Another excellent question... Part 2
Yesterday I printed an answer to a pretty good question I received from Mr. Ehn. In yesterday's answer I dealt with the emotional aspects of running a campaign and having it bomb... today I'm going to deal with the practical aspects.
Here's Mr. Ehn's question again:
Hello,
I am a first year information marketer. I also HAVE to bootstrap my operation. There really isn't a choice.
I have just sent out a direct mail campaign test that felt like a grenade going off in my hand. The list that I rented, was terrible at best. The list broker was recommended from a lot of direct marketers. I guess this why you should use SRDS first! The list broker I cannot blame...but the list sucked.
I tested 4 different offers(1250 each) and was expecting a much better response %, but I am NOT going to give up. I guess I hate to give up on something that I know (if done correctly) can build fortunes. This is an expense 'test', but now I am looking at what didn't work(making mental and written notes), and moving on. I know that if I keep learning the rules of direct marketing/internet marketing, eventually I will succeed.
I don't know about most people, but I have never gotten rich over night. I won't say it never will. But it didn't happen yet. Sometimes it is a real struggle to try to make it to the next day with all of the bills coming in.
Progress is moving forward. I currently am doing a Google Adwords campaign. Learning and tweaking another medium. There is alot to learn in information marketing. It is kind of going to school again...but instead of grades, it reflects your back account.
Working on my A+ grade,
Mr. Ehn
P.S. Giving up too soon on your goals is the worst thing that you can do.
Mr. X. If you're a first time information marketer, boot strapping your way up, I'd suggest staying away from cold mailing lists in the beginning. Like I said in yesterday's email, more lists will NOT work than will work, and if you have to plow through them one at a time, you can get pretty deep in the hole before you find one that works well. Once you find it, you can mail to it everytime it's updated and do well, but finding it one step at a time can be brutal. Remember, when we mail, we mail 10 or more lists at a time, knowing a lot of those will stink, but that the two or three that work will more than make up for it.
So what's the solution if you're bootstrapping? I'd recommend Joint Ventures, mailing to a list with the list owner's endorsement and giving them a share of the gross. Nothing can increase the response of an offer more than endorsement by the list owner. For example, a while back we were mailing our Magic Postcard to a rented list, and it was doing pretty well. But, since we knew the list owner, we called him up and asked him if we could put his endorsement on the postcard. All we did was put, "Try this, it works!--List Owner" (where "List Owner" was his name) and the response DOUBLED. That's the power of an endorsed mailing. So, if you're just getting started, the most risk-free way is via joint venture marketing, mailing or emailing to a list with the endorsement of the owner. If you're mailing, it's still important to test for as little as possible because some list owners don't have the relationship with their list that they think they do.
SO, if you're bootstrapping, start with Joint Ventures as some of our pretty dang smart Magic Postcard Leaseholders and Licensees have done!
Let's get to it...
Mr. X.
Group M Marketing
Kimble and Kennedy Publishing
Here's Mr. Ehn's question again:
Hello,
I am a first year information marketer. I also HAVE to bootstrap my operation. There really isn't a choice.
I have just sent out a direct mail campaign test that felt like a grenade going off in my hand. The list that I rented, was terrible at best. The list broker was recommended from a lot of direct marketers. I guess this why you should use SRDS first! The list broker I cannot blame...but the list sucked.
I tested 4 different offers(1250 each) and was expecting a much better response %, but I am NOT going to give up. I guess I hate to give up on something that I know (if done correctly) can build fortunes. This is an expense 'test', but now I am looking at what didn't work(making mental and written notes), and moving on. I know that if I keep learning the rules of direct marketing/internet marketing, eventually I will succeed.
I don't know about most people, but I have never gotten rich over night. I won't say it never will. But it didn't happen yet. Sometimes it is a real struggle to try to make it to the next day with all of the bills coming in.
Progress is moving forward. I currently am doing a Google Adwords campaign. Learning and tweaking another medium. There is alot to learn in information marketing. It is kind of going to school again...but instead of grades, it reflects your back account.
Working on my A+ grade,
Mr. Ehn
P.S. Giving up too soon on your goals is the worst thing that you can do.
Mr. X. If you're a first time information marketer, boot strapping your way up, I'd suggest staying away from cold mailing lists in the beginning. Like I said in yesterday's email, more lists will NOT work than will work, and if you have to plow through them one at a time, you can get pretty deep in the hole before you find one that works well. Once you find it, you can mail to it everytime it's updated and do well, but finding it one step at a time can be brutal. Remember, when we mail, we mail 10 or more lists at a time, knowing a lot of those will stink, but that the two or three that work will more than make up for it.
So what's the solution if you're bootstrapping? I'd recommend Joint Ventures, mailing to a list with the list owner's endorsement and giving them a share of the gross. Nothing can increase the response of an offer more than endorsement by the list owner. For example, a while back we were mailing our Magic Postcard to a rented list, and it was doing pretty well. But, since we knew the list owner, we called him up and asked him if we could put his endorsement on the postcard. All we did was put, "Try this, it works!--List Owner" (where "List Owner" was his name) and the response DOUBLED. That's the power of an endorsed mailing. So, if you're just getting started, the most risk-free way is via joint venture marketing, mailing or emailing to a list with the endorsement of the owner. If you're mailing, it's still important to test for as little as possible because some list owners don't have the relationship with their list that they think they do.
SO, if you're bootstrapping, start with Joint Ventures as some of our pretty dang smart Magic Postcard Leaseholders and Licensees have done!
Let's get to it...
Mr. X.
Group M Marketing
Kimble and Kennedy Publishing
