Direct marketing comes in many shapes and sizes. There’s online marketing through email joint ventures, pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization and many more. There is direct TV (also known as infomercial marketing). Then there is direct mail.
Every one of these channels has its pros and cons. Online marketing for example is often touted as the best place to begin for a new direct marketer, because it’s cost effective. But on the flip side, it’s not nearly as targeted.
A new client of mine doesn’t do anything else until his infomercial yields a million dollars in sales. His model for doing business has proven that he’ll then be able to adapt the marketing material for use online and in the mail with little to no risk.
One thing that most direct marketers can agree upon is the simple fact that buyers generated through direct mail typically have a much higher lifetime value than buyers sourced through other channels.
In my past life as a newsletter marketer, we found that names generated through direct mail who also provide an email address were worth four times as much as names generated through other sources.
If you think about it, it’s really quite simple. Direct mail, while unarguably more costly, gives you much better chance of capturing your target’s attention for long enough to convince them to buy.
With mail, your prospect literally holds it in their hands. There is no world-wide web lurking behind the mail like there is with the email that you’ve sent out or the web page that your prospect is viewing. And there is no channel surfing for other program competition that infomercial marketers fear.
The old adage “you get what you pay for” is true with direct marketing. My advice is to try both online and offline marketing of your products and services – you’ll likely find that online channels help you build a list quickly while offline channels provide you with prospects who are willing to buy once and buy again very shortly thereafter.
Direct mail will never go away completely because the buyers it generates are simply too valuable. Let’s look an example:
A Pay Per Click campaign, for example, may generate 10,000 new names...at a marketing cost of $10,000. Those names might carry a lifetime value of $25 each -- meaning a total lifetime value of $250,000. When you subtract out the $10,000 marketing cost, you're left with a total value of $240,000.
A Direct Mail campaign, on the other hand, may generate 5,000 names -- at a higher marketing cost of $20,000. But those names would carry a much higher lifetime value of $75 each. That means you'd see a total of $375,000 over the life of those names -- and a net of $355,000 once marketing costs are subtracted.
You’ll probably have to prove this to yourself to believe it, but I’ve seen it time and time again.
And you may end up successfully running marketing programs across various channels because the value of names via one is strong and the quantity of names via another is significant.
As you think about getting started on a lucrative direct marketing journey, be sure to check out our program, Marketing with the Masters. In our easy-to-read “Master’s Guides”, eight of the industry’s top “masters” share their knowledge, secrets and strategies for successfully launching direct marketing campaigns…for any business.
http://www.supplementmarketingmasters.com/W800L307.html
And if you don’t have a product readily available, we delve into the specifics of launching a nutritional supplement direct marketing program.
Plus, as always, feel free to get in touch with me at info@marketingwiththemasters.com and we can discuss your getting your program off the ground.
Until next time,
Stacy Berver
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