Do's and Don't's of Direct Marketing

Direct Marketing is no easy task, but here are some helpful tips you can use for your business...

1. DO…understand your prospect.
Remember: It’s not about you! If you don’t understand what’s important to your prospects, how they make decisions, what their goals and expectations are and how you potentially fit into that equation, you’ll be lucky to even achieve vendor status—let alone become the partner needed to be effective.

2. DON’t…be like everyone else. In this information age, your prospects are being bombarded and, therefore, desensitized to marketing messages. If your messaging and design does not stand out in the crowd, you’ll be left out of your prospects decision-making process.

3. DO…keep it simple. The fundamentals of Direct Response Marketing still apply:
- You need a good list
- Messaging needs to be relevant to the prospect
- Prospects need to be “touched” multiple times
- Timing is important
- Design and messaging need to be unique
- You need a compelling offer

4. DON’t…look for the magic solution. When meeting with a prospect in the early stages of qualifying and quantifying a DRM program, there is always an expectation that you are going to show up with the magic solution in your back pocket. It sounds odd saying it and probably an illogical expectation, but it’s very real. There is no such thing as a magic solution. If someone promises one, they’re lying.

5. DO…put yourself in your prospect’s shoes. Understand that one size does not fit all. The importance of profiling and segmenting
your targets into multiple buckets cannot be overstated. With technology in personalization, it is possible to customize your messaging to different prospects ensuring you are hitting the hot buttons that will motivate them to action.