5 Things About Direct Marketing

There are insider secrets in every industry or what I call the hidden flaw. Every industry has one or two hidden insider flaws that you only can grasp by being in the industry and doping or witnessing the problems attached to it.


The same is true about Direct Marketing. Now marketing is one of those things that “everyone” is an expert at. So people go out and market their businesses without any help at all. Sure you can do it, but like a friend of mine who I was trying to guide through the pitfalls of online marketing was all to impulsive and spent way too much money on a well know Web Hosting site and got no return on his investment because he also was talked into extra bells and whistles that they could do for him. $500 to $1000 dollars later he still did not have a web site that conveyed his message.


So here are 5 handy hints for those of you who want to go it alone. There are more but this is all you’re getting in this blog.


1) Your List will make or break your campaign. The quality of your list will directly make your direct marketing campaign. I have seen campaigns we have done fall flat on their faces because of poor list quality. First make sure your list is clean. I don’t care if it is an email or a snail mail campaign. Second target yourself into as narrow of a niche as you can. The more focused the more pointed the better. This is one case where profiling is a good thing.


2) It is not easy. Many people; dabble in direct marking and squander their money. There are things like understanding your market, understanding the different channels you could be using, understanding the postal regulations.


3) Your call to action. If you’re going to direct market yourself you need to ask for action or in sales we call it ask for the order. Don’t ever assume the prospect knows how to get a hold of you, tell them and give them multiple ways. Some like to call, some like me to email, some like to mail in cards. Give them the power to contact you in their favorite way. Don’t assume that just because you think something is a good thing, the prospect is, tell them why it is so good. Remember people buy for their reasons not yours.


4) Consider the channel your using. In direct marketing we have many tools or weapons we can and could be using. Postcards, fliers, email, Social Media, SEO SMM pay for click, classified ads, letters and card decks. All these are wonderful choices but so also is the distinct possibility that the greater the number of choices the better chance you have in making the wrong choices on what to use.


5) Sell the benefits not the features. Your customer is a lot more interested in how your product of service is going to help them with a certain problem than all the wonderful long detained descriptive features of what you are offering. Appeal to their emotions. People buy on emotions and justify with facts.


Larson Notes & Satire: Now this will not make you an expert by any means. Even the pros make mistakes. If we all hit the nail in the head each that would be too easy. Unless you have an unlimited budget to though at the problem each dollar you spend needs to be productive. I guess that is why I like to work with small and medium sized businesses. It keeps me and my team sharp, very very sharp.


It’s sort of funny (not) but I was working with a large account that did not really care how we spent their money. We were so frugal with our expenditures on their behalf that we got fired. We were so bent on passionate to stretch their marketing dollars that they could not handle the pressure of trying to make every dollar work. Live and learn.


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Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
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