Direct Response

Have you ever wondered why:

Google Hates Affiliates

Facebook Hates Affiliates

The Exchanges Now Hate Affiliates

Craigslist Hates Affiliates

Advertisers that have worked with affiliates hate affiliates.

AND YA KNOW WHAT….

A lot of affiliates, ESPECIALLY the talented one’s, HATE BEING AFFILIATES!!!

Who can hardly blame an affiliate marketer for not liking his career these days.  Think about it, what’s the upside?  Hop onto Offervault and do a quick search for a solid health or beauty campaign.  You won’t find one.  That’s because every advertiser that has a decent brand knows that working with a CPA Affiliate Network is almost instant brand suicide.

Think about all the other crap affiliates have to deal with:

-  Paying middle-man fees to a “CPA Network.”  That makes no sense.  If you’re a solid traffic guy then why not just setup your own HitPath or HasOffers account and go direct to the advertiser?

-  Having leads shaved by unscrupulous kids that license software and call themselves an affiliate network.

-  Losing money from non-tracked advertiser leads.  By not having direct visibility into the advertiser’s CRM to reconcile leads, affiliates lose big money.  Without direct access to the advertiser’s backend, there’s tons of money lost on leads that didn’t track.

- The FTC and other agencies are on a witch hunt for non-compliant affiliates – which is just about every affiliate out there.  I have close friends that are former FTC lawyers.  They’ve made it pretty clear that over the next few months there’s not only more affiliates going down, but there’s going to be big raids on the networks.

-  It’s now harder than ever to get an affiliate campaign approved on solid traffic sources.  Unless your cloaking you’re not getting in.  If you’re an affiliate, that must make you feel pretty bad.  The offer you’re promoting is so shady that, in a down economy, people won’t take your money to advertise it!!

-  Putting tons of work into a campaign only to have the advertiser’s offer pulled from the network.

-  The affiliate offers out there suck.  Gone are the days of $60 CPAs for selling a trial.  Sure, there’s still pump and dump campaigns going live, but they’re few and far between.

Over the past few years I’ve come to know several of the top affiliate marketers in the world.  These are guys that can turn traffic on and literally send a company thousands of new customer acquisitions a day.  With that type of talent, but with a lack of offers in the space, you might be wondering where they all went?  Did they decide to get a job selling real estate?  Or how about a gig bar-tending?

Do you really want to know??

Ok fine, I’ll spill the bag of beans.  Almost all of the ”super affiliates” branched out and started their own offers.  Duh!!

It was only a matter of time before seasoned affiliates put 2 and 2 together.   By consolidating the value chain, affiliates realized they could maximize their ROI by owning their own offers.  The upside is enormous:

-  Full control over your campaign’s success!

-  No tracking issues.  If a lead doesn’t track in your system, you’ll still own the lead.

-  Higher margins.  No middleman affiliate network to pay.

-  Data monetization.  You own the customers leads, which presents a plethora of opportunities to maximize the CLV (Customer Lifetime Value).

-  Longevity.  You can rest assured that your campaign won’t get arbitrarily pulled by an affiliate network.  There’s no worse feeling than spending months building creatives only to have a campaign die out on you.  No wonder affiliates starting using template farticles instead of creating original work.

-  Own the rights to your campaign.  Smart advertisers copyright their campaigns, ensuring that the fruits of their hard work isn’t stolen from right beneath them.

-  True residual income without the hassle.

Once you turn advertiser, you can never go back.

Indeed, it takes patience, time, and a lot of trial/error to master the advertiser game.  Most new advertisers fail.  Why?   Typically a lack of tenacity or frustration from early on speed bumps.  Those that stick it out discover that the opportunities for advertisers are limitless.  As far as traffic goes, the roof is your budget.  If the campaign is profitable, and you choose to reinvest your profits backs into the campaign, then the sky turns into the limit!

Another benefit is that you’re no longer constrained to the capricious and wanton ways of some other man’s product offer.   No sir!  It’s like quitting your day job and opening up your own shop.   The autonomy that comes with owning your own campaign vs. running another man’s campaign is the cleanest breath of fresh air you can take.

