Direct Marketing Mailing Lists – Tips to buy the best list

March 9th, 2010 by Guest Blogger | No Comments | Filed in Business, Direct Mail, Mailing Lists

There are two types of direct mail lists, determined by their origin: compiled direct mail lists and response mailing lists.

Compiled Direct Mail Lists

Compiled mailing lists are a common source of name and address records that have been gathered, collected, and entered into a database. The names may have been acquired through public records such as vehicle owner registrations, court transcripts, or private sources such as warranty cards or purchasers at a store.

The bulk of compiled mailing lists are generated from categories in phone books across the U.S. Examples of a few of the compiled lists available from phone books would be a list of all the photography studios, or a listing of all the luggage dealers in the United States. Or a mailing list of all the plumbing supply dealers, or Chevy or Ford agencies.

Most industries have trade directories that are usually compiled industry data from various sources; most are verified by phone and make pretty good direct mail lists. A directory of pet product manufacturers, or of heating and cooling contractors would be good examples of a compiled industry direct mail lists.

Keep in mind that compiled information – like fish – gets old rather quickly and doesn't age particularly well. Mailings lists fall into the top of that category – the fresher the names, the better. The older the names, the less accurate – and the greater your returns.

Response Direct Mail lists

Response direct mail lists are usually databases of consumers who have inquired or purchased from a direct response ad, direct mail catalog, from a direct mail offer, direct-selling TV ad, direct response newspaper ad, or other direct response offer. The most common response direct mail lists are from catalog merchants.

Before you consider purchasing any direct mail list, analyze the database of your own customers. Ask yourself precisely what commonalities they have, then look for these characteristics in a new list mailing database.

Start searching for a new mailing list based on your perfect target audience. Find a list that closely matches the definable characteristics of your own customers. If this exact mailing list isn't available, see how close you can come to buying the most perfect business mail list – and test mail to it in smaller numbers. Measure and track response.

Today's direct mail can be very precisely targeted due to the precision of the mailing list data available. If you can tightly specify a mailing list, you can probably find a list perfectly matched to your specifications. The more you qualify the names on your mail list, the tighter you specify your perfect mailing list segments, the more response, and the less wasted advertising expense you'll have in your direct mail campaign. The higher your response, the better your chances of success and profit.

Your selection of a direct mail list has more to do with your success or failure than any other single element in your mailing. Before any mailing, calculate what percent response you need to have to break even, and see if it's realistic. If it's over 2%, better rethink about mailing.

The precise targeting of mailing makes direct mail one of the most effective, cost efficient ways to market as long as you define your audience up front and match your direct mail list to your audience.

Delivery of your direct mail depends on the accuracy and recency of your list. Better quality, more recent mailing lists have much better delivery rates. A poor list can mean up to 20% or 30% of your standard mail (bulk-rate) won't be delivered. 10% more will be delivered, but you won't know to whom. Of that 20% to 30%, some of your direct mail pieces will be returned to you, beat up beyond recognition by the postal service and certainly of no further value.

Some pieces get delivered, but to the wrong address. Other pieces of your mail just get lost, and no one really knows where they went. In contrast, when you purchase a recent, accurate direct mail list, delivery can be as high as a whopping 95% – 97%!

Some of the best delivery percentages of direct mail mailing lists can be found in magazine publisher's list of their magazine subscribers.

Magazine mailing lists have some of the highest delivery rates available. For good reason: Subscriber lists are naturally very targeted to their annually-qualified magazine readers. Publishers pay for returns: so their mailing lists have high deliverability rates as publishers are extremely prompt with their name and address corrections.

Most magazine publishers will rent their mailing list for non-competing offers (such as anything other than similar magazines). If you see a magazine that looks like it will be a good target for your direct mail campaign, call the magazine publisher and ask if their subscriber mailing list is for rent. Most larger publications will offer their list through a mailing list broker, so you'll be referred to that firm.

