Envisioning Success

To Whom Are You Marketing?

Posted by Chris Shockley under General

As I’ve been thinking about my impending direct mailer I’ve read a lot of different things about getting people’s attention, about having a time limit (if offering some kind of special) and having a specific call to action. These are all good and necessary things that you want to use accordingly.

I’m also a big proponent of having your direct mail piece go out and ask the recipient to go your website to fill out some form or whatever to get the deal being offered or be entered into the drawing, etc.

But what about the content? How much do you put in there? There are decidedly two camps:

Less is more: Some are of the notion that people don’t want to sit and read through a bunch of text and that you should just get to the point, give them a header or two, nice photo(s) and maybe a bulleted list. In my previous company we tried that and got basically nothing. Was it what we offered, the list we were using or the economy? Maybe.

More is more: The other camp promotes the use of lots of content and goes so far as to say that a good multiple page sales letter has far better results (profitable responses) and is far more valuable. They say that we should thoroughly and exhaustively describe our services and its benefits.

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What I think: Well, I don’t have a definitive answer for you, sorry, but I will give you something to think about.

When you are marketing yourself whether it is your website or a direct mailer or sales letter, who is likely to accept your offer? I used to think that everybody is a potential customer and they just needed to know what benefits I offer and give them some incentive. However, I have changed my viewpoint slightly.

The only potential customers you have are people who are actually interested and may have already been thinking about it. You’re not going to get someone who has no interest at all to read your postcard and decide, “You know what, I am going to do that” out of the blue. Granted, often times it seems like that because they are ready to make a decision and since they get your postcard they call you.

So you may think, see it does work, but think about it, someone else has spent their marketing dollars essentially advertising for you. So you need to decide about if that is a useful, if not somewhat lucky or random way, to spend your marketing dollars. Essentially companies are advertising for each other and the lucky one wins. How lucky do you feel with your money?

Changing tactics

How about focusing your message on those that are already interested and give them all the information they need to make an informed decision? If someone is thinking about your service (which may be the same or similar to many others) and you give them a lot of good information you are building trust. You are letting them know that you care that they have all the information they need so that they can decide knowing all the facts.

The bulleted list folks look graphically very flashy and nice, but I’d bet that the company that speaks clearly and comprehensively will be far more compelling.

Remember, we’re no longer just sending out semi random mailers out hoping we’re luckier than our competition, we are targeting the few that are already interested and ready. We want THOSE people. Those who aren’t interested will toss your wordy card or letter for sure, but keep in mind, they’d toss your bulleted list card too. They aren’t actual prospects yet.

And, if you think about it, the wordy letter or card actually advertises less for you competition because the person who isn’t interested is not likely to make the connection between your marketing information and the others’

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Chris Shockley is owner of Envision Design Solutions and has been building websites for over 12 years. He can be reached via the web: http://www.EnvisionDesignSolutions.com/