-toes selling without actually beating a path to our clients. Not only that, we can multiple ourselves several times over by sending many message at the
time. I’ve yet to find a sales person who can be in two places at once, selling to two different prospects. And like selling face-to-face we can customize our message to meet the needs, desires, wants and demographics of our prospects or clients, but more on that as we move forward.

We can also get involvement with the client or prospect and there are many ways to do this, including using 3D Mail. When we get involvement, we get a commitment of time, and if we get the proper commitment of time, the chances of making a sale goes up dramatically.

We’re also given format flexibility and tons of creative space when using direct mail. There are postcards of all shapes and sizes, regular ‘flat’ envelope mailers, greeting cards, self-mailers, magalogs etc. with even more sub categories in those listed above. And using all these different formats is crucial when selling to the same people over and over again. Just when they tire of seeing your postcard mailers, you can change it up with 3D Mail, then change to another format, then another, keeping your content ‘fresh’ in the eyes of your clients.

But the #1 reason to use direct mail isn’t any of those listed above. I’ll reveal that later this week. Until then.

To Your Direct Mail Success,
Travis Lee

www.3DMailResults.com

Get an Endorsement

2010-05-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

Today we’re going to wrap up our ongoing discussion on getting past the gate keeper. It can be one of the toughest and most frustrating things you can do as a B2B marketer. Hopefully I’ve shared some ideas that can help you out. To see my previous post, and all my posts on this subject, just hop on over to my blog.

A great way to completely bypass the gatekeeper is to use an endorsed letter from someone the decision maker knows and trusts.

An endorsed letter is a very under-used direct mail approach. These are similar to ‘influencer’ letters, but on steroids. In an endorsed letter you have a “champion” of yours, someone who sings your praises, send a letter on his letterhead, from him, to prospects who know and respect him, but do not (yet) know you. Or he writes the cover letter that is included with your letter, brochure and sales material endorsing you as the business to choose.

Another way past the gatekeeper is to be “invited in” by the decision maker himself. I know this may seem easier said than done, but there are some strategies you can use. The easiest way is to have the decision maker specifically request your information through ongoing lead generation marketing. There’s more to cover on lead generation marketing than I have time to cover here.

Finally, there is one way to cut the gatekeeper out all together and go directly to the decision maker. There’s always the option of going directly to the home of the decision maker instead of going to the office. There are commercially available lists of home addresses for doctors, executives, etc. They’re out there and with a little digging you can get them.

Some of you may know we offer lists as part of our 3D Mail Services. I can’t guarantee I can get home addresses for your niche, but I can find lots of them. Shoot me an email if you’d like us to look into that for you.

This puts a nice bow on our discussion on getting past the gate keeper. Next week we’ll start a brand new discussion on direct mail and list segmentation strategies. I think you’ll really like it. Have a great week and I’ll see you then.

Marketing Tip Reader’s Only Special

If you’ve read my emails for any length of time, you know I’m a huge Dan Kennedy fan. Heck, we may have even met you at a Kennedy event over the years. Due to some technical difficulties you couldn’t get their resources and products online. Well, they’ve now fixed it.

You’ll want to check out their new online home here. One resource I highly recommend is the Creating Copy That Sells Online Course. I’ve gone through the course myself and it’s THE reason why I’m able to create copy that gets response and, most importantly, sells.

For more information click this link, and then click on “Copywriting Mastery Resources” at the top. Let me know what you think.

To Your Direct Mail Success,
Travis Lee

www.3DMailResults.com

Sneak Up

2010-05-03T11:37:00.000-07:00

Last week we picked up our discussion on getting past the gatekeeper when using direct mail. The first thing I suggested is you may want to enlist the help of the gatekeeper, a novel idea. Here’s my blog entry on that discussion. Next, I suggested that whatever you send, the gatekeeper must fear block it. Here’s that entry today we’ll touch on another strategy is dealing with gatekeepers.

I’ll call this the ‘sneak up’ approach. This involves putting “teaser copy” on the outside of the envelope, box, or whatever it is you decide to send. The teaser copy on the outside will usually say one a few things like:

Personal & Confidential
For John’s Eye’s Only (assuming your prospect or client’s name is really John)
Confidential Report for John
Or any number of phrases that indicate that the contents is only for the recipient.

This is a great way to get past the gatekeeper as they usually fear opening, filtering, or throwing this type of material in the trash.

Another great way to get through is to send mail that looks, acts or hints that it’s from a person or company thing that already gets through. Here’s an example. Let’s say you have a product for dentists. You can purchase a list of dentists who also subscribe to a specific magazine. For this example let’s say they subscribe to “Muscle Car Monthly.” On the outside of your envelope you would want to write:

Gift and Special Invitation Enclosed for VIP Readers of Muscle Car Monthly

Since most gatekeepers know and recognize the magazine title, whatever you send will likely be sent right on through.

Did you get my mail?

2010-04-27T09:47:00.000-07:00

Last week we started a discussion on getting your direct mail past the gatekeeper. The first thing I suggested you do is to actually enlist the help of the gatekeeper, which can be a very successful strategy. To read my thoughts, visit my blog here. Today we’ll move on to some other strategies you can use.

One way to be sure your package gets past the gatekeeper is fear. The gatekeeper must fear blocking you and your information from their boss. If they do intercept it you want to send something that has the boss storming out of their office demanding where their package is.

3D Mail does a wonderful job in getting this reaction. I often encourage my clients to make follow up phone calls whenever possible after sending out eye-catching 3D Mail. When you get the decision maker on the phone and ask, “Did you get my bank bag, or pill bottle, or treasure chest…” you better believe if they didn’t get it they’ll be asking questions.

If you can’t make follow up phone calls, you’ll certainly want to send follow up direct mail, referencing the past messages you sent. Again, when you get through to the decision maker, and tell him you previously sent a bank bag, a message in a bottle, etc you can bet they will be asking around.

Of course I’m biased towards using 3D Mail to get past gatekeepers. But there are some other ways as well. In most offices, FedEx and UPS packages go directly to the decision maker. The same with personal courier services who drop off your material. However these can expensive and cost prohibitive. That’s another reason why I prefer using 3D Mail.

Finally, you can use fake priority envelopes. These are envelopes that look and feel like real express envelopes by the USPS, FedEx or UPS, but they are much cheaper to mail. They go directly through the USPS and the postage rate is the same as sending a “regular” 1st class letter.

We have a handful of these kinds of envelopes at our website here. They come in two sizes, 6 x 9 and 9 x 12, with six different looks. Check them out. You may want to give them a test in your next direct mail campaign.

Get past the gatekeeper

2010-04-22T16:39:00.000-07:00

In speaking with clients each day, one of their biggest frustrations is getting past the gatekeeper, which is often why they get help from me using 3D Mail! But there are some universal truths when trying to get past the gatekeeper, and we’ll discuss a few of them over the next few tips.

But, before all you B2C’ers out there tune me out, saying you don’t have a gatekeeper, I encourage you to stay with me. You’ll soon see that many times you have to get past a gatekeeper at the home, too.

Before we get too far into some nitty-gritty strategies on getting past the gatekeeper, one thing you may want to ask yourself is if you can enlist the help of the gatekeeper to accomplish what you want. A novel idea, right?

This can be done a number of ways. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to let them know the benefits of what you do to them. For example, could your product or services lead to:A raise for the gatekeeper?

Job security for the gatekeeper?
A happier boss?
Less stress?
Or any other number of benefits related to the gatekeeper.

You need to use the same marketing and sales skills to get the gatekeeper on your side as you would with making the final sale to the decision maker. Now, for you B2C marketers, there is a gatekeeper at the home, and a lot of the same things we discussed above can easily apply to you.

For example, in a famous series of letters written by Dan Kennedy for a restaurant, the first two letters went to the husband of the house, encouraging him to take his wife to a nice, romantic dinner. A final third letter was addressed |to the wife, informing her of her husband’s “lack of love” for not bringing her in. So by enlisting the help of the gatekeeper, you can actually get exactly what you want, whether you market to consumers or to other businesses.

But what if you absolutely can’t enlist the help of the gatekeeper? Well, I think I have some creative ways around that. See you next time.

Marketing Tip Reader’s Only Special

Let’s face it, busting through the clutter and getting your marketing piece opened, let alone read, is But when you learn the secrets of using 3D Mail your marketing results will explode. That’s why we’ve created The 3D Mail Sample Kit & Sales Explosion Guide, as well as the 3D Mail Inner Circle.

Get your Free 2 Month Membership today and you’ll get a brand new 3D Mail Campaign that will explode your sales sent to you each and every month + You’ll Get:10% off the new 3D Mail Product that is highlighted in the monthly mailing

Exclusive use of the new 3D Mail Product for 6 months
The Copywriter's Corner monthly Newsletter.
Inner Circle Members Only Specials
A 30 minute One-on-One 3D Mail Coaching Session via telephone with Travis Lee every 6 months
An Much More.

See this short video I shot about the Sample Kith & Sales Explosion Guide here.

Focusing on the boomers

2010-03-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

We’re in the middle of our discussion on marketing to affluent clients. Last Friday we hit on what the rich really want to buy, and what you need to do to attract them. Check out that blog post below. Today we’ll talk a little about the baby boomers attitudes towards aging, and how that affects their spending. I think this will be very insightful for you.

In a 2007 survey of leading edge boomers (born 1946-1950) by www.AgeWave.com, those responding defined “old age” as 82 years of age. So what does that mean to you? To put it simply, if you sell or offer products or services towards people who are “slowing down” you may want to rethink how you selling to these people because the idealized way they view growing old is far, far different than the current retired generation.

Their attitudes towards retirement are also vastly different than they were just a few years ago. In a Merrill Lynch survey 81% of boomers plan to work past 65. These boomers are not interested in the ‘classical retirement’ that has been romanticized by parents of the boomers.

Does that mean there’s no need for anything revolving around ‘retirement?’ Of course not! However you’ll want to redefine your business if it involves traditional ‘retirement’ as we currently see it.

These two little facts should give you an upper hand in reaching the affluent, especially the boomers who make up the largest single segment of the affluent. You’d be wise to start attracting them.

What the Rich Want

2010-03-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

I hope you received my email yesterday about the Boomer special which aired on CNBC. See my blog post. I’m writing this email on Thursday night so I’ll have my thoughts on the show next week. In the mean time here’s our next installment in marketing to affluent customers. To review where we left off, here’s tha blog post.

We know why we want to try to attract the bigger spends, but what exactly do boomers want and what will they buy? It breaks down into four basic categories:

1. They want life made easy

You need to specifically tell them, ‘Here’s how I’ll make your life easy.”

2. They want time saved

You need to specifically tell them, “Here’s how I’ll save you time.”

3. They want to not be or feel “ripped off”

You need to give them solid proof and guarantees.

4. They want what “is for them.”

You need to tell them exactly why it’s for them based first on their emotional connection to what you offer, and second, to back it up with logical facts, figures, and features.

When you’re able to answer those four questions you’ve got the basis for creating a compelling message directly matched to what most affluent customers want.

Blog Readers Only Special

March 24-26 Keith and I will be in Las Vegas at Rob Oliver’s Mindshift 2010 Marketing and Sales Super Conference speaking from the stage on 3D Mail. I’ve made an arrangement with Rob to extend a special rate and he’ll even pay for 2 nights hotel stay in Las Vegas just for you, my blog reader.

You will leave this event with the marketing and sales tools and information that 97% of businesses either aren't aware of or even worse yet - are aware of, but are too tired, confused or "beat up" to take advantage of them!

This leaves a huge "gaping hole" that you can walk (or run) through now to make 2010 (yes, even in the "new economy") the year that you and your business leave the 'rest of the pack" behind and dramatically improve your sales and profits.

For complete information click this special link Rob set up just for my readers. I hope to see you in Las Vegas!

Marketing to Affluent Customers

2010-03-04T14:57:00.000-08:00

Today we’re really going to dive into marketing to and attracting more affluent customers to your business. First we need to really understand why we need to work at attracting those clients, and why it’s even more important during these new economic times.

First and most simply stated, affluent customers have security. These customers are the least and the last affect by the economy. There is also far less competition and fewer businesses are seeking or reaching the upper crust of spenders. So not only do they have the money to spend, but there are even less people trying to reach them! Sounds like a good place to be!

And once you get an affluent client, they are less price sensitive than the average consumer meaning you can simply charge more. Answer these two questions: To make $1 million, would you rather make 1,000 sales of $1,000 or 100 sales of $10,000? How about ten sales of $100,000. Further, is it ten times harder to make a $10,000 sales vs. a $1,000? Of course not!

Once you get these big spending clients, you’ll have a built-in advantage over all other competition who try to poach your customers. Because of you increased margins you’ll be able to invest more to keep those clients.

Most of your competitors are ruthlessly cheap. They just won’t spend them amount of money require to woo these high earning customers. Not only are they unwilling, they probably don’t have the means! You’ll be able to put and iron-cage around you ideal client and you’ll be in a position to out-spend your competition, a significant advantage to have.

I’ve Been Missing

2010-02-08T16:37:00.000-08:00

OK, so you probably realized that I haven’t sent out a marketing tip in the past week. Well, I’ve got a good reason for that… My wife, Jen, gave birth to our first child, Carson Allen Lee on January 29, 2010! Needless to say I’m a very proud Papa.

OK, I know that’s not marketing related, but I’ll loop around and get back to business, I promise, just stick with me.

Carson was born at 5:12 PM and weighed in at 6 lbs 4 oz. Below are a couple links to view some pictures if you’re interested. They are on Facebook, but open to the ‘public.’ Hey, while you’re there give me a friend request if you’re a member as well!

Carson at the hospital.

Carson at home.

OK, so how does this relate to marketing? My guess is the vast majority of you are solo-entrepreneurs or work for small business you either own, or you’re in charge of the marketing. If that’s the case, big, expensive brand-building marketing is probably not the way to go with your marketing money. In fact if you read my tips weekly, you probably know
I’m completely against it.

However, you can and should build a brand, and that brand should be YOU! While you need huge ad budgets and years of “Madison Avenue” style marketing to build a brand like “The Golden Arches” or a “Swoosh,” you can easily build a brand around you, that’s much quicker and inexpensive than the way large, dumb companies do it.

You’ll notice that I let you into my world, both personally and professionally in these tips, my monthly print newsletters, and most of the direct mail I do. All of it has some sort of personal touch to it that makes me “more human” and not just a company.

I challenge you to let your clients into your world. Give your company your personality. The sooner they see you as a real person, or better yet, a friend, and NOT a company, your sales will sky-rocket!

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When you check out online, enter Carson into the promo code at checkout. Or just tell me Carson when you call in. It’s that simple.

Get ‘em Involved

2010-02-04T16:13:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday we spoke briefly about always asking for the order in your direct mail, a place where many marketers wimp out. To review, see the blog post below. Today we’ll talk about getting your reader involved.

