INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO INCREASE YOUR DIRECT MAIL EFFECTIVENESS
INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO INCREASE YOUR DIRECT MAIL EFFECTIVENESS
The decision to read or not to read comes down to one thing: is the person interested in what you are saying and/or showing?
No matter whom you are targeting – donors, prospects or suspects – all have one thing in common. They read very little of what we send them. Too often they look at the package and say, “Oh-oh! They want money again,“ without reading the contents. Those who do glance at the material read less than 50%.
So the question becomes, “How do we make our material interesting enough to get readers to pay attention?“
I have found four ways to do that. They are:
Words can arouse curiosity, e.g. the outer envelope of a mail appeal for Integra which asked the question, “What’s the biggest thing you can fit in an envelope?“
The answer inside - a child’s dream. Readers were to help fulfill this dream by sending children with learning disabilities to Camp Towhee. That direct mail piece increased the organization’s database by 10% in its first year.
Another example was a mailing for Second Harvest. The envelope read, “The face of hunger may surprise you.“ The message inside explained that 40% of Toronto’s hungry faces now belong to children.
That mailing more than doubled the average gift size of new donors from $56.73 to $117.31. The average gift size of current donors grew from $253.07 to $287.82.
However, the most powerful way of arousing curiosity is with a ’McGuffen’.
The word ’McGuffen’ was coined by my friend Michael Johnson. It’s an element you add to a package that captures the essence of your message.
An example: When I was asked to create a package for (UNHCR) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, I inserted a piece of cardboard with the caption “Refugees deserve a better shelter then this“ to conjure up the image of homelessness.
The package was mailed to 50,000 prospects. 726 donors sent in $61,500, a response rate of 1.45%. This is still the control package for UNHCR in Canada and the US.
For Interval House, Canada’s oldest shelter for abused women and their children, I was asked to go head to head with a control package unbeaten for 12 years.
The new package contained a toothbrush, clearly visible through a lower window in the envelope. The main message I wished to communicate was that, “There is no time to pack, even your most basic items when victims of abuse are fleeing for their lives.“ I was told this package beat the control package by 33%.
Another reason why a McGuffen works is because direct marketing is tactile — so when recipients get something extra in the mail it immediately arouses curiosity.
TELL THEM SOMETHING THEY DIDN’T KNOW BEFORE, SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY.
I spearheaded an awareness campaign for The Hincks Centre for Children’s Mental Health, now called Hincks Dellcrest. The big news was that early intervention to help emotionally disturbed children was a far better investment than keeping them in prison later.
The campaign consisted of two TV commercials, print ads, posters in bus shelters and subway stations and on buses, streetcars and subway trains.
TELL THEM SOMETHING IN A UNIQUE WAY.
Instead of saying kids with learning disabilities are often ostracized, I said: “When John had imaginary friends at age four his parents thought it was cute. Now at age 12, that’s all he has.”
The TV commercial won a Silver CMA Award.
SPUR THEM INTO ACTION; TELL THEM WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW.
This approach is most effective during a crisis.
The Christian Children’s Fund of Canada sent a two-part emergency mailing in response to the flooding in Tamil Nadu, India.
The appeal targeted only those who had sponsored a child in the affected area. E-mails were sent to children’s sponsors within 48 hours of the disaster. A direct mail package went to those without an email address, detailing how their immediate donation would help provide emergency shelter, nutritious food, clean water and medical care for children and their families.
In the first week, the e-mail generated over $10,000, while the direct mail piece raised over $20,000 in the same week.
Another good example was when FoodShare received an eviction notice. It was an emergency and the campaign asked donors for help. The outer envelope stated, "Help us replant ourselves." The response, generated over $265,000.
INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO INCREASE YOUR DIRECT MAIL EFFECTIVENESS - To learn more about this author, visit Billy Sharma's Website.
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We are bombarded by over half a million dollars’ worth of commercial and media messages every day. As a result today’s audiences have developed a selective intake mechanism. Most recipients simply don’t have enough time in their busy, complex lives to read anything other than material that interests them.
