Power Direct Marketing: The Book
Measurable Results
Direct marketing is tied to selling. And since selling is getting your prospect to make a buying decision to purchase from you, direct marketing and selling work together.
The direct response creative team has the responsibility to prepare the message to achieve the objectives. To get results. There is no other measure! Only results, as you can see in the following Measurable Results Ladder. It goes like this:
Measureable Results Ladder
Results |
Results are what you want. |
Measurable results! |
Results are useful olny if they are measurable. Your program must be designed to get you Measurable Results. |
Features |
Features come first. The red button or fancy handle. |
Needs
|
Needs for those features must be explained to the suspect. Why they can hardly live without them. |
Advantages
|
The advantages of how you can put these features to work for the customer must next be explained. |
Benefits
|
The benefit, the "result" to the cutsomer is the next step up the ladder. What happens when you push the red button or turn the fancy handle? |
Sales points
|
All must be expressed as sales points, presented in a way that allows you to "Ask For The Order"! |
Measurable results
|
And only then will you have Measurable Results. |
When you care enough to know what is really happening in your marketplace, when you want to know what part of your marketing program is working—you use direct response. You go for and get Measurable Results.
Direct marketing is ACTION oriented. Your prospect is supposed to do something, take some action toward the buying process. Redeem the coupon. Call the 800 number. Make a donation. Come into the store. Or visit the trade show booth. Fill-in and mail the order form. DO SOMETHING!
Direct marketing is MEASURABLE. You can count what happens—how many customers come in your door, mail in the coupon, call an order in over the 800 number, buy the product, DO SOMETHING!
And, direct marketing gains the SALE! It is either the sale itself as in mail order and fund-raising, or leads to the sale, as in traffic building and lead generation.
There are four major components for creating a successful direct response mail package, catalog, or print advertisement:
- Headline or Teaser Copy
- Copy
- Graphics
- Response
The next section has some "how to" guidelines for you to develop good direct response mail-order packages and catalogs, traffic-building and lead-generation programs.