Getting involvement in your direct mail is one of the best things you can do and it almost always will increase readership, and more importantly, your response.

There’s a reason when you get the Publisher’s Clearinghouse sweepstakes in the mail they make you fill out your entry form by writing, moving stickers from column A to B etc. It’s because it works!

Here are a few ways I’ve done or have seen my clients do to get your reader involved with your direct mail.

I always like it when you send a pen in the mail, then give them a quiz, check off list, etc in your letter. This gets them writing, filling out forms etc. This is especially good if you’re including an order form that needs to be filled out and sent back. They’re already started writing, they may just keep right on writing to the order form.

I’ve also seen letters where you’ll list of bunch of names in the letter, all the people who qualified for the ‘special’ and have them search for their name. And of course they’re on it since they got the letter, but it gets them involved and reading your letter!

Finally, in your bullets, you can ask questions such as:

Which category do you belong in…
Ask yourself these 5 questions…
If 3 of the below 5 describe you…

Of course the logical answer to anything listed above is you and your product! Amazing how that works.

Always ask for the Order

2010-01-27T17:05:00.000-08:00

Today we’re going to briefly go over a part of most sales letters, postcards, really any kind of direct mail advertising, where marketers really wimp out, the close.

In any sort of marketing, but especially direct response mail, you’ve got to ask for the order each and every time. This is not place to skimp, or be a wimp. You simply got to ask for the order, and give very specific and explicit instructions on how to do so.

I know it can be hard, but remember, a confused buyer does nothing, and we certainly don’t want that!

It’s also easy to expect the reader to know how to order. We as marketers often get so close to our marketing that we often think it’s obvious what to do next, but take it from me, it’s not always the case.

If your letter has been written well, the close (asking for the order) should come naturally. It should be the natural and logical “next step” for your prospect or client to take.

The Second Most Read Part of Your Letter

2010-01-26T07:43:00.000-08:00

Did you know that the P.S. is the second most read part of any letter? So it must be a pretty important part, don’t you think? We talked about bullet points last week. To review, check out the blog post below. Today, we’ll briefly touch on the P.S.

Studies by direct marketing researchers has shown that right after the headline, the PS is the second most read part of almost every letter or correspondence you send out. What happens is the recipient reads your headline then naturally turns to the last page to see who sent it, and reads your P.S. message.

In your P.S. your goal should be to tell your whole story such as the benefits, your promises or guarantees,communicate urgency and restate the bonuses if you’re offering any.

So how do you get all that into one little P.S. With multiple P.S’s of course. There’s no rule that says you can only use one PS in a letter, so if you need to use more than one, by all means do it! I can’t remember the last time I sent any letter that was more than 1 page with just one PS.

Here’s a tip for P.S’s, if you have 3 of them (so that would be a PS, a PPS, and a PPPS), your middle one should be the most important. That should include your call to action, offer etc. You can further set apart the 3rd PS by using a different type style, font, bolds and italics or even a handwritten note.

We’ve got just a couple more topics to go in our discussion on all things copywriting. Stay tuned for the next installment. See you then!

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A 'one-two' punch

2010-01-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

Bullet points in your copy can be one of the most influential parts of your sales letters. Bullets are often used when you have a list of features or benefits, or a list of “what’s included.” They are for the most part, short, concise, and can be very valuable real estate in any sales letters, postcard website etc. Thanks to Bill Glazer for allowing me to use some of his ideas in this post.

(As a side, if you’re not receiving Dan Kennedy’s And Bill Glazer’s monthly No BS Marketing Newsletter, you’re cheating yourself. Get 2 issues free and a bunch of other goodies right here.)

So how to you create these powerful, bite-sized pieces of copy to really sell your product or service? The best way is to make a list of all your features, being sure you don’t leave anything out. Then you’ll want to turn those features into customer-centered benefits.

For example, let’s say you’re a chiropractor and you help relieve back pain for golfers. Don’t just tell then you’ll cure their back pain (the feature), tell them that they’ll enjoy round after round of pain free golf, and their swing will be so strong they’ll feel like their 21 again (customer-centered benefits).

You may think that just saying you’ll relieve back pain that the reader will know what you’re talking about. That simply is not the case. Never leave anything to be translated by the reader. There are no obvious benefits tied to the features.

So what’s the formula for bullets? Here’s Bill’s great idea. He calls it his ‘one-two’ punch. You want to give a benefit, then add another benefit right after, like a boxer giving a ‘one-two’ punch. Here are a couple great examples Bill gave me:

#1
Doctors are now using the hot new herbal compound to slow the memory loss of Alzheimer’s more effectively than expensive, dangerous prescription drugs.

#2
How to discover the hidden wealth (and rewards) buried in your retail business... allowing you to finally live the lifestyle you’ve always dreamt about.

Marketing Tip Readers Only Special

As I mentioned above, if you’re a real student of direct response marketing, copywriting, online marketing, etc. you really should check out Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer’s No BS Marketing Newsletter. They’ll give you 2 free monthly issues, plus a ton of other great goodies, too many to mention here, so you’ll want to check out this link.

Keith (my father, who I run this business with) has been a Dan Kennedy Newsletter subscriber for nearly 20 years. Here’s a true story:

When I graduated college at Washington State University with a degree in marketing in 2004, his graduation gift to me was my own subscription to Dan and Bill’s Newsletter. Even though we work in the same building, I still get my own newsletter to this day. That’s how important he thought it was.

If you use one of these links to get your free 2 month trial, I’ll even send you a $20 gift certificate good towards anything at 3D Mail, including any of the 3D mail items, premium and promotional products we offer. Go check it out for yourself.

Advanced Tip on Offers

2010-01-14T16:34:00.000-08:00

We’re going to wrap up our nearly two week long discussion on deadlines and offers. Who knew there could be so much! To see the previous post and to catch up on all of my tips, check out the previous blog post.

With offers, it’s almost always better to give them an ‘either or’ option instead of only one. For example, you may have a basic and deluxe version, Gold or Silver editions, etc. These will almost always out-perform a simple yes/no option.

Here’s an advanced tip. When 65% or more of your clients start taking the deluxe option over the basic, add a “Best” option. You’ll want to keep the other two, but it’s been my experience that 10-20% will start taking the “Best” option when you present it.

Finally, with deadlines, multiple deadlines are very effective and work well with long deadlines. For instance, you could use something like:

This offer expires in two weeks, but if you respond in the next two weeks you’ll get and additional FREE gift.

The power of taking something away over time is a very strong way to get people to act sooner rather than later.

Got to have a deadline

2010-01-07T08:46:00.000-08:00

Happy New! Can you believe it’s already 2010?! Weren’t we supposed to be in flying cars by now like George Jetson? Last week we wrapped up our discussion on guarantees. To see that last post, visit the blog. Today we’ll start in on two big topics. Two that makes direct response marketing what it is. (Direct response is the kind of marketing I teach in these tips)

Those, of course, are deadlines and offers. These are what truly separates direct response marketing from main-stream, “Madison Avenue,” brand building advertising.

Pure and simple, if you don’t have a deadline you don’t have an offer. Most businesses that aren’t tuned in to direct response hide their deadlines in tiny sized invisible ink hoping you won’t see it. This is just the opposite that you want to do. You want to create ungency, you want them to act now, which is just the opposite of what most big, dumb companies do.

Something to consider with your deadline is people are more motivated by fear of loss than personal gain. So often times a deadline where they ‘lose out’ on something after an elapsed time is better than gaining something if they respond early.

Some ways to use deadlines are:

Response required within “X” number of days
By a certain date
By a date stamped in RED on your letter
Limited to the first “X” number

Deadlines are a great way to create urgency which is what you want to do, so don’t hide them and make them very clear to your clients or prospects.

Blog Readers Only Special

In honor of the New Year and the new decade we’ll celebrate all month by giving you 10% off any order from now until Jan. 31, 2010.

Go online and make your purchase and enter 2010 in the promo code box at checkout, and I’ll automatically take 10% off. Or give me a call at
888-250-1834 to place your order and mention 2019 and I’ll do the same. Just be sure you do this before Jan 31, 2010!

Gotta have a Guarantee

2009-12-30T09:44:00.000-08:00

Alright, so before we took a short break last week for the holiday weekend we left off with a discussion on guarantees. We talked about the 3 mail different types of guarantees you can use, satisfaction, results, and perception as well as using multiple guarantees to boost your response. To review click over to my blog here.

There are two more big ideas I have to share before we move away from guarantees. First is the length in time of the guarantee. In almost all instances the longer the guarantee, the less refunds you’ll have. I know that may go against conventional thinking, that the more time they have with a product/service the more likely they will realize they don’t like it or don’t need it.

It’s actually just the opposite. The more time they have to use your product or service, the less likely they are to ask for a refund. Here’s why. When you only give someone 14 days to use it, at day 12 if they haven’t used it, or are not seeing results, they’ll ask for a refund.

If you give the same product 90 days, the chances that they actually will remember and use the guarantee goes way down. Now, you need to be honest and have integrity with this. If they ask for a refund on your guarantee within the time allowed, your darn well better honor it.

Finally, we’re left with unconditional vs. conditional guarantees. Last week I left you with our Triple Your Money Back Guarantee that reads:

Triple Your Money Back Guarantee - If you use both of your 30 minute One-On-One Coaching sessions, and your 2 Critique Certificates within the first 3 months, and you can show that you actually used our advice

It’s obvious now that this is a conditional guarantee as well. These can be used to bolster your “regular” guarantee, and really give you an added punch that can spark additional sales.

Here are a few examples of great guarantees I’ve seen and some I’ve written for myself and clients.

This is an unconditional guarantee used by Victoria Principal selling facial cream. It’s a whole lot better than just saying, “money back guaranteed”:

“If your friends don’t accuse you of having a facelift return the empty jar and we’ll give you all your money back.”

Here’s another I wrote for a client, a perception and unconditional guarantee in one, I call it the “You’ll be a Star” guarantee:

“If you don’t think my show wasn’t the most amazing you’ve ever seen, and people are not coming up to you after the show patting you on the back for having such a great event, then you don’t pay a dime.”

I can hear a lot of you out there saying you can’t guarantee your products or services. If you’re a doctor, you can’t guarantee patient health, if you’re in weight loss, you can’t guarantee that they’ll lose weight, if you’re a financial advisor you can’t guarantee monetary success.

But there are a ton of things you can guarantee. The doctor can guarantee that he’ll see you within 5 minutes of your scheduled appointment time. If you sell weight loss, you can guarantee that their coach will call them back within 45 minutes of receiving a call, a financial advisor can guarantee something similar to the doctor, or guarantee returned phone calls (wish my advisor did that!), or any number of things not directly related to the product or service, but to the quality of service they’ll receive.

What can you guarantee?

2009-12-28T14:47:00.000-08:00

Last week we hit the tip of the iceberg with headlines. A conversation that, quite frankly, could last a whole year. To see that post click here to my blog. For the next few days we’ll discuss guarantees, another vital role in your copywriting and marketing.

First some guarantee ‘basics’ that we must address. There are three chief types of guarantees, with a very quick blurb on each. We’ll expand on them later.

Satisfaction Guarantee
Results Guarantee
Perception

How you phrase the guarantee is nearly as important as having on at all. It’s best when it has a name. I recently wrote a guarantee for a promotion of our own and named it the, “The “You Cannot Fail With 3D Mail, $500.00 In Your Pocket” Guarantee. And here’s how I worded it:

When you place your first order of 3D Mail over $100 and use my FREE 30 minute consultation, if you’re not extremely happy with your mailing, I’ll refund 50% of the purchase of the 3D mail items up to $500.00.

As you can see, it’s a strong guarantee, but when you give it a name, it adds something extra to it. I’ve also used the “You’ll be a Star” guarantee and, “My Personal Make-You-Happy Guarantee” both with a great deal of success. My mentor Dan Kennedy, has used, “My personal, Big, Bold, Iron-Clad Guarantee” on many of his products for years, again with great success.

In addition, multiple guarantees almost always outperform single guarantees. Here’s an example of a multiple guarantee that we use when we go and speak at seminars and boot camps:

Money Back Guarantee - If you are not delighted with your results or not happy in any way what-so-ever return the system within the first year and I’ll give you your money back.

Triple Your Money Back Guarantee - If you use both of your 30 minute One-On-One Coaching sessions, and your 2 Critique Certificates within the first 3 months, and you can show that you actually used our advice when you created your campaigns, and you actually mailed at least two campaigns, and you’re not absolutely delighted with your results I’ll give you 3 times your money back.

You see, we gave a one-year, no questions asked guarantee (my favorite) but then added to it by adding the triple money back guarantee. Does it work? You bet. When we first offered this at a live event, we sold 83% of the room!

There’s also one more element to this guarantee, but you’ll have to wait until later in the week for me to reveal that one. See you then.

Where do you get good headlines?

2009-12-21T16:30:00.000-08:00

So, where did we leave off after answering Steve’s Question on Tuesday… Ah yes, HEADLINES! The most read part of any ad, thus the most important.

Your headline needs to answer:

Who cares?
So what?
What’s in it for me (WIIFM)?
Why are you bothering me?

No small task by any means. Keeping those four bullets in mind, how long should your headline be? I’ve heard many answers, and some even put a number on it, like no more than 12 words.

Here’s my answer. If you can answer all four of those questions above in 12 words or less,then do it! If you can’t, and it needs to be longer, then do that, too ! So my headlines are as long as they need to be to get the job done. I’ve written headlines as short as 5 words, for example:

FREE Lunch on December 29th

And I’ve written headlines as long as 48 words when using our x-ray letter to sell computer systems to retailers:

“Why The Heck Is Travis Lee Sending You An X-Ray To Tell You How Happy Alice Balbi, the Manager of Mementos Gift Shop at the Clark Fork Hospital in Plains, MT is After Her Team Started Using The SmartRegister Point-of-Sale Computer System from American Retail Supply?

So where do you get these good headlines, as my mentor and friend Bill Glazer says, you ethically S & D (swipe and deploy) them of course! And one of the best ways to S & D headlines is to use proven fill-in-the-blank style headlines.

Here are a few:

How Often do You Hear Yourself saying: _________________________________

If you___________, then you’ll love our _______________________.

Who Else Wants _________________________ (I’ve probably seen this one S & D’ed more than any other)

______________ That other Retailers Don’t Want You to Know.

We could spend months on headlines alone and still not even scratch the surface, but I think you’re getting the idea. Next week we’ll hit on guarantees. Have a great week!

White space in emails

2009-12-16T14:55:00.000-08:00

I’m going take a quick break from our discussion on copywriting today to answer a question from a client regarding my “white space never sold a thing” tip last week. Here’s the post at my blog to review.

