The author of the article below is a senior list managers at the UK office of Clear Blue, one of the world's longest established mailing list companies, with over 100 offices all over the globe.

Article 1: Direct Marketing Guide

Article 1

Direct Marketing Guide
By Jane Nicholson

A step by step DIY guide to writing successful sales letters and targeting your marketing campaigns for maximum response

This guide is packed with tips and tactics to help you write successful sales letters and target your marketing campaigns for maximum response. You are taken from the basics of Direct Marketing, how to profile your targets, and develop prospect lists, through to the planning and writing of successful Marketing literature.

Part 1: Understanding

Direct Marketing is direct to the customer. This includes Direct Response Advertising, email and Interactive Web Sites. However, the most common format is Direct Mail. In terms of overall expenditure, Direct Mail ranks as the third largest advertising technique in the UK.

Despite sometimes receiving negative press (often being referred to as "junk mail"), targeted direct mail is an effective and valuable form of marketing. On a cost-per-head basis it may sometimes appear more expensive than other forms of advertising but when you look at its unique advantages - its accuracy, testability, flexibility, personalisation etc - it can in fact turn into the MOST cost-effective form of communication.

Direct Mail has many advantages.

1. GENERATE LEADS - don't forget the objective is to provide direct new business leads and close sales.

2. GET CLOSE - the closest you can get to your customer on a person-to-person basis without actually meeting them.

3. PRECISELY TARGET - your communication can go to named individuals that exactly match your ideal customer profile.

4. MORE CHOICE - communications can vary in space, length, format, creative etc. Other methods can severely limit what, and how much, you can say.

5. FAST RESPONSE - you can respond to sudden opportunities, difficulties, or changed circumstances. Try getting a TV or Press ad together in 24 hours!

6. GO CENTRE-STAGE - as long as you hold your prospect's attention, you have ALL their attention. In newspapers, TV and radio advertising your message competes with many others.

7. MEASURE & TEST - response within days (or even hours). You know exactly how well your message pulled - even down to cost-per-sale.

8. COMPARE CAMPAIGNS - simultaneously test and compare DIFFERENT messages/offers/prices against each other - find out what works best, match your "package" to each recipient more accurately.

9. BETTER MANAGEMENT - Track and record WHAT you said to WHOM - and what the result was.

Part 2: Research

Once you have decided to use Direct Mail, you must research to understand who your targets are in some detail. These targets can be selected from any commercially available database. This will locate your potential customers from the "whole world" of customers. Whether you are targeting business customers or consumers, there are clear steps in the planning process.

10. Profile your existing customers. Review your current customer or consumer base, if you have one. Look for any similarities between customers in terms of their type, regional distribution, age, economic characteristics etc.

11. If you have only basic customer records, such as are held in an accounting system, upgrade them. This eliminates the guesswork element of profiling. A database marketing company can add significant value to your data records by incorporating important information from their own extensive company database into yours. Such information could include company type or market sector, turnover, employee numbers, postcodes, fax numbers etc. This will allow you to accurately map and profile your database in detail.

12. If you don't have the luxury of a customer base, use market research and your product/service USPs or Unique Selling Points to try to identify what types of people or companies would most benefit from your offering.

13. Identify your "hottest" prospects. These are customers who return the most for your time and money investments. They will have the greatest need and "match" for the benefits of your product/services.

14. Look for gaps in your customer base or profile. Are there any potential customers or groups that you could try to target that you haven't already? Direct Mail is ideal for testing any new groups on a small scale and at relatively low cost to assess response rates.

15. Is there any geographic bias in your customer base? Do you want to maintain it or expand? Is the rest of your company able to handle any expansion implications?

16. Think about the individuals. Do you have a preferred profile of age, sex, occupation or job title. What responsibilities do you think they would have?

Part 3: Locating New Prospects

17. Mailing lists are available directly from database marketing companies that specialize in business to business or consumer lists. They are licensees for extensive databases such as Thomson Directories or actually own a list they have compiled themselves. The business databases tend to encompass much of the "whole world" of businesses.

18. List brokers broke many lists from many different sources. Often they will deal in the bizarre or very specialist list enquiries.

