Ethical Marketer's Club - Members Only

Where I discuss issues that should be addressed by an effective Communication strategy VS a Direct Response focused communication tactic...

If you don't want to read this entire email, and just want
the bottom line, then here it is:

NO

Of course Direct Selling is not everything. It's a part
of the sales process, and it essentially deals
with a specific target that is highly reactive to impulsive
stimuli.

If you're not sure about this: simply ask yourself
how you behave in your own life. Do you buy
all the stuff, products, services you're faced with
all day long? (when you go shopping, on TV, on the net,
on the phone, on the press...). Of course not.

Direct Response is often overused though highly effective.

How does it work? A message is delivered using a specific
channel(written, audio, video, Face-to-face) calling for
a specific action (sale, registration...)

Now if you think about it: a good 'direct response' sales
letter will convert at, say 5%. OK?

What the hell are the 95% of the remaining visitors doing?
Should you be satisfied with that kind of rate? Well,
it's scary, but most people accept it as a 'rule of
the market' we're in.

This conversion rate shows you how a 'cold' prospect
reacts to most 'direct response' messages. MOST of them
(95%) simply ignore the message. Period.

Is it worth delivering a message for such a low-percentage
return? Of course it is :-)

5% of 10,000 visitors equals 500 sales. If you sell
a $67 product, that's more than $30,000 in sales.

If you have a huge affiliate base and good JV partners, then
you can generate 10 times this traffic.

Please understand: if it's worth pursuing this specific
impulsive target (that allows you to enhance your
presence in your market, and to sell to a small part
of it), it does not mean it's the only thing to do
and that it should be your NUMBER 1 priority.

In fact it should not be your priority: it means that
your marketing plan and all derivatives (sales
plan, communication plan, customer relationship management
plan) should not focus only on the returns from your
Direct response sales letter. It's part of the process,
and the main objective is to be there in the market,
so that people can reach you...but it does not mean
you're going to reach them.

This is the big difference: do you reach your audience,
or does your audience reach you.

We discussed the latter one. Obviously, it does not allow
you to address different issues, different segments
of this audience. It does not allow YOU to reach
YOUR audience. It's a passive communication channel (but
still a highly valuable one)

Reaching your audience means:
- Knowing it
- Being able to segment it based on different needs
they might have
- Being able to customize your message and
the Value proposition based on the needs you've identified
- Being able to adapt your communication channels
based on your customer's expectations (usually
related to their attitudes and behaviours)

Example: you can use an email message, a landing page,
a special report, an audio message, a powerpoint video-
like message, a face-to-face message (seminars, webinars),
a live message (live support system, phone call)...

The wider the audience you're targeting with a message or channel,
the smaller your returns are and the less effective it is
in terms of sales.

It's a shortcut of course. It is more exact to say that
each channel has it's most effective use:

That's why mass media is almost exclusively used for
brand awareness / brand recognition campaigns.
Some use them for Direct response (for example when you see
a toll free number to call at the end of the TV ad), but it's
not the rule and is usually industry-specific.

On the other side of the spectrum, a face-to-face is the best
way to sell, and is used to sell, not to discuss the brand
benefits, values, and accomplishments :-)

Why? Simply because each customer is different: you can
assess these differences with inter-personal channels
and adapt the message to generate a lead / sale. It cannot
be done with mass media-based messages.

Your online 'sales letter' acts a bit like mass media
advertising.

The email (not broadcast), the blog commenting process
exchange (your prospects comments, and your replies),
the interactive webinars are a bit like a face-to-face
relationship.

Now, what's happening if, before reading your sales letter,
a prospect has had some experience with you. In other words,
they have "met" you previously?

Imagine, he is a subscriber of your 'related' list (a list
related to the product you're selling). You have sent
educational messages to him to teach him how important
the issue is that you are about to solve. Then you've raised
his interest level through additional emails, special reports,
blog posts, video trainings... (see above, how all
the messages / channels can be combined for maximum
effectiveness)

Some will even directly e-mail you and you have a chance
to convert him into your most loyal customer with
a simple reply assessing his exact need and query!
(what a 120 page sales letter could never achieve with
a 'cold' prospect)

What will happen in the mind of a 'warm' prospect:
the one you've talked to through many channels,
the one you've talked to on a 'personal' level, dealing
with his specific attitudes, behaviours, needs
and expectations?

In a nutshell:
- he will have more information to
decide if the solution you provide is good for him
(bottom line: if he buys, he is more likely
to be a good referrer, and to be more loyal - a high
lifetime value customer)

- you have built an emotional bond between you and
him. This bond should be there for a very long time,
unless you screw it up with future mistakes.

This emotional bond (that you should associate somehow
with your brand) is your best asset and the long term
reason for your business. This is a strategic
asset, and the vision you have for your business
should be focused on this :-)

- You have pre-sold your solution. As soon
as it is released, he won't even bother
to read your 'direct response' letter as
there is no need.

All your messages have built a kind of 'expanded'
direct response message. A message spread
over different channels, different sub-messages,
and probably over a few weeks, months, or even
years!

If you think about it, it's good (business) sense:
you're building a long term relationship with
your subscribers, prospects and customers.
The one shot deal is of no interest for long
term performance of your business. As I said,
it's mostly overlooked: people don't plan their
launch (I am not talking about the 3 to 4 weeks
pre-launch and buzz generating sequence we're used
to, I am talking about 'deep hearted' relationship
building). People mostly rely on the buzz generated
with their product launch sequence...and often wonder
why it did not work :-(

Well because sometimes, it's not 95% of your
visitors who do not care of your communication,
but 99%, or 99.5%...which makes it far less useful.

If you based your strategy just on this channel,
then your whole strategy is a flop.

In summary: you will make most of your sales in advance
of the sales process!
(understand: not within a specific sales process)
This does not mean you should not
sell directly too (as we explained it develops a valuable
exposure). But your most effective sales process is
not 'sales' based. It's based on relationship building,
brand building...and all you can think of that will
create a bond between You (your brand, products, services)
and your prospects.

If we want to make it even simpler:
- A company costs money (unless you are trading
your liquid assets :-) ). It's a 'loss' center.

I know you can argue that they work as a profit center
to create means to earn money from the market. But
they do not generate the money themselves...thus they
are a cost center. Money always comes from sources and
relationships that are outside of the company.

- Your only source of profit is your customers.
The only real profit center in a company is external
to the company: the market.

- Your Marketing is the set of processes and tools
that you 'invent' to create the bond between
'the company' and the 'market'
(processes are for example: product creation,
produce delivery, communication...)

If you limit the bond creation or customer relationship
building to 'direct response' sales messages, then
you're considerably limiting the reach of your market...
as you are only allowing your market to reach you.
You do not allow your company to reach your audience using
more inter-personal channels and messages.

Building a profitable business (whether you have 100 employees,
or work from your kitchen developing 1 product a year)
relies on controlling the way you reach your market.
It requires you to analyze the different means you can use to
reach your audience (channels) and the messages those
channels deliver. Most of the time, a channel will
not have the widest reach possible. And this is where you can
start fine-tuning your value proposition delivery.

Combining multiple channels and messages, while understanding
and assessing your market's needs, will considerably leverage
your marketing efforts and make you stand out from the crowd.
Building a strong position in your market requires a level
of control over your marketing and communication actions.

To your success!

JP Schoeffel

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