Here’s the question from Steve Hyslop of Chuck's Waterfront Grill & The Endless Summer bar-café:

If white space never sold a thing, why is there all the white space at the right of the e-mail below? As I'm sure you know, others do this too, although interestingly, some do not. I would assume it increases readership. Just wondering. Happy Holidays to you and yours. Others may find this of interest too.

Thanks for the great question, and good job not taking something at face value, but questioning it. Everybody should be doing that with everything they come across (even my posts). Here’s my response to Steve today:

Great question and I’ll probably bring it up this week in my tip. Email is a little different. In the most recent studies I’ve read, readership is better when lines are about 55-65 characters long. I’ve heard this form a couple other internet marketing guys I trust, so I take it at their word.

The reason is everybody’s monitor has different settings like width, fonts etc. The 55-65 characters virtually guarantee that your lines will ‘break’ where you want them to.

Plus, the shorter lines make the text/copy seem shorter. You’ll notice I usually on use 1-3 sentence paragraphs as well. In general, people want quick and short emails, and this gives that appearance.

So I hope I didn’t disappoint you now that the cats out of the bag and you know my dirty little e-mail secrets. But, I do think it’s important, and that’s why I was willing to share this all with you. We’ll pick back up later this week with our copywriting topic. See you then!

Message to Market Match

2009-12-14T16:18:00.000-08:00

Last week we started our discussion on copywriting that’s going to take us through the next few weeks. To see where we started, visit that blog post below. On Tuesday I left you with some Copy Kryptonite. Today we’ll move on from our Copy Kryptonite (Thanks again to Bill Glazer for the copy kryptonite) and talk about your message to market match.

Message to market match means your matching what you’re selling, the media you’re selling it through, and the words you write to very precise and targeted prospects.

When I say media, I’m talking about the format, and is that appropriate for the task you’re trying to accomplish. For example, sending a ‘stand-alone’ postcards for a retailer holding an event in the Mall is probably OK (though just OK). If you’re sending a ‘stand-alone-postcard to doctors about advanced laser equipment they should have in practice…BAD!!

I’m not saying the postcard doesn’t have a place in your marketing funnel (for more on creating a marketing funnel, (see this past post) to the doc’s for laser equipment, it may very well have its time and place. But to expect a postcard to do the heavy lifting is not smart.

Second, you want to start with people you already understand, and for the vast majority of you that will be your niche. I know we have some freelance copywriters and consultants out there, and so your best bet is to write to those niches where you have the most experience and expertise.

For example, I write to other business owners and salespeople who obviously are interested in growing their business with direct mail and doing it creatively (or why else would you be getting this!). I know and can speak our language, can identify with you, and thus can make a stronger connection with my copy. The same should go for you, when writing to your own niche.

Finally, the best recipients of your marketing, in order, are:

Your list of past and current clients
Endorsed or JV list
A lead generated list
The ‘un-washed’ masses

There are things you need to consider when writing to each group that will take more time and room than I have here. Starting next week, we’ll dive right into headlines, probably the most important part of your advertising. See you then!

Blank Space Never Sold a Thing

2009-12-10T16:20:00.000-08:00

Last week we started our discussion on copywriting that’s going to take us through the next few weeks. To see where we started, visit that blog post below. On Thursday, I also left you with some Copy Kryptonite. You can see that post below as well. Today, we’ll talk about two more copy kryptonite that will kill your copy.

Thanks again to my mentor Bill Glazer who has allowed me us his term Copy Kryptonite. We’ve talked about being boring, and writing from a ‘me’ perspective.

Now, another copy killer that I see all too often is BLANK SPACE. As you can probably tell from the subject line of this email, blank space never sold a thing. If you can show me where it has, it’ll be the first time.

It’s important in all your media, but especially important in places where space is at a premium, such as yellow page ads, and postcards. You just don’t have a ton of room with either one, so you’ve got to do the most with the real estate you got. The same goes for your sales letters as well.

Here’s a tip for you. If you find you have blank space in any of your advertising, at the very least, fill them up with good, results oriented testimonials. That’s the least you should be doing with blank space.

The last piece of Copy Kryptonite is placing your logo, business name, address etc above the headline. This again pertains to any media you use, postcards, sales letters, online, yellow pages etc. If your advertising does the job that it’s suppose to, you prospect will find the information as long as it’s somewhere to be found. If you can’t get by without having your name, logo, address on the letter, try putting it across the bottom of each page of a letter or postcard.

So we’ve covered Copy Kryptonite, later this week we’ll get into the nuts and bolts of copywriting. See you then!

Marketing Tip Readers Only Special

As you know, Christmas is just around the corner. If you're the forward thinking entrepreneur I think you are, you've already given some thought to sending them. You know they enhance your image with your clients and build your referral business. But some years it seems like just one more thing to do that takes time, effort and a financial investment. And, you may have to talk yourself into doing it.

I understand. Let me help you make it easy.

Kody Bateman has created an ideal world for salespeople & business owners when it comes to sending real cards with personal notes for about $1.00 a card (including postage).

SendOutCards is an online system that allows you to choose, write and send real printed cards in about 60 seconds per card (and you can send that card to as big a list as you want!) The system also allows you to set up campaigns and select in advance the date the cards are mailed.

These are not junk mail! Your personalized card can include your company logo, your photo (or another photo of your choosing) and is stamped with a real postage stamp.

I heartily endorse the program and hope you will give it a chance. In fact, if you will give it a test drive, you can send your first four cards free:

Deadline Extended:

if you do so by December 16th. I’ve had a ton of calls and I want to be sure I can get to everybody who wants a test drive.

I’ll cover the investment. Just reply to this email (be sure to include your phone number) with a good time to call you back. Be sure you have about 20 un-interrupted minutes by your computer so I can show you how it works.

Superman has his Kryptonite

2009-12-07T17:01:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week we started a series on copywriting, and on Monday I told you the #1 marketing sin in copy, what my mentor Bill Glazer calls Copy Kryptonite. To review the tip, visit the blog. Below we’ll discuss more copy kryptonite.

Again, thanks to Bill Glazer for allowing me to borrow his term, Copy Kryptonite. There really is no better way to describe these copywriting sins. We’ll go over one that virtually guarantee your copy will suffer.

First, one that I see often and that’s writing from a ‘me’ perspective. You’ve seen this and you’ve probably even done it yourself:

“We’ve been in business for 37 years…”
“We’ve got the most state of the art…”
“We’re the #1 supplier to…”

Blah, blah blah. Boring and WHO CARES. You need to write your copy from a ‘you’ perspective, they ‘you’ being your customer. Here’s a tip, take all the ‘we’ statements and turn them into you statements. BIG tip, turn those you statements from features, to the BENEFITS your customer
will get from the ‘we’ statements.

Here’s how we do it for our retail supply business when we sell point-of-sale computer systems (POS). We’ve been selling and supporting POS systems since 1991, and have installed over 1,000 systems for retailers. Big whoop, right? We turn around and make that a benefit for the client using ‘you’ statements.

For example:

You’ll want the service and support of years of experience and 1,000’s of set up and installations so you’ll never be alone and never have to worry about your technical support abandoning you on a moment’s notice, leaving you standing around wondering what to do.”

See how we took what could’ve been a bunch of ‘we’ statements, and turned them into ‘you’ statements.

Here’s a challenge for you. Go through some of your sales material and see how many times you say ‘we’ vs. ‘you.’ Then go and turn all those ‘we’ statements to ‘you’ statements with a benefit to your client. It’s easier than it sounds and will make a huge difference.

In the Land of the Blind...

2009-11-30T17:32:00.000-08:00

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.

Diversity leads to stability

2009-11-24T17:28:00.000-08:00

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.

2 + 3 = 1?

2009-11-19T16:54:00.000-08:00

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.

Get Back Lost Clients

2009-11-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

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:

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).

And the #1 reason they no longer do business with you is they SIMPLY FORGET ABOUT YOU!

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!

3 Ways to get Referrals

2009-10-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

As you know we’ve been talking about getting new, fresh clients to your business using referrals. Last week we talked about the psychological reasons your clients refer, and how to tap into those. To see where we’ve been, visit my blog post from last week below this post. Today, we’ll start looking at specific ways to get referrals in your business, no matter what niche you’re in!

The best way to get referrals (but by no means the easiest) is to find ways to do what you do so well and so uniquely that your customers cannot resist telling lots of people about you.

Yeah, easier said than done, but extremely possible. I’ll tell you that it’s hard to have a truly unique product or service. Be honest with yourself, there’s probably plenty of places your clients could go to get what you do. So the best way to stand out from your competition is in the service and the way you do things.

Here’s an example. One of our businesses is selling to independent and regional chain retailers. To be completely honest, you can get what we sell online for less. But the experience you get when you order with us is second to none. From the first greeting on the telephone, to timely shipping and receiving your order on time, the entire experience is one that you can’t get from our “price only” competitors.

It’s not uncommon for us to get calls saying they were referred from a friend because they just had such a great experience with us.

A second way is to simply ask for them. It may sound easy, and it is, but timing is everything. Here’s an example from a menswear store we do business with.

You need to know when it’s the right time in the buying experience to ask for them. In the menswear example, the time was right after they made the purchase at the cash register and THEY said thank you (which they almost always did). Here’s the script they used:

“As you know this is how I make my living, and I sure would appreciate your help. If you like the way you’ve been treated and you feel a friend or co-worker could use us, I would really appreciate it if you could give me the names of a couple people you feel could benefit from us.”

And more often than not, they got a referral right there.

A third way is to have an event where loyal customers are motivated to bring their friends, relatives, neighbors etc.

I have seen and heard of this working very well for all businesses including dentist, chiropractors, tax prep, financial services etc. But don’t think it can’t work for you! I have a consulting client who owns a fishing boat (among other things), and we suggested he use a client appreciation event during the non-fishing season to get his currently clients together, and encourage them to bring a guest (after all, fishermen know other fishermen!). I have no doubt this will be a huge success in filling his fishing trips well in advance of next season.

The Psychology of Referrals

2009-10-26T16:02:00.000-07:00

Last week we stated a topic on getting more referrals in your business, and who doesn’t want that!?! To see where we’ve been, visit my blog here. Now, we’ll discuss some of the psychology that of why people refer and how you can get more people to do it.

There are three main psychological reasons why people refer:

For personal gain
To help people they know
To Help YOU!

#1 is probably the one people think of the most when it comes to getting more referrals. And quite frankly I can easily see why. After all, as marketers we are constantly trying to answer the question of, “What’s in it for me (your client)?”

There are tons of ways to get more referrals through the personal gain of your clients. You can give them gifts, discounts, prizes, entries to drawings, recognition. The list is virtually endless on what you can do to get your clients to refer more through their own person gain.

#2, helping people they know, is something they usually need to be encouraged to do. It can be as simply as a mention when you have them on the phone, or a short blurb in your printed newsletter. Whatever you do, be sure you are constantly and consistently reminding your clients to tell their friends.

#3, to help YOU, is the best place for you to be in your client’s mind. Whenever you WOW them to a degree that they feel they need to repay you for the experience in the form of a referral, you know you have something special!

So, what are you going to do today to WOW your clients in order to get them to send unsolicited referrals?

Get More Referrals

2009-10-19T17:58:00.001-07:00

If there’s one thing every business could use, it’s a fresh batch of new, ready-to-buy referral clients lining up each day. However, like most things, it’s easier said than done. For the next couple tips we’ll cover how you can actively promote and generate new referral clients in your business.

Referrals are your second easiest client/patient to sell to (#1 being your own, current and active clients) so it makes sense to nurture referrals and have marketing campaigns and systems in place in your business to first and foremost get your current happy clients to give them, and second, to be sure you get them as clients once they are referred to you.

Here are a couple of stats that may jump out at you. First, the average person has an immediate circle of influence or around 50 people. However, the average satisfied customer will only tell 3 other people about a satisfied experience. 3 out of 50!

So the important thing to understand is satisfaction is not sufficient. The secret to referral stimulus is the different between satisfaction and enthusiasm produced by either merely meeting expectation or exceeding expectations.

Think of it this way, none of your clients leave your store, practice, office, or website thinking to themselves,”how can I tell as many people as possible about this experience?” You’ve got to give them the reason to do it, and the tools and the way to do it.

So starting next Tuesday we’ll talk about six specific ways you can use to get referrals in your business.

What to do with the envelope

2009-10-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

When I’m speaking with 3D Mail clients on implementing 3D Mail, almost always the envelope question comes up (assuming we’re using an envelope and not something like the bank bag or trash). What should I put on the outside, should it be mailed ‘blind,’ live stamp or not?? There are lot of questions. Here’s a quick read on my thoughts on your envelope when using direct mail,either 3D or ‘flat.’

There are two school’s of thought with envelopes, the ’teaser’ and the ‘blind.’ We’ll talk about the teaser first.

The teaser envelope means that there is “teaser copy” on the outside of the envelope. This could be a message about what’s inside, testimonials, a quote, etc. You’re essentially revealing that the contents are an advertisement.

As a general rule of thumb, you’ll want to use the ‘teaser’ with a group of people who already know you and are interested in what you offer. Your in-house list of buyers or prospects would be great for this.

Also, you want to be sure that if you use teaser copy, you really use it. There’s no sense in putting just one thing on there, you’ve already revealed it’s an ad, so go all out, and use every inch of that envelope. Remember, it’s another sales opportunity

The second way is the ‘blind’ approach. This is best when for a list of people who don’t already know you. There are no labels, and is typically address by hand or a very good handwritten font.

However, this isn’t always the case. Here’s a true story. For many years we used the Million Dollar Bill with great success in our business, and we always addressed the envelopes by hand. However, we finally tested a regular courier (type-writer) font, and guess what?? While our response dropped a tiny bit, our return on investment actually we UP since we were no longer paying for the extra time to handwrite every envelope. So, while the general rule is to use a handwritten font, be sure you test!

However, we always followed these rules to a ‘T.’ We never used any labels for the prospects address or our address, there was no company name in the return address, just our address, there was no teaser copy, and we always used a live, 1st class stamp, and usually a commemorative stamp.

Find the hidden money with a newsletter, Part III

2009-10-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week we talked about all the great reason you should be doing a newsletter. To see where we’ve been, check out the blog below. Today, we’ll cover the $10 Million question that I know is on your mind, and that’s content!

There are essentially two different kinds of content you can use. Content that is relevant to your business, niche or clients. And content that is non-relevant.

You’ll want to strike a good balance between the two. It needs to have enough “on topic” material that your clients will enjoy reading it, and so that you can position yourself as the expert in your area of expertise. If you’ve been in your industry for more than two weeks, you probably know it very well, and in most cases better than your competitors,so the relevant content should be fairly easy. Pick a topic in your business and niche and start writing. You’ll be shocked at how much flow out on the page when you start.

But as I said, you need to strike a good balance between relevant and non-relevant content. So
what do you write about there?

