Published by Roe Smithson & Asociados Ltda in Santiago Chile on 19 Jan 2009
Direct Marketing
There are very important points to be considered when planning a direct marketing campaign, we have listed some of them as follows:
1. Make certain your message gets to the person who can buy what you have to sell. It will mean 60% of your direct marketing success. It’s very easy for the wrong person to say “no”. An offer will be 30% of your direct marketing success.
What is an offer? It is a reason for your prospect to do business with you. It is the urge to action. To indicate a willingness to talk with you. It is a reason to respond.
The 10% remaining is creative. Not that it is not important but, it is certainly less important. And although it is the fun part of marketing – without a clearly identified audience and a sound offer, your creative has little chance of giving you a winner.
2. Your message needs to be understandable by a 13 – 15 year old reading level otherwise your marketplace will not understand your message.
3. Keep your opening paragraph to 11 words or less.
4. In order for your message to be easy to read, easy to understand and be quickly absorbed, use words of 5 letters or less. About 70% of all your words should be 5 letter words, or less.
5. Make all your paragraphs short, which means keeping them to a maximum of 7 limes, and sometimes just 1 or 2.
6. A postscript (P.S.) is mandatory in every direct mail letter. Because 4 of 5 of your readers will read the P.S. first, before they read anything else in your letter.
7. Indent every paragraph 5 spaces. This “Truth” is really physiology – not marketing. Our eyes pull us “in” when we see indents. They pull us to a point – and while we’re there, we read. It works. Indent all paragraphs.
8. Type size is important for readability. The absolute minimum is 9 point. And 12 is much better
For a wise and efficient direct marketing it is necessary to have completed all of the necessary research on the target market for your direct marketing campaign as well as build and refine your database to deliver maximum response. The final challenge then is to produce a campaign that captures the imagination of your prospects.
Your campaign will be measured against those of your competitors, so it is essential that it is both stimulating and persuasive if it is to achieve the desired response. Let a specialist in marketing studies like Roe Smithson & Asociados Ltda assist you. We can guide you from start to finish.
