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I’d like to personally thank you for reading Direct Marketing Update, and for calling on me when you’ve felt I could help you. I was glad I could.

2011 has been difficult for some, but we love what we do here at CDMG, we want to do it well—and do it even better in 2012!

So thank you for working hard, and for direct marketing better.

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Free shipping can kill a small direct marketer. Free shipping from competitors, that is.

And fear of death is often the result when major players begin or extend their free shipping offers. It happened again earlier this year when both L.L. Bean and Williams-Sonoma said they would offer it.

How can you as a small business owner possibly compete? As a small business owner, that’s how.

1. Take it to the people. Amp up your social media efforts, and customer service programs in general, to build loyalty.
2. Tap that same social media and customer service to offer free shipping to preferred customers, seasonally and on sales and for select products.
3. Reward your frequent and high-spending customers with regular free shipping offer codes via email and mobile marketing.

Free shipping offers can eliminate the single biggest reason your customers don’t finish their shopping on your site. You can offer it—judiciously, smart—and profitably.

Tell me what you think. Email me at craig@cdmginc.com

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Did your spam filter block your last issue of Direct Marketing Update? It’s time to “whitelist” craig@cdmginc.com and craig@dmu.ccsend.com. (If you need simple instructions on how to add these email addresses to your safe senders list, click here.)

Here are the links you need to catch up on from our last issue:

• Overlooked direct mail format: 48.9% response
• Web strategy: 7 keys to more profitability
• Copy tip: The 5-star plan
• Testing corner: Email superscript generates 339% boost
• Homing in on the holidays: 4 must-do marketing tactics

And with any e-newsletter of any kind, remind your readers to whitelist you!

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Most of my clients are using mobile marketing in multiple ways.

What started as a way to get directions to a restaurant, or find what movie is playing nearby, is now everywhere for everything.

Mobile marketing can give information to consumers, and get information from them, with equal ease.

Home improvement stores and clothing retailers use mobile devices as on-the-spot catalogs…restaurants fill orders and take customer surveys right at the table or in the to-go line…

…and you’ll amazed at the multitude of direct marketing applications.

Click here to watch my short video on two ways mobile devices are used to capture customer information for current and future marketing:

• One from my client, a Christian musician who offered a free music download if his fans—at the concert!—texted a certain number.
• A second by a Bass apparel store, which offered an instant $5 coupon that day in exchange for customers texting them—while in-store.

How do you use mobile technology in direct marketing? Let me know by emailing me at craig@cdmginc.com

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We wrote in our last issue about great landing pages. Here’s another one.

The Brainy Baby landing page is designed to go with a TV infomercial I created. It offers prospects a video, direct response copy and art. It’s aimed at the right market—moms with small children. The colors engage and the copy captures.

Notice also that not only is the shopping cart simple, and the call to action clear, but an arrow is placed right in the center of their field of vision—with the arrow guiding the eye, and the coming mouse-click, exactly where the company wants it to go.

(In fact, if you click the link and wait just a moment, you’ll experience the strong call to action in a very visual way!)

Once they come, capture their information and build relationships.

For a FREE evaluation of your web page, email me at craig@cdmginc.com

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QR Codes are highly valuable, if they work.

Taco Bell recently reported 460,000 scans in one 3-month period, and Coca-Cola is putting QR Codes on billions of its cups at SUBWAY, 7-Eleven and other outlets to support its campaign for polar bear habitats.

And I just got off the phone with a prospect who gets 20% of his leads from QR Codes!

So why wouldn’t they work?

Well, in this case, the cups are curved and they often have condensation running down the side. Anything in the way—cellophane or poor lighting—could keep the code from working.

What about a billboard?

Florida Grand Opera put a gigantic QR Code in the middle of a billboard for an opera it was presenting. The code split the headline and the photo, and yes, it was scannable.

• First, it caught the eye. Miami area drivers on the freeway, or at the busy intersection where the billboard sat, wondered, “What is that?”
• Second, it worked. The billboard was in a big parking lot near major roads. Cars that safely stopped could scan the code with their smart phones—and access the information the opera wanted to deliver.

The ad drew their attention, and encouraged further action with benefits—to buy tickets for this opera, subscribe for the season and so on.

Either way, it got people’s attention—and gave them a way to act on it.