Here’s just a shortly list I’ve put together of topics I’ve discussed in my newsletter, and a couple that I haven’t used yet, but will!

Family
Customers
Celebrity (there’s a reason National Enquirer has the largest circulation in the world!)
Pets
Human Interest Stories
Your staff
Travel
Humor/Entertainment
Recent developments/current event

If you’re still stuck and can’t get over the hump, there are a couple of businesses that write and mail your newsletter for you. All you need to do is send the list!

The best one I’ve seen (and used myself in the past) is Jim Palmer. Jim is known internationally as The Newsletter Guru and is the president of No Hassle Newsletters.

For information on his Done-4-you newsletter system, (key word: System) in which he writes, produces and mails your monthly newsletter FOR YOU, just click on this link.

Find the hidden money with a newsletter, Part II

2009-09-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

Last week we started a new segment on finding the hidden money in your business, and we started talking about monthly newsletters. To see where we’ve been check out this post. Today we’re going to cover 3 more advantages of using your newsletter, and why it should be seen as an income producing asset, and NOT an expense.

Once you start doing your newsletter and get good at it, it’s actually very enjoyable to do. I can speak directly from experience on this. I knew for about a year that I needed to do a monthly newsletter, but I kept putting it off. Layout, content, printing, it was too much of a hassle. Finally, last October I just decided to do it.

Yeah, it was hard at first, deciding what articles to put where, the layout, images etc. But after about 3 months I got pretty darn good at it. And truth be told, its one of the most enjoyable things I do each month and actually gives me a nice little break from the day to day grind we all feel.

Since you’re on this email list, you should also be receiving me monthly print newsletter, if you’re not, email me your mailing address and I’ll get you on the October list.

Here’s another great tip, I recently did this over the summer and had great success with it.

You can test offers to roll out into solo campaigns or mailings. I will often throw an offer into the newsletter as a “Highlighted Item” or “New Item.” If it does well, I roll it out as a solo campaign.

For you members of the 3D Mail Insider’s Circle, that’s exactly what I did. I put it in the newsletter, it got a good enough response, so I rolled it out as a solo direct mail piece. There’s lots of campaigns that I thought would be big winners, and I tested it in my newsletter and decided to move on to the next thing.

Finally, the #1 reason to have a monthly newsletter: It reminds your customers to come back. Most of your clients don’t return because of price, or bad service or anything like that. They simply forget about you. A newsletter is the best way to make sure that doesn’t happen.

OK, I know I promised you content ideas, but this tip ran a little longer than I thought it would. Stay tuned for later in the week and we’ll discuss content ideas… I promise!

Marketing Tip Readers Only Special

By far the biggest reason I hear that businesses don’t use newsletters is either:

I don’t have time
or
I don’t know what to write about.

We’ll, I have good news. My friend Jim Palmer is known internationally as The Newsletter Guru and is the president of No Hassle Newsletters.

Jim's ‘Done-for-You’ no hassle newsletters will fill your pipeline with more repeat and referral business, with no cold calls, no pressure, and no rejection

For information on his Done-4-you newsletter system, (key word: System) in which he writes, produces and mails your monthly newsletter FOR YOU, just click on this link.

Find the hidden money with a newsletter

2009-09-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we started a new segment on finding the hidden money in your business. I said it all started with the right list. See that article here on my blog. Today we’ll talk about a marketing idea that will help uncover more hidden money; it’s something lots of people know they should do, but rare do it… That’s right, a monthly newsletter!

We’ll start off today with some of the advantage of using newsletter marketing, then in a future email,we’ll talk about the content you should use.

The first thing you got to get out of your head is that a newsletter is an expense. It’s been my own personal experience, and those of the many business owners and entrepreneurs I speak with, that they’re not an expense, but actually a profit generator!

Newsletter have a high readership level, and they’re not perceived as “salesy” and most people read them with their “guard down” (however, you can and should
have direct offers in your newsletter, but we’ll talk about that later). In fact, when done properly, your clients will actually look forward to getting and reading them.

Here’s another biggie, your competition probably isn’t using a newsletter, and this gives you a huge competitive advantage. When it comes time to order again, who are they going to call, the person whose newsletter is sitting on the coffee table, or “the other guy.” Easy answer.

Another reason to use them is they can actually work as a form of branding that actually works and pays for itself! If you’ve read this tip much (or my newsletter,hint, hint) you know I’m anti-Madison Avenue, golden arches and swooshes marketing. However, with a newsletter you can brand you the person (its much easier to brand a person than an entire business/industry) by becoming a celebrity and guru in your niche.

That’s a wrap on this post. Stay tuned for next week and we’ll discuss 3 more advantages for using a newsletter and start addressing the topic you all dread…
CONTENT! See you then!

Marketing Tip Readers Only Special

By far the biggest reason I hear that businesses don’t use newsletters is either:

I don’t have time

or
I don’t know what to write about.

We’ll, I have good news. My friend Jim Palmer is known internationally as The Newsletter Guru and is the president of No Hassle Newsletters. Jim's ‘Done-for-You’ no hassle newsletters will fill your pipeline with more repeat and referral business, with no cold calls, no pressure, and no rejection

For information on his Done-4-you newsletter system, (key word: System) in which he writes, produces and mails your monthly newsletter FOR YOU, just click on this link.

Find the hidden money in your business

2009-09-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

Today we’re going to start a new series on finding the hidden money in your business. This will take a couple weeks, so strap in, ‘cause here we go.

To really find the hidden money in your business,it all starts with the list, and more specifically, your own, in-house produced list. This is your #1 asset in ANY business. My mentor Dan Kennedy likes to say that if you took away his business, products and anything else he sells, but left him his list, he could build a business at least as big from the ground up all over again, with just his list. This can and should be the same for your own list.

So how do we grow you list? We’ll start with ‘the trap.’ The trap is the place where the prospects name, address, email, fax, phone, traits etc are captured using enticing ‘bait,’ like a free trial, a free report, free product/services etc.

Of utmost importance, permission to use that information is secured. This usually is done by add a short line on any form (either offline or online) that says something like, “Providing this information to XYZ Company allows them to contact you via the above methods.”

If you wish, this allows you to run smaller, simpler ads, keeping the front end cost low and investing most of your resources in interested prospects.

I often tells clients this same thing in regard to 3D Mail. I’ll be the first to admit, 3D Mail can sometimes add costs to your mailing. I using it for prospecting puts you out of pocket, use it as a step in your marketing funnel to really WOW your prospect.

The best and cheapest way to learn this methodology is by playing prospect with companies doing lead generation advertising. This isn’t a hard exercise either. Start looking around, answer ads that are simply lead generation devices and see what and how they send information to you. The ones and look the best usually are, so mimic them.

This is admittedly an over-simplistic explanation of lead generation and list building, so to find out more, visit this blog posting and go from there.

Later we’ll talk about one of the biggest ways to find and get the hidden money in your business. Do you think you know what it is?

Marketing Tip Readers Only Special

The best system I’ve ever seen for systematically and automatically implementing your lead generation marketing is Infusionsoft.

Infusionsoft’s automatic follow-up software combines email marketing, CRM & eCommerce into one, simple system, so you can effortlessly stay in touch with
prospects & customers and close more sales. With Infusionsoft, you’ll always be growing your business... even when you’re out of the office, at the beach, or asleep!

I use it myself for a lot of the 3D Mail marketing you get from me, as well as my coaching/consulting business. They even have glowing endorsements from Michael Gerber of the E-Myth and Dan Kennedy!

To get a free eBook on lead generation marketing and using a marketing funnel including 9 proven techniques to double your sales visit this site here.

They have great lead generation devices and a great marketing funnel. So even if you’re set with your CRM, email etc. you should still take a look and get on their list. They are a great company to ‘play prospect with’ as I described above. If you study it closely you’ll get a PhD level education in the topics we’ve just been discussing. Here’s that link once more.

A Huge Marketing Calendar Suggestion

2009-09-21T16:15:00.000-07:00

Last week we started talking about using a marketing calendar. We talked about why it was critical that you have one, and a couple things to consider when you’re creating your calendar. To review, see the blog post from last week.

I told you this would probably be the shortest tip I’ve ever written, but it’s probably the most important thing you can get out of this segment on marketing calendars. It’s an advanced idea for REAL implementers. You ready?

Post your marketing calendar where people you work with can see your initiatives to let them know what to expect and… HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE TO GET THEM DONE!

Blog Readers Only Special

My friend and very successful marketer Troy White has created a great resource where he’s created the marketing calendar FOR YOU!

The Cash Flow Calendar contains completed marketing campaigns that guarantee to grow your business.

You will learn how to capitalize on the thousands of opportunities you have at your disposal to write new product or service launch. How to transfer an unusual holiday, even the standard ones, with a few minor changes, and one simple addition, to create monster successes with each mailer you send out to your clients.

For each MONTH of the year, you will receive countless opportunities and ideas to run month-long promotions - or one major product launch tied into a monthly event (for example, did you know that April is National Customer Appreciation Month? Perfect time for a mailer and promotion. Or that April also is the month of National Couple Appreciation Month? How easily could you tie in that to a promotion applicable to couples? Troy shows you how.

There’s a ton of done-for-you marketing in this resource. Visit Troy's site here to see it all for yourself.

If you purchase the 2009 version you’ll also the 2010 version for free. You’ll get the ’09 version shipped immediately, then the ’10 version when it is ready in about a month. It will have more dates, more templates, and more copy and paste letters. See details here.

3 things to consider with your marketing calendar

2009-09-17T15:52:00.000-07:00

Last week we started talking about using a marketing calendar. We talked about why it was critical that you have one, and a couple things to consider when you’re creating your calendar. To review, see the blog post below.

Moving on today, we’ll discuss 3 more things you must consider when you create your marketing calendar.

One thing I always do with my calendar is, at least 3 months prior to the initiative, is I map out everything in greater detail including the specific media to use. Most of the time, I don’t choose the media right away when I put my calendar together, but I do occasionally. I also try to use multiple different kinds of media over the course of a year. I certainly use 3D mail with sales letters, but I also use email, fax, postcards, etc. I’m always changing it up so my current clients get something new and different as often as possible.

It’s also perfectly fine to periodically visit your marketing plan knowing that its O.K to tweak and adjust your plan, for whatever reason.

Finally, after each initiative is completed and the results are in, go back and analyze how you can improve it in the future. This is very important. Even if you have a winner, there’s usually something you can test or tweak to improve your results. Challenge yourself and your team not rest on your laurels and find things to test for an improved response. For ideas on testing your direct mail, see this article I wrote last year on the subject.

My next tip will very short, probably the shortest tip I’ve ever written, but it may be one of the most important. See you then.

Creating Your Marketing Calendar

2009-09-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we started talking about using a marketing calendar. We talked about why it was critical that you have one, and a couple things to consider when you’re creating your calendar. To review, see the blog post below.

Moving on today, we’ll discuss 2 more things you must consider when you create your marketing calendar.

This is a biggie. You need to agree on specific marketing initiatives that can be accomplished, with specific deadlines. That last part is H-U-G-E! Unless you have specific deadlines in which to get things done, there’s nothing holding you accountable to getting it done.

Too many marketers go at marketing half-assed, and flying by the seat of their pants. If you have a known specific goal and a specific deadline set far enough in advance, you’ll have a much better chance of reaching those goals on time, and on budget.

This is one reason why I like holiday marketing so much. There’s a specific day you must meet to get the promotion done. Once it’s gone, you can’t use it again for another year.

Next, you need to space out your marketing initiatives where your clients regularly hear from you throughout the year.

Let’s take our holiday themed marketing we touch on above. It’s great if you want to run a Thanksgiving promotion, and a Christmas promotion, but that better not be it. Your clients will only hear from you twice in a 30 day period, and then wait for 11 months. You need to have those, and a Labor Day promotion, an Independence Day sale, Women’s History Month (March) etc. Clumping your promotions together is not the way to go.

For more information on Marketing Calendars, be sure to see the Blog readers only resource on the post below.

That’s a wrap for this week. We’ll pick up on Tuesday of next week. Until then, keep on marketing!

Use a Marketing Calendar

2009-09-10T15:56:00.000-07:00

Creating a marketing calendar is perhaps the single most valuable time you spend “on” your business each year. But why should you have a marketing calendar?

Most businesses have no marketing plan at all. To compound things, they make plans based on whoever is trying to sell them the next shiny object. In speaking with business owners and entrepreneurs daily, I’ve found that less than half Of all business actually do it, but those that do have a HUGE competitive advantage.

Below are a few things to consider when creating a marketing calendar. We’ll do a few each tip for the next week or so.

First, you need to devote specific, uninterrupted time each year when you create your calendar. I like to use the time near the end of each December. Things seem to slow down a bit then. The phone doesn’t ring quite an often, and there’s less demands on my time. While this may not be ideal (the phones ringing less, etc), it gives me that uninterrupted time that I need to get it done.

Second, you want to solicit information and help from key people in your business. Do have sales reps? Get them, or their manager involved. Want to run a specific campaign that requires accounting/book-keeping to get involved, do. In fact, I just met with our VP of Operations regarding a “Pay Later” campaign I want to run. Her input on the implementation of it, from an accounting standpoint, was invaluable.

If you’re a sole proprietor, you may want to meet in advance with your vendors who will be helping the campaign along. See that they can meet your deadlines and that they can implement what you want to do. You don’t want to get to the time to implement, and then get stalled because a vendor or key person can’t get the job done in time.

That’s it for today. Later in the week we’ll discuss three additional things you need to consider when creating your marketing calendar. See you then!

Blog Readers Only Special

My friend and very successful marketer Troy White has created a great resource where he’s created the marketing calendar FOR YOU!

The Cash Flow Calendar contains completed marketing campaigns that guarantee to grow your business.

You will learn how to capitalize on the thousands of opportunities you have at your disposal to write new product or service launch. How to transfer an unusual holiday, even the standard ones, with a few minor changes, and one simple addition, to create monster successes with each mailer you send out to your clients.

9 success keys to making any promotion you send a money maker

For each MONTH of the year, you will receive countless opportunities and ideas to run month-long promotions - or one major product launch tied into a monthly event (for example, did you know that April is National Customer Appreciation Month? Perfect time for a mailer and promotion. Or that April also is the month of National Couple Appreciation Month? How easily could you tie in that to a promotion applicable to couples? I show you how.

23 different ways (and reasons) to stay in touch with your customers and prospects (each on of them can make you a bundle if you use them).

And tons more. Visit Troy's site to see it all for yourself.

Real World USP Examples

2009-09-08T16:49:00.001-07:00

Last week I gave you three questions you should consider when you craft your own unique selling proposition. I also told you I’d dissect two “real world” USP’s that I use in two businesses that I’m involved with. To see where we’ve been, see my blog here. For the 2 real world examples, read on.