1. Magazine Publishers Mailing Lists

There are over 10,000 magazines published in the U.S.. Chances are good that you can get a magazine subscription subscriber mail list that goes straight to your perfectly targeted buyers. If you're not sure what magazines would have the best mail list to reach your target market, there are some easy-to-use magazine directories found in the reference section of most libraries. (They're online, too – but they're subscription-only and pretty expensive!) You can read the magazine's profile and see if their audience would make a good mail list for you to mail offers for your products.

The best directories of magazines are Bacon's Directory of Magazines, and Oxbridge Communications Standard Periodical Directory. If you can't find the exact targeted magazine filled with the eager-to-buy-your-product subscribers you are looking for in either of these directories, the publication doesn't exist. You can find any industry and every single magazine that is sent to that industry – in under 10 minutes in these powerful directories. As a practicing marketer, I pretty much live in these directories.

2. Catalog Merchants Direct Marketing Mailing Lists

Catalog houses earn a good portion of their revenue from the sale of their list. Call the catalog house phone number and ask for their corporate business office, then ask who handles their mailing list sales. Almost all catalog houses sell their mail lists – it's a big profit center than can account for as much as 20% of their revenues.

Catalogs can be found in The Directory of Mail Order Catalogs from Grey House Publishing (www.greyhouse.com) This directory is an awesome publication and the best resource in the catalog industry. In each catalog description and write up, it gives the number of catalogs mailed, and name of the broker who handles list sales.

This is the first of two articles on mailing lists. In the second part of this article, we'll discuss the next 9 places to buy a direct mail list.

Bio, Jeffrey Dobkin
If you're struggling with poor response from your direct marketing campaign, you can solve this problem and get guaranteed help; gain an advantage fast – and get amazing results by reading practical how-to marketing tips. Immediately increase your phone calls – and customers – read articles you can trust by [Jeffrey Dobkin]. Dobkin has written 4 books on direct marketing that feature his practical marketing tips and successful direct marketing methods, all scribbled in his own brilliant conversational style of writing. He can be reached at 610-642-1000. Read more of his articles at http://www.danielleadams.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeffrey_Dobkin

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Direct Mail Postcards – Fast tips to get your mail read

January 25th, 2010 by JeffreyDobkin | No Comments | Filed in Business, Direct Mail

Face it: most people sort their direct mail over the trash can.

This process works fast, like flipping channels on tv. Or better yet, think back: you’re a kid and a friend is showing you baseball cards for possible trades: gottem gottem needem gottem gottem needem gottem. 200 cards, 50 seconds.

Todays direct mail… Post Cards… Same thing: Direct mail credit card offers, direct marketing magazine subscriptions, direct selling insurance solicitations, and junk mail penny stock hawkers all get the briefest attention before being trashed.

But wait, there’s more! Post card marketing adds another dimension to the view-and-toss direct mail sorting process. Create your card right, and post card readership can be quite high, instantly. Because – it’s all right there, right in front of the reader—and in his hand.

Post card readership is defined by how great the direct-selling copywriting and graphics are for your card. So the fate of your direct mail post card starts in the hands of the creator, which I believe is you, isn’t it?

I call it “Instant Readership;” a term I coined, well… just now, to explain what happens the moment a reader glances at your direct mail post card that has just landed in his hands. Instant readership is the 2-seconds readers spend upon their initial glance on your post card: one second on headline and topic, one second on copy and the blink of an eye on graphics — unless they’re really dazzling.

It’s the same thing as in life! Like, when I meet a new woman: one second on headline and topic, one second on copy and a blink of the eye on graphics, unless they’re dazzling… Hey, maybe this is a pattern of ALL life, and everything can be described by this phrase?

Wow, this is like discovering plutonium… maybe I’ll get a medal! The Nobel Peace Prize – yes, I’ve always wanted one of these, especially since Obama received one for doing, well… I’m not sure – so they can’t be that hard to get. Or a Pulitzer! Yes, for writing this direct marketing article! OK, I’m pretty safe here saying this won’t happen. Or, maybe, just maybe I’ve just discovered all this writing is just a soliloquy for my own life? Help me out here, wouldja…

Glance readership of a post card is like seeing the headline of an ad in a newspaper (remember them?): you only get a second or two to capture the attention of a fleeting reader, before they continue on to the obits, the comics or the TV page. Or is that just me?

