Welcome to this week’s Direct Marketing Update, with more tips and strategies to help you increase your profits from more effective marketing.

In this 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

Overlooked direct mail format: 48.9% response

Direct mail can take many forms: One format many are not aware of, or they overlook, is 3-D direct mail.

3-D direct mail simply means that you send a package far beyond words on a page. Your package is actually a three-dimensional package—one with height, depth and weight.

It’s something prospects can hold in their hands. It “jumps out” at recipients and shows concrete value and substantial benefits.

It’s sent to your prospects by FedEx, so it gets by gatekeepers and demands the full attention of each of your addressees.

Obviously, it’s more costly than traditional direct mail—easily $10 to $30 per piece. So it’s for high-margin products or services and usually sent to audiences of about 5,000 recipients.

A 3-D direct mail package I created for a South American gold mining firm was a good fit for this successful format. They wanted to make a select and qualified group of top investment professionals aware of their project, so they could attract investment capital.

The challenge was huge:

1. They had a new venture—it had never been tried before.
2. The project was in Colombia—perceived as distant and unsafe because of drugs, violence and kidnappings.
3. Their targets were extremely busy—and overloaded with literally hundreds of other lucrative investment opportunities.

We selected institutional investors and prestigious newsletter writers for a four-day, all-expense-paid trip to explain the project.

We had to show these people this was a good investment for their clients.

The package included:

• A formal invitation letter and RSVP card with contact information…
• An event itinerary styled as their international passport…
• A map of the location in the form of a “travel brochure…”
• Colombian coffee, to reinforce the conference location.

And most crucially…

• A wooden treasure chest filled with chocolate gold coins and all the components described above.

Of the select prospects invited, 48.9% accepted the offer. This is a great response.

If just one investment professional came aboard, this company recouped its marketing costs.

A high-quality 3-D direct mail package pulls dynamite results—if it’s relevant and well-suited to your message and offer.

Click here to watch a short video explaining more about the treasure chest project—and expanding on the 3-D concept with information about a second effort, too.

Show me your last direct mail package and I’ll show you how to grow your response. Contact me today at craig@cdmginc.com or call 310-212-5727.

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Web strategy: 7 keys to more profitability

What makes a landing page that creates response and profits?

They opened your mail (email or print) or clicked your Facebook ad, and now…instead of being intrigued… they’re bored stiff or confused—or just annoyed.

And then they’re gone.

Whether you spend thousands of dollars for a remarkable direct mail package or a few bucks for a pay-per-click banner ad, you don’t want to waste a dime by having an anti-marketing landing page for greeting new visitors and generating leads and sales.

So…what makes an excellent landing page? Easy…these 7 basic tactics do it right:

1. No navigation distractions
2. A strong, powerful, benefit-oriented headline that corresponds to the message that brought the visitor
3. The call to action (CTA) in the sidebar in the upper-right corner
4. Enough copy to convince and reinforce the first message from the email, web ad, direct mail or whatever drove them to the landing page
5. Use of direct response copy and direct response art
6. An efficient, 1- or 2-step process for the shopping cart
7. Copy and graphics, testimonials or video examples reinforcing benefits you offer to buyers, often on the right side of the page

Never, never drive the prospect to your main corporate website—or violate these 7 tactics of the special webpage you send them to.

Let’s take a look at a landing page for one client that illustrates these points:

Lear Capital deals in precious metals and is well-known in investment circles. On the landing page we created for them, distractions are non-existent and, therefore, do not take a viewer away—and you can see that we have a strong headline. Who can resist financial security?

Critical here is the use of convincing direct response copy. It’s unique in that it uses persuasive adjectives and strong verbs.

To accentuate important points, applying boldface or color (in this example, we used red) to type brings that out and speaks directly to readers; especially those who might skim copy looking for summary information.

The art supports the copy, drawing connections for readers and guiding them to a decision. Four of the firm’s strongest testimonials are included—on this webpage, celebrities—with photos to strengthen their words.

To find out more about what makes a good direct marketing landing page, click here to watch a short video (it’s less than 3 minutes).

This format works for both business-to-business and consumer marketing.

If you need help with these 7 website design components, email me at craig@cdmginc.com.

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Copy tip: The 5-star plan

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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Testing corner: Email superscript generates 339% boost

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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Homing in on the holidays: 4 must-do marketing tactics

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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Action Items

That’s it for this week’s issue of Direct Marketing Update. Don’t wait to put these tips to work for your business. After all, higher response means higher profits.

Yours for direct marketing success,

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

Click here to visit the Direct Response library. You’ll find numerous articles from past issues of my Direct Response newsletters that provide even more valuable direct marketing help.

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