| |
| |
|
Advertising Resource Center |
|
|
|
Direct Mail Rules of Thumb
First and foremost - You should identify your target market. Target your direct marketing lists. Identify who you are selling to, and why they should buy from you instead of your competition. Keep in mind that placing your offer in front of 100 targeted response leads that have shown an interest or have a history of using your product or service can be much more effective than marketing to 1000 non pre-qualified leads. Find an angle: Attract attention with your mail piece, grab your prospects interest, and hook them in with your offer. The goal is to offer the sales prospects something so irresistible that he or she will immediately want it. Some companies will hook new clients in with an offer close to cost with hopes of retaining the clients in the future. Your message: Choose a benefit with enough appeal to play on impulse buyers emotions. Know why people buy and identify their want or need. What problem are you going to solve? What "want" will you fulfill? Make sure that your direct mail creative is appealing, start at the stamp and go from there. Prove it to them: Explain how your service, or your product will perform, and fulfill the prospects wants or needs. Make it easy to buy: If you want them to place an order make it as easy to make a purchase or gather more information as possible. If you want folks to call you, get a Toll-Free number, if you want to generate a lead, create an easy to fill out form on your website. You may want to include a business reply card with your direct mail piece. Motivate your prospects take action: Use coupons and other time sensitive limited-term sale offers to create a feel of urgency, promotional techniques like coupons with expiration in bold will highly increase your response rate. Best Regards, Brian E. Knapp
MORE RESOURCES: Three money managers who called the turn in March 2009 see big gains ahead; a fourth dissents Individual investors have largely stayed on the sidelines of the current rally. What will lure them back? The yearlong rally in the U.S. market has pushed the number of stocks showing unusually sharp daily gains to the highest level at least since 1994, a sign that more gains may come, according to Concept Capital. Higher- than-estimated inflation in China spurred speculation the nation will be forced to raise interest rates Shares of the following companies are having unusual moves in U.S. trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses. Prices are as of 11 a.m. in New York. The dollar rose against its Canadian counterpart and South Africa’s rand after a report on U.S. trade indicated the global economic recovery may be slowing, reducing demand for the currencies of commodity- producing nations. Wall Street analyst opinions on stocks making headlines in Thursday's market Investors should avoid Spain’s bonds as the euro region's highest levels of joblessness stifle the country’s ability to cut its budget deficit, according to Invesco Ltd. and Merrill Lynch What Wall Street economists and strategists had to say about key developments on Mar. 11 GMAC Inc., the auto and home lender rescued by the U.S. government, may have overpaid its top executives after receiving taxpayer funds, according to a report by the panel overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka listened to Andres and Esteban Contreras tell how Andres moved back home to help with rent and medical care after their father lost his job and their mother had her hours cut. Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Britain’s biggest home-loan lender, will allow customers to increase mortgage repayments without penalty, as the bank seeks to cut its 1.03 trillion-pound ($1.55 trillion) balance sheet. Bain Capital LLC’s Sensata Technologies Holding NV sold $569 million of shares at the low end of its price range in the biggest U.S. initial public offering this year. What Wall Street economists and strategists had to say about key developments on Mar. 10 Wall Street analyst opinions on stocks making headlines in Wednesday's market Ross Morrow, a professor at Iowa State University, talks about the possible impact of U.S. climate-change legislation on gasoline prices. Morrow also discusses the implications of higher prices for the U.S. economy. (Source: Bloomberg) Promotions and international sales let McDonald's wow investors while shares of Wendy's and Burger King languish amid a U.S. hunger for jobs Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, talks with Bloomberg's Betty Liu about Greece's fiscal woes. Rogers, speaking from Vienna, says a bankruptcy for Greece would benefit the euro. (This is an excerpt of the full interview. Source: Bloomberg) |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Vinyl Banners for the Right Occasion The sinage marketplace is competitive! Consequently, some companies are going to focus on price and neglect quality. To complicate the situation, companies that produce stock vinyl banner material offer a bevy of different materials based on weights/thickness, color, reflective properties, ink absorption properties, etc. Magnetic Signs: Where Do They Work Best? Recently, a woman called to ask about replacing a magnetic sign she had purchased from another company. Her original sign had actually blown off the side of her car. Should Your Small