PAUSE.  Changing Gears:

We’ve covered why a lot of the top affiliate marketers out there have left the industry.  Let’s now delve into why the best offers are no longer available on CPA Networks.  I can break it down to 4 succinct reasons:

1.  Shit Traffic

Unless you’re getting traffic from a small, well managed boutique network like Ads4Dough or Millionaire Network (both are still rock solid affiliate networks), chances are that you’ll get flooded with shit traffic.

What is shit traffic?   Shit traffic comes in many forms, most notably:

-  Incent:  When a website offers a consumer something (the incentive) for signing up for a bunch of free trials.  The consumer is not interested in the free trial offer, they’re interested in the reward.  i.e.  A lot of incent affiliates will offer a free iPad if consumers sign up for 30 free trial offers.  Each free trial that consumers sign up for pays the publisher $40.  The Affiliate will profit $1200 from conversions, the Consumer will NOT receive a free iPad (HAHA dummy!), and the Advertiser’s new customer acquisition won’t rebill.  It’s a zero sum game where the Affiliate wins and everyone else loses.

-  Torrent:  This is traffic from all of those sites that offer free downloads.  The people that visit these sites and buy are typically careless folks that are hurting for money.  Instead of paying for software or getting a hacked version from a reliable source, they instead go to these random sites and take the risk of downloading a virus.  What’s an even scarier notion is the consumer who’d ACTUALLY BUY SOMETHING from a torrent site.  Let me ask you something, is that the type of customer you want?  Chances are that you’re getting a broke college student or something even worse.

-  Fraud:  It is what it is.  There’s tons of affiliate marketers out there who make a living buying stolen credit cards for $.02 on the black market and push them through affiliate offers.  Often times the advertiser doesn’t know what hit him until the bank freezes his merchant account.  It’s too late then.

I even know of a CPA network, which I won’t name here, that did/maybe still does this as part of its revenue model.  About 80% of the traffic they run is solid, the other 20% is pure fraud traffic.  Helluva way to to string along advetisers.  They keep their advertisers just profitable enough for them to keep advertising, until of course their merchant accounts is frozen.
BTW – here’s the quintissentail example of a network that doesn’t give a shit about the type of traffic they’re sending to advertisers.  We know you’re “down with any traffic.”  Let’s all take a moment of silence for any advertiser that works with this network.  May God have mercy on your campaign.

2.  Too Many Middle Men

The CPA Network, Affiliate, and Ad Network all take a cut from the advertisers purse.   That’s 3 middlemen.   By cutting the CPA Network and Affiliate out, the money that would have gone to them now goes in your pocket.  Heck, buy direct from the publisher and you’ll put even more money back into your pocket.

3.  Lack of Visibility

CPA Networks won’t let advertisers know how the affiliates are promoting their campaigns, what creative material they’re using, and even who the affiliates behind the campaign.  That leaves the advertiser staring into the abyss…what’s looking back out at ya?  It’s a scary prospect.

4.  Enlightenment

All industries go through a natural progression, and what we’re experiencing now is a tectonic shift in the way the affiliate space operates.   With the advent of Advertiser Courses  and blogs like Direct Response, advertisers are provided with the do-it-yourself tools to liberate themselves from the CPA Networks.   Additionally, word gets around pretty quickly that affiliate networks are not all that they’re cracked up to be.  Advertisers that choose to test their luck learn pretty quickly that the average lifespan of offers on affiliate networks is south of 1 year.  Compare that to traffic sources like Google and Facebook, where advertisers stay on for a lifetime.

It’s no secret that I am an huge advocate of advertisers.  There’s nothing more frustrating than having a great offer but not having the knowledge on how to promote it properly.   With the CPA network space on it’s last limb, it’s exciting to see advertisers taking traffic into their own hands.   Stick with it and the world is yours

Peter Nguyen and I called it a long time ago!  All of the top notch tier-1 advertisers have left the affiliate space.   Where did they all go?

