subject: The 11 Biggest Direct Mail Mistakes Made By Small Business Owners [print this page] The 11 Biggest Direct Mail Mistakes Made By Small Business Owners
This Strategy is about the 11 BIGGEST direct mail mistakes made by small business owners.
Why are these important for you?
Because this is the FOUNDATION to becoming a GREAT marketer. And when YOU become a great marketer there is NO limit as to the amount of money you can make and FREEDOM you can have.
That's what this ultimately is all about. Isn't it?
And let me make you a BOLD promise - Once you learn and fully understand the POWER of these marketing principles you WILL know more about "emotional direct response marketing" than 99.9% of all small business.
So here are the 11 biggest mistakes:
#1: Offer Looks Like Junk Mail. The first thing 52% of your prospects do when they come home from work is go through their mail. The mail is usually divided either physically or mentally into three piles. The "A" pile is letters that look important, personal letters, notices, etc. The "C" pile is mail that clearly looks like junk mail. The "B" pile is everything else. The "C" pile mail usually gets tossed unopened, the "A" pile mail gets opened right away and the "B" pile mail may get opened after the "A" pile. You job is to make your envelope look like the "A" pile.
#2: Not Having A Headline Or Having A Lousy Headline: When we write a headline we normally spend half of our time developing the headline. In fact, typically we will write about a dozen headlines before we settle on the one that we think will get the best response. The Headline is the most important part of the direct mail letter. It will grab the readers' attention and pull them into what you have to say.
#3: Lack Of Testimonials: What your current clients say about you is ten to twenty times more believable than what you say about yourself. Testimonials are a great way to get instant credibility with prospects. How many testimonials should you use? As many as you can - and use them everywhere.
#4: No Offer/Lousy Offer: It is costly to get a new client. What will make someone respond? Well, I'll tell you one thing - there is no way that someone will respond to a lousy offer or worse yet, no offer. Remember, the real money in getting a new client is in making them a "client for life".
#5: No Deadline or "Wimpy Deadline: People are natural procrastinators. Unless you motivate them to respond NOW, they never do. A deadline is what makes them respond. Deadlines create fear - fear of losing out on a particular offer or opportunity: One rule that we live by is never to give a prospect more than a 2-week deadline. If you do, you might as well save your hard-earned money and not mail.
#6: Focus On The Business Instead of WIIFM: How many times do you see business advertising and all it says is how wonderful the business is? It talks about how many years they have been business, or the friendly service, or the big selection. But what about what the client really wants? Clients ONLY want one thing - WIIFM (What's In It For Me).
#7: Trying To Accomplish Multiple Objectives: The business owner or ad agency that created the mail piece tries to accomplish multiple objectives. A mail piece should ONLY have one objective. All you should care about is GETTING A CLIENT. A Client is the only thing that can put money in your bank account. Image can't do that. Last time I tried, the teller at my local bank wouldn't allow me to deposit "image".
#8: Lack Of A Guarantee Or A 'Wimpy" Guarantee: This is a very simple concept but often scares business owners to death. Study after study has proven that the better the guarantee, the more people will by. Sure, some will take advantage of your guarantee, but they are insignificant to the number that will buy more. If you can't guarantee your products or services, then find something else to sell.
#9: Failure to Tell Your Story: Clients and prospects like a story. They want to hear why you are making the offer that you are making. It seems to add credibility, and when they believe you, they respond better.
#10: Cute: Why is so much advertising "cute"? Two reason. First of all, cute advertising is the type that wins awards, and ad agencies like to win awards in order to help them "pitch" new clients. Also advertisers like cute advertising because they think it gets remembered. Well, let me ask you a question? Can you give me the names of the advertisers that spent over a million dollars each during the last Super Bowl in order to air their 30-second TV commercial? Bet you can't name more than one or two. Study after study has proven that the type of advertising that sells is still the emotional, direct response advertising and not the "cute" brand-building type.
#11: Sequence: Just because a prospect did not respond to your first offer does not mean they will never take you up on your offer. Sometimes they intended to respond but got distracted and forgot so they need to be reminded again. From all the mailings that we have done, you can expect the response from your first offer to double (100% more) with your second and third mailings combined. You must follow up at least 3 times.
