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Email vs Direct Mail

Written by: Jim Straw

Article Overview: You can still make a fortune in direct mail without ever selling anything on the Internet - BUT ... You can NOT make any real money on the Internet without using Mailorder Marketing. On the Internet, your customers have to FIND YOU. -- That means you must continually market your web site ... using every trick in the guru's book ... to generate traffic to your site. -- Even then, all you're doing is preaching to the choir. Using known demographic profiling, in the mailorder business, you FIND YOUR CUSTOMERS ... then, tell them what you have and how they can get it from you on the Internet.

Email vs Direct Mail

RE: "E-Mail to Play Increasing Role in Budget Mix" (Direct Newsline 4/30)

As you know, I am NOT an Internet Marketer! -- I am a Mailorder Marketer, but ...

In September, 1999, we established a website when more & more of my paper & ink subscribers began asking where they could buy our products online. The site was profitable by January, 2000 ... by June, 2000, about 12% to 15% of my revenue was coming from the Internet.

From June, 2000, thru June, 2001, my Internet revenue grew steadily; from 12% of gross revenue to about 35%. -- No big jumps ... not even when I started our Affiliate Program in January, 2001 ... just a steady growth pattern.

To make a long story short, in June, 2001, I asked myself a question I had asked myself a thousand times in my mailorder business ...

Where are my customers coming from?

So ... I went back to day one (September, 1999) and looked at EVERY order we had ever received from my web site. I looked at them all, one-by-one ... it took days - but - when I had finished, I discovered the Real Secret to my success.

After going through ALL of the orders ever produced from my web site - one-by-one - I discovered that ...

Eighty Three Percent (83%) of my web site orders had come from web site visitors originated by my "Mailorder Marketing" campaigns ... NOT from my "Internet Marketing" efforts!

That's right ... all of my Internet Marketing, Advertising, Affiliate Program and Article Writing had only produced a paltry 17% of my "buying" customers ... the other 83% came directly from my mailorder marketing campaigns (with email follow ups, of course).

That lead me to the conclusion ...

You can still make a fortune in direct mail without ever selling anything on the Internet - BUT ... You can NOT make any real money on the Internet without using Mailorder Marketing.

Starting in September, 1999, I put my web site URL on every mailorder sales piece that left our offices. -- That little act alone produced 83% of the "buying" customers who have visited my web site.

On the Internet, your customers have to FIND YOU. -- That means you must continually market your web site ... using every trick in the guru's book ... to generate traffic to your site. -- Even then, all you're doing is preaching to the choir.

Using known demographic profiling, in the mailorder business, you FIND YOUR CUSTOMERS ... then, tell them what you have and how they can get it from you on the Internet.

People who visit, or contact, you from a mailorder campaign are NOT the customary Internet Surfers; other Internet Marketers; or Freebie Seekers, you get by marketing on the Internet. -- They are people who are looking for what you have but don't know where to find it.

Knowing where my "buying" customers were coming from ... Guess What? -- I doubled and redoubled my Mailorder Marketing campaigns last fall. -- Instead of spending 80% of my time doing Internet Marketing, I realigned my priorities and spent 80% of my time ...Marketing my Web Site by Mail!

Today, almost 90% of my revenue comes from my email campaigns - but - over 80% of my email & online orders still come from my direct mail customers.

Rather than budgeting more for email advertising, it would be wise to budget more toward including the Internet online purchase options in your direct mail campaigns.

Try it ... your bank account will like it.

---

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Article Tags: affiliate program, conclusion, direct mail, e mail, follow ups, fortune, gross revenue, internet marketer, internet revenue, mailorder business, mailorder sales, marketing advertising, marketing campaigns, marketing efforts, one september, real money, september 1999, site url, subscribers, ups



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