How to Get 5 Times the Internet
Revenues by Going Offline
By Clayton
Makepeace
Several months ago, one of my favorite clients asked me to create a Web-based
promotion for a new
investment advisory. But instead of
beginning with a series of e-mails - or even a new Web page - I promptly sat
down and wrote a 24-page DIRECT-MAIL package.
Once the long copy was finished, I knew the rest would be easy. I could simply
excerpt sections of it, over and over again, to create a multi-step
campaign...
STEP #1. Pick the low-hanging fruit - cheap.
A respectable chunk of my client's customers love him to death and will buy
just about any product he recommends. For these wonderful folks, I created an
extremely simple, low-cost e-mail promotion that we sent out immediately.
STEP #2. Get fence-sitters to a "tipping point" website.
I used about half the long direct-mail copy I had written about the product to
produce an "Urgent Special Report" that could be accessed via a
little website we created online. And in week #2 of the campaign, we began
sending e-mails to the client's customers urging them to click a link in order
to read the free report.
STEP #3. Exploit other low-cost or free media.
Then I simply took the 12 pages of copy from the little website I'd created...
wrote a new headline and opening copy... turned it into a printed special
report... and had it inserted in the next issue of my client's print
newsletter.
STEP #4. Show up where they least expect you to.
Two weeks after the newsletter insert hit our prospects' mailboxes, we hit
them again - with the full 24-page direct-mail package I had initially created
to promote the product. This time, it was formatted as a free special report -
a "thank you" bonus for loyal customers.
STEP #5. Get tenacious.
Two weeks after the 24-pager hit prospects' mailboxes, we stuffed it into an
envelope, added a one-page letter from my client asking "Why haven't I
heard from you?" and dropped it into the mail.
The combined effect of e-mail, the website, the inserts in the print
newsletter, and two direct mailings had a multiplying effect on response.
When the dust had settled, our multi-channel marketing campaign had sold more
than $5 million worth of subscriptions to the new service in just five weeks -
about five times more than we would have sold through an e-mail promotion
alone!
[Ed. Note: Yes, the Internet is ripe with opportunities for savvy marketers to
make money. But as master copywriter Clayton Makepeace just proved, the
Internet is only ONE channel for communicating with potential customers. If
you're stuck using just one marketing method, you need to get your hands on
the bestselling book on multi-channel marketing by MaryEllen Tribby and
Michael Masterson, Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for
Your Business. It's a premier guide to beefing up your marketing efforts
to bring in double, triple, even quadruple your current revenues. Get
your copy now.
Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package
to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits.
Claim your 4 free moneymaking e-books - bursting with tips, tricks, and
tactics that'll skyrocket your response - at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com.]