We talked last week about some of the most effective USP’s I’ve seen and we mentioned Domino’s and FedEx. Those were short, sweet and to the point. However, there is value in USP’s that are not short. Now I’m not talking about long-winded, totally-drawn-out USP’s that nobody can remember, but a longer one can have just as much meaning and value as a short one.

Here are two examples I hinted at last week. Here’s one for our retail supply business, American Retail Supply:

Everything you need to run your store – on time, every time, from the people who know only happy clients come back.

To you, that may not mean much, but to the independent retailer or regional chain (our bread and butter clients), this has tremendous value.

Here’s one that may have some meaning to you:

Helping direct mail marketers increase their ROI with creative, unique and clutter busting 3D mail products and grabbers.

That’s ours at 3D Mail. I admit I don’t use it nearly enough, but now that I’ve shared it with all of you, I’ll certainly start using it more.

You’ll notice in both USP’s we’re not trying to be everything to everyone. In fact, it’s just the opposite. If you don’t have a store, the American Retail Supply USP means very little to you, in fact, you’d probably stop reading after the first line. But if you own a store, it speaks directly to you. Every store owners hates having multiple PO’s with multiple vendors. They hate when their supplies don’t arrive when they’re told they will. They can relate to it.

The same goes for our 3D Mail USP. Right off I state that we help direct mail marketers. If you don’t use direct mail, it’s not for you. But if you do, you certainly keep reading. We even make a promise of increasing the ROI of those who use it. No a bad USP if I may say so (I did write it, so I better like it!)

Here’s a litmus test for you. Ask your clients what they think your USP is. If they can get close, then you’re on the right track. It may not be exactly phrased right, but if they get the big picture, you’re doing something right.

That wraps up our series on USP’s. We could go on and on with USP’s, you could spend an entire seminar on the topic. We’ll march on later in the week with our new topic. See you then!

Finding Your USP, Part 2

2009-09-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we talked about the ways you can find your own, unique USP. Some of those included product or price advantage, or a process advantage, plus a few others. To review see that blog post here. We’re going to go over some other methods you can use to create and craft a winning USP for your business.

Here are three questions you should ask yourself before you start tackling your USP:

What do you do better than anyone else in your category?
What can you do better than anyone else in your category?
What should you do better than anyone else in your category?

Some of the best USP ever took those 3 questions and created entire businesses around them with short, memorable and descriptive USP’s. Domino’s is probably
the best example out there:

Fresh, hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less or it’s free.

Notice there no mention of good pizza, quality ingredients,or anything else. Just hot pizza, FAST. FedEx’s is no slouch either:

When is absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.”

Here’s another one. As amazing as it sounds, a COMPETENCY USP actually works now. Most business are so incompetent at what they do (however, those business are finding it a bit tougher now days). Here’s a great example of one I read in a newsletter not too long ago:

What if you actually liked your Attorney? We listen, we respond. We return your phone call.

I want to track this attorney down and give him my business! On Tuesday we’ll wrap up our discussion on USP’s, and I’ll dissect two USP’s we have for two businesses I am involved with, and I’ll give you a few more examples of great USP’s. I’ll talk to you then.

Blog Readers Only Special

Bill Glazer is one of the top Marketing Strategists in the world and one of the highest paid and OUTRAGEOUSLY successful copywriters alive today.

In fact, he’s written 23 sales letters that have EACH generated one million dollars in sales.

If you’d like to get a copy of Bill Glazer’s most OUTRAGEOUSLY SUCCESFUL sales letter he’s ever written and now used by business owners and entrepreneurs in 67 different business categories (online and offline) in association with the launch of Bill’s JUST RELEASED new book “OUTRAGEOUS Advertising That’s OUTRAGEOUSLY Successful” then click on the link below:

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Finding Your USP

2009-08-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

We kick off a new segment last week on Unique selling propositions, or a USP. To review click over to me blog below and see what you may have missed on Friday. Today, we’ll discuss a few different ways to find your USP.

My marketing mentor, Dan Kennedy, defines a USP as:

“Why should I, your prospect, do business with you verses any and every other option available to me in your category?”

So how do you answer that question? Here are a couple ideas. First, you can have an advantage in price. Personally, I think this is the last place you want to be. Frankly, the track record of the “low cost leader” in just about every category lasts only so long. There’s always somebody out there will to do something cheaper than you are.

But, there are plenty of other ways to go. For example, you may have a product that is unique only to you, and that doesn’t necessarily have to be the next wiz-bang, cutting edge toy. It can be something as simple as the way you package your product that your competition doesn’t do, or refuses to do.

You have a process that’s different that everybody else. Ivory soap used the USP, “99.78% Pure” for decades, so everybody assumed they had the purest soap. We’ve come to realize over the years that most soap are 99.78% pure. But they brought the process of creating the soap and used it as a USP.

Third, do you provide a service or a level of service that no one else is providing. I know of many doctors who have practices that have limo service pick up, grand piano players in the “waiting room” (a barely dare call them that), dentists who have private patience rooms. They have a level of service the average doctor doesn’t meet.

I have some more ways to help you answer the USP question. I’ll be back on Friday for more examples.

Your Unique Selling Propsition

2009-08-22T17:10:00.000-07:00

We’re going to start down a new road today. We’re going to be starting on the topic of a USP, your unique selling proposition. This may be opening up a BIG can or worms, and it can be one of the hardest things you do with your business. But it’s well worth read.

A USP is made up of all the things that your have say and offer. But a true USP is the thing or things that differentiate, that you do differently. That are different by personality, price, offer guarantee, whatever, so you stand out in a positive way.

Why should you develop a USP? There are many reasons. Just a few of them include.

It will give you an incredible marketing advantage over your competitors.
Those that create a USP experience huge growth over a relatively short period of time.
Without one you are extremely vulnerable to competition.
It will create clarity in your business and in your mindset. It’s what you are about and what you want people to think about you.

Here’s the biggie lesson of the day. Only you can create your USP. You can’t hire a consultant to do it, or a coach, only you. And I’m not going to lie, it’s not an easy thing to do and it requires a lot of thought and work. But over the next few marketing tips, we’ll get you well on your way if you don’t yet have one. If you do, this will hopefully bring some further insight if you wish to revamp your current USP. I’ll see you next week.

Why You Should Use a Marketing Funnel

2009-08-18T13:17:00.001-07:00

Over the past several weeks, we’ve been talking about lead generation marketing, how to use it, and how to integrate it into your marketing funnel. To see where we’ve been, see my blog posts from the past couple weeks below. Today we’re going to wrap up our discussion on these two topics. Today we’re going to answer that burning question, ”Why should I use a marketing funnel.” Here’s my $0.02.

First and foremost, you just get more sales when you use a marketing funnel! That should be reason enough, shouldn’t it! There’s the short answer, but why do we get more sales when we use lead generation marketing, with a systematic
marketing funnel as well?

We’re able to do what I like to call, lead nurturing and maturing. Frankly, most of your prospects simply aren’t ready to buy at this very moment. However, they will be ready to buy down the line. Each prospects timeline for
a purchase is different, so we’re able to give them the time they need to move from a “Luke-warm” buyer to “Ready to buy!”

You’re also able to provide education, and prove to your prospects that you’re a ‘Guru’ in your industry (Hey, a lot like this twice-weekly tip!).

Further, they get to know you as a person. They get to know you, trust you and learn about you. If you read my monthly print newsletter I send out, you already know a ton about me.

Finally, you’re able to position yourself, and answer the, ”Why should I choose you” question that always burns in the back of your prospects mind. You can position your pricing and justify it, and position your ‘rules of engagement’ on how your business is run.

That puts a bow on this topic. We’ll start a new one on Friday. Until then, keep on marketing!

What’s in Your Funnel

2009-08-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

We’ve been discussing lead generation the past two weeks, and earlier this week I introduced you to the idea of a marketing funnel and using it when you use lead generation marketing. To see that post just scroll down to the posts below.

Today we’re going to talk about what is included in your funnel and why it’s important to use a funnel, especially when using lead generation marketing.

So you’ve used lead generation marketing to get your ideal prospect to raise their hand, and identify themselves as someone who is interested in what you sell. That’s a GREAT first step, but now what?!?

Your marketing funnel is a systematic approach to everything your prospects sees, hears and receives from you after they’ve raised their hand. The keyword is SYSTEMATIC. It’s even better if its semi or fully automatic.

Here’s a simply funnel that you could easily use when someone response to your lead generation ad:

Day 1: Send your free guide you advertised
Day 2: Send email confirmation that you mailed the Guide.
Day 5: Phone call to see they received the guide
Day 7: Follow up email to be sure they received the guide.
Day 10: Sales letter to sell your product/service
Day 20: Postcard to sell your product/Service

So you’re starting to get the idea. There’s also things that should be continually doing each month, like newsletters, new offers/opportunities, promotions tied to holidays or current events. The list could go on and on.

We’ll wrap up our talk about lead generation and your marketing funnel next week. I’ll see you then.

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I use it myself for a lot of the 3D Mail marketing you get from me, as well as my coaching/consulting business. They even have glowing endorsements from Michael Gerber of the E-Myth and Dan Kennedy!

To see a demo video, and get a free trial visit this site. They have great lead generation devices and a great marketing funnel. So even if you’re set with your CRM, email etc. you should still take a look and get on their list. If you study it closely you’ll get a PhD level education in the topics we’ve just been discussing.

Lead Generation With Your Marketing Funnel

2009-08-13T16:33:00.000-07:00

Last week I left you off with the virtues of lead generation marketing. To review, see my blog post here. Now we’re going to move on to using lead generation in your marketing funnel. There are tons great reasons to use lead generation marketing. We’ll cover a couple here.

As we discussed before, with almost all marketing, you’re severely limited with the amount of information you can send or use in a cost effective manner. How much can you possibly say in a 30 second TV or radio spot, a yellow pages ad (even in a full page ad), a billboard, or a postcard?

With lead generation marketing, you’re able to move your client or prospect to another media in which you have more cost effective means to tell your story. You can move them from offline to online, and vice versa, move them to an audio CD, DVD, print and just about any other type of media.

One very popular technique I’m seeing a lot is to send an inexpensive postcard, and lead them to a personalized website, or PURL, which has, theoretically speaking, unlimited space.

You also have the ability to spend more money per prospect. Let’s take our PURL example from above. You send your client to a unique webpage that is only
for them, and you’re able to track it. You know this person is at least slightly interested in whateverit is you’re offering.

Now, you’ve ‘shrunk your universe’ to only include those people who visited their unique webpage. They obviously have an interest in what you’re selling,
and you can spend more per qualified lead, and actually end up spending less overall in the campaign. This would be a great time to send them clutter busting 3D Mail!

However, you must know your total lifetime value of both a prospect and a client. That’s a discussion for another day we’ll get to down the road.

www.3DMailResults.com

The Virtues of Lead Generation Marketing

2009-08-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

We’ve switched gears here a bit, after earlier this weekdiscussing what business you’re really in. Now, on to lead generation marketing and what you need to do for it to be effective in your business.

Lead generation marketing is the ultimate ‘pull’ marketing strategy. It allows people who are interested in your product or service to pull information for themselves about you and your business, rather than the usually ‘push’ marketing that you usually see. Almost all “Madison Avenue” marketing is push marketing.

What you need for prospects to ‘pull’ information from you is great bait, or a lead generation magnet. This is something that you’re prospects request from you. They come in many forms, but the most typical is free information about your niche. They can include:

White Papers
Free Reports, such as:
“The 7 Questions You Must Ask…”
“9 Secrets They Don’t Want You
to Know About…”
Free Recorded Messages
And other types of gifts appropriate for your niche.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that the more desirable your ‘bait” is, the better response you’ll get. The 3D Mail Results webpage is a great example of ”bait,” with our free Guide to Using 3D Mail, Swipe File CD, and tons of free information and videos to get you started.

Next week we’ll talk about the different ways you can use lead generation marketing for maximum effect.

The Business You Should Be In

2009-08-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

Last week we started a conversation on lead generation marketing vs. one-step sell marketing. For a review of where we’ve been, see my last couple blog entries here. I also left off saying I’d tell you what business you’re really in.

Answer that question to yourself. What business are you in? If you’re like most, you’ll say something like mortgage broker, dentist, restaurateur, coach, chiropractor etc.

If you answer was something like this, I’d say you’re wrong. (Hang in here with me; I’ll get to the point in just one minute.)

If you’ve been reading my tips, newsletter or have heard me speak you may be saying to yourself, “I’m not falling for that one Travis, I know I’m in the Marketing Business.”

To that I say you’re closer, but still not quite there.

You’re in the list building business.

There is nothing more valuable to your business than a list of names and contact information of your most targeted prospects and clients.

You want to capture names and market to them continuously. As my Marketing mentor Dan Kennedy says,”Till they buy or die.”

So how do you build your list? Through lead generation marketing, of course. You’re essentially getting permission to market and sell to your ideal prospect or client, over and over again. How great is that!

In case it isn’t obvious yet, I’m a big fan of lead generation marketing. In fact, since you’re on my email list, you’ve been privy to lead generation marketing already! So over the next couple weeks we’ll talk specifically about lead generation marketing (i.e. List Building) and how you can benefit and profit from it. See you later in the week.

One Step Selling

2009-08-03T11:24:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday we started our conversation on one-step selling vs. lead generation marketing. To review where we left off you can see my blog entry below. Today, we’ll talk a bit more about one-step selling.

Most advertising and marketing you see on a daily basis is what we call one-step marketing. In fact, most of the “institutional” and “Madison Avenue” marketing you see is one-step. Its only job is to get a sale right then and there.

There are certainly some drawbacks to this. First, you’ve got to be there at the exact right moment, when your prospect is hot and bothered about what it is that you sell. It needs to be perfect timing. Research has shown that only about 20% of the people who are even interested in your business, are ready to “Buy Now!”

Further, your time or length of your message is severely limited by most one-step sale strategies. How much can you possibly say in a 30 second TV or radio spot, a yellow pages ad (even in a full page ad), a billboard, a simple postcard? Can you really sell your product in that limited amount of space? If so, you’re probably in a highly commoditized business. To that I say “GET OUT, AND GET OUT QUICKLY!”

Next week we’ll talk about business you’re really in. I know some of you may think you know the answer to this, but my answer may surprise you. Until then keep on marketing!

www.3dmailresults.com

Lead Generation vs. One Step Selling

2009-07-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

We finished up our talk on the 13 top copywriting mistakes I often see when critiquing sales letters. Today, we’re going to move on to a new topic,Lead generation vs. one step selling and tie it back to 3D mail as well. We’ll start off with an explanation of each.

First, one step selling. In one step selling, the only job of your ad, whether that is a sales letter, post card, website, yellow pages ad etc, is to sell your product or service. It requires an immediate “Buy Now” reaction whether that be pick up the phone and order, visit our website and order, come in for an appointment etc.

