COMEAU WEB COPY. by Brett Comeau. Comeau Web Copy. lead marketing. e: o: 1(888) c: 1(310)

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1 8 Effective Techniques of Direct Response Marketing by Brett Comeau Comeau Web Copy writing and editing lead marketing global messaging e: o: 1(888) c: 1(310)

2 writing and editing lead marketing global messaging Brett Comeau Copywriter 8 Effective Techniques Contents The Fundamentals 4 Lead capture device 7 Lead Nurturing marketing 11 Social media 13 Final thoughts 13 About the author 14 No part of this report may be copied, forwarded, or distributed. It is the intellectual property of the author and is designated for single download and use only. e: BrettC@comeauwebcopy.com o: 1(888) c: 1(310)

3 Personal Note from the Author Hi, my name is Brett Comeau. If you are anything like me, you have read a ton of special reports on subjects like marketing, reaching new customers, and building your business. In this report I m going to give you the nuts and bolts of direct response marketing techniques. My goal here is to give you a fundamental understanding of it without the noise or shiny objects a lot of marketers are obsessed with and that ultimately, don t deliver the desired results- you finding qualified prospects and them becoming your customer! So, let s get right down to it. In a few minutes of study, you ll get direct response in a way you can immediately apply to your business, without the fluff. With marketing you face many difficult challenges: 1. Finding new leads 2. Creating effective marketing material to reach those leads 3. Finding the most effective method to market to them 4. Using the limited time and limited budget In a small company your situation can be even worse you need to keep your marketing efforts on track AND run your business at the same time! These challenges require you to use your time and money wisely. How do you know which prospects are interested? Let s use an example... You have a list of 10,000 prospects that would be your perfect customer. If your sales force made 50 calls a day it would take almost a year to call them all! I m going to show you a better way to reach your prospects. 3

4 Effective Direct Response Marketing Direct response marketing is used to market to prospects through mail or web marketing in order to get them to buy your product or service. Before we get into that, let s talk about what DOESN T work. Traditional Advertising A lot of people say advertising is the way to go. There are several problems with marketing your business in this way. 1. Cost Advertising, whether print, radio or TV, is very expensive. 2. Constant Marketing In today s culture consumers are crushed under a constant attack of commercials and advertisements. 3. Questions of Effectiveness With advertising, it s difficult to tell how effective your marketing message is. You could be wasting your efforts on a marketing message that will never make you any money. 4. No Cost Benefit Analysis With traditional advertising you don t know which ads and which channels are the most profitable. There is a better way to do this - direct response marketing. You re probably wondering: How do you effectively use direct response marketing? That s exactly what you re going to learn here. And where do you start? At the beginning...the sales cycle. 4

5 The Sales Cycle Overview From Stranger to Sale Assume your ideal prospect is a total stranger to you. How do you turn a total stranger into someone who will buy your product? A typical sales cycle looks something like this: 1. You find the prospect and contact them through a direct marketing campaign. 2. They are interested in your product and they either become a customer or more likely they give you their contact information and become a lead. 3. You develop that lead. 4. And then you turn them into a customer. That is a basic version of the sales cycle. How do you turn a prospect into a lead and a lead into a customer? By using lead generation and lead nurturing direct response marketing. In a direct response campaign, the most important thing to remember is: The only person who can decide when someone is going to become a customer is the customer themselves. There are two things you can do to help move them along. 1. You can work on changing their minds and convince them they DO want to buy your product or service AND 2. You can convince them that when they are ready to buy you are the only one they should buy from That s what direct response marketing is all about...finding a lead and convincing them that when they are ready to buy you are their only choice. There are 8 techniques I would recommend for your direct response marketing 5

