I was organizing my bookshelf this morning and flipped through an old Direct Marketing book, Direct Mail by the Numbers. The USPS published it and was a pretty good guide. When I was running a direct mail business full time, I went to the local Postmaster and got a box of them. When we met with a client who had never done Direct Mail before, it was an excellent resource for them to learn the advantages of direct marketing quickly.
Reviewing the book today, I realized how much things have changed over the last decade – even in the last few years.
The old theory of direct marketing was the 40/40/20 Rule
- 40% of the result was due to the list you sent to. This could be a list you purchased for prospecting or could consist of your existing customers list.
- 40% of the result was due to your offer. I’ve always told clients that the amount of time you had in a direct mail campaign to attract the prospect was equal to the number of steps between the mailbox and the trash.
- 20% of the result was due to your creativity. I received a direct mail piece from a new home builder this weekend. It was a key to test in the model home. If the key fits, you win the house. That’s an intriguing offer that may get me to drive out to the nearest community – very creative.
Direct Mail and Telemarketing used this rule of thumb for the last couple of decades. The Do Not Call Registry and the CAN-SPAM Act have proven that consumers are tired of intrusion and won’t put up with solicitation without permission. I believe that lack of consent will have a negative impact on your campaigns and is worthy of increasing the importance of the List.
Word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) is now a significant portion of every company’s marketing – but the marketing department does not own it; the customer owns it. If you can’t deliver on your promises, people will hear about it faster than it takes to execute your campaign. Word-of-mouth marketing will exponentially impact every marketing campaign. If you can’t deliver, then don’t promise.
It doesn’t flow off the tongue as easy, but I believe the new rule is the 5-2-2-1 Rule
- 50% of the results are due to the list you send to; paramount to that list is the permission you have to speak to them and how targeted the list is.
- 20% of the results are due to the message. Targeting the message to the audience is a must. The right message to the right audience at the right time is the only way to ensure you can maintain permission and get the results you need for your marketing efforts.
- 20% of the results are due to the Landing. For email marketing, this is a landing page and the subsequent service and execution of the product or service. If you can’t deliver on the promises you’ve marketed, word of mouth will get that message out faster than you can try to patch it up. You must “land” the client well to have successful growth in the future.
- 10% is still the creativity of your marketing campaign. I’m not saying creativity is less important than in the past. That’s simply not true, but permission, the message, and the landing are more critical than they used to be.
The old 40/40/20 rule of direct marketing never took into consideration permission, word-of-mouth marketing, nor the execution of your product and service. I think the 5-2-2-1 Rule does!
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