Don?t Neglect Real-world Marketing
The world of the Web is truly amazing, but let?s not forget about the offline world.
It?s easy to get sucked into Web traffic solutions and search engine optimization, but there?s still a massive audience, if not bigger, who?s not on the Web, with deep pockets, who might want your product. Don?t cut yourself off from that offline world, because it holds opportunities to enlarge your power and extend your reach.
Direct mail is still possibly the most powerful and persuasive way of doing business no matter who you are. The most obvious obstacle with direct mail is the cost. But if you implement a piece that really penetrates your market, then the results can be very lucrative. In order to create that stellar piece, you?ve got to conduct testing to find out which one of your sales letters is actually going to work. Because of the potential high cost for such a campaign, you must test before you dive in.
In addition, your direct mail piece doesn?t need to be a postal-size Rembrandt ? you don?t need stunning imagery or a big sales letter or brochure. A simple postcard can be very effective; it gets read by everyone including the mail person delivering it. A specific type of postcard marketing involves a two-step approach by putting a teaser on the card which is answered on your Web site (getting your message out there and increasing site traffic).
With this two-step approach, you can ask a question that the recipient can only answer by visiting your Web site or going to your directed resource. This is an example of hypnotic marketing. It?s also the perfect situation for presenting a hook to get them to visit and read your longer sales copy.
You may want to do a little market research to find out the average number of direct mail pieces that people receive in your target area. Some regions are so flooded with direct mail that people aren?t even scanning or glancing at these piles but sending them directly to the trash. When you really need to stretch your marketing bucks, it?s smart to look at areas of low competition first. This is also an opportunity to take on college marketing interns to personally deliver your direct mail pieces right into the hands of your ideal clients, such as managers versus administrative assistants.
All in all, you can look at your marketing campaign as a fishing boat. Each marketing element ? newsletters, news releases, radio spots ? can be considered a line in the water. And with every additional line in the water, you increase your chances of catching a big one.