Failure. Post card readership reviews can be fast and brutal and end in the briefest of time; failure resulting in the sudden spiral of your direct marketing mailpiece directly downward into the circular file below. And your money following suit. Ouch.

Success. Or, you can instantly get an extremely high-rated review and have your post card placed in the highly coveted pile of “read later with the rest of today’s important mail.” It’s your choice. Right now, you’ve got to ask yourself, “Am I feeling lucky?”

Rule Number 1. Write and design everything in your post card for the first two seconds.

When your recipient gets a good look at your post card, you get the immediate opportunity to pass or fail. So… what’s it gonna be? Coveted pile, or circular file? Yea, or Nay? Success, or failure? Prosper, or fludghum? OK, I might have made that last word up, but you get the idea, and the reader’s decision is immediate. Your choice.

The bright side: For us on the creative end of direct mail, it just can’t get any better. Buy the right mailing list and get your post card into the correct reader’s hands: I’ll get him to read it. Your direct marketing agency will too… and if they can’t, find another agency – plenty of good ones out there. Or call me – writing post cards is a favorite pastime of mine, like monopoly or tractor racing – but it pays better. A well written and well designed post card can enjoy exceptionally high readership – and get exceptionally high response.

OK, so your potential reader is now standing there with your wonderfully written, dazzlingly designed, properly prepared post card in his hot little hand and that, my friend, is great alliteration. It’s where the rubber meets the road. Or hit the road, or something about the road. I forget——I have Alzheimer's. But… at least I don’t have Alzheimer's!

Rule 2. You need to force the reader to read your post card.

How? Compelling headline. Followed by intriguing subheadlines. Brilliant body copy and great, great graphics. Spend a little more time (and money) here and what happens? Yes, the coveted “read later” pile. As in paragraph 6a above, subsection 254: The reader brings the card to his desk, and with no other option handy, reads the card you forced him to read.

Now, some nitty-gritty of how to do it.

“Instant readership” is based 100% on your headline hook, appropriateness of subject to your audience and dazzling layout. It’s followed shortly by the value created in your offer, if they get that far. Wrap all these elements in sparkling printing and nice paper and now your direct mail post card presents itself in a glancing, fast 2-second visual bite.

Direct mail post cards are the visual versions of the sound bits you hear on MTV or promos for the evening news; which, come to think of it, appear to be written by the same writers. Designing for instant readership has the singular objective of drawing the reader into the post card, no more, no less.

On the immediate receipt of your post card, each reader has his or her own mental preference files that compels him or her to stay tuned into your card, yet some commonalities exist. Wait. Wait just a moment. This gender thing of saying “Him or Her” all the time has got to go—it’s too clunky to keep saying “him or her, him or her,” – so let me clear this up once and for all. I’ll just place everything in the male gender until I get complaints from, well, you know… Hey, do you know how many men it takes to change the toilet paper roll? No, me neither.

Post Card Instant Readership & The first round of sorting

So right on the top section of your post card, as in all highly responsive direct mail, your headline needs to be great. If you have a “good” headline, no! NO! That just won’t work. Strangely, “good” is actually not good enough. You need something more than just good, you need “exceptionally great!” Create this one line correctly, viola – instant readership on a maximum level. That’s how important this single line is.

The first work-order of the day is to create an unbelievably great, maximum-interest headline so the reader is instantly hooked into staying in the copy and continues reading. So…

Rule 3. The goal of the headline: keep the reader reading. Nothing more. Nope. No selling.

Rule 4. Invoke The 100-to-1 Rule:

Since your post card headline needs to be G-R-E-A-T, use the Jeff Dobkin 100-to-1 rule for creating G-R-E-A-T headlines (as found in Dobkin’s book, Uncommon Marketing Techniques): write 100 headlines, go back and pick out your best one. Oh, you like this idea! Plan to use it? OK, it’s copyrighted. Send me Ten Bucks. And you’re getting away cheap. OK, jest kidding. Just send $5 bucks. Make that a Starbucks Card — they were going to get it anyway.

