Several months ago, one of my favorite clients asked me to create a Web-based promotion for a new investment advisory. But instead of beginning with a series of e-mails – or even a new Web page – I promptly sat down and wrote a 24-page DIRECT-MAIL package.
Once the long copy was finished, I knew the rest would be easy. I could simply excerpt sections of it, over and over again, to create a multi-step campaign…
STEP #1. Pick the low-hanging fruit – cheap.
A respectable chunk of my client’s customers love him to death and will buy just about any product he recommends. For these wonderful folks, I created an extremely simple, low-cost e-mail promotion that we sent out immediately.
STEP #2. Get fence-sitters to a “tipping point” website.
I used about half the long direct-mail copy I had written about the product to produce an “Urgent Special Report” that could be accessed via a little website we created online. And in week #2 of the campaign, we began sending e-mails to the client’s customers urging them to click a link in order to read the free report.
STEP #3. Exploit other low-cost or free media.
Then I simply took the 12 pages of copy from the little website I’d created… wrote a new headline and opening copy… turned it into a printed special report… and had it inserted in the next issue of my client’s print newsletter.
STEP #4. Show up where they least expect you to.
Two weeks after the newsletter insert hit our prospects’ mailboxes, we hit them again – with the full 24-page direct-mail package I had initially created to promote the product. This time, it was formatted as a free special report – a “thank you” bonus for loyal customers.
STEP #5. Get tenacious.
Two weeks after the 24-pager hit prospects’ mailboxes, we stuffed it into an envelope, added a one-page letter from my client asking “Why haven’t I heard from you?” and dropped it into the mail.
The combined effect of e-mail, the website, the inserts in the print newsletter, and two direct mailings had a multiplying effect on response.
When the dust had settled, our multi-channel marketing campaign had sold more than $5 million worth of subscriptions to the new service in just five weeks – about five times more than we would have sold through an e-mail promotion alone!
[Ed. Note: Yes, the Internet is ripe with opportunities for savvy marketers to make money. But as master copywriter Clayton Makepeace just proved, the Internet is only ONE channel for communicating with potential customers. If you're stuck using just one marketing method, you need to get your hands on the bestselling book on multi-channel marketing by MaryEllen Tribby and Michael Masterson, Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business. It's a premier guide to beefing up your marketing efforts to bring in double, triple, even quadruple your current revenues. Get your copy now.
Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Claim your 4 free moneymaking e-books - bursting with tips, tricks, and tactics that'll skyrocket your response - at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com.]
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Great article. It’s such an obvious tactic. Unfortunately too many think of marketing in terms of the channel they use and which is deemed the ‘best’. It’s a question of find the right, most appropriate mix. Creating multiple touchpoints and reminders.