subject: Multi-step Marketing: The Key To Drastic Increases In Response To Your Marketing [print this page] Even the best offer mailed to the best list may not produce stellar results - in the first mailing. Why? Because another key element to getting new clients is "frequency of contact"....
In his early years, when Dan Kennedy, the world's #1 Small Business Marketing "guru" was flat broke, he received numerous letters from collection agencies demanding payment. He wondered to himself, "If sending multiple letters (i.e.,1st notice, 2nd notice, 3rd and final notice) is an effective method for getting money from people who don't have any...wouldn't it work even better for people who do have money?"
Thus, multi-step marketing was born. This means mailing not once, but three times (or maybe more) to the same list with the same offer, playing up the deadline to create a sense of urgency. Why does this work? Because most people are procrastinators. They may have every intention of calling you to book an appointment, but they get distracted. A 2nd and/or 3rd letter reminds them to take action now. And it gets better....
- The Secret to Bumping the Response to Multi-step Marketing Even More...Adding Multiple Forms of Media
Thirty years ago, if you wanted to contact someone directly, your choices were kind of slim - you pretty much either had to pick up the phone (a "land line" - there were no cell phones) or send them something in the mail.
Today, there's email, cell phones, text messaging, email, chat, social media (like Facebook), voice mail broadcasting, faxing, instant messaging, video chat, personalized web pages (known as pURLs)...the list goes on.
Depending on your relationship with your clients, all - or at least some of these direct contact methods may be appropriate for getting your marketing message across.
Multi-step direct mail campaigns are powerful. But combining a multi-step direct mail campaign with other forms of media can put your marketing on steroids!
Here's an example of how this might work:
Say you're running a special Valentine's Couple's Massage expiring Feb. 14th. Here's an example of a multi-step marketing sequence using multiple media:
- January 20th - Direct Mail letter #1 is mailed
- Jan. 25th - Email #1 with link to personalized URL (pURL)
- Jan. 26th -Facebook post with video
- Jan. 28th - Direct Mail #2, Postcard with pURL
- Jan. 30th - Facebook broadcast message to fans
- Feb. 2nd - Voice Broadcast, leaving voice message on voice mail
- Feb 5th - Direct Mail #3, final postcard with pURL
- Feb 7th - Email #2 (link to pURL)
- Feb. 9th - Facebook post
- Feb. 11th - Text Message broadcast
- Feb. 12th - Email #3
- Feb. 13th - Facebook Video
So, as you can see, in 24 days, we've used 6 different forms of media to directly contact our clients for one promotion! This may seem "overboard", like you're going to annoy your clients. But keep in mind - very few people on your list are going to be accessible through every form of media.
For instance, some may check their email religiously, but aren't on Facebook at all. Others may not even have a computer, but they always read their mail and check their voice mail messages. Others rarely use talk on the phone and communicate almost solely via texting and Facebook. Either way, by communicating with your clients in the way(s) they prefer to be communicated with, you exponentially increase your chances for success.