Rule 5. The founding principle of high readership: Headline = G-R-E-A-T, or else.

The objective of any direct marketing or direct mail headline is to grab the attention of the reader and yank him so far into the copy that if he throws your direct mail piece into the trash, he’ll come back later and route though the trash to dig it out. Yes, and a really great headline is when the reader digs it out of the trash even though he dumped his kitty litter in there on top of it.

Rule 6. The headline is NOT the time to sell your product.

The reason? The first glance is a pivotal point in your presentation because the reader has no investment of time in your direct mail piece and so no commitment to read further.

Initially, your recipient isn’t intrigued by whatever you’re selling, at whatever price; because he hasn’t seen your electrifying offer, hasn’t seen any of your product benefits, and hasn’t followed your compelling story line for 10 paragraphs and wants to see how you close the sale, or how your storyline finishes.

So right now, at this first glance – nothing: no commitment, no involvement – right now you’re just another blah blah of direct mail; a piece of paper with no message, no heart, no soul. Man, these first 2 seconds are critical. And without any involvement, your reader is ruthless.

If the headline sucks at first glance the card can be tossed without regret. Kindly recall the reader has lots of other mail, and has years of practice at “getting fast” at his standing-there-over-the wastebasket first sorting time. You need to instantly connect and deliver: survive this cut OR your direct mail piece suffers death by wastebasket. Cruel. And buried along with your post card, your money. Whoa… Crueler still.

Rule 7. The rule of readership survival.

The rule of readership survival as it relates to the first glance of your direct mail post card: it’s the critical changeover point where unless your headline and graphics are G-R-E-A-T, your loss of readership stops your post card from being your “investment” and shifts it to an “expense.” What’s it gonna be — Pass? Or failure? Good headline. Or great headline. Good graphics. Or awesome graphics. Your choices.

The second round of sorting

Ok, enough blah blah about Instant Readership of post cards. Like my first wife said about our marriage certificate, let’s just get past this. Oh well; I thought we had a pretty good week. Evidently she didn’t think it went that well. But opinions are like smelly feet — everyone has their own. I then discovered while only some women may marry you for your money, they all divorce you for it.

OK, so you and your post card made the first cut. Congratulations, y’old direct mail guru. Great graphics, hellatious headline, compelling, convincing copy; opulent irresistible offer. Having survived the first cut following the “Instant Readership” rules, your card now sits comfortably at the reader’s desk with the rest of the “important” mail. Nice. But you’re not out of the woods yet. Check your balance sheet.

This “Second Look” opportunity gives your direct marketing post card the luxury of more time — now that the reader has taken it back to the comfort of his office, a comfortable chair, a couple of beers, some good smoke and a little more time to invest in reading it. Or is that just me? Anyhow, to survive the first glance means the reader has made the decision he has an interest in whatever you’re hawking, or at least in what you have to say. Congratulations. Welcome to Level II.

Jeff Dobkin will now take your questions.

Final tip: If you're struggling with poor response from your direct marketing campaign, you can solve this problem and get help fast for your next direct mail postcards. Gain an advantage – and get amazing results by reading practical how-to marketing tips. Immediately increase your phone calls – and customers – read articles you can trust by Jeffrey Dobkin.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Direct Mail Tips – 6 tips for gaining new customers

January 19th, 2010 by Guest Blogger | No Comments | Filed in Business, Direct Mail

Business is lousy. The economy is tanked. You’re looking around your store and saying, “Where is everybody?”

Here's How To Use Successful Direct Mail Marketing Campaigns To Bring More Traffic in your Front Door.

Good News: If you’re a retailer, here are direct marketing tips to show you how to get people to show up at your door. If you’re in a service business, here are direct mail tips that show you how to get your phone to ring. If you’re a restaurateur, here’s my phone number: 610-642-1000 – I usually get hungry around 7PM. If the campaign works really well, I’ll be bringing a few friends.