Peter Nguyen, Rob Shibley, Rick DelRio and I are happy to share that info with you.  More coming on this topic

BTW – If your attending Ad Tech NYC, hit me up for details on the exclusive event Rob Shibley, Peter Nguyen, Rick DelRio and I are hosting.  It’s invite only.  Leave a comment with your contact info and you may receive an exclusive invite.

P.S.  Remember this post: http://directresponse.net/the-rise-of-the-mini-affiliate-network/

Every month new and potentially lucrative opportunities come my way.  People consistenly present new business ventures, ideas, and other sources of revenue to my team.

In one of the worst economies this country has ever seen, your average joe would die to have just 1 of these opportunities.  Then why is it that I not only turn down 99% of new revenue streams, but I actually loathe them?

The answer is simple:

It’s smarter to develop a few high profit and scalable businesses than waste time on small, quick cash projects.

Small, fast cash projects are dire if you’re having problems paying the bills.  Everyone needs to secure a position where they can live comfortably – that’s why you should always live well below your means (I don’t own a single credit card and have no business debts).  If you want to live in a penthouse luxury apartment, get your dollars up so you don’t have to sweat next months rent.   If you’re not there yet, stick to your 1 bedroom loft!

Here’s a true secret that few entrepreneurs understand: scalable businesses with solid revenue models is where the real money is at.

i.e.    Have you ever heard of Drew Houston?  Chances are no…until recently that is.  Drew Houston created DropBox, which received $250 million dollars last week in funding.  Drew’s team  toiled away for years building out DropBox.

DropBox harnesses a simple concept that is scalable.  Can you think of any other simple concepts that are scalable?

-  Google: Searching for things on the internet, FREE service.

-  Facebook: Social media profiles, FREE service.

-  Twitter: Texting on steroids, FREE service.

Guys like Larry Page or Mark Zucherberg have had thousands of opportunities thrown their way during the creation of their core businesses.  They chose to leave money on the table and STAY FOCUSED on the big picture.  And where did they end up?

This past summer I had to stop my consulting service.  While $350 an hour is an easy income, my weeks started getting booked out.  That left no time to focus on 2 core projects, which are highly scalable.  Essentially I chose to leave guaranteed money on the table and refocus on the big projects at hand.   It was a good move…

Take a step back and evaluate where the core of your time is spent.

Are you building other people’s businesses or your own?

Maybe you’re happy with fast cash jobs and the comfort of a guaranteed income.  If you are then stick to what you’re doing.  But if you want to come into incredible wealth, learn how to leave money on the table.

This past week I ran a simple test on several sites I own that make money off of AdSense.   I simply disabled all forms of media outside of text ads.  The result was a 113% increase in ad revenue.

Image/rich-media ads are too hard to control.   There was a whole new wave of ads coming out that auto-play videos, causing visitors to quickly jump off websites.  i.e.  Most internet shopping happens during working hours.  Videos that auto-play can alert bosses to employees who are slacking off.  This causes visitors to abandon websites rather quickly, afterall most people don’t want to risk getting in trouble at work.

Here’s how to convert all of your AdSense ads to text:

Life experiences have taught me that a good politician is equivalent to a good liar.   The game of politics comes down to votes, and votes come from telling people what they want to hear.   Could you imagine if a presidential candidate told the American people the truth:

“Most of you Americans have gotten fat, lazy, and happy.”

“There’s going to be no more unemployment checks coming your way.   During the rise of America, if you lost your job you either got a new one, or starved.  Starting the day I become president, if you don’t have a job, you don’t eat.  No more sitting on your asses and getting paid….no sir.  There’s no more gaming of this system.”

“If you keep popping out kids sista you ain’t gonna get paid for each one.  Welfare is over.   We’re rolling things back to survival of the fittest.”

“In order to compete with countries like Japan, you’re going to need to roll up your sleeves and get your asses to work.  We’re going to provide new tax benefits to companies that install the “lifetime-employment” model.   Expect long-work hours and a lifetime devotion to your company.  If you slip and fall while on the job, get your ass back up and get to work.”

Well…since no politician is going to confront America’s problems head on AND WIN AN ELECTION, I guess we’re back to the same ole same ole.

With the economy in the gutter and the overall disenchantment of most Americans, do you think Obama has what it takes to put together a campaign for a victory?