19. Many lists, especially consumers, are available through Internet groups. These databases may not encompass the "whole world" of consumers but are often compiled on an "opt in" basis where all consumers have freely submitted their data, interest areas etc.

20. All databases should be searchable according to your target criteria. Use the expertise of the list company to help to refine your selections.

21. Be sure to think about the right contact within the organization. It may be vital to your success so ensure the list provider can provide them.

22. Lists can be rented for a one-time use only or purchased for multiple use. Decide whether your product or service would fare better through a repeat mailing campaign or from a single mailing.

23. Lists can provide contact names, titles, company names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers and sometimes email addresses. Each element of information potentially adds cost so be clear as to what data you require before ordering.

24. Fax numbers should be matched with the Fax Preference Service (FPS). The FPS allows companies to "opt out" of receiving random prospective marketing fax-shots.

25. e-mail addresses are currently a bone of contention within the Direct Marketing industry. Unless the company has indicated that they want to receive your e-mails (permission based or opt-in marketing) your e-mail may be considered as SPAM (unsolicited commercial e-mail). Users beware! Complaints about SPAM can cause your ISP to be blacklisted, your account blocked or, as is the case in the USA, court proceedings to be threatened. And that?s not even considering negative publicity or credibility issues.

26. If you want to buy an e-mail list, be clear about the criteria under which it has been collected and how it can be used.

Part 4: Define Your Campaign

Direct Marketing or Direct Mail has a clear advantage - it allows you to measure exactly the response to your campaigns, their success and ROI (Return on Investment). Before you start you will need to be clear on what the objectives are of your campaign(s).

A clearly-defined mission makes for a clear message to customers.

27. Are you looking for direct, immediate sales? This can include first-time buyers (new business), repeats, upgrades, product enhancements etc?). This is the more traditional "sales letter".

28. Do you want sales leads? Direct Mail may include surveys (information gathering), often tied to some incentive such as a free prize draw for the return of information.

29. Are you informing your customer about something new? This form of Direct Mail often includes company newsletters.

30. Are you looking to change people's perception of your product/service/company? Direct Marketing of this sort often includes enclosing Press Releases, copy of journal editorial, customer testimonials etc.

31. Are you offering an incentive? Maybe you are inviting people to your showroom, office, exhibition, seminar, website etc?

Part 5: Planning the Literature

You know your target customer. You are clear about the mission. Now at the heart of every Direct Mail shot is the sales letter. Whether you are emailing, faxing or posting. Whether you include coupons, reply-paid cards, brochures or leaflets, offers, gifts...it?s the sales material itself that provides the personal communication element. Although great sales letters don't grow on trees, bad ones mostly fail through one or two simple and fundamental mistakes.

32. You can use experts to help such as Direct Marketing agencies. They can guide your design process or manage a full campaign for you. Be warned that this can be costly and time consuming.

33. A simple sales letter which you can design and/or print in house may work just as well for you. If your mailing list provider offers additional Direct Marketing services, ask them for advice and help based on their experience.

34. Going it alone? How do you make a good sales letter into a great one?

* Simplicity - keep it clear, simple and fresh

* Enthusiasm - like & believe in your product or service

* Empathy- understand the person you're talking to and have a desire to help them

* Imagination- keep it relevant but be creative and catch their attention

* Call to Action - let your customers know what to do next

35. Consider whether there is actually more than one target?

Your product or service may provide a technical answer for an engineer, but a financial answer for his MD. An insurance policy can mean 'Security' to a housewife or mother, but 'Caring & Protection' to a husband. Change your sales material to reflect each target group and what you can offer them. Don't forget that Direct Mail is a cost effective way of running multiple campaigns.

36. Define the promise. Assume that people are basically uninterested in you, your company, even your product or service. What they are interested in are benefits. What can you offer them...becoming richer, happier, more successful, whatever. Ideally you should have one BIG promise, although you can support it with subsidiary promises.

37. Remember that a product or service is seen for what it DOES for the buyer, not what it IS. Work to the FAB rule. Write down the Features of your product/service. Then write the Advantages. Now focus on ommunicating simply the Benefits that arise from these in your Direct Marketing material.