It’s the definition of direct marketing, and QR Codes work almost anywhere.

Consider integrating them in or on printed direct mail, email, business cards or flyers—anything that makes sense as a way to painlessly bring customers where you want them to go: To sign-up for your Twitter or Facebook, watch your newest video or whatever will work.

What do you think? Let me know at craig@cdmginc.com

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Black Friday is news each year. The news in 2011 is how mobile it’ll be. Google estimates 15% of all Black Friday searches will be done on mobile phones, plus 44% of all last-minute gift-buying in December.

So the first Christmas shopping tip has to be:

1. Go mobile. Deloitte believes 27% of all consumers will shop via mobile phone, many responding to direct marketing. Optimize for mobile now—and use discounts: 9.5% of mobile users redeem mobile coupons.

But mobile is just one part of your strategy…

2. Staying power. Interest begins before Black Friday—and continues at least a week. Some people will respond to your direct mail if it’s timed to hit in the week before or after Black Friday as well. And mail to them again in December—to remind and capture those who waited.

During the shopping season…

3. Christmas awareness. Send holiday-specific postal mail (and email) to those who haven’t bought recently. And don’t forget a hearty “Thank You for your business!” to regular customers. Write copy as personal as possible.

And after Christmas…

4. Check twice. Send acknowledgments to all those who bought, and try to focus on the specifics of what they chose. Lead them into the New Year with suggestions for spring. Now’s the time to purge lists and rent new ones to beef response in 2012.

For list management/brokerage services and the most highly recognized lists in the industry, contact my team at InfoMat at 310 212-5944. Also use InfoMat’s email append service if your postal list doesn’t have email addresses.

Email craig@cdmginc.com for your free holiday direct marketing check-up.

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Sometimes you run a test, and you don’t see a lot of difference. Many times you can see a clear winner. But on occasion there’s a grand slam.

How about a headline that wins by an average of 600%?!

Intelligent Investor Report tested two different email blasts, changing only the superscript headline and the subhead above the salutation—all other copy and art were the same.

Here are the two combinations of headline and subhead. Read them, take a minute to choose which one you think produced the greater response, then read the results.

1. “If you’re hungry for 500% profits,
   this internationally known pizza
   brand is ready to deliver”

   As Russians demand more fast-food options…
   hordes of European investors are
   cashing in on the trend

   ***

2. “Fast food, fast profits”

   With oil fueling the Russian economy and giving consumers more money to spend, one company can barely open restaurants fast enough and could soon
   earn you 5 times your money

It was Headline #1. Did you guess right?

The creative copy in Headline #1 beat Headline #2…

Send me your best emails for my free evaluation: craig@cdmginc.com.

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Stories can help you sell. To tell a story, we recommend using a 5-star plan when writing your sales letters.

These are the points in the 5-star plan: Story, Feasibility, Urgency, Benefit and Plan.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) once sought donations for a new wildlife preserve in South America. They needed enough money to buy the land and gain as many new supporters as possible.

Here’s how they did it:

1. They told the story of senseless cruelty inflicted on these animals.
2. They showed how they already had an option to purchase the acreage at a ridiculously low price.
3. They noted the rate at which rain forests are being depleted—showing that the need was immediate.
4. They closed by showing how people would benefit as well, because of the medical and research value of these environments.
5. Finally, the appeal was part of a larger marketing plan.

In other words, they had all 5 components of great copy.

They ended up with nearly 12,000 responses out of 160,500 pieces across three mailings—a solid 7.5% conversion rate—raising $322,267. WWF got $27.55 per gift, raising more than $330,000: 138% more than their goal.

Remember: You want to boost response…

• Story means tell them yours. People love a story. It’s in our blood.
• Feasibility means that what you say can be done.
• Urgency means you need them to take action on the idea now.
• Benefit means they will gain great things by taking that action.
• Plan means your efforts fit into a bigger picture, a grand vision.

Learn from the guy who asked for money—without a plan. “Would you give me a dollar for a sandwich?” he asked a passer-by. “Not until I’ve seen that sandwich,” came the reply.

Now what do you say to that answer? He didn’t know either. And he didn’t get the dollar.

To learn whether your copy tells an urgent, achievable story, offering clear benefits to readers as part of a wider vision, email me at craig@cdmginc.com.

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