The decision to read or not to read comes down to one thing: is the person interested in what you are saying and/or showing?
No matter whom you are targeting – donors, prospects or suspects – all have one thing in common. They read very little of what we send them. Too often they look at the package and say, “Oh-oh! They want money again,“ without reading the contents. Those who do glance at the material read less than 50%.
So the question becomes, “How do we make our material interesting enough to get readers to pay attention?“
I have found four ways to do that. They are:
- AROUSE CURIOSITY BY SHOWING OR TELLING THEM SOMETHING ORIGINAL AND INTERESTING.
- TELL THEM SOMETHING THEY DIDN’T KNOW BEFORE, SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY.
- TELL THEM SOMETHING IN A UNIQUE WAY.
- SPUR THEM INTO ACTION; TELL THEM WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW.
Words can arouse curiosity, e.g. the outer envelope of a mail appeal for Integra which asked the question, “What’s the biggest thing you can fit in an envelope?“
The answer inside - a child’s dream. Readers were to help fulfill this dream by sending children with learning disabilities to Camp Towhee. That direct mail piece increased the organization’s database by 10% in its first year.
Another example was a mailing for Second Harvest. The envelope read, “The face of hunger may surprise you.“ The message inside explained that 40% of Toronto’s hungry faces now belong to children.
That mailing more than doubled the average gift size of new donors from $56.73 to $117.31. The average gift size of current donors grew from $253.07 to $287.82.
However, the most powerful way of arousing curiosity is with a ’McGuffen’.
The word ’McGuffen’ was coined by my friend Michael Johnson. It’s an element you add to a package that captures the essence of your message.
An example: When I was asked to create a package for (UNHCR) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, I inserted a piece of cardboard with the caption “Refugees deserve a better shelter then this“ to conjure up the image of homelessness.
The package was mailed to 50,000 prospects. 726 donors sent in $61,500, a response rate of 1.45%. This is still the control package for UNHCR in Canada and the US.
For Interval House, Canada’s oldest shelter for abused women and their children, I was asked to go head to head with a control package unbeaten for 12 years.
The new package contained a toothbrush, clearly visible through a lower window in the envelope. The main message I wished to communicate was that, “There is no time to pack, even your most basic items when victims of abuse are fleeing for their lives.“ I was told this package beat the control package by 33%.
Another reason why a McGuffen works is because direct marketing is tactile — so when recipients get something extra in the mail it immediately arouses curiosity.
TELL THEM SOMETHING THEY DIDN’T KNOW BEFORE, SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY.
I spearheaded an awareness campaign for The Hincks Centre for Children’s Mental Health, now called Hincks Dellcrest. The big news was that early intervention to help emotionally disturbed children was a far better investment than keeping them in prison later.
The campaign consisted of two TV commercials, print ads, posters in bus shelters and subway stations and on buses, streetcars and subway trains.
TELL THEM SOMETHING IN A UNIQUE WAY.
Instead of saying kids with learning disabilities are often ostracized, I said: “When John had imaginary friends at age four his parents thought it was cute. Now at age 12, that’s all he has.”
The TV commercial won a Silver CMA Award.
SPUR THEM INTO ACTION; TELL THEM WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW.
This approach is most effective during a crisis.
The Christian Children’s Fund of Canada sent a two-part emergency mailing in response to the flooding in Tamil Nadu, India.
The appeal targeted only those who had sponsored a child in the affected area. E-mails were sent to children’s sponsors within 48 hours of the disaster. A direct mail package went to those without an email address, detailing how their immediate donation would help provide emergency shelter, nutritious food, clean water and medical care for children and their families.
In the first week, the e-mail generated over $10,000, while the direct mail piece raised over $20,000 in the same week.
Another good example was when FoodShare received an eviction notice. It was an emergency and the campaign asked donors for help. The outer envelope stated, "Help us replant ourselves." The response, generated over $265,000.
INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO INCREASE YOUR DIRECT MAIL EFFECTIVENESS - To learn more about this author, visit Billy Sharma's Website.
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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