38. Make your FABs relevant to the readers' needs/wants/ambitions. Look for Exclusive or Unique aspects. Make it Worthwhile and Valuable. Support your proposition with credible evidence or testimonial.

39. Gather information that will be useful. This can include a library of testimonials or quotes, Press Releases, industry facts and figures etc.

40. Research, research, research. You don't have to go it alone. What are your competition doing? If you received their mailshots, would they work for you? Collect and review the Direct Marketing that you receive. Learn from their mistakes as well as harvesting their best features for your own campaigns

Part 6: Call to Action

A great sales letter does not necessarily lead to great sales. It's amazing how many otherwise passable sales letters leave the reader floundering as to exactly what's expected of them AFTER they've read the letter.

41. Be precise and clear in what you want them to do. Direct the recipient to the required actions.

42. Make it as easy and as quick as possible for them to respond. This could include direct ordering forms with preprinted names and addresses, fax back sheets, response mailers (reply paid), web site registration for seminars, hyperlink click-throughs for e-mails etc.

43. Make your letter work hard for you. Encourage your letter to network. What will make the recipient pass your letter on to the other target or targets? Try a "Recommend a friend" incentive etc.

Part 7: The Nitty Gritty

This is it. The time to put pen to paper. You should be clear on all your objectives, output formats, target customers, FABs, mechanisms for reply, etc. Now you have to make it all happen. There are a number of simple techniques or formulae designed to help you approach a sales letter logically. They are not intended as a 'straitjacket', merely as a guide to ensure you cover the right points in the right order.

One such formula is known as WISCDA - which stands for Wavelength, Interest, Salespoints, Conviction, Desire, Action.

44. Wavelength. Readers decide to read or junk a letter, fax or e-mail in about the first 5 seconds. That's the length of time you have to grab and hold them...or lose them forever. The most effective way to grab them is to show that you're on the same WAVELENGTH as they are. Get on their wavelength right away - with your first headline or sentence or message topic for an e-mail. Hint at your 'big promise' as well if you can. Put yourself in your customers' shoes. What aspect of your offering will change, improve or revolutionise their life? Some examples:

For a speaking course: "Hands up anyone who'd hate to hold an audience spellbound?"

For a personal confidence course: "Here's how to be more beautiful at 50 than at 29"

Often, a question can work well For a factoring service: "Like to get your invoices paid twice as fast?"

For an insurance policy: "Will your wife be better off when you're dead?"

45. Interest. Or more importantly, holding it! Use some surprising or intriguing facts relevant to your product or service.

'4 out of 5 top businessmen admit they don't understand their own computer systems.'

'Getting your invoices paid just 20% faster can halve your bank borrowings in 12 months.'

'90% of our slimmers failed with some other method first.'

Notice you are still talking about the reader's problem, need or opportunity, not about your company or product.

46. Salespoints. Bring in your 'big promise' or 'unique solution'...this is the answer to the reader's 'what's in it for me?' question.'.and back it up with as many subsidiary salespoints as you can without confusing the main issue. If you genuinely don't know which of two or three salespoints will grab your prospect most, then test them in two or three separate letters or approaches. The results may well surprise you.

47. Conviction. Support your Big Promise with evidence - market research, customer response, lab tests, testimonials from experts. Try and anticipate the audience's doubts or questions, and answer them, don't sidestep them.

48. Desire. Merely informing your reader of the facts isn't enough. Since we're all human, it helps to involve our emotions as well as our mind. Even the most practical or technical product can make the user feel better or more successful or more secure...as well as solving the purely technical problem. So help them turn that conviction into desire for your product or service.

49. Action. Provoke strong, clear action from the reader. Use inducements to get rapid, same-day response. Many readers may MEAN to reply: it's only the ones who actually DO that produce your results.

Part 8: It's All About Style

It's not what you say - it's the way that you say it. The actual style will depend very much on your product and customer type. Some of the biggest expenditure Direct Mail campaigns you will see push the creative boundaries as far as they will go. Sometimes they push them too far and fail to communicate the message effectively to their customers. Don't let your message get lost in the rest of the design. For a simple sales letter, faxshot or eshot, follow some simple guidelines.