1. Track Response of All Your Direct Mail.

Learn what’s working in your direct mail program, and just as important, what isn’t. Leave a memo pad by each phone and when you receive a call – in the very beginning of the conversation – say, “And how did you hear of our us?” Write down the response on the memo pad, and throw that slip of paper in a drawer and forget about it for now. At the end of the month tally slips up and you’ll have a pretty darn good idea which direct mail campaign brought in the most customers.

2. The Best Direct Mail Campaign Ever: Mail to your house list.

No matter what industry you're in, what you’re selling, or what type of business you own, your direct mail strategies and your direct response email campaign should be to mail to your house mailing list. This is the lowest cost and most effective direct marketing strategy you can have. Hmmmm… Mailing to your house mailing list… Lowest cost? Most effective? Any questions?

Start by collecting current customer’s names and addresses. If you don’t have a customer house file – a mailing list of the names and addresses of all your customers – start one now. This will turn out to be your most valuable asset.

3. Sign people up! Sign as many people up as you can!

Keep a card by the cash register, or by the front door, or both to sign people up for your “FREE Preferred Customer Mailing List!”. Don’t be afraid to recommend they fill out the card so you can place them on your direct mail list — so they can receive special offers and awesome preferred customer pricing during private sales. just for your special preferred mailing list customers.

4. Tighly focus your Prospect Mailing List = Get a customer for $.44 through direct mail.

Depending on your type of business, prospecting through direct mail can be very precise with almost no wasted expense. Carefully aim your direct mail towards geographic targets (close to your store), demographic targets (people who like to/can afford to shop in stores like yours), and industry related personnel – in the specific markets you serve (such as lawncare, hearing aids, pet supplies, etc.).

Retail direct mail campaigns usually have a target geographic epicenter. Everybody likes to shop in their own backyard, and direct mail can take advantage of that. Limit your direct mail marketing to people who live or work within a comfortable drive.

That “geographic market segment” qualification of your prospects was just for starters. In addition you can select mailing lists by consumer age, household income, house cost, assets, number of children, number and type of pets; or by buying data: recent purchases, amout spent, and merchandise category.

If you don’t have a great direct mail prospect list, start one of those mailing lists now too.

5. Mail a Gift Certificate, get a direct response customer for under $5

A gift certificate is inexpensive to print and low cost to mail. The nice direct response letter you send with it? Same. The goodwill it generates, invaluable. It’s a double function direct marketing piece. Good for the customer and great for you, too. To make sure people open it, print the teaser copy of “Gift Certificate Enclosed!” on the envelope.

Best of all, the direct marketing strategy of sending a gift certificate through the mail has a cost only if the customer actually shows up and redeems it. No new customer, no cost.

6. Referral Marketing: Use the Jeff Dobkin “Gift Certificate Referral Method.” Clone your best customers with the most on-target direct mail campaign you can send.

Feel free to ask your better customers if they have friends they would like to send a gift certificate to with their compliments. Almost every customer will say yes. What a great direct marketing strategy that can turn into the most focused and effective direct mail campaign. Then mail the referral prospect a letter – and the gift certificate – compliments of your original customer (and from you, personally.)

As an added incentive to keep referring friends, mail an additional gift certificate to the customer making the referral. include a letter saying, “Thanks for the referral.”

The Jeff Dobkin “Gift Certificate Referral Method” is one of the most effective direct response campaigns on the planet — because there is absolutely no wasted direct mail expense. It's the lowest cost, and the best way to acquire new customers who are similar to your current clients – they like your store, shop, restaurant or services, and immediately have trust in you, your firm, your service.

Customer acquisition cost: just $.44 in postage. Then that five bucks discount (gift certificate)? Well, that's taken off the merchandise or food bill: so it didn’t really cost you five bucks, did it? It was the discounted cost of your goods. One of the best resources for low cost customer acquisition is direct marketing, and this one of the best direct marketing strategies ever.

