This is part II of my 2-part interview series with Kim Walsh-Phillips who gave us some great advice last week.
In case you haven’t yet, please listen to Part I of this interview with Kim where she shared some relevant and valuable insights into direct marketing and how narrowing down your focus on a specific market or niche can bring more growth to your business.
Kim is the CEO of Elite Digital Group, a direct response social media agency. In this episode, she talks about the channels and metrics you can use to make sure you’re able to carry out a highly effective direct response marketing strategy.
Here are the highlights of my conversation with Kim:
Examples of direct response marketing strategies:
- Driving sales through workshops
- Facebook to drive registrations for seminars and selling people into appointments with the seminars
- Free report + follow up
- Webinars
- Educational programs + webinars
The Dating Analogy
Direct marketing is just like dating. Nobody likes someone to ask your hand for marriage on your first date (which actually happened to Kim!) in the same way that you don’t ask the prospects for a sale the first time you meet them. That’s just creepy.
Use marketing to warm them up, to ask them for their number, to ask them on a first date so they can begin to trust you and related to you. So once you go to make the sale, they already know who you are… they are ready to buy.
Different channels you can use to do direct marketing:
- Don’t just do one channel.
Multi-layer any marketing channels with Facebook being the best one.
Why Facebook?
- 78% of those making $75,000 or more a year are on Facebook so you can reach them there.
- It allows you to target people based not just on interest but their actual behavior
- For example, combine Facebook with direct mail, email, pay-per-click then figure out which makes most sense for your market.
- Start with one channel.
Make sure the offer, messaging, and funnel all work in the sales campaign. Once the campaign works, scale it to other channels.
How do you craft the right message?
The Power of Survey
Ask them what their biggest point is and find out how they describe it in their own words. Remember that the way we talk about the problems our prospects have are different from the way they talk about it.
“If you want to use their language, you have to get them to say it.”
Tips:
- Never give them more than a week to respond.
- Have one big prize.
- If possible, give everybody an incentive for participating (free report, template, blueprint, event ticket)
Metrics for direct marketing:
- At least 1% click-through rate
- For opt-in B2C: Add $8 per lead cost
- For opt-in B2B: Add $16-$25 lead cost
- Check where’s the problem. Break it down to find out where the problem lies and not just assume it’s the traffic source.
- Direct Mail
Targeted mailing: 2%-3% response rate on average
Kim’s Major Takeaway:
Getting better results is not about working harder. Oftentimes, it’s about doing something differently and taking a different path because the path you’re on is never going to reach that final destination. Try direct response marketing and start driving in qualified leads to you so when you get them on the phone, they’re ready to close.
Episode Resources:
Get connected with Kim on www.EliteDigitalGroup.com/professionals or read through her regular content on www.elitedigitalgroup.com/blog.
TSE 439 – Direct Response Marketing Part I with Kim Walsh-Phillips
15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management by Kevin Kruse
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
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