Marketing campaigns are funny creatures. Many, many of them fail flat on their expensive faces. Talk to 90% of small business owners if they have tried Facebook or Google ads. The single most frequent response is “yes, and it was a disaster. I spent a fortune and the results were terrible.”
Ask a different batch the same question except substitute direct mail instead of Facebook and Google and listen to the same answer. “Yes, I tried direct mail. That stuff doesn’t work. What they say about it being dead is true.”
But they are wrong. Crafted correctly, tested to find the control piece, and with repetition it will yield results if you follow the 60/30/10 Rule.
Even with trying to woo back a former customer, or a prospect that once expressed interest but has not responded to your recent efforts, by following the 60/30/10 rule will either get them talking again, one way or another.
Part of the marketing campaign is direct mail, where direct response originated. Sending an occasional reminder that “we miss them” is one of the tools that makes direct contact with the target. Emails may not get opened, phone calls may not get answered, voicemails may never be heard, social posts directly to them might not receive any attention. However, direct mail, created correctly according to the Kennedy method is sure to make an impact one way or another.
60/30/10
As far back as Hopkins, this rule remains constant. In direct response marketing, especially in direct mail. The initial, and obviously the one carrying the most weight is:
- 60 - Who are you targeting. What is the target audience that your marketing has to appeal to? Your target market is supremely important because if you can’t reach them, nothing else matters.
- 30 - What happens at the instant they come across your message?” What do you want to tell them that they are waiting to hear? Will they be intrigued or at least interested enough to read the next line? If the right people are experiencing your content, and the message you are sharing is worthy of their time, holds their interest enough to purchase, or at least ask for more information, your 90% assured of a transaction.
- 10 – The look of the content is the least of importance when it comes to crafting direct response marketing assets. If the first two are not in alignment, there’s no need for graphics, fancy distribution method, color, font, nothing.
This rule has stood the test of time in most things. Sixty percent of anything is having the right individual in front of you. Next is what do you have to say that will be appealing? Least important is how things look. Sort of like two ugly people getting married.
Here’s an excerpt from the What’s Happening Now interview I had with Nick Louise lately;
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Direct mail has some advantages of consistency, whereas digital marketing is changing every day. The….. size of the postcard has not changed. Minimum thickness of a postcard has not changed. Size of what is considered letter size has not changed. Essentially, the production and operational rules of direct marketing from a logistics standpoint have not changed. There’s a lot of history that goes multi-decades that can be used as a benchmark with consistency to plan your future. You can plan your next year or three years in direct mail and what you will use and how you will use it. And if you find a control vehicle that works for you, you can use it for next several years. You can’t say that about Google, Facebook, digital media, email marketing, or anything. The cyberspace, the pixel land, is an ever-changing game. It’s like chasing a cancer cell. Direct mail gives you a level of predictability that you can look at historic data of what is working, what is not working, come to the most optimized, calibrated, marketing system, campaign process, message, media, lift, and keep using it until it goes lame without worrying about some supreme power shutting you down. And that's what I love about direct mail. |
Direct response, the One System, Magnetic Marketing or any of the other names must drive off of this formula. It is the bedrock of attraction and conversion.