And that's the way you make your direct mail marketing campaign effective. Reaching people with your direct mail message can get expensive in a hurry, especially if you reach the wrong people or make an offer no one will respond to. Tighly specify your mailing list and mail a great offer and you'll get busy.

Read more of Jeffrey Dobkin's practical direct marketing articles to learn more useful and easy direct mail marketing tips to increase your response and get – and keep – more customers.

About the Author:

Need More Business? Why struggle: If you’d like to easily get more customers and kick up the response you get from any direct mail program, visit [Jeffrey Dobkin’s website] and learn other fast and easy ways to make your direct marketing more effective – and yet lower your cost. Read more FREE [direct marketing articles] at www.danielleadams.com. Author Jeffrey Dobkin has written 5 books on direct marketing, including the cult classic, How To Market a Product for Under $500.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Postcard Mailers – How to get new customers with a postcard

January 14th, 2010 by JeffreyDobkin | No Comments | Filed in Business, Direct Mail

Let's see, where were we… oh yes, you were, er… complaining that your direct mail post card wasn't large enough to sell your products, and I said you're right – it isn't. The ONLY job of your post card is to make the reader pick up the phone and call YOU. Then, YOU sell your products.

To do that, I suggested you offer something FREE. You remember all that – or, were you sleeping like the rest of my students? Or whatever they're doing when they have their hands in their laps and there is the gentle glow of a cell phone coming from under the desk. Texting perhaps? Playing Tetris?

Offer something FREE

OK, so a FREE CAR is good – everyone would call! But wait… it's expensive. Darn, I knew there was a reason we didn't use that. A FREE Mont Blanc pen is nice – but wait, heck that's expensive, too. I mean, not like a car, but still it's pretty pricey when you're sending out a few thousand direct mail post cards. Or a few hundred thousand post cards.

Offer something FREE that's not so expensive.

Hummm… if there was only something that we could pique the reader's interest in so keenly, and drive him to the phone. If there were just something, anything, we could describe in one or two lines, so that we made the free offer the reader would want it, need it so badly that if he threw out the post card, he'd wake up in the middle of the night and come running down to get the card out of the trash… and respond.

Oh, if there were only some bit of information that we had, a small piece of the puzzle, some crucial information that he needed so badly that he would call and ask for it; critical information that… what? Wait. Wait just a darn minute here. Information? Did I say "Information?" "Information the reader needs?" That's it! Information the reader needs. Information he needs badly! By Jove, I think we've got it!

Offer Free Information

We'll offer FREE information. We'll offer an informational booklet! A FREE informational booklet. They'll call for that, hummmm… if we can just make it sound useful and incredibly interesting. Maybe there's a way…

Offer a FREE informational booklet with a catchy title.

Maybe if you write a catchy title — something your clients really, really want… and need. A title so compelling they'd gladly dive in the trash can to recover if they inadvertently tossed it out earlier. More than that… Something they'd drive across town to find out!

Maybe… Information they'd want so badly they'd swim across the English Channel to get! Information so valuable they'd take my wife… and keep her. OK, never mind that. This last idea was asking just a little too much from anyone.

But certainly offering information readers need and want would generate a phone call.

So, settled! Offer information. Information about how readers can easily resolve their wants; and satisfy their needs, if they just call now. It's a good thing your products and services can do exactly that. If only we could figure out – how to make them pick up the phone and call…

But wait – How about offering a FREE booklet that has valuable information specific to the needs of your market? Yes!

Yes, with "FREE" written in all capital letters, like this: FREE! Because would you rather have a free booklet, or a FREE booklet. See what I mean. Maybe offering a FREE booklet with a title that has a number of ways readers can solve their most pressing problems?

"How To Solve your 9 Biggest Headaches concerning______." Excellent! How about "FREE BOOKLET shows you 9 ways to solve your______!" Yes, even better! Just fill in the blank part yourself-with exactly what your customers are looking for, what they need, or how to resolve their areas of pain.

Solve a specific problem: "9 Ways to cut your employee payroll without layoffs!" Yes! "6 Ways to increase your profit in a down economy!" Yes! "12 Different Ways to Find a Leak in your Roof!" YES! "7 Things to Check when your Car won't Start… and 5 ways to Get it Started!" Yes, yes, and yes!

