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February 9, 2011
Welcome to the special Super Bowl edition of Direct Marketing Update! Let’s get right to it, because there are 4 very important marketing points you should know…
1. Super Bowl XLV ads: What a waste of advertising dollars
Imagine you had the opportunity to have a 30-second ad for your product or service shown to over 60 million households—an average of 111 million viewers watched Super Bowl XLV.
You would want to get the most out of it right? Especially if that ad cost $100,000 for every second. What would you do to make every dollar count?
Here is what I recommend…
- Have a call to action (CTA)
- Have a way to measure response
- Have a prominent Toll-Free number that’s specific to the campaign
- Have a landing page URL onscreen and keep it there long enough
for the audience to see it
- Even consider a text response
How many big-spending advertisers actually did that? Almost none.
Sunday’s big game set a new record for U.S. television viewership. But every 30 seconds of commercial time—every funny animal, special effect and talking baby—was like watching $3 million go down the drain.
Many ads did manage to insert their company URL at the end…for the last second…usually in unreadable white…and not linked to a specific campaign. It seemed the advertisers considered the URL as just “housekeeping.”
- Budweiser ads, known for their humor, did provide a Facebook URL. But it was virtually invisible. It wasn’t tied to a specific campaign. And it was only on the screen for a second. Most people missed it.
- RITZ Crackers also included a Facebook page for viewers to view RITZ game day recipes by Chef Guy Fieri. But again the URL sped by too fast. I doubt anyone could have seen it.
- Apparently, Coke was just too cool to even put up a URL.
One of the biggest mistakes was made by movie companies. Films can create an entire world that can be supported by a website to build interest, provide free online premiums, like ring tones, and even offer a way to order tickets early.
Yet, Transformers III, Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides, Rango, Rio, Limitless and Mars Needs Moms didn’t even provide a URL in their commercials. Because there was no call to action, they’ll see no increase in their databases. What a waste!
Were there any winners? Yes!
LookUp316.com. Would you believe that a commercial first rejected by FOX Sports and then, to everyone’s suprise, only played in a couple of small media markets was the big winner? See the commercial here.
This 30-second commercial did 2 things right:
- During the commercial, the actors sent a strong and clear message for the audience to use their smart phones.
- The message created curiosity to further force the call to action (CTA) with the URL prominently displayed—“LookUp316.com. A message of hope.” It clearly dominated the screen.
Even though it played in just a few small markets, the response was overwhelming, creating problems for the server.
Between excellent direct response strategies and perhaps some pre-Super Bowl buzz due to the initial rejection of broadcast, the video experienced a viral effect. When I last looked, the YouTube posting of LookUp316 had almost 300,000 hits.
Now here’s another winner on the opposite end of the taste scale….
GoDaddy.com: This is a tacky approach and certainly an inappropriate ad for a family-themed sporting event. Still, GoDaddy’s commercials got a few things right. In “The Contract” it looks like Danica Patrick and Jillian Michaels are totally naked. This commercial created a sense of curiosity, which was punctuated at the end with a visual call to action in big letters and a narrator saying, “See more now at GoDaddy.com.” And the URL was displayed throughout the entire commercial.
And what was the result using these direct response strategies?
According to GoDaddy.com Founder and CEO Bob Parsons, their fourth-quarter commercial spiked Internet traffic higher than any Super Bowl ad they had ever done before. What’s more, calls, conversion and cash were off the charts! In fewer than 15 minutes after GoDaddy.com’s first Super Bowl commercial aired, their domain registrations shot up more than 466% over the entire previous year.
My friend, direct response strategies work, and GoDaddy.com is using them to their advantage.
A few honorable mentions include…
Jack in the Box: Their commercial showed a campaign-specific URL, which was left up long enough for the viewer to read it—AllAmericanSpringBreak.com.
Ford: The Ford Motor Company sponsored the pregame show and included a “join the team” challenge commercial for the rally race of their Ford Focus. This included viewer involvement and interactivity at their website FocusRally.com
Chevrolet/Glee tie-in: Chevrolet partnered with FOX’s Glee to create a commercial that not only promoted the new Chevy Cruze, but encouraged viewers to stick around for a special Sunday broadcast after the Super Bowl to see what the talented kids at McKinley High School created for their Cruze commercial. Glee normally airs on Tuesdays and was a way to introduce fans to the Cruze featuring the kids from Glee.
In the end, the only big winner of the night was the Packers. Very little was done to get advertisers to use their $3 million beyond “brand awareness.”
Again, another year of wasted advertising dollars.
