Every advertising medium has natural advantages and inherent limitations. Let’s talk about two of the most popular; newspaper ads and direct mail. Consider newspaper if you are selling to a general market, because newspapers are generally bought by all segments of the population. Direct mail can be an easy and relatively inexpensive method of selling your products or services and every business has the potential to increase their profits through the intelligent use of direct mail advertising. Let’s look at both of them a little more closely.
Direct Mail Benefits
- Can personalize each piece to the recipient
- Can target a very specific demographic, such as Age, Income, Net worth, Homeowners
- Can create interest immediately to get the prospect to open (if done properly, a good direct mail piece should land in the 3rd pile of mail… 1st pile is garbage i.e. credit card offers, large glossy Bed Bath and Beyond type mail, etc; 2nd pile is bills, and the 3rd pile is any cards, letters, and stuff you’re not really sure of, but will plan to open)
- Can enclose tickets to the event, in addition to the letter; which can increase attendance
- Each letter campaign gives you the ability to precisely track your return on investment. This way you know to the penny whether or not your marketing plan is working
Having a long term, well thought out marketing plan for Direct Mail can be highly profitable as CONSISTENCY is the key. You don’t really see a Billboard on the Interstate up for one or two days… It’s up for a month or two or longer! As with most forms of marketing, there are ebbs and flows; not every single direct mail campaign is going to blow the doors off – stick with it and continue to market consistently and you’ll see tremendous results. The more you stay in front of prospects the better! Also keep in mind, your piece is competing with dozens of other pieces for attention. If it’s your first time using direct mail or you haven’t achieved the results you desire, make sure you use the experts or it could be a waste of money.
Newspaper Benefits
- You can reach certain socio-segments of your market by placing your ads in different sections of the paper such as: sports, comics, crosswords, news, classifieds, etc
- The newspaper offers a predictable frequency of publication: once, twice or up to seven times a week
- An advertiser has flexibility in terms of ad size and placement
- Newspapers can allow for reaching certain neighborhoods or living communities, as most will have a smaller circulation or neighborhood paper
Something to consider… Any given advertising message must compete for the reader’s attention. The paper may contain hundreds of ads, as well as dozens of articles and features for the reader to wade through. If the total time spent scanning a newspaper is only 20 minutes, your ad may not be noticed by a significant number of people. You also have no assurance that every person who receives the newspaper will read your ad or will open an elegant looking piece of mail. They may not read the section you advertised in, or they may simply have skipped the page because it contained little or nothing else of interest.
No matter where you advertise, always coordinate your efforts with other methods to significantly increase your return. And, ALWAYS diligently test and track your campaigns.
Happy Marketing!
Jorge Villar is President of Response Mail Express (RME), with more than 26 years of direct marketing experience, he is known in several industries for his ability to create mail packages that garner the highest response rates. He is responsible for the Seminar Success program that, for the last 17 years has accounted for more than 65% of the events being held in the nation with over 14 million individuals making reservations. Mr. Villar has also been very successful marketing to physicians and business owners regarding Success Planning and Asset Protection. Response Mail Express, and parent company DME, is a $100+ million marketing powerhouse, housing over 600 employees in their 2 state-of-the-art facilities in Florida. Their marketing ideas are presently being utilized by over 10,000 clients, including: top producing advisors, estate planning attorneys, large financial organizations, health care organizations, universities and many other industries. Mr. Villar is a frequent key note speaker at national financial symposium and training conferences.
Academy Guest Blogger
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
6050 Santo Rd Ste 240
San Diego, CA 92124
(800) 846-1555
www.aaepa.com
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