In your previous post I talked about The Power Of Titles. How some titles are so powerful you can get something just by looking at them even if you never read the book. I’d like to now bring up some Success Reminders.

I have talked about direct-mail being “the next big thing.” Yes, the Internet continues to be a profitable media that you must embrace. But if you look for a media-commonality in all the people in my coaching groups and that I work with privately who make $500,000.00 to $1-million and more per year, it is their constant, frequent, aggressive, innovative and masterful use of direct mail. Neglect it at your peril.

Other points I made include diversification in customer acquisition and niche-ing. And, you’ve seen me nagging relentlessly about niche-ing. Depending on your business, you might niche in ethnic, subculture, occupation, etc.
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Sometimes it’s fun – and profitable – to use a marketing gimmick.

I believe in the John Kerry microphone malfunction about as much as I believe in the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction. At first I did, but with a few days’ observation and thought, I concluded Kerry’s mistake was intentional.

It was a way to get a position and statement put forcefully into the market that could not be done simply and straightforwardly.

Not long ago, Gold/VIP Member Jeff Kaller mailed a mountain of postcards driving people to call – the wrong number. Followed by mailings apologizing for and correcting the mistake. And getting better than ever response.
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You’ll remember that I’ve defined marketing as delivering the right message to the right people with the right presentation and there is no better way to do that than direct marketing.

There’s no doubt in my mind that any conventional small  business – restaurant, retail store, service station, etc. can easily and inexpensively double it’s business within thirty days with direct mail marketing.

In fact, I want to give you one very simple, cheap strategy that you can use for any such business. It’s a little labor intensive but very inexpensive and very effective. It’s based on the simple idea of credibility coming from the fact that someone you know patronizes a particular business.

Here’s what you do…
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In the last couple of posts I have been covering structure that makes direct mail successful. So far we have covered the opening and copy that sells.

The last item in the structure is the close or what most marketers call…THE CALL-TO-ACTION.

The most important thing to remember here is to make response easy. Make it as easy as possible for the person to do what you want them to do. If you want them to come into your store with the coupons tell him that and tell him where your store is. Show a map and give directions, tell them what hours you’re open.

If he is to call tell him what hours he can call and who to ask for. If he’s to fill out a form make it as clear and user friendly as possible. It’s important to learn and adhere to this structure as much as possible in creating your direct mail.
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In my last post,  Secrets To Structuring Your Direct Mail Marketing Piece, I introduced you to the three things that must be accomplished in the opening of your direct mail piece. By way of review you must:

1. Telegraph the offer.
2. Emphasis the best aspect of the offer.
3. Target the reader

Now let me explain in more detail exactly what I mean.

An opening that can TELEGRAPH the offer is tricky. It has to convey the offer in a way that heightens desire to learn more rather than lessening the desire to learn more.
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I would like to talk about what is probably the most difficult aspect of direct mail marketing to teach. Of course, this is the actual structure of the mailing piece.

The reason it’s difficult is that direct mail is still not an exact science. There are many things we know about direct mail that have been established through scientific testing and statistical analysis but there is still a large portion of the process that relies on the intuition and knowledge of customers of the person creating the piece.

That’s why professional direct mail copyrighters with good track records can command extraordinary fees because it is impossible to identify and duplicate what they do. And even the top pros applying all their talent and experience have losers too.

So I’ll be the first to admit to you that I cannot teach you how to be certain of putting together a successful direct mail piece. I can however, tell you how to tremendously reduce the likelihood of creating an unsuccessful one.

Each piece – the letter, the brochure and the response device – has a structure and the same structure is appropriate for all three. In fact, not only should the same structure be used but you should repeat your entire sales story in all three pieces. Not word-for-word of course but so that the reader could order after only reading the letter not the brochure, or the brochure not the letter, or the order form without reading either the letter or the brochure.

Now this is a real insider’s secret to making direct mail work so do not overlook the importance of this: You can’t control the customer’s behavior.

You can only prepare for as many different variances in customer behavior as possible. The piece of structure starts with an opening.