What do you think? Do you have another commercial you liked? Email me at craig@cdmginc.com.
If you want spots that are direct response oriented, where people take action based on the product or service you’re selling, just email me at craig@cdmginc.com or call me at 310-212-5727. My team and I would be glad to help you maximize your ad budget by showing you how your advertising budget can work for you!
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2. The power of trust in building a profitable relationship
This is a valuable but often overlooked component to good marketing. If the reader does not have trust in you, the reader will not respond to you. Build assurances. Let the reader know that you have been in his or her shoes. Create copy that is essentially like you putting your arm over the reader’s shoulder and saying, “I understand.”
The biggest hurdle to overcome in achieving response and making the sale is skepticism. Trust breaks through skepticism. And at every level, a prospect is skeptical.
So, how do you break down the skeptics?
One way is a system I developed 25 years ago called VIVA™. It stands for for “Valuable Information, Value-Added.”
One major study showed the top reason prospects did not respond to an offer was because it lacked benefits showing why they should respond. Their skepticism was too great.
But what if you give away valuable information on topics of interest to your prospects? Response dramatically goes up.
The VIVA system uses valuable information—such as trends, forecasts, new findings, facts and secrets—that you can just give to your prospects to help educate them and motivate them to order. Informational marketing is especially effective in promoting more complex products or services that need detailed explanations.
Here are some more strategies for building trust:
- Have a strong guarantee. If your product or service can use a guarantee, use a strong one. Money-back guarantees—especially double money-back guarantees—will open the response floodgates. Many marketers are afraid to offer a strong guarantee because they think customers will take advantage of it. What they don’t understand is that the greater response from customers who would have normally never responded will more than pay for any losses for backing the guarantee.
- Strong customer service. Provide phone numbers, feedback email access and other ways for customers to notify you when there is a problem. Make sure you keep your promises and have your staff treat your customers with respect when they do call. A problem well handled at the customer service level can either kill a relationship or strengthen it. So, make sure your team is well trained.
- Employ social media. Engage your customers in a conversation on Facebook or Twitter so they continue to shop at your e-commerce site (or brick-and-mortar store) and recommend it to friends and family. Use social media to make news announcements or provide exclusive deals to Facebook friends. Keep the conversation going.
- Testimonials. Trust is built when a prospect or customer knows other people put their trust in your product or service. Make sure your website, mailings and other communications include glowing statements about you. Include a picture and a name with the testimonials to build even more credibility. NOTE: Call me at 310-212-5727 and I’ll show you how you can easily get testimonials from your satisfied customers.
Need some help with building relationships based on trust and credibility with your prospects and customers? Drop me an email at craig@cdmginc.com or call me at 310-212-5727. My team and I would like to discuss how we can help you start building profitable relationships.
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3. Make sure Direct Marketing Update stays out of your spam filter
Don’t let your spam filter keep valuable and profit-making information from reaching your Inbox. If you missed last month’s articles, who knows how much that may have cost you…and helped your competition! Just take a moment to add craig@cdmginc.com and craig@dmu.ccsend.com to your list of safe senders. Click here for details.
Do you send out an e-newsletter? Because if you do, you’ll want to give these same instructions to your subscribers so they’ll “whitelist” you!
In the meantime, you don’t want to miss links to the articles from our last issue. Just click them to review and catch up…
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4. ALERT! USPS rates are going up again in April
The U.S. Postal Monopoly announced plans to hike postage rates again on several different types of mail in April. The good news? The cost of sending a Mother’s Day card in May will stay the same.
Here’s the breakdown:
- For larger envelopes, the cost of the first ounce remains at 44 cents, but the cost of each additional ounce will increase from 17 cents to 20 cents.
- Rates on postcards will increaseby 1 penny to 29 cents.
- Letters to Canada and Mexico will increase to 80 cents from 75 cents and 79 cents respectively.
- Letters to other international destinations will remain unchanged at 98 cents.
- Express Mail and Priority Mail prices will not be affected.
- A variety of price increases for other mailing services will go into effect, including advertising mail, periodicals and packages. Details can be found here.
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That’s it for this week’s bonus issue. Stay tuned for your next full issue of Direct Marketing Update.
Yours for better profits and response,
Craig A. Huey
Publisher, Direct Marketing Update
President, Creative Direct Marketing Group, Inc.
21171 S. Western Ave., Suite 260
Torrance, CA 90501
Phone: 310-212-5727
Nobody knows direct marketing better!
Email: craig@cdmginc.com
Web: www.cdmginc.com
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