Here's a great lesson that applies to direct mail. Ready? Some people say one thing and do the opposite.
In other words ...
One shouldn't pay attention to what people say they'll do as much as what they actually DO.
For example, it seems most readers of the National Enquirer don't want to admit they read it. Just ask people, "You read that tabloid stuff?"
"No way! Not me."
Maybe they're afraid of looking silly to others? Maybe their embarrassed to admit buying a paper with headlines like, "Brad Runs To Jen As Angelina Lays Down The Law."
Perhaps they fear people will think they're too shallow? Un-sophisticated?
Doesn't matter.
What matters to the National Enquirer, of course, is that millions of readers each week buy it. Whether folks admit to reading tabloids or not there are a whole lot of those papers being sold. So the old rule applies? Don't pay attention to what people SAY they do as much as what they DO.
What's this got to do with direct mail?
Plenty.
If anyone should LOVE direct mail it would be a magazine editor. Direct mail is used to sell millions of magazine subscriptions each year.
But check out what William Baldwin - - editor of Forbes magazine - - wrote in the July 4th 2005 issue:
"The junk mail industry, says Chana Schoenberger in the story beginning on page 90, is giving a new lease on life to Xerox. This firm sells a $500,000 color printer ideal for customized advertising circulars.
Junk is a lucrative sector of the ad Business, with a $51 billion annual volume that dwarfs the outlays for magazine advertising. Lucrative, and wasteful. I don't know if the catalogs I get from Land's End cost more to make than the shirts, but surely they weigh more.
Between printing and mailing it costs at least half a buck to send a first-class pitch to someone. If 90% of the recipients chuck the envelope unopened into a wastebasket, then the pitchman is spending $5 just to get one advertisement read. Isn't there a better way of getting people's attention? ?"
Now? please ignore the fact Mr. Baldwin writes this even as he gets a Land's End catalog in the mail.
This means, of course, that either he, or his wife probably bought something from it. Which is why he continues getting a Land's End catalog in the mail regularly.
Also ignore the fact that direct mail sales letters have been used to launch prominent magazine-publishing empires over the years.
Mr. Baldwin says direct mail is lucrative (for the "junk mail industry") yet wasteful (for those using it) at the same time. Am I missing something here? Doesn't he know much advertising is "wasteful", and direct mail sellers only mail things out over and over again because it's profitable?
How many advertising dollars are spent (and wasted) targeting people who won't buy because they're not the right audience for the sales pitch? How much ad money is wasted paying for commercials on T.V. nobody watches?
Direct Mail is Targeted marketing
There's no better? or more cost efficient way? of reaching those most interested (and most likely to buy) your product or service than direct mail. And after you reach the person most likely to buy you're able to hit all their emotional hot buttons. Give them all the reasons they should buy from you. Tell them your story. Person-to-person.
Is there any waste? Sure there is.
People live busy lives. Even if your sales pitch reaches the right person it may not reach them at the right moment in time.
They might not have time to read it today. Or this week. They might not be ready to buy again. Your pitch might end up in the trash before it even gets read.
Overall ... doesn't matter. Know why?
Because if you've mailed correctly a certain percentage of prospects are going to read your pitch. They're going to respond they way you want them t
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