If it were any other campaign committee I would say hell no, but Obama’s marketing efforts are second to none.  In fact, Barrack Obama has a dream team of marketers promoting his campaign.

Pay close attention to the tactics used by the Obama campaigners – they use good ole Direct Response tactics.  In fact, some of these tactics ARE THE VERY THINGS Obama’s FTC staff are going after…oh the irony.  Most notably:

Creating A False Sense Of Urgency

Taken at 2:53 AM

3 minutes later I reset my cookies and revisted BarrackObama.com  :

Funny!  Just 3 minutes later, and with a cleared cookie cache, there’s now 880 fewer people donating to Barrack Obama.

WAIT!  Did I just say Cookie?  Isn’t there a whole bunch of legislation out there on stopping cookie stuffing?  That’s also ironic, as our very own president is storing cookies on users computers that visit his website.

Moving on…

Obama’s online campaign is right on point.  Notice the jump page at Obama.com, used to collect email addresses:

The darker blue colors are renowned for creating trust with audiences.

And where are they running their display ads?  Comscore top 1,000 websites…ultra hard.  The cost on their targeted placements is way down.  Interesting Note: Obama’s FTC staff has shutdown most of the largest buyers of Comscore top 1,000 placements - affiliate marketers.   Indeed, domestic placements are now as inexpensive as ever – perfect timing for the Obama campaign ;P

Email, Direct Mail, Radio, Social Media, Television, Landing Pages…Obama’s team has it on lock.  They are masters at creating perceived value.

Will that be enough to succeed though?  I’m not so sure – there’s a lot of  ”stop talking the talk, and start showing us results” gossip every time I hear people discussing Obama.  The campaign worked the first time around, but now that everyone has bought what Obama had to sell, are they happy?  Are they willing to buy again?

Remember that perceived value gets people in the door, but it’s real value that gets them to return.

What are your thoughts?

How do the top direct response marketers in the world manage their campaigns?

The answer is simple:  LimeLight CRM.

Rick Del Rio, owner and ACTIVE OPERATOR of LimeLight CRM, is by far the most resourceful person in the online direct response industry.  In fact, I stopped my consulting service and started sending people that reached out to me for help Rick’s way.  Rick Del Rio is the guy I go to when I need answers.  Bottom line, he’s second to none!!

There’s no catch and this isn’t a paid post – something Rick doesn’t believe in.  Whether you’re a client of Limelight CRM or not, Rick is the goto guy for direct response resources.

Why else would Ads Direct buy Rick a bad ass Breitling?

Why else would Gary McNelley, owner of Market Health, completely abandon his custom CRM for Limelight CRM last year.

Why else would just about every Inc. 500 online marketer adopt Rick Del Rio’s LimeLight CRM.

Simple: LimeLight CRM The Best…second to none!

Special thanks to Rick and his team for the enormous value they’ve provided all of us!  Much love!!!

(Post 3 of 4 in the direct mail series)

Data Mining has many definitions.  For online marketers, it is the process in which marketers pull consumer data from websites in order to market to consumers.   In this post we outline the how to effectively data mine online for direct mailing.
The most important thing when data mining is to be organized and be sure your information is current:
Create an excel spreadsheet containing Business Name, First name, Last Name, Address 1, Address 2, City, State, Zip code, phone number, email, website, source (where found information), Lead source (direct mail, email, phone), Industry of lead and a sample result link (#1  article or something personal and interesting about the company).  Bold these Descriptions so that they will stand out on the Excel Spreadsheet.  It is often helpful to create tabs on the bottom of the Excel Spreadsheet according to the industries of your leads.  This will be helpful later when you are trying to target a specific industry when doing mail merges.
To find information on a company do a quick google search on the company.  Try and find the company’s website.  The company’s website will have the most current information on the company (Especially if they recently moved or only accept correspondence through a PO Box).  If you cannot find the information you are looking for on their website try looking in Manta (http://www.manta.com ), Yellow pages (http://www.yellowpages.com ) and the Better Business Bureau (http://www.bbb.org ).
Think about who you are trying to reach.  Do you want to reach out to the CEO?  Are you trying to reach the office manager?  Whose hands do you ultimately want your information to be in?  The company’s website may not have who you are specifically looking for.  Try looking the company up on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com ), Hoovers (http://www.hoovers.com ) and Corporationwiki (http://www.corporationwiki.com ) to find who you are trying to reach.  If all else fails simply call the company and explain who you are trying to reach.  Be extremely courteous and honest with the front desk person.  They are the gatekeeper.  However, also be confident and assertive so that the front desk person would think twice about questioning you.
Copy and paste all the data you find right into your Excel spreadsheet.  Don’t worry if it is in different fonts or colors.  You can always go back at the end of the day and highlight the entire document and change the font and color.  You will notice some websites are actually using white font on a dark background.  You can still copy the font and put it into the excel spreadsheet and change the color later.
To make this process even easier I highly recommend adding an additional screen to your computer.  Open the excel file on your second screen.   Do most of your data mining on your original screen and simply copy and paste everything onto the second screen. After creating your mail merge, import your excel spreadsheet into your CRM.