50. Be personal. Committees don't write personal letters, individuals do. Don't be afraid to use 'I' and even more important 'You' rather than third-party expressions like 'This company' or 'customers'.

51. Be simple. Write as you would talk. Sales letters aren't meant to be great works of literature; they ARE meant to be clear, easy and friendly.

52. Be crisp. Use short words, ('news' not 'information', 'show' not 'indicate' etc), sentences and paragraphs. Break the writing up with subheads into 'bite-sized' chunks.

53. Be the right length. Take just as long as it needs to tell your story. If it's a complex technical matter, don't be afraid to take the time to explain it properly. Research shows that 2 or 3 page letters actually pull BETTER than 1-pagers. (Note what the real professionals like the Reader's Digest, Which or TIME Magazine do; they're not afraid of length). But whatever the length, remember to keep it interesting all the way through.

54. Keep the reader moving. Use 'link' phrases like 'But that's only part of the story...' 'Just as important', 'On the other hand...'. Let a sentence or paragraph run over from one page to the next. This is especially important with longer communications.

55. Use vivid imagery and words. 'Diamond-hard' instead of 'tough'. 'Hate' instead of 'Dislike'.

56. Use ACTIVE not PASSIVE words. Not 'Deliveries within 3 days' but 'We'll rush it to you within 72 hours'.

57. Aim for visual interest. Use indented paragraphs, italics, Bold, tables/charts/illustrations, underlining, bullet points, CAPITAL LETTERS...whatever makes your meaning clearer and more dramatic.

58. Use a PS at the end of your letter, even PPS's if you like! The end of a letter is the most-read part after the opening line.

59. Repeat your benefit or offer. Remember the old saying about 'First tell them what you're going to tell them, then actually tell them, then tell them what you've told them.'

60. Now circulate your material. Show friends, colleagues and even existing customers. Get their views or comments and be prepared to adapt your communications.

Part 9: Wrapping it All Up

The actual physical nature of your package can help to produce results too. For Direct Mail through the post, don't forget the envelope. Use the outside to whet the reader's appetite. Hint at what the offer is, who the letter should go to, and why.

61. Think about who else might see the material first. One successful letter to senior managers put a shorthand note to their secretary on the outside. Another was posted from abroad with foreign stamp and postmark - to create extra interest for an export service.

62. Think impact. Would a coloured or unusually shaped envelope add that extra pizzazz?

63. Aim high. Raise YOUR mailshot above the herd with some element of surprise or originality. Unlike other forms of advertising, Direct Mail makes it cheap and easy to test several approaches simultaneously. Altering the promotional offer can make a huge difference ' there are many anecdotal cases where one mailshot outperforms another (up to 14 times better!) simply through changing the promotional offer.

64. If posting, consider WHEN. Items received on a Monday or Friday for instance, may not receive the same amount of attention as a package received in midweek. Or consider 'tying in' with some special event as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, the anniversary of Waterloo(!) etc. For eshots, some research also indicates that Wednesdays are good days to send. But if the recipient is suffering from email fatigue, why not try a Friday afternoon when everything is quiet?

65. Record WHO replied and to WHAT message or offer. This will help you fine tune both your message and your mailing list.

66. Use a successful letter as a BENCHMARK against which to judge future efforts.

Part 10: Success

As so much planning goes into what communication you are sending out, ensure you leave enough time to plan what you will do with the successful outcome. Having spent so much effort getting customers, don't lose them again through poor response or customer service.

67. PRE-PLAN your response to your reader's response. DON'T be caught in a trap by failing to acknowledge replies, responding too slowly, running out of leaflets...and so on. It is amazing how many firms seem surprised by the success of a good Direct Mail shot!

68. Few campaigns work entirely alone. Plan to follow them up with a second letter, a phonecall, a visit, a follow-up e-mail or faxshot. There can be a dozen good reasons why good prospects don't respond at the first 'nudge'.

69. Consider a 'spotcheck' of a small sample of your list to check which elements of the letter worked, which didn't, whether it hit the right desk etc.

Copyright © Jane Nicholson

The content and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of nor are they endorsed by Clear Blue.