The Direct Mail Solution A Business Owner's Guide to Building a Lead-Generating, Sales-Driving, Money-Making Direct-Mail Campaign

by Simpson, Craig; Kennedy, Dan S.

• ISBN13: 9781599185187
• ISBN10: 1599185180
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-01-28
• Publisher: Entrepreneur Press

Summary

Fact: More commerce and wealth is created by direct mail than by any other media (true before the internet and true now)
Reported in 2013 as the marketing channel that "delivers the best ROI for customer acquisition and retention" by Target Marketing’s Seventh Annual Media Usage Forecast survey of B2C, direct mail is surprisingly outdated and under-represented on the marketing bookshelves for small business owners — authors Simpson and Kennedy change that. Millionaire-maker Dan S. Kennedy and direct mail marketing specialist Craig Simpson urge small business owners to drive the momentum built via social media and other marketing avenues into the mailboxes of their target consumers. Unlike other direct mail marketing books on the shelf that specialize in one aspect of preparing a campaign such as copywriting or design, this comprehensive solution covers all — the organizational, technical, and creative including designing, budgeting, tracking, and assessing effectiveness. Also covered is how direct mail can be used in today's online marketing funnels. Benefiting from the authors' combined 30 years in direct marketing, business owners are given the guidelines for what works and what doesn’t, illustrated by real-life business campaigns that show step-by-step how to build a results-producing promotional campaign.

Author Biography

Craig Simpson is the owner of Simpson Direct, Inc., a direct marketing firm based in Oregon. Since beginning his career in direct mail nearly 20 years ago, he has managed thousands of direct mail campaigns, helping to gross hundreds of millions in revenue for his clients. His direct marketing company sends out nearly 300 mailings per year for his private clients. He works in practically every industry, marketing everything from courses on the benefits of drinking water, to technical software, retail stores, real estate investment, financial services, health products, diet programs, insurance, and even wholesale clothing. He lives in Grants Pass, OR. Dan S. Kennedy is a strategic advisor, consultant, business coach and editor of six business newsletters, and he directly influences more than one million business owners annually. He is a champion of small business owners and entrepreneurs with a long track record of taking entrepreneurs to seven-figure incomes and multi-millionaire wealth. He lives in Phoenix, AZ.

Table of Contents

Introduction: How I Started Making Money in Direct Mail – And How You Can Too!
My Life in Direct Marketing - A summary of the author's experience and lessons learned
Now It’s Your Turn - A motivational message to the reader

Chapter 1: Direct Mail Basics and Creating the Perfect Sales Piece
AIDA - Famous sales piece formula: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
How Long Should a Sales Piece Be? - Discussion of pros and cons concerning length
The Elements of a Sales Piece - Analysis of essential parts of a sales piece
Make the Most Out of Every Part of Your Sales Piece
Adding Spice to Your Sales Piece
What If You Don’t Want to Write Your Own Sales Piece? - How to work with a professional copywriter

Chapter 2: Mailing Lists and Segmentation
Types of Mailing Lists
House File
Rented Lists
How to Find the Right Mailing List
List Brokers / Managers / Compilers - Working with list professionals
The Data Card – Your Source for List Information - How to find the information you need to decide whether to rent (or buy) a particular list
How to Turn a Marginal Mailing List Into a Great One - Getting the most out of a mailing list by knowing how to select names

Chapter 3: Expanding Your Mailing Universe
Increase Lifetime Value By Building an Ongoing Relationship With Your Customers - An explanation of what Lifetime Value is all about
Issues Concerning Lifetime Value
How Lifetime Value Can Directly Impact the Size of your mail Campaigns
Expanding Your Lifetime Value
Cost Per Order / Cost Per Acquisition - How to calculate these critical numbers
The Secret to Rolling Out to Millions of Names by Increasing Lifetime Customer Value

Chapter 4: Tracking Your Mail Campaign
Track the Number of Leads/Orders - How to track responses to a campaign to see what worked, what didn't work, and whether the campaign was worth the effort
List Segmentation - How to divide a list for testing purposes
Mailing Costs - Determining the cost of a campaign
List History - Digging into list performance to see which list works best and when
Lifetime Value - Taking Lifetime Value into account when determining the success of a campaign
Individual Mailing Totals - Keeping a record of the history of campaigns

Chapter 5: Sales Piece Format and Design
Formats and Design - Options for designing sales pieces
How a Simple Design and Copy Change Can Have a SIGNIFICANT Impact on Your Direct Mail Campaign
Printing Your Mail Package - Options for printing and production

Chapter 6: Technical Details That Help You Create Better Mailings – And Save You Money Too!
Cleaning Up Your Mailing List: How Merge Purge and Data Hygiene Can Save You Thousands
Working with the Postal Service
Huge Postage Discounts That Can Save You Thousands!
First Class Versus Bulk Mail: Which Class of Mail Should I Use?
Making Sure Your Mail is Delivered

Chapter 7: Putting It All Together – The Details of Scheduling a Direct Mail Campaign
SWOT - Analyzing your campaign's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
Steps of a Direct Mail Campaign
How Long Will it Take to Get a Mailing Ready and Into the Mail Stream?
Now You Have All The Facts You Need to Start Planning a Direct Mail Campaign

Chapter 8: How to Use Direct Mail to Drive Traffic to Your Website
Top Online Companies Use Direct Mail
Using Direct Mail to Build Your Email List
The PURL Postcard
How Catalog Companies Use Direct Mail to Generate Online Sales.

Chapter 9: Creating Promotional and Backend Products That Build Your Business
Creating White Papers
Designing a Sales Funnel
Putting Together a Course
Coaching Programs