Internet Direct Marketing Tip of the Day

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Every time a new wrinkle in the Internet marketing landscape appears, people try to jam ads down the new channel. The truth is, not all channels are suitable for ads and offers. There are some social media venues that work well for advertising, and a great many that don’t.

By its nature, social media is participatory. It invites feedback. Many marketers have forgotten the importance of listening to the marketplace before they send out messages. So, while everyone else is trying to jam messages down every channel online, why not step away from the crowd and use the upstream feedback to do some market research.

When done right, good market research will result in a more relevant outbound messages… and no matter which channel you send those messages through, they are bound to get better response rates because they will resonate better with the target audience.

Tags: Tip Of The Day by Larry Chase
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I let all of my print subscriptions lapse because I want to see what those publishers will do to win me back. They often have existing win-back programs in place so the rep on the phone can offer you some deal in order to get you back on board.

Publishers won’t advertise win-back programs because everyone will then know to let subscriptions or memberships to just about anything lapse. The publishers don’t want to encourage this, but need such a program on hand for that last ditch effort.

As a marketer, you can get some interesting ideas from such programs and see exactly how much the provider wants you. To a major daily newspaper, I know someone who just got the very same subscription for half off, and then the publisher sent her a bathrobe. They really needed her in order to keep their circulation figures up for ad rates.

I’ve seen this practice online, too. ISPs use it. Online retailers employ it. For example, if they know your email address and see you bail out of their shopping cart, you just might get a follow-up email enticing you to go back and buy that which you initially decided to pass on.

Tags: Tip Of The Day by Larry Chase
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So many buttons on web pages use bland words like “Submit” or “Enter” when they could use copy to help increase response rates.

Instead of saying “Subscribe” in a button, you could say “Sign me up for Daily Internet Marketing Tips Now.” Instead of saying “Download”, you could say “Download My Copy of ‘How to Increase Response Rates.’”

In other words, test different button copy that actually gives a reason to take action. It’s one of the simplest and most direct ways to increase response rates.

Tags: Tip Of The Day by Larry Chase
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What pain does your product or service get rid of? If it isn’t pain, then what delight does your product or service bring to the table?
Ask yourself the uncomfortable questions. Is your product or service in search of an audience or is it specifically addressing a clear need, or better yet, a want? You know, people buy what they want before they buy what they need. LC

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While I remember a story about someone buying a $40,000,000 jet online, it’s obviously not the typical case. Considered purchase and B2B products/services often require a “multistep” process. This is where you open up a dialogue with your leads and prospects in the hopes of selling them something during the course of their buying cycle – which might be anywhere from 1 to 18 months, depending on the industry, cost and approval loops.
So if you’re selling something expensive, and I mean really expensive, think about trying to open up a dialogue instead of making a premature close then and there. LC

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Direct Marketing and Search Engine Marketing share much in common. Both disciplines are focused on results. To get better results from your Pay-Per-Click listings, try starting each listing using the exact same keywords you are bidding on – the very words the user will put in the search box.
For example, if someone is searching for Bob Dylan CDs, it stands to reason that person’s eye will be attracted to listings that mimic back exactly that which he/she is looking for. Just be sure to also include a unique selling proposition after the keywords, such as “Bob Dylan CDs at rock bottom prices.” LC

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Whether you’re writing for online or offline direct response, ask questions. Why? Because it’s an involving device. The reader is conditioned to answer questions. It’s a good way to start resonating with your prospect. Don’t you like answering questions? Of course you do . LC

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Any good DM’er knows that the perceived value of a product or service has to exceed by many times the asking price. Some people accomplish this by lowering the price, while others do it by adding more perceived value to a higher-priced product or service.
While each situation is unique, it’s usually a pretty good idea to go with the latter strategy and add more value to the mix. Too cheap a price can cause people to back out of the deal entirely. After all, if an ebook, sushi knife or what have you is only fetching $4.95, how good can it be? This is especially true in B2B pricing. LC

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Before setting out to sell something to someone, ask yourself what you’ll sell them the second time out.
Often enough, the first sale is a loss-leader that serves to qualify prospects for the upsell to more expensive products later on. When done right, you can daisy-chain customers into a string of multiple purchases with increasing price points along the way. LC

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In order to get higher conversion, try this technique. Fashion the offer in such a way that it is far more painful to the prospect to not accept the offer than to take the offer.
Pile on overwhelming value, and perhaps a time-sensitive clause to induce immediate action. Because if someone has to “think it over,” it’s over. LC

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