I’ve Been Missing

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!

Blog Reader's Only Special

Would I be a good direct response marketer if I didn’t capitalize on something like the birth of my first child! Heck no! So, no through March 11 (My wife’s birthday), you can get 6.4% off (For Carson’s weight at birth, 6 lbs. 4 oz.) on any order you place online or over the phone.

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

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.