The four factors that control all direct marketing

The fact that it is possible for me to say, “Get this right, and your promotions must work” itself raises a lot of questions; not the least of them being, “if it is that easy, why isn’t everyone following this instruction?”

My answer is that most people don’t follow the simple rule because when they start planning their campaigns they think about their product or service, rather than about these four factors.

The simple fact is, when advertising you need to focus on advertising – not focus on the product or service itself.

To begin what you need is the right message. A message that grabs attention, the keeps the reader reading, that generates interest and excitement.

The second factor involves choosing the right medium. Lots of people who call Hamilton House start by telling us that they want an email campaign, or they want a blog created, or whatever. When we ask why they have chosen this medium, rather than say postal direct mail or a Twitter campaign or anything else, they often don’t know.

In fact, the medium relates closely to the message. You need the right message to put across the benefits of your product, and different media are useful for different messages.

The third approach involves the market. You need to ensure that you are getting your message to the right people. If you are selling to companies you need to the right people in those companies. If you are selling to consumers you need the right consumers. You need to be clear who you want to reach.

So there is the first three things you need: the right message, the right medium, and the right market. Which leaves…

The right psychology

It is quite possible to write a brilliant sales piece, to choose the right medium and to send it to exactly the right people – but still get no sales. This is because the way you set out your letter, email, brochure, web page or blog will have a huge impact on how many people read and respond.

This issue of psychology is a bit complex, but let me give you one example. If you write a sales letter and start with a large headline about 25% of the way down the page – with nothing else around it to distract the eye – your sales will shoot up. Indeed I have seen sales letters go from zero response to 2% response just by making this change.

So there it is:

• The right message
• The right medium
• The right market
• The right psychology

Get those four things right – and you are home and dry.

If you would like to talk this through, or if you would like to explore how this works in relation to a campaign you have recently done – or one you are thinking of doing – please do call 01536 399 000.

If you would like to see how we work with many companies, combining the four factors to make their marketing grow in effectiveness, there are details on www.velocity.ac

Tony Attwood