This biggest drawback to one step selling is it only works if they want it now. We’ll talk about some of the other elements of one step selling later in the week.

With lead generation, you’re able to grad the attention of the prospect if they’re ready to buy (usually less than 20% of all who are even interested), or even if they’re luke-warm or just slightly interested in your product or service.

With lead generation, all you’re doing is getting your prospect to raise their hand, and say, “Yeah, I might bet interested in what you’re offering.” Then you’re able to put them in your marketing funnel (a whole other topic for another day)

OK, so there’s our introduction to one-step and lead generation. We’ll be moving on next time and dig in deeper to the pros and cons of each one. I’ll see you then!

How to sell a pencil

2009-07-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

I had a tip for today lined up, as we just finished up our last series on copywriting mistakes (see past posts below). However, I received this tip from my friend Zach Entwistle, who got it from Mike Brooks.

I usually talk about marketing and advertising in my emails, but we often sabotage our own marketingwith piss-poor sales training. We’ll get back to our new topic on Monday, but I really wanted to share this with you this morning.Here it is:

If I gave you a pencil and asked you to sell it, how would you go about it?

This is one of the most basic of interview questions for sales reps, and the answer reveals so much about your previous training, your understanding of the sales process, and ultimately about what kind of sales rep you are.

So, what is the most effective way to sell a pencil? Well, first let’s look at how most sales reps go about doing it. When I’m interviewing sales reps I love using this technique. After letting a rep tell me how good of a closer they are, I pull out a pencil, hand it to them, and tell them to sell it to me. And off they go!

80% of sales reps start the same way – they start pitching. “This pencil is brand new, never used. It has grade “2” lead and a bright yellow color so it’s easy to find. It comes with a built in eraser,” etc.

Some reps can (and do!) talk about it for 5 minutes or more before they ask a question or ask for an order. As the sales rep rambles on, I begin to yawn, roll my eyes, etc. Amazingly, this just makes them talk even more! “What’s wrong with these people?” I think.

Now let’s look at how the top 20% go about selling a pencil. As soon as I give a top rep the pencil, they pause, and then they begin asking me questions:

“So how often do you use a pencil?”

“How many do you go through in a month?”

“What other locations does your company use pencils at, and how often do they order them?”

“What quantity do you usually order them in?”

“Besides yourself, who’s involved in the buying decision?”

Quite a difference, huh? I’ll tell you right now, I listen to hundreds of sales reps in a month and they can easily be separated into these two groups: Those who pitch, pitch, pitch, and those who take the time to understand their prospect’s buying motives, and
properly qualify to understand the entire selling process.

Now let’s see which category you fit in. When you speak with a prospect for the first time, how much of your script is focused on describing and pitching your product or service as opposed to questioning and uncovering buying motives?

If yours is like most scripts I review, then it’s filled with descriptions of what you do and how your product or service helps them. Most scripts attack the prospect with a barrage of “value statements” that turn people off and make them want to get you off the phone as quickly as possible.

Want a better way? Then take a tip from some of the best “pencil sales reps” and change your script and opening to focus more on questioning - discovering whether you’re dealing with a qualified buyer, and what it might take to actually sell them.

Without knowing this, you’ll just end up with a lot of frustration and a lot of unsold pencils at the end of the month.

Don’t do too much

2009-07-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

For the last three weeks I’ve been discussing the 13 big mistakes I often see when critiquing sales letters. Below are the final two BIG mistakes I see every day. To review the previous 11, see my blog posts here.

12. Trying to Do Too Much
You are not going to sell a house with a post card. But you may get someone to raise their hand and say I want to find out more about that house with a post card.

You should also try to do one thing and only one thing. If you want them to call you, everything should lead to them calling you. If you want them to send back a post card to get the free DVD, everything should be about getting the DVD.

Tip: Determine what you want to accomplish and be sure everything in the letter supports that one thing.

13. No Double Readership Path and Poor Cosmetics
There are two types of ‘readers’ who will read your sales letters, post cards, print ads, etc. - skimmers and readers. If your headline does its job (see rule #1), then the readers will read every word that write. Skimmers, will NOT. You want skimmers to be able to make a buying decision by just reading:

The Headline
Subheads
Captions
Order instructions
P.S.

While they may not make the buying decision based on the 5 bullet points above, if you’ve told your story well enough with your headline, subheads, captions, order instructions and P.S. they will often go back and read the entire letter.

With that said, we can enhance the sections above, and our copy with cosmetics. Cosmetics can be bolds, underlines, italics, CAPITALIZATION, a different font, SIZE, Colors, etc.

Cosmetics enhancements are used to increase readership among skimmers and help readers follow along. Cosmetics are used to cover key points and they make long copy seem shorter to the reader, and thus increase readership.

Tip: After you’ve written your sales letter, go through and use cosmetics to enhance your key points. The key points being your offer, reason why, guarantee(s), testimonial(s), deadline, and call to action. Then, have someone read just your headline, subheads, captions and cosmetic enhancements. If they can repeat your entire story just reading those areas, you’ve got yourself a double readership path with great cosmetics!

Don’t forget the P.S.

2009-07-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

Testimonials – Don’t forget the P.S.

For the last two weeks I’ve been discussing the 13 big mistakes I often see when critiquing sales letters. To review where we left off, see the blog posts below from earlier this week. Below are the next two mistakes copywriters often make.

10. No P.S.
The P.S. is the second most read part of any sales letter. Many people read the headline and then turn to the end of the letter to see who it's from when they read the P.S.

My strong recommendation is to never send out a letter of any kind without including a P.S. This includes personal letters. Make it a habit from which you never vary. So when
you are writing to your mother, father or friend, end the letter with a P.S.

Tip: When preparing a P.S. for a sales letter, a good formula to follow is to simply restate the biggest benefit of the product, the guarantee and the offer. How about a second P.S.? So that’s P.P.S. – Or even a third – P.P.P.S.

11. Write Like You Were Taught To Write in High School Composition.
High School Composition has Absolutely-Nothing-TO-DO with effective sales letter writing. Oh no! I can’t capitalize Absolutely Nothing in the middle of a sentence – and there’s no rule about bolding whats-ever – and TO-DO certainly is not all caps! And my GOD what are all these dashes! Hey, only the G is capitalized in God. And what am I doing starting sentences and ending sentences with prepositions – Ohhhhhhhh – I got an F.

Get it? Most people’s writing is boring and stuffy at best! Most people are not boring and stuffy. Write like you speak! Punctuate for effect not to follow rules!

Tip: Want to write a great sales letter! Sit down with a good friend and a tape recorder and tell him why you and your product are so great. Transcribe the tape – add the #1 benefit at the top in a headline - and restate the biggest benefit, guarantee, and
offer in the P.S. – You’re done.

www.3dmailresults.com

Testimonials – You Can Never Have Too Many

2009-07-13T16:34:00.001-07:00

For the last week I’ve been discussing the 13 big mistakes I often see when critiquing sales letters. To review where we left off, blog post below from last week. Below are the next two mistakes copywriters often make.

8. No testimonials.
Customers who rave about your product or service are extremely effective and should be included in every sales letter. The words from the mind and heart of customers build your credibility.

However, most marketers waste the potential impact of testimonials. Common mistakes include using initials rather than the full name, as well as omitting city and state or country.

Tip: When getting written permission to use a testimonial in advertising, also request a photo. Most will happily agree. Photos help to add power.

9. No money-back guarantee.
Your response to any sales letter will be significantly higher if you include a money-back guarantee.

Tip: The longer the guarantee, the more sales and less returns or refunds requested. For example, 30 days works better than 10 days, 60 days works better than 30 days, etc. A full year "no quibble" guarantee works very well.

The more you tell, the more you sell

2009-07-10T16:05:00.001-07:00

For the last week I’ve been discussing the 13 big mistakes I often see when critiquing sales letters. To review where we left off, blog post from last week. Below are the next two mistakes copywriters often make.

6. Your copy is too short.
As the old saying goes, “The more you tell, the more you sell.” Tell the complete story of your product. Include every benefit you can. Copy can never be too long. Some of my sales letters are as long as 56 pages.

But you can be too boring. The biggest sin of any copywriter, even in a two-paragraph letter, is to bore the prospect. The secret is to tell a complete story, but in the fewest words possible. Eliminate every single unnecessary word.

Tip: Write only to those who are interested in what you are selling. Do not be concerned whatsoever with those who are not interested. Those who are interested need enough information to take the next step. Give it to them!

7. Large blocks of copy and few subheads.
Lengthy paragraphs without frequent subheads make copy intimidating to read. This discourages reading and response. Place at least two or three subheads on each page. Plus, keep paragraphs and sentences short. Paragraph length of no more than five sentences or less should be your goal. Some paragraphs can be one to three words.

Tip: When you write subheads, strive to make them short and benefit driven. If the subheads are well done, readers with short attention spans can simply read the headlines and subheads and make their buying decision on those alone.

Don’t Exaggerate

2009-07-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

For the last week I’ve been discussing the 13 big mistakes I often see when critiquing sales letters. To review where we left off see my blog posts below from last week. Below are the next two mistakes copywriters often make.

4. Exaggerated Claims.
Many copywriters and marketers think the more astonishing your claims are the more persuasive. This is a fallacy. If a claim is exaggerated, it seems and feels untrue. You thus lose that all-important credibility.

Tip: First you should dramatize your advertising claims with the help of short emotional words. Then prove each claim. Expert comments and testimonials can be a big help. Give a reason why.

In the headline from last week, the roofer is giving away a big screen TV because his crew usually doesn’t do anything in January and February and his suppliers are slow also. He explains that in the letter.

5. Confusing offer.
So many sales letters do not make a clear, easily understandable offer. The result is few or no orders. Reason? When consumers are confused, they don't act--they do nothing. Confusion always breeds inaction.

Tip: Think through your offer very carefully and write it down before you prepare a single word of your sales letter.

3D Mail Success in Real Estate

2009-07-07T16:24:00.000-07:00

It seems a real estate agent out there, who's also a coach in the niche, found out about our products and used them with some great success. See a video by Jay Kinder right here. I guess I'll need to get him on the phone and work out something with his members!

Don’t be Full of Yourself

2009-07-06T09:37:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I started out with the first big mistake people make with their sales letters. To review, see my blog post below. Now are the next two mistakes copywriters often make.

2. Copy is full of "Me" messages.Some examples: My products are terrific. My company is wonderful. We've been in business for 15 years. We have a long tradition of quality, blah, blah, blah.

So much advertising is full of this drivel. This is all about you. No one in the world cares besides you. Your prospects want to know exactly what benefits they will get from your products. In other words, if you sell grass seed, don't dwell on what it's composed of. Instead describe how beautiful their lawn will be.

TIP: Here is the fastest way to improve your copy. Review the first draft of your copy. Eliminate all these words--I, our, we, my. Substitute you and your. I promise you'll be amazed and truly gratified with the result. It's sure to blow your mind!

3. Copy fails to answer the question "What's in it for me?" The process, of course, starts with the headline. An excellent copywriting technique is to prepare bullet points. These should consist of all the benefits a buyer of your product will get.

Tip: Your benefits should be stated in headline format. The secret of making benefits even more powerful is to describe the benefit of the benefit.

B-I-G Sales Letter Mistakes

2009-06-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

I often get asked to critique sales letters, and I come across a lot of the same mistakes nearly every single time. I’ve condensed it down to 13 of the biggest, most glaring mistakes I often see. Today we’ll start with the first one, and it’s probably the most often made mistake.

1. Poor Headline. Or what's even worse, no headline. The most important part of sales letters is the headline. Unless the headline immediately attracts attention and generates interest, your prospect will stop reading right then and there. This means you have no chance -zero- to fulfill the purpose of the sales letter, which is to make a sale. Your headline should communicate the strongest customer benefit(s) of your product or service.

TIP: Creating a great headline. This is entirely contrary to what many “experts” say, but it is what most experts do!

Headlines are critically important and yes you can spend hours, days, even weeks if necessary, creating headlines and then testing one headline against another. You can create at least 15 to 25 and test the strongest ones. You can write as many as 200 to 250 before choosing two to four to test against each other to find the most profitable.

Or you can do what most copywriters do when they critic someone’s copy. They read the copy and pick out a biggest benefit and make it the headline. Then they look for one or two other big benefits and make them sub-headlines.

Here’s an Example:

“How To Get a New Roof,
And a FREE 42” Flat Screen TV Just in time for the Big Game”
I Really Don’t Want to Lay Off My Crew this Winter
I only Have 10 TVs – Call Now To Be Sure Your Get Yours!

On Friday I’ll cover 2 more mistakes I often see. Stay tuned!

www.3DMailResults.com

Questions to ask Yourself about Premiums

2009-06-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

We’re winding down our segment on the power of using premiums in your marketing. For a review of where we’ve been, see my last blog post below.

The first thing you need to do it you haven’t already is find out the lifetime value (LTV) of your average client. You need this vital information about your business. Going into a marketing campaign without knowing your LTV, is like entering an archery contest and not knowing where the target is located! How do you know where to shoot? How hard? How high? How low? Pretty tough.

For example, Let’s say, my average sale from a first time client is $100.00. I know that they’ll be worth $200 each year for 5 more years, the average length of a professional relationship in my business. That client is worth $1,100 to me. I now have a basis of where I can start my marketing campaign.

It is also vital to know your average sale. $5, $50, $5,000? How much of that are you willing to give away for a purchase? Or an appointment? Do you close well? If so, you just need to
get more appointments and premium may be just what you need to give you that bump. You simply need to find the premium to match your budget. If your LTV is smaller, use an appropriate smaller premium. If you have a large transaction size, a more lavish or expensive premium may be in order.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when adding premiums to your offer.

Do(es) the bonus(es) have a high perceived value?
Can you make bonuses by breaking out parts of your product?
Are you going to use non-linked bonuses?
Are the bonuses set up to be more desired than the product?
Are you using bonuses to enhance purchase of upgrade (deluxe) product choice?
Are you creating or buying multiple bonuses, instead of just one?
Can you link bonuses to fast response? (time, limited quantity, first time buyers, etc)
Are you offering unannounced bonuses either at purchase or after?

www.3DMailResults.com

The Premium Can Be the Focus of Your Sales Pitch

2009-06-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

We’ve been talking about immense power of using premiums (free gifts) in your marketing. On Tuesday we talked about related and unrelated premiums. to review, see the blog posts below. We’re going to pick up our conversation below.

If the right premium is matched correctly with your list, your premium can often drive the sale. World famous retailer Murray Raphel called this the “psychology of second interest.”

Selling the second interest can be included in many sales processes, but it extremely applicable with premiums. How may Cracker Jack boxes did you buy as a kid (or for your kids) just to get that cheap little toy inside, or how about McDonald’s Happy Meals just for the prepackaged toy?