6 The Basics Starting off on the Right Foot Technique #1 - Your Website When you are ready to market your business, the first step is to have your website designed properly. No business can survive today without a professional looking website. Period. You have to set aside a reasonable budget for a killer website one that is user friendly, easy to navigate, beautiful to look at, intuitive in design and is convincing. Your website is the cornerstone of all your other marketing and it s primary purpose is to sell your product or service to your prospect. Let s talk for a second about what you ll need to make sure your website is up to par. One of the most important and useful web pages you can have is a landing page. This isn t your home page - this is a dedicated page that only discusses the benefits your prospect will receive if they do what you want your prospect to do next (either buy your product or give you their contact information and become a lead). I will discuss this in more detail a little later in this special report. When your website and your landing page is ready it s time to start marketing your business. To see how to maximize the value of your website Click the link below 6

7 Technique # 2 - The Lead Capture Device The lead capture device has many names and takes many different forms- special reports, case studies, and check lists just to name a few. They all have 2 things in common: 1. They provide valuable information that is related to the product or service you are providing. 2. They are free. Now you may be asking why would I give away valuable information? The truth is you re not giving away this information - you are getting 3 very valuable things in return. 1. You re getting the prospect to tell you yes I am interested in what you are selling 2. You re getting the prospect s contact information so you can follow up with them (more on that later) 3. You re getting them to agree to begin a relationship with you Just like you wouldn t ask someone to marry you on a first date, you wouldn t ask your prospect to buy a $100,000 piece of equipment the first time they heard of your company. To find out how a lead capture device can help build your business Click on the link below 7

8 Technique # 3 - Direct Mail Millions of direct mail offers are sent out to consumers and to businesses every year. This is because direct mail is still one of the most effective direct marketing techniques available. Direct mail pieces can take several forms, everything from postcards to magalogs (sales letters designed to look like a magazine) to the traditional multiple page sales letters. Direct mail has several advantages: Studies have shown physical marketing devices you hold in your hand forms a deeper psychology connection with a prospect than digital marketing. Direct mail has a longer shelf life than digital. A prospect has to physically throw out a direct mail piece but all he has to do is hit delete to get rid of an . Direct mail has a more legitimate feel to it compared to an . There are also some disadvantages of direct mail to be considered. The biggest disadvantage is cost. The cost of physically printing and mailing marketing communications is higher than using digital marketing methods. Regardless, investing in direct mail should be a part of your marketing efforts. By adjusting your marketing in this area to fit your budget you can still get the desired results. To find out how to use direct mail marketing to build your business Click the link below 8

9 Technique # 4 - Marketing s One of the most commonly used techniques today is marketing s. If you have an address, you have no doubt gotten dozens of marketing s everything from how to have a better sex life to making millions from penny stocks. marketing is a term used to describe sending a marketing message to a rented list or cold list (a list of prospects that have not expressed an interest in your service). One thing to be aware of marketing may not produce as high response rate as direct mail marketing. However, it is a much cheaper method to market your product or service. To see how you can build your business through marketing: Technique # 5 - PPC Ads PPC stands for Pay Per Click. In the Internet world PPC ads can be one of your most effective methods for lead generation, however to be effective they have to be used the right way. Having the right fundamentals determines how cost effective a PPC ad will be. The broader the key word terms you use the more expensive each click will be and the less likely the person who clicked on your ad will have an interest in your offer. For example suppose you offer a retirement service that invests in dividend stocks. How to make money for retirement would be an incredibly expensive and useless keyword. Why? 9

10 Because just about everyone wants money for retirement! So you won t attract the type of prospect you are looking for. But effective methods to invest in stocks that produce dividends for your retirement - that will attract the right kind of prospect. When you have a prospect interested in your product or service and they click on your PPC ad, this will take them to your landing page... Your landing page If your prospect has reached the point of going to your landing page, they are interested in your product and have a good chance of converting. This means you have their attention. This is the most important step in your selling process. You want to close them and have them buy either your product or buy in by giving you their contact information and becoming a lead. You want to list your product s benefits and features in the best possible way on this page. If they click away from your landing page without you getting the sale this minute there is still an opportunity for you. If you have a lead nurturing aspect to your marketing efforts this is where you can use their contact information to stay in touch with them on a regular basis. To see how a landing page will improve your businesses bottom line Click the link below 10

