Rule #1 of No B.S. Marketing
No B.S. Marketing Follows Foundational Rules
I am on a mission to educate and defend small and medium business owners. In fact, I came out of retirement to help you eliminate waste and increase profits by making the strategic SWITCH from traditional advertising to a proven SYSTEM to magnetically attract your ideal customers, clients, or patients.
John Wannamaker
50% or 90% wasted advertising? How do you KNOW?
To be honest, Wannamaker was optimistic! The REAL advertising waste might be 90% - or more! Traditional advertising is all about branding or corporate image. It defies accountability
In contrast, direct-response marketers are RESULTS oriented. We want to KNOW if we have won or lost, wasted money or received a positive return on our marketing investment.
Management guru Peter Drucker is credited for stating: "Only what gets measured, gets managed. Only what is managed gets improved."
The sad reality is that most advertising tells the viewer how great the company is; how pretty their product is. The implied message is ONLY, "We're wonderful. If you want to be cool, you will search for a place to buy our stuff."
Mass media advertising is often praised for being artsy, clever or scandalous. But, contrary to some online "gurus", content is not king. The SALE is king!
Media promises only exposure. BIG businesses advertise for branding in mass markets.
Small businesses have a different agenda: Sell something NOW!
I guarantee that your bank does NOT accept deposits of “views” or “likes”.
You can’t pay your bills with “subscribers” or “followers”.
No B.S. Direct Marketing imposes discipline.
Business owners KNOW that marketing is REQUIRED to generate sales, bookings, or client billings. But your marketing efforts should have a planned objective and target a specific audience. Direct response marketing ASKS the viewer to do SOMETHING!
Multinational corporations waste MILLIONS on advertising, exposing their products and services to a mass audience who distrust advertising, have no use or interest, and probably can’t afford it anyway. They don't make an offer and don't ask for a response. Their ads are like smoke signals, evaporating within seconds.
But you need to be smart! SMART marketers are ruthlessly disciplined. The only way you can know what works is with specific offers, and then tracking the responses. Only then can we repeat the process -- based on data -- with confidence of a positive ROI. Only then can we eliminate underperforming ads AND media.
Social Media should be SOCIAL - not for intrusive advertising.
No B.S. Direct Marketing has defined objectives - and tracking.
Some marketing may have the objective of generating only leads. The ASK in some advertising is to opt-in, request more information, receive a call back for an estimate or to schedule a consultation. But without an offer and a specific action, there is no way to track the effectiveness of the ad.
If there is an exception, it is "social media". In general, blatant ads are unwelcome. But helpful information and the latest news is appreciated. If you make any offer at all, it should only be to supply additional free information - and then only after 90% non-sales posts. That is, 9 posts of pure value to earn the allowance to post 1 subtle sales offer.
However, the value of social media is spreading your message, from "friend" to their friends, and ESPECIALLY within groups of likeminded members. So while you might not be asking for a purchase, you should always be asking your online "friends" and followers to LIKE and SHARE you valuable content. One way to do this without being intrusive or obnoxious is to follow each post with the first comment, something like, "I hope you find this information useful. Please LIKE and SHARE - and leave your comments!"
PS. It should be no surprise that Dan Kennedy abhors wasted time and effort and unaccountable spending on "social media"! To combat this waste - and redirect your efforts within the Rules of Direct Marketing, he has coauthored the No B.S. Guide to Direct Response Social Media Marketing: The Ultimate No Holds Barred Guide to Producing Measurable, Monetizable Results with Social Media Marketing. Since he can't grab every business owner by the shoulders and shake them, he has joined with marketing strategist Kim Walsh-Phillips to help business owners, private practice professionals, and professional marketers start making dollars and cents of their social media marketing. You can order this book by Clicking HERE.
The Cardinal SIN of Selling is NOT asking for the Order!
The Number 1 Rule of No B.S. Marketing is that there will ALWAYS be an OFFER.
(That is why I include numerous links and points of contact in every article!)
No B.S. Direct Marketing principles have been developed into powerful, measurable strategies. These principles apply across the entire spectrum of print and broadcast media - including the latest online advertising alternatives. Many of these principles are derived from "old school" mail order or direct response advertising in newspapers and magazines.
In a very few cases, the offer may be for an immediate direct purchase. The response is going to be limited to the impulse buyers who are able to respond now. Most often, these direct purchase offers require the incentives of a deep discount and/or very limited availability. These incentives will be discussed next in Rule #2.
In the middle between an offer for free information and a limited time, limited quantity immediate purchase is a hybrid offer that promises a great value at a very low price. The advantage of these low cost offers is generating a BUYER. Low cost sample orders then open the door to subsequent marketing for more complete, higher cost services or packages.
This is exactly demonstrated below in the offer for a FREE copy of Dan Kennedy's book, "No B.S. Direct Marketing" (for NON-Direct Marketing Businesses) - now in its fourth, updated and expanded edition. This is a $24.99 retail value - but you only pay a small shipping and handling charge to receive the book vis USPS mail. You only need to Click HERE!
The 10 Commandments, from No B.S. Direct Marketing
The Rules of Response Driven Marketing are directly quoted from Dan Kennedy's book, "No B.S. Direct Marketing (for NON-Direct Marketing Businesses). The Rules are timeless and dependable as the LAW of Gravity.
Resolve now that every ad you run, sales letter you mail, webpage you publish, everything and anything you do to MARKET your business MUST adhere to the Rules. These are not suggestions, consider them mandates!
I consider "No B.S. Direct Marketing (for NON-Direct Marketing Businesses) to be REQUIRED reading for my clients, and it is my pleasure to offer you a FREE copy of this book. Fight back! You've been LIED to for too long.
Take ACTION: CLICK Here to receive your FREE book! You will ALSO receive a LONG list of bonuses - and be offered access to even more marketing resources - at your option.
The No B.S. Rules of Response Driven Marketing - or, as Dan prefers to call them, the 10 Commandments of Direct Marketing are universal for product and service businesses.
In the next articles in this series, I will continue to discuss the specific Rules of Response-Driven Marketing. In the mean time, if you would like a PDF copy of these Rules (The 10 Commandments!) to keep on your desktop for reference, Click HERE!
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