This is series 3 of 4 posts on Direct Mail:

1.  3 Easy Ways To Get Opens

2. Big Surprises Come In Small Packages

3.  How to effectively data mine.

4. How to create a drip direct mail campaign.

About The Author

Brendan Devine is a data monetizer at King Monetizer.

Do you blog?

Let me start off by saying that blogging isn’t for everyone.  There are some people that would prefer to fly far below the radar – and for very good reason.  Blogging, especially when you know what the fuck you’re talking about, puts you in the limelight.

If you’re not afraid to get your name out there, then I strong suggest you put up a blog.  Blogs are a great medium to connect with your audience.  The benefits are manifold, to name a few:

-  connect with key people that you otherwise wouldn’t connect with.

-  position yourself as an authority in your industry.

-  continue your education and receive important feedback.

Seth Godin’s 56 tips on how to successfully blog are very resourceful.  I’ve also written a posts on why most blogs suck.

Over the past year I’ve seen a few well-known and popular bloggers hurt the credibility of their blogs.  These are guys are smart and resourceful, however I have a hard time trusting the content on their blogs.  Out of respect I’m not going to release their names in this post.

Avoid These Common Pitfalls On Your Blog:

1.  Paid Posts

Unless you truly believe in a service/product, DO NOT accept a paid review.

Not too long ago I read about an interesting monetization service on a blog.  For all intents and purposes, this review was bad ass.  The blogger personally endorsed the service to his entire audience.

Since I own several sites that receive an enormous amount of traffic, I figured I try out this service.  The ever skeptic I am, I called my blogger friend to verify that the post was legit.  When we connected he gave me “the real inside scoop.”  The reality was that the service he wrote about sucks and he doesn’t use it himself.  The post was just an advertisement!

Now how in the hell am I ever going to trust another thing I read on his blog?

Moreover when his readers try the service out and discover that it sucks, how are they going to trust his word again?

2.  Annoying/Scammy Advertisements

I think Ryan Eagle is a super bright young guy, but damn his ads are distracting:

How in the fuck are you supposed to read the content on a blog with this crazy little fucker spinning around like that!  Don’t get me wrong, the ads are pure genius, and the BlamAds service seems legit.

But what do these ads do to your readers?  I personally have a difficult time reading content with certain flashing banners.

Also, I’ve seen some “biz ops” popping up on blogs.  While very few biz ops out there are legit, the one’s I’ve seen popping up are without a doubt 100% scams.  When I see a scammy biz op advertised on a blog, I automatically write off the blog as being a scam too.  Guilt by association.

NOTE: Blog owners can’t claim ignorance to the ads running on the sites.  Only Comscore Top 250 publishers can use the “I didn’t know it was advertised here” card.  But even those sites have stringent reviews in place to stop scammy products from displaying to their audience.

3.  Sharing Common Knowledge

Gordon Gekko: You stop sending me information, and you start getting me some.

Break news or give us the real inside scoop.  We want real info that’s applicable to our lives.

If we were looking to read an overview on a company or service, we’d visit the about us section on the corporate website.