11 What is lead nurturing? When a prospect arrives on your landing page, even if he or she does not buy your product, this is a huge opportunity for you. If you get their contact information, you can stay in contact with them on a regular basis. The best method to get their contact info is by offering them something in the form of free valuable information (the lead capture device we discussed earlier). Once you have their contact info, there are several lead nurturing techniques you can use to market to them. How important is lead nurturing? Studies have shown that over 90% of a business customers won t buy anything the first time they visit a website. This means that over 90% of your business will come from your lead nurturing efforts. Let s take a look a few of these lead-nurturing techniques. 11

12 Technique # 6 - Auto Responders When a prospect first gives you their contact information and becomes a lead, you are fresh in their mind. An auto responder series attempts to take advantage of that. An auto responder is a series of s, usually 5 to 7, sent out on a regular basis to a lead to follow up with them and get them to take the next step in the sales cycle. Auto responders are short, usually under 2 pages. Each in your auto responder series highlights one particular problem your prospect has and how your product or service will solve that problem and finish with a strong call to action. To see how auto responders and marketing can build your business click the link below. Technique #7- E-newsletters 90% of the leads you get aren t ready to buy now. They may be just looking at their options, or they know they will have a need for your product or service sometime in the future. An e-newsletter allows you to keep in contact with your lead on a regular basis and at the same time build the relationship. The key to this endeavor is providing valuable content. At the same time, you want to frame this information in a way that reflects positively on the product or service you offer and positions your company as an expert in your field. Using e-newsletters, if done correctly, will keep you top of mind with your prospect. To learn more about how having an e-newsletter can build your business click the link below 12

13 Technique #8- Social Media In case you have missed it, social media has become very big! Its rate of growth is exponential! It is a constantly evolving communication tool with unlimited marketing potential. The reason social media has become so popular in direct marketing is because it is an ideal platform for both lead generation and lead nurturing. With the correct social media plan you can find leads in your market and, through ongoing interaction, nurture that relationship. The major advantage of this form of marketing is that social media is huge and growing bigger every day. Also for the most part social media costs nothing. The major disadvantage is that social media is time consuming. It takes time to find the right groups to belong to, the right people to make contact with, and to develop those relationships. It s building a network one person at a time. Final Thoughts All of these techniques can be part of an effective lead marketing strategy. However, if your marketing message isn t clear and well crafted, they can be a huge waste of time and money. Hiring a professional copywriter who understands direct response marketing is the best way for you to gain maximum return on your marketing efforts. People often forget that no matter how much time and effort you put into marketing and sales, it is the customer who decides when they are ready to use your service not you. However, if you have done a good job of lead generation and lead conversion... When they are ready, you will be someone they Know, like and trust and THEY will call YOU. 13

14 writing and editing lead marketing global messaging Brett Comeau Copywriter 8 Effective Techniques About the Author Brett Comeau is the owner of Comeau Web Copy - a professional copywriting and marketing company specializing in business-to-business copywriting located in Los Angeles, California. Brett has over 5 years experience as a professional writer. He has written successful copy for companies both nationally and internationally. In the beginning, Brett worked for a small publishing company - Balzotti Publishing. By the time he left the company 3 years later to start his own business, he was their lead copywriter. Trained as a professional writer, Brett also has over fifteen years working in the field of psychology. This has enabled him to understand what makes people tick, and in turn, what makes them buy. Brett has a simple motto when it comes to writing effective copy: In order to make someone a customer you have to understand them. He is available for consulting on copywriting projects via phone, or his website,. Brettc@comeauwebcopy.com Phone e: BrettC@comeauwebcopy.com o: 1(888) c: 1(310)