Today you’ll learn how to use direct mail marketing and, yes, telemarketing to your full advantage. I know, the word “telemarketing” might as well be four letters, but there is a way to help customers feel like they are getting personal attention and keep them from blocking your number!

With the success that direct mail marketing has achieved and the availability of computers, they can be used as powerful marketing tools for your success. Telemarketing is best suited for high-priced, high-margin products and services.

Here are the key steps to putting together a highly effective direct mail marketing program:

1. List all benefits customers will get from the purchase of your products and services.
2. Pick the single most powerful benefit out of that list.
3. Create a captivating headline based on that specific benefit. Remember to evoke emotion and fulfill the desire for youth, wealth, desirability, popularity, or success.
4. Develop a sales letter using the headline you created to grab attention, provide information and motivate customers to act.
5. Put together supplementary items, such as a brochure, order form, reply envelope or note that encourages them to read the letter.
6. Rent or purchase a mailing list.
7. Compare cost of mailing vs. cost per order.
8. Continue to test and refine your direct mail marketing plan.

You can see how direct mail marketing can help you find a local or even country-wide target market to send letters or postcards to and draw in new clientele and customers. Fine-tuning your marketing campaign will bring better results and therefore lower the overall cost of the campaign.

To be successful in telemarketing you need to:

• Put together a plan, so you know exactly what you want to accomplish during the call.
• Develop a list of topics to discuss and the questions you want to present around these topics.
• Input verbiage checking to see if you are calling at a good time.
• Include enough questions to keep the conversation interesting, but not too many to sound like you are interrogating.
• Start with broad questions and narrow your focus as the conversation continues.
• Offer feedback to show them you are paying attention and appreciate their time.
• Don’t insult their intelligence or manipulate them.
• Listen first, talk second.
• Be relaxed and conversational.

Telemarketing doesn’t have to be the trauma it’s made out to be. You can put together an honest, personal and effective telemarketing campaign that is endearing, informative and gets the job done. Think of how you would want to be treated on a marketing call. Ask your friends and family what they hate most about the telemarketing calls they get and work hard to craft your plan in a better way.

“When selling by telephone, you have approximately thirty seconds to convince the customer to listen to you. You need an opening statement that captures their attention, conveys who you are, what you want and why the prospect should listen.” – Jay Abraham

It’s easy to see how direct mail marketing and telemarketing can positively affect your business by bringing in new customers and increasing the level of awareness about your products, services and company branding. Our FREE test drive offers the resources and tools you need to work through these processes and put together the best marketing plan you can.

There are 5 major components to good advertising copy (The order of these is essential to success):

• Command Attention
• Showcase Benefits of Products/Services
• Prove the Benefits
• Persuade People to Embrace the Benefits
• Call to Action

Advertising is sales in print, so you need to think about the unique benefits your products/services offer and showcase them in a persuasive way. Emphasize results, not just features.

Let’s take a minute to talk about each of these components:

Command Attention:

This is usually accomplished with the headline. You need an attention-getter that makes people want to learn more about your products/services. The best headlines provide a vivid portrayal of the benefits or demonstrate how your products/services can solve a problem. The headline serves as an advertisement for the advertisement.

Showcase Benefits:

You must showcase the benefits of your products and services and, more importantly, demonstrate how they will solve or prevent a problem. Your audience needs to understand what’s in it for them. Include useful, factual, and clear information to precisely illustrate the benefits and how they will assist the customer.

Offer Proof:

This is where you demonstrate what the advertisement is offering. You must establish that you have a method to deliver. Include information that builds credibility and highlights past performance.

Persuade:

You need to provide compelling reasons for your potential customers to purchase your products/services. Employ a hard-sell approach and create a sense of scarcity. This will prompt your potential customers to feel the urgency to act now, which leads to the last component.

Call to Action:

You need to compel your potential customers to take action. Encourage them to visit your site, sign up for your newsletter, make a purchase, or contact you about your services – in short, you want them to do something. Offer a freebie, booklet, sample, product, bonus, demo, consultation, limited-time price – the list is extensive. There are numerous ways to excite potential customers about ordering and make them feel like they’re getting an amazing deal.

Good advertisements incorporate all of these components, and they are not complete without any of them. You can sit down and consider each of these components individually, then determine the best way to combine them for maximum effectiveness. We can assist you with this as well. Give our FREE test drive a try to learn how to create excellent advertisements with insights from some of the best professionals in the industry.

Today, we’ll talk about shameless self-promotion. When you want to grow your business, you can’t be afraid of self-promotion. Self-promotion takes various forms, and you can use different tactics to increase your visibility. Consider politicians as an example. They often engage in self-promotion, sometimes in not-so-discreet ways. But seriously, think about some major superstars we all know, like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Donald Trump, Will Smith, and Michelle Obama, to name just a few.

We all engage in self-promotion. Did you ever raise your hand in class to show the teacher that you knew the answer? Of course, you did! That’s a form of self-promotion. This is the type of self-promotion we’re discussing—self-promotion done with dignity, class, and the knowledge to back it up. If you self-promote only to prove that you don’t really know what you’re talking about, you’re likely to lose business.

I want to tell you about the three major traits that natural self-promoters possess and use to build themselves and their businesses.

The First is Position.

Position yourself around people who can make a difference in your life. Do this frequently. Wake up every morning and ask yourself, ‘Who can I meet today to impact my success?’ Better yet, write it in big, bold letters and tape it on your bathroom mirror.

Also consider:

Who can help me meet my goals?

Is it a prospective customer or client? A colleague with contacts? An association with key members who may become prospects?

Don’t settle for interacting with the easiest-to-access people. Reach beyond your comfort zone to discover a wealth of new connections that can lead to great success.

Now, let’s talk about Style.

No, this doesn’t mean you need an Armani suit to attract more business (though, let’s be honest, it wouldn’t hurt). 😊 What it really means is how you differentiate yourself from your competitors and others in your industry. What makes you memorable to customers?

If you meet many people, and they don’t remember you after you leave the room, you have a serious problem. This presents an opportunity to present yourself in a more memorable way.

There are lots of little subtle changes you can make. Reassess your:

• Business Cards
• Company Message
• Your Picture
• Your Wording

Maybe even your hairstyle (of course, now we’re back to the expensive suit, but it really works!)

You get the idea. There are many small ways you can enhance your image and make your business more successful. Also, consider how you sound on the phone and how you greet people at meetings or other events. Reflect on your 30-second elevator speech.

The third trait of natural promoters is Repetition.

You can’t say it once and leave it at that. Successful self-promoters repeat their message as many times as necessary to elicit a response. Would you remember a Coca-Cola commercial if you only saw it once? No! You see it over and over until you eventually head out to the store.

You also have to make multiple impressions on those with whom you are networking in order to build brand awareness. Repetition is directly connected with positioning. Once you find people to network with, reach out and connect with hundreds more who can contribute to your success.