Premiums can Boost Your Referrals

As marketers, you know (or should know), that youwill almost always get a better ROI from your current clients. Knowing this, you can ask your current clients to refer their friends, family and business associates to you! You can offer a FREE gift for each new client they refer. The best place to start to get new business is to ask your current happy and satisfied clients! Offer them something of high perceived value, and they’ll refer their friends to you!

www.3dmailresults.com

Related or Unrelated Premiums?

2009-06-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

Most people think their premium needs to be something they sell. This is a myth that needs to be addressed and debunked right now. In almost all instances, a premium unrelated to your product will outperform a premium that IS related to your business.

Here are a couple examples. For years in my main business I have sent out a free Big Key Calculator to responders to my mailing. I sell to independent retailers and I don’t sell calculators! Yes, they could use it in their store (or home, or wherever), but it is in no way related to what I want to offer them.

For years, Sports Illustrated gave away sneaker phones. This is in no way related to what Sports Illustrated offers, a weekly sports-news magazine. They simply matched the premium with their target demographic. They didn’t offer two month’s free of the magazine, or a free report about sports. IT’S A CHEAP, BARELY SERVICEABLE PHONE! It’s not a product they sell!

Have you ever received an offer from Omaha Steaks? They almost always offer a premium with a purchase, and it’s an unrelated product. I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want a free report on how a cow goes
from the pasture to my plate. However, a free meat thermometer might be just the ticket to make sure my steak is nice and rare!

You should know enough about your target niche to offer an appropriate premium. Some will obviously work better than others. If you’re selling a high end, high priced luxury car, a $25.00 gift card to Wal-Mart probably isn’t the right premium. However, a leather briefcase with a perceived value of $125.00 (your actually cost is probably less than the $25.00 you’d spend at Wal-Mart) could probably do the trick!

www.3dmailresults.com

Why do Premium Offers Improve Direct Mail Response?

2009-06-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, everybody wants something for FREE! It is a simple human instinct that appeals to our need for self gratification. That’s the simple answer.

Premiums cost very little, but have a high perceived value. You can very often offer premiums that your prospect perceives as very valuable but costs you very little in ‘real’ dollars. Remember, you are only sending a picture of the premium to the whole mailing and then giving the actual gift only to those who respond!

With this in mind, you certainly don’t want to alienate a customer, so make sure your premium (free gift) is as described in your literature.

Premiums can Lower Your Cost per Transaction!

This is a very interesting thing about premiums. And you’re probably thinking it’s counter-intuitive that a premium would lower your costs, but here’s how it lowers your cost per transaction.

Let’s say you mail out 10,000 sales letters, with no premium and you get a 2% response rate. That would be 200 responders. Let’s further assume you can be profitable with 200 responders. Now let’s say you offer the premium, and response goes up to 3%. This is not an out-of-the-ordinary response when you offer a premium. You now only need to send out 6,700 pieces of mail to get the same 200 responders as you did without the premium. And, for easy math, let’s say each mailing cost $1.00. You would save $3,300 on just the single mailing. If you assume your premium cost you $5 each for the 200 responders for a total cost of $1,000. You’re still saving $2,300!

The Ultimate Swipe File

2009-06-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

Let’s face it, busting through the clutter and just getting your marketing piece opened, let alone read, is tougher than ever... But when you learn the secrets to 3D Mail, your marketing results will explode and that’s why we’ve created the 3D Mail Insider’s Circle and you can experience it for FREE for 2 months!

Here’s What You Get

Each month you get a brand new 3D Mail piece. The new item will include a dozen different headlines that you can tweak and use in your own business. One month the new idea may be tied to an upcoming current event (presidential election, Memorial Day, Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics, etc) and the next month it may be something more general.
When the 3D item is tied to an upcoming current event you’ll get it 3 months before the event so you have time to get the item and implement the campaign. Don’t miss our new 3D Mail product for the exclusive use of 3D Mail Insiders next month. I’ll give you a hint, “its Goolish. It’s sure to get attention and it only costs you 15¢.”
10% off the new 3D Mail item that is highlighted in monthly mailing. For three months, you’ll get 10% of the new 3D mail product that we highlight each month. This discount alone would pay for your membership.
Exclusive use of the new 3D Mail item for 6 months. Only 3D Mail Insiders can buy the new featured 3D Mail item during the first 6 months that we stock it. That means when the new item is tied to an upcoming current event you’ll have to wait for at least a year before you have access to the item.
5% off any 3D Mail item for as long as you’re a member. This discount may not be combined with the 10% discount above. Again, this discount alone might pay for your membership.
Access to our members only site where you can:

Download the MS Word document for creating your letter for your new 3D Mail Product.
Access to print quality images that we may suggest you use with your letter.
Access to print quality images or teaser copy we may suggest for your envelope.

Monthly 3D Mail Insider’s Circle Newsletter

Twice weekly 3d Mail Insider’s Circle Marketing Tip that includes actual examples of successful 3D Mail Campaigns. We’ll also include campaigns that bombed and we’ll tell you why they bombed so you don’t make the same mistakes. Frankly if you read our Definitive Guide and pay attention you would never make these mistakes, but again, sometimes you’re just too close
to your business.

Right now you can get all of this for free for two months. You only need to pay $6.67 to cover the postage. Or, if you want you can get all of the above plus these two bonuses for only $67.00.

One sample of each of our 30 different 3D Mail items that you can use to explode your sales and profits.

The Evolution of a $10,000,000.00 3D Mail Campaign. This 30 page report shows the 16 year evolution of the 3D Mail Campaign featured in Dan Kennedy’s Magnetic Marketing. the reality is that this campaign has actually produced well over $20,000,000.00 in sales, but I figured most people wouldn’t believe that.

To order, print out this PDF and fax back TODAY to 253-398-1551or call me at 888-250-1834 and tell me you want join the 3D Mail Insider’s Circle.

Why do Premiums out Perform Discounts and Rebates?

2009-06-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

We're going to start a new series of tips on premiums. We briefly went over them last week, and based on the responses I got, you guys want more! So we'll start with a quote from my marketing mentor, Dan Kennedy:

“Too many marketers deal with premiums almost as an afterthought. This is a huge mistake. I know for a fact that premiums can and do drive sales, and that a change of premium, with no other changes, can dramatically alter the results of a promotion. For this reason, just as much careful thought should be given to the premium as to the main offer.”
– Dan Kennedy, Power Points #34

Research has shown that a direct mail letter with a premium offer can out pull a sales letter alone by as much as 300%! Before we get too far into why they work so well, some of you may be thinking, “What is a premium?”

A premium is anything of value your prospect/client/patient receives for taking some action that you want. Often, the best premiums are not even tied to whatever it is that you’re offering! It’s often an unrelated item for the personal use of the buyer and not even for their business (if you’re selling B2B). The key is that is has perceived high value. It may not cost a lot, but it should look like it cost a lot.

When offering premiums, a picture is worth a thousand words. Always include a picture of the item, as this is much more effective than simply describing the item.

There’s a reason why for years Sports Illustrated gave away a sneaker phone. There’s a reason they now give away your choice of any of the 32 professional football team shirts. Why? Because Sports Illustrated knows that premiums work! They’ve be doing it for decades now.

The Estee Lauder Company set the standard with their “Gift-With-Purchase” strategy that is now rampant in the cosmetics industry, and others. The allure of ‘something for nothing’ has always enticed consumers. Doesn’t it make sense to appeal to this very basic, controlling emotion?

Stay tuned for later in the week when we discuss why premium offers improve direct mail response. Have a great week.

Looking for ways to increase your response rates, or reduce returns? How about you offer a free gift! We have many premiums (free gifts) in a wide variety of price ranges.

From inexpensive kitchen shears that cost $1.04 each, to elegant table top clocks for as little as $31.29 each.

We’ve recently added dozen’s of new premiums to our product line, and are adding more every week. Don’t see something that sparks your interest? Reply to this email and tell me what you want, and I’ll find it! We can source 1,000’s of different premium items.

If you have a product or service with a large transaction size, or you know you have a very large long-term value in a new client, go with something a littler nicer, and sometimes a little more expensive.

If you have a smaller transaction size, consider using one of the more inexpensive options. Free gifts are always a good way to increase your response and your ROI.

You Need a Strong, Clear, Call to Action

2009-06-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

We’re going to put a bow on our discussion on irresistible offers today. Below you’ll find the final 2 tips for crafting your offers. To review where we’ve been, visit my blog posts below.

We’ll start with the call to action. I think this is best summed up from an article I wrote a while back in my newsletter, in Marketing Lessons Learned from Kona. Kona is my 1 year old Gold Retriever. Here’s the article.

I’m very proud to announce that in March Kona passed, with flying colors, the American Kennel Club S.T.A.R. Program! This is awarded to puppies less than 1 year of age who demonstrate social, training, activity, and responsible behavior. I’m so proud of my pup! We’ve already started basic agility training!

This got me thinking about all the things we need to do when we’re training Kona. I’ve boiled it down to 5 items that we MUST do each and every time we’re training Kona in a new skill. Here’s the list:

Tell her WHAT to do.
Tell her HOW to do it.
Tell her WHEN to do it.
Give her INCENTIVE to do it.
They must be clearly understood and concise.

These are the exact steps you must follow when crating your call to action. For example, let’s say we’re driving our prospect to visit a website from a sales letter we sent.

You’ve got to tell them WHAT to do (go to the website www.3dmailresults.com). You’ve got to tell them HOW to do it (take 5 minutes at your home PC and log on). You’ve got to tell them WHEN to do it (Right now, don’t delay!). You’ve got to give them INCENTIVE to act (You’ll get my free “Definitive Guide to Using 3D Mail.”) And they must be clearly understood and concise. Remember, confused people do nothing!

When I think about it, training Kona is simply a series of offers, done diligently and with care and consistency, until the lesson is learned and it becomes habitual behavior. Wouldn’t it be nice to have client habitually call you and pay you for your products and services??

Finally, its always a good idea to mention and emphasize your guarantee in your offer. In fact, your guarantee should be part of all your marketing. We’re going to do an entire series on guarantees soon, so we’ll leave it at that this week.

Stay tuned for next week as we’ll open and entire new discussion on a new direct response marketing strategy. Have a great weekend!

No Deadline, No Offer

2009-05-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

We finished off the last post with “reason why” marketing in your offers. To recap, see the blog post below. Now we’re on to number 6 in our series of 7 tip for crafting an offer. This may be the most important of the 7 tips you’ll get, so pay close attention.

For an offer to really be irresistible, you MUST have a reason for immediate action. In direct response marketing, we call them deadlines.

If you don’t have a deadline, you don’t really have an offer. Most importantly, you don’t want to hide your offer. You can to make it big and clear. A headline is not something to hide from the client, hoping they don’t see it. It’s the complete opposite. You want them to know the deadline, make it big and clear to create urgency and an immediately response, NOW, not later.

Here’s an insider’s tip most don’t know. Multiple deadlines, especially if you’re deadline is not for a few weeks, can work very well with an additional bonus for a fast response. Here’s an example:

This offer expires on June 30, 2009. But if you respond by June 10th, you’ll get ________________________.

And fill in the blank with your incredible bonus gift, Free report, additional savings etc.

Having a reason why for the deadline is also key. Its can tie right back to the reason why you’re making the offer in the first place. If we use our vendor example from last week (see it here), we can easily say our vendor has only allowed us this offer until a certain date. This may not be the best reason, but it’s a BELIEVEABLE reason, which is all we’re really concerned with.

Here are just a few ways to create deadlines in your marketing:

Within “X” Number of Days
By “X”-Date
By Date stamped in RED in the letter.
Limited to the first “X” number
There’s a Waiting List! You can’t even get it right now!

www.3DMailResults.com

You Need a Reason

2009-05-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

We ended last week with a spirited talk on using premiums and discounts in your marketing. For a review, see my blog below. I also asked your help in a survey. Again, see my blog below, I’m giving away some cool gifts just for doing it.

Now, on to the meat-n-potatoes portion of todays tip. We’re going to talk about number five in our series of seven tips for crafting a compelling offer.

When you present an offer to clients, you must have a logical reason for the offer. Notice I didn’t say a great reason, or even a good reason, certainly nothing earth shattering, but a reason nonetheless.

Here’s why: People are naturally skeptical and suspicious. They’ve been told their entire life that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. I think we’ll all agree that there is some truth to that.

Here are a couple specific examples. First, our vendors in both 3D Mail and American Retail Supply (our ’main’ business) will often extend special pricing to us, that we can pass on to you. We’ll then say our vendors are helping us make this happen. Remember, good is certainly good enough!

Glazer-Kennedy runs a yearly “Scratch and Dent” sale. They discount the items that have been slightly damaged during production or shipping.

Recently, at 3D Mail, we ran a sale on the trash can and bank bag (see below) because we found a new supplier.

You can have an ‘Anniversary Sale,’ or a ‘New to the Neighborhood Sale.’ Truly, any logical reason will give you a bump in response. Stay tuned for next week, we’ll discuss the power of deadlines in your offers.

Discount, Premiums, or Both?

2009-05-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week we talked about your clients favorite radio station, W.I.I.F.M., or “What’s in it for Me?” Today we’ll talk about the third of the 7 tips for crafting a compelling offer. To review, see my previous blog posts below.

The question is often asked of me, “Travis, should I use a discount or a premium.” A premium is something you give your client as a free gift for taking the action you want. It can include placing an order, accepting a cross-sell or up-sell or even just opting into your marketing and your prospect giving you their contact information.

I say the only real way to know for sure is to test your offers and see which one wins. However, if time is of the essence, I can make a pretty good argument for premiums over discounts.

My mentor, Dan Kennedy, has said many times that, ”Premiums can, and do drive sales, and that a change of premium, with no other changes, can dramatically alter the results of a promotion.” The primary reason of offering a premium is to give ’fence-sitters’ a push over into immediately buying
action.

Good premiums can be of practical value to your clients, for example, a free report on 3D Mail. However, sometimes ‘vanity items’ or things that people just want to have can drive sales, and can often out-perform the practical item.

Don’t think people care about a free gift? Are you clients just too sophisticated for such ploys? Estee Lauder Cosmetics is generally credited with creating the “gift-with-purchase” strategy we now see often with cosmetic sales today. Some of the richest, most sophisticated women in the world flock to such offers at malls and retail outlets daily.

Finally, multiple premiums often out-perform single premiums. How you present them is also vitally important. “Choose any 3 of these 5,” is just one way. I personally love this because its moves the prospect from a “yes/no,” buying decision to, “Which do I want?” A subtle, yet very powerful sales technique.

As you may know, we offer some premiums on our website. However, we’re really looking to increase both they quality and quantity of what we offer. That’s where I need you’re help, and I’m willing to bribe you to do it.