Instead we’re all search for useful knowledge THAT IS APPLICABLE to our lives.

I read CopyBlogger and Search Engine Watch because I walk away with information that’s useful.  The knowledge hasn’t already gotten commoditized by 200 other blogs.  Rather it’s original and authentic.

I’m sure there’s lots of other ways people lose credibility and readership on their blogs.  Do any come to your mind?  Please share with us.

(Post 2 of 4 in the direct mail series.)

Sweet!!  You’ve now discovered how to get the highest open rates on all of your direct mail pieces.  Nearly everyone that’s receiving your mail is opening it.  Your heart is beating wondering if you’ve found that “sweet spot” all marketers look for.  You can calm down my friend because I assure you that you have, so long as the message inside is constructed in a way to ELICIT a direct response.

Getting your prospect to open your direct mail piece is only half the battle.   In fact, it’s more like 25% of the battle.  The next battle is getting your prospect to respond to the inside message.

Before I delve into some of our internal secrets, I’m going to clear up some of the “theories” out there re what should go inside a direct mail piece.  Some mailers evangelize placing gifts, candy, and even real paper money inside direct mail pieces.  I’ve seen marketers place gag gifts or talking cards.  BOTTOM LINE: It’s All Bullshit.

When someone sends me a direct mail piece with a snickers bar inside, I take out the candy bar and eat it.  When I’m finished I take the wrapper and throw it back inside the package it came in, which is usually sitting on the side of my desk.

But what about the big and fancy brochures inside?  Didn’t you take a minute to at least read those Rich?

Sure, I glanced at them very quickly.  But then I looked at the 50 emails that piled up in my inbox, the 3 missed calls, and an alert for my next meeting.  There was too much work involved to read the message that was sent to me.  In an attempt to keep my desk from getting cluttered, I again took the snickers wrapper and threw it in the envelope it came in.  At the end of the day I picked the envelope off the floor and threw it out.

The #1 Direct Mail Message Tip:

Make Your Message Clear & Succinct, With An Easily Identifiable Call To Action

People are busy.  People are busy.  People are busy.

No one is waiting around for solicitations.   Remember, the average American is exposed to over 3,000 advertisements a day.   

Your ad needs to pierce through the sound.  Here’s how to do it:

1.  Include 2 Pages MAXIMUM inside the letter.  People are busy busy busy.  When they open your mail, and believe me they’ll open it, your message needs to be straight to the point.  If you can succinctly state your message on 1 page, then do it.

2.  Personalize The Message.  Address each message directly to your prospect by their first name.  When you start throwing in “Mr.” or “Ms.” your message SCREAMS solicitation.  Instead place your prospects on the same level as you, creating a friendly line of communication.  This will throw your prospect off balance and ultimately help you achieve your response goals.

Remember – your prospect has received junk mail throughout their entire lives.  Any single sign that your message is a solicitation will ruin your marketing efforts.

3.  Get Personable.  Go above and beyond personalizing the message to your prospect.  Get downright personal!

Nearly all of the direct mail we send out is for high ticket items – north of $5,000.   Therefore it makes sense for us to take time to get personable.  Our research team will pull up information on each individual prospect.  We add screen shots from sites they’re listed on, discuss things that they like, and tailor the script to their interest.  All prospects are pre-qualified as having interest in the offer (which I’ll show you how to do in the next post), making it easy to deliver a message that will get a reaction.

4.  Make Your Call To Action Easily Identifiable. 

-  Place a metal business card in each envelope.

-  How do you want your audience to respond: office number, email, website address, mobile?  The more options the greater the response.  People are weird about how they respond to direct mail, that’s why mailers get a better response with multiple contact options.

-  Place your call to action on the front page and back page of your message.  I like taking black font and highlighting it in yellow.  This draws attention.  Like this:

5.  Don’t Insult Your Prospects Intelligence.   While “FREE” is the most powerful word in marketing, cheesy tag lines like “FREE Gift Inside” SCREAM solicitation.  Be Real!  If you offer a FREE consultation tell it to them very casually: “By the way, we can start off with a free consultation.”