Don't forget to tell readers exactly what you want them to do: "Just Call Now and get your FREE booklet!"

Booklets are cheap to produce, easy to change, light to ship and make excellent giveaways that your customers will hold onto for years if you provide valuable information. And they'll call if you can create the booklet title on target by offering the specific information your direct response market of readers really want.

It's the TITLE of the booklet that makes it valuable.

The better the title, the better the response. A very simple formula. A FREE booklet with an irresistible title makes readers call.

It's not really the booklet itself – just the title. They don't see the booklet until much later, way after they've called – so frankly, the booklet doesn't need to be that great. People call just because of the title. So the title needs to be exceptional.

When readers call, the post card worked. The booklet title made readers pick up the phone. The better the title, the more phone calls you get. The more phone calls you get, the better your direct mail post card worked. And the more opportunities YOU have to sell your products or services. The success of your post card is measured by how many readers call. Simple formula, isn't it?

Offering a booklet eliminates call reluctance.

Many people are afraid to call you. Some think they're going to get a high pressure telephone salesperson on the phone and will be coerced into buying products they don't need. Others feel they will be uncomfortable about asking questions. And some people just don't have much to say on the phone and are uncomfortable making calls to strangers. So offering a FREE booklet on your post card works quite well to eliminate these fears. More people call.

Here is the number ONE great formula for creating the best headline to increase your success:

Rule 100. Well, Rule 100-to-one, revisited.

The best way to create a title for your FREE informational booklet? Yep… Same way you came up with your headline, and your subheadlines: The 100 to 1 rule: Write 100 titles, go back and pick out your best one. (Remember we struck-up a deal in the first article of this series – you were going to send me 5 bucks each time you used this?) The 100 to 1 Rule is taken from the book, "Uncommon Marketing Techniques." It's the best way to create the best headline – and also the most irresistible booklet title. Yep.

7 Point Article Summary

1. Get your post card through the first critical 2-second round of Instant Readership: by having a super-compelling headline, tightly written sub-headlines and outstanding graphics.

2. Get the post card objective right: The objective of the direct mail post card is NOT to sell your product or service, it's to generate a phone call.

3. Make the phone ring by offering something for free. I mean for FREE (all capitals)!

4. FREE informational booklets work really well.

5. The booklet TITLE drives the response: the number and quality of calls. The title owns 100% of the responsibility of getting the reader to the phone to make the call. The better the title = the more calls.

6. When the phone rings, the post card worked. It did everything it was supposed to do: make your phone ring.

7. Finally, when the phone rings, YOU sell your product or service.

Abstract

Post card marketing and Instant Readership: The better your graphics and the better your headline, the more people will read your post card. The more readers, the more opportunities you have to offer something for FREE. Offering a FREE informational booklet is one of the best, lowest-cost ways to drive maximum phone calls.

The TITLE of your booklet determines the response. The better the booklet title, the more calls you receive. The more calls you receive, the better your direct mail post card has worked. The success of your direct mail post card is determined by the number of your phone calls. The more phone calls, the more opportunities you'll have to sell your products and services. Any questions?

This is the third and final installment of the direct marketing article series on post card marketing, "Instant Readership, Increasing Readership, and Increasing Response." The article series was written to help you create highly responsive direct mail post cards.

If you're struggling with poor response from your direct marketing campaign, you can solve this problem and get help fast. Gain an advantage – and get amazing results by reading practical how-to marketing tips. Immediately increase your phone calls – and customers – read articles you can trust by Jeffrey Dobkin. Dobkin has written 4 books on direct marketing (including the cult classic, How To Market A Product for Under $500!) that feature his practical marketing tips and successful direct marketing methods, all scribbled in his own brilliant conversational style of writing. Jeffrey Dobkin can be reached at The Danielle Adams Publishing Company, Phone 610-642-1000. Read more of his articles at http://www.danielleadams.com.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,