I’ve got a quick survey I’d like you to complete on some of the new premiums we’d love to have available. If you complete the survey, I’ll send you my free report, “Why Premiums Out-Perform Rebates & Discounts,” plus I’ll send you your choice of one of the free gifts pictured below:

Here’s the link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SFUdVirTmpBy7g3_2bnkrYXg_3d_3d

All you need to do is complete the short, 4-minute survey by Friday, May 29th and I’ll send you the report and free gift of your choice!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SFUdVirTmpBy7g3_2bnkrYXg_3d_3d

Don't Confuse Your Clients

2009-05-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Last week we talked about your clients favorite radio station, W.I.I.F.M., or “What’s in it for Me?” Today we’ll talk about the second of the 7 tips for crafting a compelling offer. To review, see my previous blog post below.

First and foremost your offer must be clear. Confused people do nothing, and nothing is the last thing you want from prospect or client.

In general, “half off,” is better than 50% off. Further, “two for one,” in general, is better than “half off.”

I say in general because it all depends on your target audience. The words and phrases you use will get better or worse response based on your chosen target audience. Review segmenting your lists here at my blog.

Second, you must get in the habit of offering only one thing with each piece of marketing. Here’s an online example. In most cases, you want to collect your clients contact information right when they first visit your site. Everything should be concentrated on that one goal. You wouldn’t want to sell them your widget, try to get their contact information, and have them come by and visit your shop all at the same time!

Here’s on off-line example. If you’re running lead generation advertising for your dental practice, you want the only offer to be to call or visit a website for more information. You’re not selling them on the dental work itself, just a call to action to get more information. It would be foolish to try and sell a root canal in that situation, wouldn’t it?

Finally, the offer must be a good (perceived) value. Going back to our dentist example, to validate our offer, we may want to put a value on the information we are providing, thus giving our information a high perceived value.

Be wary of using percentage off for your offers. As a society, we’ve become increasing skeptical of these offers. We have ingrained in our minds that they’ve simply over-inflated the original value of the product or service, and then cut down to the “real” price with the percentage off. However, this can work when there is a widely known “published” price of an item.

Later in the week we’ll talk about the value of offering discounts, premiums (free gifts) or both. See you then.

www.3DMailResults.com

Tune into Your Clients Favorite Radio Station, WIIFM

2009-05-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

We’ve been discussing the elements of crafting an irresistible offer for your clients. So far we’ve discussed what an irresistible offer is and how they must match your prospects or clients interests in terms of Geographic’s, demographics and psycho-graphics. To review, see my last blog entry here. Today we’ll start on the first of 8 tips for crafting your offer.

The biggest factor in crafting an offer is to set your radio dial to your clients favorite station, W.I.I.F.M. or “What’s In It For Me?”

It’s vitally important to remember that your clients are NOT interested in what you are selling. However, they ARE interested in the results of what you’re selling and what it does for them at a personal and emotional level.

You must ask yourself, are you selling the camera?

Or are you selling the memory?

(Yes, that’s really Venice. A picture my wife took from a gondola in the Grand Canal in July, 2007. It doesn’t even look real, does it!?!)

The easiest way to turn what you’re selling into what your clients want is to take your features and turn them into benefits. So if I’m selling my camera, I’m not selling the fact there’s 23 different settings for day, night, low-light, objects in motion, a car setting, train setting etc.

I’m selling that when you finally get to take that dream vacation to one of the world’s most beautiful cities, you can rest assured that you’re pictures will be so stunningly beautiful, that every time you look at them you’ll be transported back right to where that photo was taken, every time you look at it.

www.3dmailresults.com

Segment your List to Match your Offer

2009-05-07T10:17:00.000-07:00

We are picking up our discussion on offers after a brief hiatus. To review where we’ve been, see my blog post from last week.

When you’re crafting an offer, you MUST take your target audience into consideration, but their demographics and their psychographics. We’ll start with the basic on demographics,

Demographics are characteristic that make-up your target audience. In Business-to-Consumer markets they include (but not limited to):
• Age
• Gender
• Occupation
• Income
• Martial status
• Children
• Rent/own home

And many others not listed here. You must consider each of the common characteristics of your market when crafting an irresistible offer.

For example, if you’re selling adjustable beds, and you’re offering a free video with testimonials, demonstrations etc your main demographic is more than likely people over a certain age. You’d probably want to offer the option of a DVD or VHS. Whether you drive them to a website is also a consideration. Driving them to a phone call may be a better option. Careful consideration must be given towards biases that exist in any list.

In business-to-business some common demographics include:
• Industry or SIC codes
• Job title
• Annual sales
• Number of employees
• Public or private
• And others

Whether working in the B2B or B2C environment careful consideration must be taken in examining the demographics of your list. Next week we’ll start with the first of 8 tips you can use to craft your next irresistible offer. See you then.

www.3dmailresults.com

Stand out with Outrageous gifts for your clients

2009-05-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

If you were at the GKIC SuperConference over the weekend, Bill Glazer introduced me to you. Watch the vdieo below on You Tube, and then get them from 3D Mail Results.

This is the Outrageous Advertising “Thank You Pen ” that Bill Glazer showed you at the SuperConference. Howard Anderson from Long View Consulting got this pen from us.

This is your cost per pen.
200ea. @ $2.25 per pen
500ea. @ $2.15 per pen.
1000ea @ $2.00 per pen

This pen is 7” x 2” and it comes in the color shown. There is a $50 set up charge. Reorders will have an $18.75 set up charge.

Will I get to see you this week?

2009-04-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

We’re going to take a break this post from our talk about offers. We’ll pick it up again on Thursday.

If you get my twice weekly tips, and have my “Guide to using 3D Mail in Your Marketing Campaigns,” there’s a good chance we met you at a Glazer-Kennedy’s Insider’s Circle (GKIC) event. Well it’s that time of year again, and I really want to meet you!

At the 2009 GKIC SuperConference, we’ll have our display of all our clutter busting, ROI increasing 3D Mail items. But more importantly, you’ll get some amazing deal and prices that you won’t see anywhere else, any time of year.

I don’t want to give away my pricing right here, it may well cause a ‘stampede’ of phone calls of people asking for these amazing deals that cannot attend the SuperConference. But just to give you an idea, we’ll have incredible savings on the bank bag, the trash can, message-in-a-bottles and goo goo eyes.

How can we do this? We found a new manufacturer in China for many of our items, and lets face it, we can simply get better deals there, especially now with the Chinese economy. We brought in a bunch of these items just for this event, and we’re passing these introductory prices on to you!

If you’re going to be at the SuperConference, stop on by and say “HI!” We’d love to meet you if we haven’t already. Then, check out the amazing deals we have on our best clutter busting 3D Mail items.

Irresistible Offer, Part II

2009-04-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I introduced the idea of an irresistible offer to you. To review where we’ve been, check out my blog post from Tuesday. We’re going to pick upwhere we left off here.

When crafting an offer, the very first thing you mustconsider is your target audience. An offer that doesn’t resonate with your audience will not be successful,no matter how good you think it may be.

But how do you make it resonate? Your offer mustmatch your target audience’s interests, needs andmotivations. For the ultimate success in matchingthese three areas, you must find a starving crowd and segment your list(s) using geographics, gemographics and pyschographics (buying habits).

Geographic targeting is probably the easiest to defineand recognize so we’ll start there. Geographics is the physical area which you can serve, or the effectiverage your business has. How far will your clients cometo you, and how far will you travel to them. A window washer may have an effective range of a 15mile radius around his office. A real estate agent itmaybe 25 miles.
These are certainly not limited to your local community. Most people would consider a dentist to be a “locals” only business. However, I personally know of a handfulof dentists who have clients fly in from all over the country to specifically visit their offices. It all dependson WHO you’re marketing towards, and the specificmessage you put forth.

I also know a retail store owner who sells parts and accessories for race car drivers. He’s able to travelto a different track on race weekends, wherever thebiggest race of that weekend is held, and open hismobile shop. Because he’s willing to travel to exactlyto where his customers are located, he has extendedhis effective range.

Next week we’ll discuss the ways you can segment yourlist and create an Irresistible Offer using demographicsand psychographics.

http://www.3dmailresults.com/

How to Create an Irresistible Offer, Part I

2009-04-21T13:34:00.000-07:00

Over the next several weeks we're going to talk about creating an irresistible offer. This is a vitally important element of your marketing campaign.

I often get letters to critique and the most commonly missed or lackluster element is the offer. So sit back and hold on tight as we wind down the adventurous ride that is the irresistible offer!

So what is an irresistible offer? It’ what you dangle in front of your target market that gets them salivating for your product/service. It triggers emotion and focuses on an end results.

The ultimate reaction you want from your clients or prospects from your offer is, "I'd be a fool if I said No to this!" Every piece of marketing you do must have an offer. And it can't be a ho-hum, run-of-the-mill offer. It must be something so great, so ideally matched to your target audience that there is no way someone could possibly justify ignoring it.

An irresistible offer can be used for lead generation in both B2C and B2B to get your prospects to 'raise their hand' and identify themselves as potential clients. The can also be used for a one-step sell of your product/service.

Finally, don't ignore the importance of making offers to your existing clients as well. You see this error all the time. Here’s an example I’m sure you can relate with.

Look at the lengths cable and satellite companies will go to get a new client. You see or hear the ads and you think, “Hey! What about me, I’m the guy paying for you to run those ads!” Don’t let your current clients feel ‘betrayed’ by such offers. Keep them in mind.

You should be using an irresistible offer in all three scenarios, lead generation, one-step sales and to your existing clients.

Stay tuned for later this week as we'll discuss the importance of matching your irresistible offer to yourperfect target audience. I'll see you then!

www.3DMailResults.com

Marketing Lesson Learned from Kona

2009-01-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

Just like your clients, Kona is a creature of habit. (As a refresher, Kona is my 10 month old Golden Retriever.) Every morning she hears the alarm go off she knows it time for her morning walk. And just like most mornings, we take the same route around the neighborhood. And for the most part, Kona is just fine with that.

Does this sound like your clients or patients? Are they stuck in the same routine with you? Do they place the same order every time? Do they get the same treatment every time? Are you boring your clients with the same routine?

If Kona could talk, I know she would ask, “What’s new?” Isn’t that what everybody asks when you see them? I’ve never once ran into an old friend or acquaintance and had them ask, “so, what’s old?” That just doesn’t happen.

However, every once in a while we go on a walk in the afternoon, or in the evening, or take a different route. And what happens? Kona gets excited! Her tail starts to wag, her nose goes into overdrive as she smells all the new smells (she is a retriever afterall). The change energizes her and gives her a boost.

So here’s this months lesson. You need to be constantly telling your clients “What’s New!” If you’re not constantly and consistantly telling them, “What’s New,” or “What’s Different,” or “What’s Next,” they’ll go find someone who will, and its more than likely your competitor.

No BS Time Management

2009-01-02T12:33:00.000-08:00

Eliminate the time between the idea and the act and your dreams will become realities.
- Dr. Edward L. Kramer

Entreprenuership is the conversion of your knowledge, talents, guts, and time into money. Time is valuable, although the value differs from person to person. When most people place value on their time, they do so based on an eight-hour work day, which is not all that correct. It’s hard to get eight productive hours out of each day.

One study involving Fortune 500 CEO’s revealed that they achieved 28 productive minutes a day.

If you are your own boss, you decide how much you are going to get paid because you write your own paycheck. Most of the time that salary is determined by whatever is left over at the end of the month. This is a mistake because:

It indicates zero planning
You pay yourself last; a common reason why most entrepreneurs end up going broke.

Planning

To plan against business failure and going broke, you need to decide how much money you’re going to take out each year to cover your salary, perks, contributions, retirement plans, etc. Eighty percent of entrepreneurs can’t come up with this number.

To do this, you need to have a base earnings target, otherwise you can’t calculate what your time is worth and will not be able to make good decisions about how you invest that time. As a result, you have no control over your business or life.

Calculate Your Base Earnings Target

Coming up with a number will dramatically affect the decisions you make, habits you cultivate, and people you associate with. Here’s how?

Divide the number of workday hours
Multiply it to allow for unproductive versus productive hours

A closer look:

Base Earnings Target _______________

Divide work hours in a year
(244 days x 8 = 1,952 in a year) _______________
= Base hourly number $_______________

x Productivity-versus
Non-Productivity Multiple x_______________

= What Your Time
Must Be Worth Per Hour $_______________

It’s important that you surround yourself with people who understand and respect the value of your time. If you don’t eliminate the people who don’t respect the value of your time from your business life, then you ad your business will pay the price. You also need to delegate tasks to other people that tend to take away from your valuable time.

3 True Life Stories

2008-12-29T14:13:00.000-08:00

Here are the 3 quick true stories I told you about last week. They may give you a bit of insight.

Story #1: Years ago, I was working a booth at a business show, showing off my books and tapes. About 500 people came through that booth over two days. About 400 took catalogs furtively and scurried off hastily, lest I grab them and sell them something. About 99 made small purchases. One guy handed over his credit card and said, “Ship me one of everything you’ve got.” I didn’t know him from Adam’s housecat.

But a few weeks later, I was watching a national TV program, and there he was being interviewed. Seems he was one of the most successful chiropractors in America, retiring from having built 3 $1 million a year practices, one right after the other, and now was head of a consulting firm with 600 clients each paying about $3,000 a month for his advice. That’s $1.8 million a month for those of you short on fingers and toes.

Story #2: Many years ago, a kid (too young to drive) walked a few miles from his house to a riding stable and pestered the owner for a job, and got hired to clean saddles and scrub buckets and mostly do the real grubby stuff nobody else wanted to do after school for $20 a week. The kids used the $20 to buy a used set of Earl Nightingale self-improvement tapes. The kid was Dan Kennedy.

Story #3: A guy at a garage sale found a set of my tapes (at the time) and bought them for $5.00. The fellow selling them told the buyer he guessed they were all right, but they hadn’t done anything for him. In fact, he’d just shut down his business, was selling off all his stuff, and moving to another city to take a job at a relative’s company.

He said, “The free enterprise system just didn’t work for little guys anymore.” He said, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and that’s all there is to it. The guy that bought my tapes for $5.00 listened to them, used them, worked with them, and started his own business. When he wrote to me two years later to tell me of making over $200,000 that year in his business, he said, “Funny thing. I was concerned about it at the time, but now I understand – you see, the business I started is exactly the same kind of business that guy I bought your tapes from got out of.”

Now let me finish this long-winded, gas-baggy diatribe with one psychic prediction: some people reading this will say to themselves, “Does Travis think I fell off a turnip truck yesterday? Heck, I can see through this as clear as day. This is just a clever ploy to separate me from my coins the next time he gets around me or mails me some literature. I’m not going to fall for it, no sir. I’m keeping my coins.” Some other folks will get it. It’s all kind of fun to watch.