That opening might be the headline, the first sentence or two of the letter or what’s called a ‘Johnson Box,’ above the start of the copy.

Whatever the opening is it must at least do one of these three things:

1. Telegraph the offer.
2. Emphasis the best aspect of the offer.
3. Target the reader.

In yesterday’s post, I covered the direct mail ’sneak-up’ attack where you position your envelope to look as if someone you know is sending you mail.

I also mentioned that this approach is not full proof and can work against you if the offer inside is relatively ordinary.

That’s one of the reasons that many marketing experts prefer the billboard option for most small business to consumer offers and for most to consumer mail order offers.

A billboard envelope is usually filled with teaser copy about what’s inside. There is no attempt to disguise the purpose or nature of the mail. Billboard style envelopes we’re all familiar with are the Reader’s Digest and Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes mailings.

If you’re mailing to consumers on behalf of a locally based retail or service business the billboard type envelope maybe more appropriate for you also.
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I’d like to talk about my preferred form of direct mail which is the envelope mailing.

If you decide to use an envelope mailing you now have two other basic choices to make: the use what I call the billboard or the sneak up approach.

Many marketers favor the sneak up approach. In this approach there’s nothing on the outside of the envelope that identifies it as business mail. There is no company name in the return address.

There is either a person’s name or no name at all, just the address. There is no teaser copy, no headlines, words or phrases indicative of what’s inside.

Sometimes an odd size envelope rather than a standard number ten business envelope is used.

To carry this sneak attack to the ultimate extreme there are no labels used. The addressing is either done by hand or individually typed and postage stamps are used not postage meter impressions.

The theory behind this is sometimes called ‘A’ Pile, ‘B’ Pile; that most people sort their mail near a waste basket. A lot of so called junk mail obvious as ‘B’ Pile Mail gets thrown out unopened or after only a glance. The mail that gets ‘A Pile’ treatment often opened immediately and read looks like personal mail. It comes in envelopes. There’s a letter inside when you open it.

The object of the sneak attack is to insure ‘A Pile’ treatment. I’ve used versions of this sneak up approach many times with significant success. I believe in the validity of the theory. This approach is especially applicable to mailings to high level executives or business owners, mailings to doctors and lawyers, political fund-raising direct mail or charitable fund-raising direct mail.

An added twist to this technique is the use of a famous person’s name or an important person’s title as part of the return address on the envelope. I happen to be a contributor to several Republican and conservative political organizations so I wound up on every Republican fund-raising mailing list there is.

As a result, not only do I get envelopes return addressed from the Republican Senatorial Club but also from other Republican political figures. Even knowing that it is fund-raising mail I kind of feel compelled to open it.

I’ve received sneak up mail from an insurance firm return addressed from Art Linkletter at a street address. No company name, no clue that it was from an insurance company. Titles can also work. Not long ago I got an envelope return addressed from, “The Chairman of the Board, The Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada.”

Much more likely to be opened than an envelope just from The Golden Nugget and the envelope was typewriter addressed no stick on label. It had a postage stamp not a meter impression and the letter inside was on the chairman’s personal stationary individually addressed to me. I read it. Had it just been from The Golden Nugget and had a brochure inside instead of a letter I would have probably thrown it out unread.

Direct mail marketing formats can first be basically divided into two categories, envelope or self-mailer. A self-mailer can be anything from a post card to an 8 ½ x 11″ sheet tri-folded, stapled and mailed as is all the way up to a catalog.

These types of mailings are what most people are thinking of when they talk about junk mail. And that is one of the big disadvantages of using these types of mailings. Many people throw them out almost immediately with just a glance.

The biggest advantage of self-mailer formats, of course, is their low cost. An envelope mailing is anything sent in a sealed envelope.

You should or at least can use the lower cost self-mailers when…..

#1: You are mailing to a list of your own established, loyal customers who will certainly be interested in your message and will read it just because it came from you. A clothing store might use a post card, for example, to inform regular customers that the new autumn fashions have arrived or that a special sale is going to take place.

Or…
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