6.  Use Color Wisely.  Black and White is fine – don’t get all flowery with your colors.  Keep It Simple…Stupid  Duh!

7.  Talk about Benefits.  Who cares about the features of your offer.  Focus solely on THE BENEFITS and you’ll get a solid response.

This is series 2 of 4 posts on Direct Mail:

1.  3 Easy Ways To Get Opens

2.  Big Surprises Come In Small Packages

3.  How to effectively data mine.

4.  How to create a drip direct mail campaign.

(Post 1 of 4 in the direct mail series.)

The whole concept behind Direct Response Marketing is to get a direct response from your ads.  While branding is a nice fringe benefit, we’re most interested in ACHIEVING IMMEDIATE RESULTS.

While EMAIL marketing is one of the top 3 results driven advertising methods in the world, there’s all types of problems that come with it.  To name a few:

-  IP addresses are expensive and hard to come by.

-  CAN-SPAM Act.

-  Off the shelf email programs such as iContact, Aweber or ConstantContact have tons of restrictions in place, making it hard to maximize your audience’s reach.

-  High-end programs such as Stormpost are VERY expensive and laborious to setup.

-  Deliverability.  Free email providers such as AOL, Gmail, and Yahoo are constantly optimizing their algorithms to put a halt to unsolicited mail.  The problem is that these algorithms often block solicited mail as well.  i.e.  Have you ever emailed a colleague an important business message only to have your message end up in their spam folder?  You’re stuck wondering why they blew you off, only to find out later on down the pipeline that they never received your message.  Fail!

In comparrison, Direct Mail:

-  Is inexpensive.

-  Has near 100% deliverability.

-  Enables you to legally send unsolicited messages.

-  Low barrier to entry.

-  Easy setup.

-  GET THIS: Little competition these days!

WHAT?  Little competition?  But I get tons of junk mail every day.

EXACTLY!  That’s the whole point.  These days most of the talented direct response marketers are exclusively focused on other advertising channels.  That means that there’s a lot less competition inside REAL mailboxes!!   Most of the direct mail going out is from grocery stores, local realtors, pizza joints, or other local businesses.  Again, NO COMPETITION.

Aight, down to brass tacts:

In the online space we aim to get the most amount of CLICKS to our ads that we can.  Logic follows that the higher the clicks ——> the more people that will see your offer ——> the greater the probability in a sale ——> the higher return on our investment.

In the direct mail space, the same logic follows.  The goal is to get your recipients to OPEN your mail.  The more that open, the higher the probability of GETTING A DIRECT RESPONSE.

Here’s a few tricks we use to get high OPEN RATES:

1.   Handwrite the address on the envelope.   These days almost all addresses on mail are printed.  When you receive a personalized, handwritten envelope, you are almost certain to open it.  The psychology behind the concept is simple: if someone took the time to handwrite your name and address, then the least you could do is open it.  Plus the message must be important because a “real human” wrote it.

2.  Don’t use a return address.  Now you’re really going to pique their interest.  Is it a letter from an anonymous fan?  Maybe an ex-girlfriend?  Or maybe it’s that one person you were hoping to never hear from again….

3.  Handwrite a message on the back of the envelope.

Here’s a couple messages I’ve found to be highly effective:

- ”Highly Confidential”

- “Important – Call Me ASAP”

-  “Do Not Open Unless You Are (Recipients Full Name)”

4.  Use a standard envelope.   I personally like 3 3/4 x 6 3/4 envelopes.  Avoid spammy looking preprinted envelopes that SCREAM SOLICITATION!!!!

5.  Use a regular stamp.  This demonstrates that you spent some real money and time sending out the message.  Stamps need to be hand placed, again personal touch.

Here’s what’s coming in the next 3 posts:

1.  What to place inside the envelope to elicit a response.

2.  How to effectively data mine.

3.  How to create a drip direct mail campaign.

*  NOTE: I am a huge fan of email marketing, and have the honor to work with the most prolific mailers in the world.   Mastering email marketing is a must if you plan to take your campaigns to the next level.   While it is VERY difficult to master email marketing, however it is definitely worth the investment in time and money.