Why Most Direct Mail Marketing Fails
By Doug Huggins
I have received several e-mails recently stating that they had tried direct response mail and it had failed miserably. Most of us who teach marketing methods hear that same complaint. I would suggest that there are two probable reasons so many people are disappointed with their direct mail:
One – The Message – The message delivered by most mortgage and real estate companies couldn’t sell free water to an American GI in southern Iraq. The marketing pieces I see are poorly designed, with absolutely no thought given to communicating to the needs and wants of the receiver.
In my manual, “Why Most Mortgage Marketing Fails and What to do About Yours”, I discuss in detail the top 10 reasons most mortgage company’s and originator’s marketing efforts fail to work. We show many actual examples of marketing pieces and literally “rip them to shreds” to show you how to better view what you are currently doing and how to make simple, no cost changes to dramatically increase the response to your current marketing.
Two — The second major reason many direct mail campaigns fails is the mistaken idea that One Mailing a Campaign Makes.
How often when you are sitting at home watching your favorite TV show do you see the exact same commercial over and over and over again?
Sometimes it becomes really, really irritating, doesn’t it?
So why do advertisers spend the millions of dollars to deliver the same exact message over and over to the same audience?
Because, for better or worst, frequency is a MAJOR factor in getting your marketing message across and acted upon.
A single exposure equals minimal impact but repeated exposures will have a positive impact, disproportionate to the number of exposures.
Here’s one example – say you’re doing an apartment mailing for First Time Home Buyers to the occupants of 5,000 apartment units. From one type mailing you might pull anywhere from as low as one quarter of 1% to 1% response. Maybe 12 to 60 responses. The variants between the 12 and the 60 may depend on the effectiveness of the offer.
But if you mail to those same 5,000 prospects six times over a three-month period your overall response might be 3% to as high as 20%, 150 to 1,000 people. That’s about 12 times the response from the single mailing not just six times.
See the multiple context doesn’t just increase response proportionately they increase it disproportionately. Is this always true? No. Sometimes there’s something else wrong, such as the list selection, the offer, the company’s credibility, whatever and no amount of mailing will overcome it but presuming the list has been chosen with reasonable care and intelligence, the offer is good, the mail piece is good then this kind of effect should be achieved.
If you have been disappointed with the response you have received to your direct mail pieces – do NOT assume that it is because direct mail doesn’t work for mortgage marketing – it does. Direct mail was a vitally important part of the overall marketing system that allowed me to generate over 280 inbound – purchase money – lead calls each and every week for 107 consecutive weeks! It works! Maybe you need to discover why yours doesn’t.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you just go out and blindly start doing direct mail marketing. That is another reason so many would-be mortgage marketers fail – they do not have an overall plan to succeed. Marketing should be a planned event – specifically planned to target a precise market segment to get specific results. Plus, the marketing plan should be just one part of an overall success plan for your business and your life.
Your business may not be your life; and success in business doesn’t guarantee success in life. But, the more money you have the more option you have. I’d rather be miserable and rich than miserable and broke!
By: doug huggins
