Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Direct mail is very effective if you have a targeted list and compelling message. So there are really three areas you need to make sure you have covered.

The list - is it up to date? Are the names your target customer? Is the company reputable?

The creative - is your messaging speaking to your target audience with an effective call to action? Ask some of your current customers, parents who sent kids to your sports camp. Show them the creative and ask their opinion. Right now times are tight - how do you address that? Working parents still have to send kids to camp and price is an issue.

The direct mailer - oversized postcards can be effective and stand out in the mail. They are easy to read and if the creative and list are on target, should work well for you.

Also try social media and PR to get the word out regarding your camp. What is different about it? Why should parents send their kids to your sports camp? Write a press release and send to local media. Find message boards and local community web sites and post messages about it.

Good luck!

Hello,

75-85% of success or failure is attributed to the list you use and then message.

That being said, did the lists you rented match your existing customer profile? Do you have a profile of your best customers? One rule of direct marketing is that your next customer will look a lot like your last customer. Also, knowing who your ideal customers are will help in other ad placements and marketing activates.

Do you send a newsletter to your existing customers & prospect thru out the year. Tips, specials, clinics, refer a friend etc... Keep your bran in front of them monthly or quarterly.

Did you just send a brochure the first time or did a letter accompany the brochure? You need to tell the prospect what you want them to do! call, go online, Biz reply card etc...

If you would like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you
Tom

Time and again, I hear business owners say that they've tried direct mail and advertising once or twice, that it didn't work, so therefore, as sure as night follows day, direct mail and press advertising are both an utter waste of time and money.

Sigh.

Direct mail and traditional press advertising DO work, but, as with so many other things in life, they depend on a handful of crucial variables, and specifically for this topic, the result depends on, among other things:

1. How often their message was repeated.
2. Who the message was aimed at.
3. What was said.
4. How it was said.
5. When it was said.
6. What the marketing cost to implement.
7. What the marketing brought in in terms of revenue.
8. What the marketing offered.
9. What the marketing asked for.
10. How often people were asked.
11. How the message was delivered.
12. What kind of relationship was established and maintained.

Yes, marketing that does not bring in sales is ineffective. But that does NOT mean that marketing ITSELF doesn't work.

Let's say you're single and that you're just dying to ask out that one special person. Whoever it is, you just know, that this person is THE ONE.

With me on this? Splendid. Now, pay attention.

So, let's say you pluck up the courage to ask this person out on a date.

They turn you down.

Five weeks later, you ask them again.

They say they're busy. Sorry. No can do.

So you, now having been conditioned by being turned down you ... now KNOW that asking this person out on a date is futile, so YOU GIVE UP!

There could have been 1,001 reasons why this person turned you down, but you didn't stick around long enough to find out what the 1,002nd reason could have been.

Why? Because obviously, this person doesn't like you, so you quit!

What you DON'T know is that, had you asked THE SPECIFIC QUESTION, "Would you be free on the last Friday of next month to go to the football game?" (or whatever), the answer would have been a resounding "YES!" because unbeknownst to you, this person has been WILLING you to ask them out FOR THAT PARTICULAR event FOR MONTHS!

The point of this rant is this: to get a POSITIVE result, you've got to get PARTICULAR and SPECIFIC with your question and your desired result.

You don't say how long you've been offering your sports camp, or who it's aimed at, nor do you say if you have your own list.

The problem isn't that direct mail and press advertising don't
work, the problem is where you're sending your mail and which publications you're using.

It's VITAL that your medium suit your market—your audience.

If I'm selling wedding dresses and I'm advertising in magazines read only by deep sea divers and mailing only to crab fishermen
in Alaska, how many wedding dresses do you think I'll sell?

OK, that's an extreme example I know but the point is this:
the more you direct your message at people who are open
and receptive to it, the more likely it is that your message
will be acted upon.

Buying lists is one thing. But segmenting those lists and sending mail to specific decision makers and talking to them about the things that are important to THEM, is another thing entirely.

A case in point.

Three days ago my wife and I received a postcard from
Nick's Tree Service.

Now, I'm sure Nick's a nice guy and that he genuinely cares about the service he gives. He'd spent a lot of money on his postcard, it was in full color card and it came with two nice discount coupons.

Peachy! All fine and dandy so far.

But what Nick didn't do was make any real attempt to address
my SPECIFIC pain points. He provided no strong call to action,
he offered no guarantee, and he generated no sale because he'd failed to check his list.

How can this be? Well, my wife and I live in a building in which there are 45 condos.

"But!" you might argue, "It's not Nick's fault. How's Nick to know you live in a condo?"

Answer, by doing some leg work and segmenting his list to make sure that it contains only those addresses with houses in which there are trees that need his service. Had Nick taken the time to do this he'd be maximizing his marketing dollars and his phone would be ringing off the hook.

Lesson learned? Make sure your list and publication reach fit the needs of the people living in the neighborhoods you're serving.

If Nick does not get off his butt and check which neighborhoods need his service (and yes, even down to a street by street basis) he might just as well drive around town throwing handfuls of dollar bills out of the window of his truck, because he'd get the same result.

I can image that everyone in our building received the same mailing and that every one of those cards wound up in the recycling bins. Why? Because Nick didn't segment his list,
meaning he didn't TARGET his list to addresses with gardens
or property in which there are trees that need a-choppin' or
a-trimmin'.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Now, were my wife and I living in a house with a yard in which there was a tree that needed attention, and had Nick got in his truck and spent a Sunday or two driving around in specific neighborhoods, noting WHICH houses had WHAT trees in WHICH shape, and had Nick then addressed his mailing TO THOSE SPECIFIC ADDRESSES, about those very particular and HIGHLY TARGETED NEEDS, he would have made his postcards work harder. And to my mind, he'd have made an even greater impression had he written a letter that addressed the conversation going on in my head about that tree in my yard that's needed some work for the past two years, but that I've been procrastinating over.

Lordy!

Direct mail and press ads work BEST with particular messages
that are addressed to particular people about their specific needs.

And the glue that holds all this together is repetition.

Rather than sending one mailing, consider sending three, four or five, all about a week apart, all carrying on the same conversation, all offering the same offer, all acting in tandem.

Would you ask your date to marry you on the first date?

No, probably not.

Yes, there IS love at first sight, and passions can run hot, but to create value and importance in someone's life you've got to chat with them again and again and again.

That way, when they DO need your service, who are they more likely to call? The camp they've never heard of? Or you, the camp they've been receiving those memorable mailings from for the last six months?

Please, take this long-winded train of thought in the spirit in which it is intended: constructively.

Keep at it and don't quit.

Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA