Basics of Direct Marketing Seminar

Get a Grip on the Essentials of DM

• Why you’ll probably fail if you use general advertising techniques in direct marketing
• The 3-second rule for hooking readers
• 8 cardinal principles for direct marketing success
• What you must know about ROI and lifetime value of a customer
• How to understand and use key direct marketing analysis measures
• What response rate you can expect – by medium

Drive Response with Better List Selection and Database Marketing

• How to find the right list
• The difference between a list broker and list manager and what each can do for you
• Know where to look for sources of list information
• Mailing list enhancements – know what’s available and when to use them
• The many benefits of merge/purge
• The basics of database marketing and market segmentation
• How to stop just “selling” and start building relationships with customers
• What it takes to succeed at word-of-mouth marketing

Create Powerful Offers and Promotions That Make Money

• Why brand alone won't get you the results you want
• The secrets to structuring irresistible offers
• Key things to do to get more power out of payment terms, price, product features and guarantees
• 19 proven offers that will work in any business
• How to get the 2nd order

DAY 2
8:30 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.

Crank Up Sales with Creative and Copywriting

• Simple strategies for making copy work harder and succeed
• What elements are always in a good creative strategy
• Create a Unique Selling Proposition that cuts through the clutter
• Developing a creative platform – the blueprint of a successful campaign
• The big differences between direct response copy and general advertising copy
• Winning copywriting techniques you can apply to direct mail, space ads, e-mail and banner ads
• The difference between features and benefits – you’ve got to know this!
• Long copy or short copy – when does it really matter?
• 6 hot spots to focus on when editing copy

Grab the reader’s attention with graphics and design

• The results of eye-opening studies on how people view brochures and catalogs
• A quick lesson on how type and layout impact comprehension – and results
• How to improve readability – and response rates
• Choosing an illustration that sells

Handle Special Challenges: Direct Mail Packages, Internet Marketing and Print Media

• Multimedia integration: Make all the elements of your campaign work together as powerfully as possible
• How to do a “sanity check” on your direct mail package:
  • When to use a self-mailer vs an envelope package
  • What package formats are most effective
  • Which action techniques will get your envelope opened
  • When do you need a brochure
  • When personalization is worth it
• A crash course on magazines and newspaper: What you need to know about timing, position factors and selecting publications
• Internet marketing update: What’s working and what’s not, keys to search engine marketing success, e-mail do’s and don’ts, how consumers find you and how to keep them

Test Your Way to Success

• What to test and what not to bother with
• Does it really cost too much to test?
• The ground rules for successful testing
• Testing the big stuff: Offers, lists, copy, timing
• How to be sure your sample size is big enough to be reliable
• Things that can go wrong – how to disaster-proof a test