Part one of a special two-part series

    Nearly every area of the country is susceptible to natural disaster (see below in the sidebar for maps of critical U.S. disaster areas). And as uncomfortable as it is to think about, the threat of a terrorist attack is an unfortunate reality today.

    While no one wants to dwell on such a sensitive topic, if a disaster occurs around your business headquarters or a planned mailing destination, do you have a strategy in place to keep your business running smoothly and avoid costly postage and delivery losses?

    Consider the extent of the disaster. During a manageable disaster (for example, a class 1 or 2 hurricane), the USPS diverts mail from affected zip codes to nearby processing and distribution facilities and is held for later delivery.

     However, in a catastrophic disaster like Hurricane Katrina, you may be faced with the idea that many weeks or months could go by before service resumes.

    That's why its essential to watch the news and use the USPS links in the sidebar so you can make an informed decision on mailing areas and printing counts.

    In some cases, you may let your mail drop. But in others, be prepared to move quickly to edit printing counts and adjust mailing areas.

    If you decide to avoid mailing, use the USPS links in the sidebar to identify affected areas, then eliminate those zip codes during your merge-purge.

    I recommend to my clients waiting 2 to 3 weeks after the emergency is over before re-mailing into affected areas.

    Consider your mailing class. After Hurricane Katrina, First Class mailings were rerouted to Houston for later delivery. But standard and periodical mail was refused at the point of entry.

    While few direct mailers mail exclusively First Class, there is the story of one non-profit mailer that actually went to Houston and re-mailed their pieces First Class with some crafty repackaging (at a price of $3.00 a piece).

    It was a costly solution, but because they were mailing a small number of expensive pieces, they decided re-mailing the pieces was the best way to stem losses.

    Be prepared for depressed response ripples in surrounding areas. Just because an area isn't directly affected by a disaster, doesn't mean it won't affect your response. After last fall's wildfires in San Diego and the Lake Arrowhead area, there was a decrease in response in the Southern California area.

    Even if your prospects aren't directly affected by the incident, they may still be affected by the news. Your mailing piece may be the last thing on their mind.

    During the wildfires, the disaster was limited to a few zip codes and media attention lasted only one week. In this particular case, suppressing Southern California would not have made sense for most mailers, but you should evaluate each situation on a case-by-case basis.

    In the next issue, I'll walk you through some steps to make sure your business has a solid business continuity plan before disaster strikes—both for your mailing pieces and if your business headquarters are affected.

    A recent study shows that 83% of online users who immediately leave a website do so because they can't find what they need.

    It's evident that many marketers are losing time, money and customers by violating direct marketing rules and basic human psychology with their company websites.

    Consider 3 tactics when deciding whether your site attracts or repels prospects:

    1. Identify yourself. "Is this a site I've been looking for?" is the first thought in your prospect's mind when s/he lands on a site. Your product or service needs to be immediately identifiable. If a searcher doesn't get the feeling "this is where I need to be," they can be gone within 2 seconds.

    2. Be copy driven. Most websites are anemic: they're navigation driven rather than copy driven. There needs to be enough sales copy that persuades the prospect that it's in her self interest to read and respond to your offer. Laser-focused messaging seals the deal.

     3. Direct the reader. Prospects think neither logically nor in a straight line. Using navigation buttons like: About Us, Help, History, Media, Products, Sitemap, Vision Statement and Contact Us interrupt your sales presentation.

    Don't give potential buyers the easy choice of diving into an illogical exploration of your site—every click away from your core message could cost you 10%-20% of sales.

    Instead, pull visitors along to your offer with succinct copy and design that doesn't give them even one reason to guess who you are, what you do and why they should be there.

    In other words, don't make your prospect have to think...the difference between success and failure is just a click away.

    Call me at 310-212- 5727 if you'd like the pros at Creative Direct Marketing Group to demystify your offer and write your website copy using direct response strategies proven to pull customers like magnets.

    People buy from companies who use the secret of writing their strongest customer benefit in their marketing promotions. Prime your benefit pump by using superlatives as a guide.

    Superlatives are created by choosing quantifiable words ending in "est" that offer a specific benefit to your prospect.

    Like this:

    Cheapest, hottest, quickest, earliest, longest, smallest, oldest, furthest, simplest and so on.

    To see how the power of a precise superlative helps sell your product over the competition, ask yourself:

    "What's different about our product that's meaningful to our customers?" That excellence is your "est."

    For instance, do you sell a financial-management system that helps earn customers money while simultaneously being the simplest to navigate? Could you say your software is The easiest to use?

    If your product is "low-cost" would being the cheapest on the Internet grab more prospect eyeballs?

    MacIntosh tells business travelers it's new laptop is The world's thinnest notebook.

    Nielsen Norman Group likes to Solve your biggest B2B website problems.

    Take a tip from Western Union, The fastest way to send money, by using the power of "est" to talk about your product.

    Using the "est" principle is a struggle many people face. More often than not, they get it wrong by focusing on what they think is great about their product, rather than the benefits that make it stand out from the competition and satisfy a prospect's need.

    If you need help constructing your "est" copy, simply call me at 310-212- 5727. Making our clients the richest in the marketplace is our only goal.

    Oftentimes, marketers focus on their Adwords copy and overlook the sales power of their domain names in PPC ads.

    Take the following two PPC ads running on Google. The text copy is the same, only the landing domain name has changed.

Ad A
Mold Help For Morons
Find out if you have a toxic mold
problem without spending a fortune!
www.StopBlackMoldNow.com

Ad B
Mold Help For Morons
Find out if you have a toxic mold
problem without spending a fortune!
www.GetMoldSolutions.com

    By testing these domain names, the company discovered that Ad B got 31% more traffic across the board than the other.

    What do you think it was about Ad B that caused it to outperform Ad A? Email me at craig@cdmginc.com. I'll post some of your responses in the next issue as well as the reason why.

ACTION ITEMS

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Subscribe to the industry-leading digest Direct Response and keep current. Please call us now at 310-212-5727 and tell our representative you'd like to subscribe to Direct Response.

2. Examine the results of your last direct mail campaign. Are you experiencing a loss of leads or sales? I can help. Contact me at craig@cdmginc.com.

3. Click here to read the insightful article on the proven, tested, V.I.V.A.™ direct marketing system. It's a must-read article for every direct marketer and business owner looking to boost their response rates.

4. Click the Forward to a Friend button in the upper-right corner to pass on this Direct Marketing Update to interested friends and business associates.

    That's it for this week's edition of Direct Marketing Update. I hope that you'll keep an eye open for my next issue, as I have so much more exciting direct marketing information to share with you.



Craig A. Huey
President
Creative Direct Marketing Group
email: craig@cdmginc.com
phone: 310-212-5727
www.cdmginc.com