Business Hire an Advertising Agency? So, you own a small business, sales are down and you've come to the conclusion you need to start advertising. Questions: Where do I advertise, how much do I spend and do I need the help of an advertising agency?The answer to this question is really very simple. Moving message Sign Moving Message Signs are a unique, attention-grabbing way to communicate and motivate. They are used for eye-catching shop-front or under awning advertising, promotions of products or services, directing and/or welcoming customers, displaying safety and emergency information, directing customers to specific service areas or entrances etc. The Principle Of Advertising Online Advertising online is very similar to advertising in any environment. You really are trying to get your message or your product out there by the most cost effective means possible. Create Your Dynamic Elevator Speech So, what's an elevator speech, and how do you get one?What Is It?An elevator speech is a short (15-30 second, 150 word) sound bite that succinctly and memorably introduces you. It spotlights your uniqueness. How To Make Your Yellow Page Ads Work I hear it often, "advertising in the Yellow Pages directory doesn't work!" I smile knowingly and wait for a pause in the conversation, and this is what I say in response to their claims?"It's not the medium - it's the message?and it's probable the market too!" Blank stares often accompany that opening statement. But they do work - and they work well? IF you know how to use them. 2005 Super Bowl Ads... Winners and Losers Well, Super Bowl XXXIX is history. Too bad for the folks who consider themselves the always-pullin'-for-the-underdog type. 100 Excellent Words and 70 Action Getting Phrases for Ad Writing 100 Excellent Words Absolutely. Amazing. Cable Ads 5 Bucks! Cable has grown from 13 houses connected togetherin 1948 to coverage of nearly 70% of allhouseholds in the U.S. Does Your Brochure Pass the Test - Or is It Headed for the Trash? Part Two In part one of this article we discussed the importance of the look or appearance of your brochure.The look or image that your brochure conveys is vastly important. LED Score Boards LED scoreboards can be utilized in most of the sporting event for eye-catching effects replace traditional scoreboards. This high- tech lighting system is both energy - efficient and able to produce a very bright light. How To Write Kick-Ass, Profit Pulling Adverts For Your Business? Doesn't that just grab you by the eyeballs and make you stop dead in your tracks? I mean it's a little harsh - grammatically speaking - but holy smokes, it does it have 'stopping power'.. Radio and Television Ads: Clever Vs. Annoying Ever heard or seen a radio or television commercial that you really liked and actually looked forward to hearing or seeing again only to be assaulted by another one so annoying it made you want to heave your radio or television out the window?What makes one commercial so enjoyable while others seem to be so abysmal? It's all in the ability to make the listener or viewer remember the ad in a creative, clever way and I'm about to give you some advice on how to do just that so read on!One of the most successful ways of creating clever ads is to add humor. Unfortunately that's not an easy thing to do as you have probably heard or seen many commercials try and fail. How You Measure Yourself Is How You Motivate Yourself One of the keys to strong positive mental attitude is what you compare your personal performance to. Do you compare your sales results to the top producer in your industry? Do you compare your basketball playing ability to Michael Jordan? Do you compare your last presentation to a speech delivered by Ronald Reagan or JFK? Or do you compare your results today, to those you had yesterday? Sports, sales, and the media teach us to compare our success against that of others, living or dead. For All Those People Who Struggle With Benefits and Features For Everyone Who Has Ever Struggled Sorting Out Benefits From Features - "SWAT Them!"SWAT is not actually an acronym. It is a compaction of the question "so what?"You see, one of the biggest problems that even experienced copywriters and marketers fall into is being clear on what benefits their product or service actually delivers to their customers. Juice - Scam of the Decade or Opportunity of the Century If you are an ardent web surfer and MLMer like I am, then I am sure you would have seen the sales pitch "Give away free broadband and earn £27 GBP each time". Depending on which side of the fence you are, this product is either God's gift to freebies enthusiasts, MLMers and all paying ISP subscribers or it is the biggest scam yet, bar none. How To Create A Better Brochure Having a quality brochure makes a positive impression on a potential customer. It gives the appearance that you're serious about your business. Mobile Detailers; Customer Window Displays Mobile detailers have all types of customers, many of whom are self-employed. We know that these customers love their automobiles as most Americans and therefore love the services we provide. What Does the Back of Your Business Card Say? Business cards with nothing on the back are wastedopportunities to sell.Use the back of your card to expand and reaffirmyour selling sentence (which should be prominenton the front of your card).
|