Ram rumps and direct marketing success
Celebrating the New Year is an ancient tradition. Like people today, our ancestors marked the New Year by watching parades, making resolutions, and drinking themselves into a stupor.
That should warm the cockles of any direct marketer’s heart because it’s further proof that people don’t change much over time.
Another thing that hasn’t changed is the desire to find ways to improve business in the coming New Year. One ancient method was beheading a ram and rubbing the rump of the poor beast against the temple walls.
Now I can’t say whether ram rump rubbing worked or not. But if you’re thinking about your direct marketing business, I would suggest trying a few ideas that are a bit more pragmatic, none of which involve farm animals or their rumps:
- Start testing carefully and regularly. Establish goals. Run tests. Track your results.
- Stop shortchanging the creative budget. You can spend a fortune researching and developing your product. So why get cheap when you hire copywriters and designers?
- Start collecting testimonials. You can use them for inserts, headlines, teasers, letter stories, and dozens of other promotional applications.
- Stop stealing copy. We should all learn from successful advertising. But simply lifting headlines, letter openings, and other copy is a sign that you simply don’t know what you’re doing.
- Start developing some freebies. Offering free stuff is the best way to generate inquiries and sales leads, but freebies also can be useful for premiums, gifts, handouts, and testimonial incentives.
- Stop hiding the guarantee. Make it visible. Flaunt it. Your guarantee is proof that you are reputable. It lowers your customer’s perceived risk and can, therefore, boost your response.
This is based on an article I wrote several years ago titled “Ram Rumps and New Year’s Resolutions.” I suggest you read the entire article.
By the way. You’ve noticed that I don’t use illustrations much in this blog. This is mostly because I’m lazy and finding great photos takes time. But I’ll bet you’re particularly relieved that I didn’t try to illustrate this post, eh?
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These are awesome tips/resolutions. Thanks for sharing. I have one to add: Think about developing a permission-based approach. Try to develop strategies that will get your customers/prospects to come to you for information and to buy. Think about how to move further from a “push” mentality (where the marketer is constantly pushing our stuff to prospects) to a “pull” mentality where you’ve made your stuff so darned interesting that the customer will come to you. Create a buzz around your company. Develop some unique products, pricing strategies–do something that makes you different from your competitors.
That’s one resolution that I’ll be focusing on in 2008!
“I’ll bet you’re particularly relieved that I didn’t try to illustrate this post, eh?”
So grateful.
What I like about what you do: no matter what scale or budget, your tips have meat, no pun or ram rump reference intended. Give me what works anytime. Adding the above to my “to do” list as we speak.
What is my guarantee ? I am a professional fine artist. I assume it is my name, consistency, quality of work, etc?? Is it something I am overlooking?
All best, Jan
Suzanne:
“Pull” marketing is fine, but don’t be fooled into believing that you can move away from “push” marketing. Not if you want to make real money. Good marketing is always pushing.
Jan:
Your guarantee should be based on whatever assurance your customers need. Maybe you guarantee shipping of your paintings within 5 days, or you guarantee satisfaction with the delivered artwork, or you guarantee the quality of framing if you offer that. Think about what doubts your customers have and build a guarantee around that. But you can’t go wrong with a basic satisfaction guarantee. When YOU buy art, what do you worry about?
Dean,
“Good marketing is always pushing”
See. Simple, actionable and visual. My favorites.
Thanks for the tip on guarantee. Assuring a good experience for my clients is very high on my priorities list, a practice I have blatantly borrowed for years from a client with whom it is always a pleasure to do business, the Ritz Carlton. It works. I never thought to post it anywhere. I just do it. Very interesting to chunk things down this way and consider what is actually a marketable aspect of one’s business.
Thanks once again,
Jan