If you are like most business people today you are constantly looking for better and less expensive ways to advertise and market your business. Direct Mail is one of the most effective forms of advertising. The best reason I can give you is target-ability. You mail directly to the prospect you want. No other medium gives you that target-ability. If this is so why did your last direct mail campaign not work?

There are three basic reasons why advertising general and direct mail marketing programs fail, they are as follows:

An underestimation of the amount of effort it will take to get a return.

The last research done on the subject of media exposure showed that the average American is exposed to 1,800 advertising messages a day! People are over exposed, over worked, stressed and short on time. The effect of the above is that people tune out most of what they see and hear. Especially since most of the advertising they are exposed to is poorly messaged and poorly designed.

What does this mean for you? Does it mean you should give up and stay at home? No, it means if you want results from your advertising you have to hone in on your message to the benefits of your product to the buyer. You must also target your prospects. And, you need to advertise that honed in message to the targeted prospects until the proverbial fat lady sings or the cows come home! Repition sells!

Research has shown that the average person needs to see your message at least three times before they take notice, six times before they remember you and 10-15 times before they buy something from you. This is called frequency.

If you advertise with consistency and regularity as your mindset, you are setting yourself up to win in the advertising and marketing game. You will find that you get more results the fourth, fifth or sixth time you advertise to a database of prospects than you do the first couple of times. This is so because people are constantly moving in and out of the buying zone. The rule of thumb is that the bigger the ticket items the longer people shop. Which means you need to reach them early, regularly and often. The smaller the ticket item the more often and regularly people move in and out of the buying zone. Which means you need to reach them regularly and often.

An incorrectly targeted message.

Why do people buy? Do they buy for your reasons? Or, do they buy for their own reasons?  The answer is they buy for their own reasons, which are also known as benefits. If your advertising is designed on the benefits of your product or service to the customer you will see a tenfold increase in your response. Benefits are also known as buttons because a benefit is used as a button to get a prospect's interest.

The best way to find a customer's button/benefit for a product is to ask them. Do a survey. You may think you know what it is and you may be right, but you are going to spend a lot of money advertising wouldn’t it better to know for sure?

The marketing arm of Wilson Printing can help you come up with survey questions to ask your customers.  Our graphic design department can help you design a piece that communicates to your prospects.

Wrongly targeted public.

You have to know who your customers are so you can identify who will be your best prospects.

The important thing to remember about getting better results from your advertising and marketing is reach and frequency.

The main point I am trying to impress on you is – do not underestimate the amount of effort it takes to get a buying customer into your business today.  The quantity of people you advertise to should be determined by budget. It is better to advertise more often to a smaller group of prospects than once or twice to a large group.

The rules of thumb are:

1) It is always better to be a big fish in a small pond than it is to be a little fish in a big pond. Frequency makes you the big fish. Select the right size pond for the amount of marketing money you have.

2) When fishing' Grandpa always used to say, “use the right bait for the fish you you are fishing for” (a.k.a. - buttons). The bait depends on the fish. Know why your customers buy.

Wilson Printing can help you with the design of your message. We also offer several cost effective means to get that message out. If you would like some help making your marketing more effective please feel free to give me a call, 727-536-4173.