subject: Chris Cardell Direct Response Marketing [print this page] Most direct response marketing you see is "image direct response marketing" and is predicated on the idea of growing "awareness" of you, and your marketing products or marketing services. There's arguably a case for this with big brands, but you the overwhelming majority of businesses, it's just a big waste of time and money.
You'll find price buyers are not only harder to sell to (because they always want to shave a few pounds off your prices), but they're harder to satisfy, MUCH harder to get to pay their bills, and are usually the first and quickest to complain (and the loudest, too).
In contrast your direct response marketing as a small business owner must be upfront and unambiguous in its purpose typically at the end of every direct response marketing piece you will have an explicit and unambiguous action you want the reader to take, whether it's to buy something, call in to make an appointment or to leave their contact details in return for something of value so you can begin direct response marketing to them over time.
Most business owners write to their list once in a blue moon, leaving so long between letters, their customers have already forgotten about them. Don't be afraid to push it a little people will soon tell you if they're fed up with your letters (but if you stick to the tips I've shared with you, they won't be).
To make it effective, you'll sell your marketing products and marketing services on the emotional appeal of solving problems for your buyers, and not immediately on the features themselves. This almost necessitates the use of long emotion-inducing copy and means your ads and direct response marketing pieces will look very, very different from the normal examples you see.
Chris Cardell suggests you write your letter following sound direct response principles. By all means experiment with your marketing (that's why we test), but start with what we know to work most of the time: the first thing people will read in your letter is the headline (or the first line of the letter if there is no headline) and the PS. So make sure these convey your message in a concise way. You then want a strong first line of copy to draw them in to the early paragraphs, then the rest of the copy should be personal, personable and friendly. You're writing to maintain a relationship, not cite charges in court, so be nice and not stuffy! And odd as it might seem, it's NOT enough
just to be a "good" writer. In fact, that can actually make it harder for you to learn to write good sales copy, simply because you've got to unlearn some habits which might make for great prose, but which don't serve you well in trying to make sales.
Chris Cardell challenges you to be surprised to find your ugly black-and-white long sales copy ads are outpulling your flashy image promotion style ads which prominently display your business-name and logo by a long way.
