Are you making these direct mail marketing mistakes?
Here’s a critical warning you should read before paying high fees to any direct mail copywriter:
I have a confession to make…
This is probably the biggest problem nearly everyone worries about some day facing when working with freelance copywriters.
It is the one fear that forces decision makers to lose sleep when they think of signing a big fat five or six-figure check to have sales copy written by a “professional” copywriter.
Your Worst Fear Realized
Imagine you’ve hired a copywriter only to later learn she deliberately wrote and delivered sales copy to you that she knew in advance was going to fail for you.
How would you feel? Angry? Ripped off? Fearful of working with a freelancer ever again?
Probably.
Well, I once did that very thing to a client. Intentionally. I admit it.
Why would I do such a thing, let alone admit it publicly? Because my client ‘forced’ me to do it.
Here’s how things went.
I had spent several weeks on a client project to create a package that followed a process proven to generate billions of dollars in direct response sales.
Given the client’s high price point, we were looking to generate a minimum of $40 million in initial new sales at their lowest price point. And as much as $170 million in initial new sales from successfully penetrating the client’s market at their highest price point.
This doesn’t take into consideration backend sales, up sales, or ongoing repeat sales for additional products or support services for years to come.
Clearly there was a lot of potential for success here.
In terms of total income generated, this quite likely was going to become the most successful single direct mail sales package of my entire 33 year history of writing sales copy for myself and others.
over the course of seven weeks I dedicated a tremendous amount of time to this project. Because the client ‘fudged’ a little about the amount of market research data they had on hand I had no choice but to work a number of periods beyond 24-hour stretches to get the work done. Many days I worked from 6 in the morning right past 7 or 8 the next morning. Many other days were two or three hours of sleep every other day.
Yes, I worked many days right into the next morning to the point of excluding family activities as well as turning away other projects to focus on this one client. Had I known going in that the client had ‘fudged’ a little about availability of market data for their company and products I simply would have charged more. I didn’t mind the workload. I actually like working. I’ve been told often I’m a workaholic. For me work is play. I just don’t like feeling taken advantage of.
Perhaps because I am a workaholic, I kept plugging away anyways. I wanted the project to be a huge success.
So, from this extensive amount of research I drafted a winning sales package for the client: primary sales letter mailer, cover letter, testimonial sheets, order form, lift notes. The works.
But there was a problem.
Do You Make These Mistakes In Advertising?
Instead of agreeing to go ahead with at least testing the sales piece based on proven and tested marketing approaches the client said, ‘No. Here is what I want you to write…‘ … and then began to dictate a sales letter to me.
His words were baseless fluff. The kind of hype you’d expect a used car salesperson to make up on the spot. No proof. Just hype. Was actually bordering on fraud.
You’re Fired!
My dilemma at that point was either to fire the client and refund his money, or write what he wanted, so I could get paid for my more than 200 hours of work devoted exclusively to this project.
Well, my decision to keep or fire the client wasn’t an easy decision to make. Here I was. Going into my seventh week with this project. Most days were 16 hours long. A few were more than 24 hours long.
Obviously too much was invested into this client to just walk away.
The amount of research required was extreme because the client had neither conducted nor provided me with any formal, concrete market research of their own. This is despite having claimed such existed prior to us initiating their project.
No matter. Uncovering hidden details other copywriters overlook or never search for in the first place is what I do.
The dreamy care-free, easy going lifestyle of a copywriter working from warm, white sandy beaches while sipping drinks from fancy umbrella straws doesn’t work for me.
I work because I enjoy what I do.
Shooting For The Moon
So to keep from firing the client and refunding my fee after all those weeks of effort, I sold him ‘the moon’.
What does that mean?
If you’ve ever watched the television series Mad Men, on AMC, you might recognize where I got that phrase.
There was an episode where the main character, Don Draper, was told by Mr. Hilton to create a Hilton Hotel campaign that included the moon. Instead, Draper created a powerful campaign that excluded Hilton’s pet idea.
No moon.
Hilton’s character was not happy. Livid might be a more accurate description of Hilton’s reaction.
Well, instead of forcing my idea on my client as the fictional Draper did to his client, I sold my client ‘the moon’.
In other words, my client got what he insisted on.
But I made certain to tell the client that the campaign I had originally created for him was a winning campaign worthy of testing. He rejected the idea and instead insisted on his pet idea.
So he got it. His ego stroking. But of course I wrote with honesty and integrity where my client dictated fluff. I cleaned up his idea so neither he nor I could be accused of “lying in print”.
Happy As A Pig In Mud
How’d my client react when he saw the copy?
The client tells me he has a great feeling about the letter and the extra, unanticipated direct mail insert I used for driving attention to the sales letter and all the other unexpected ‘extras’ he didn’t even realize were coming.
So yeah, he was happy to receive his pet idea.
Obviously I did not hold back in doing the best darned job for him that I could, despite disagreeing with his idea.
The 27-page mailer plus order form, plus multiple testimonial sheets, plus lift notes, plus cover letter for the mailer all were A+.
Still though, his desired approach is far short of the success he could have had, had he not insisted on receiving ‘the moon’.
Money Can’t Buy Happiness
Oh. When he later mentioned having a $15,000 project sitting in the wings, I told him I’d never work for him again. I was cordial and professional about it. But firm.The money isn’t worth the headaches of working with someone I can’t trust to be open and honest from the beginning.
Whose Money Is It Anyways?
Smart copywriters who want to get paid for their work know to accept the advice of the late David Ogilvy who said to, “not grudge clients the right to decide what advertising to run. It is their money.”So if you are near to hiring a copywriter for your next project, keep in mind that any client that starts off a conversation with a copywriter by saying, ‘this is what I want you to write…’ is likely to end up buying the moon.
Sure, a business owner who takes that step may get what he asks for… but there are many ways to stroke an ego that are less public and less embarrassing than insisting on a doomed copywriting pet idea.
A better approach to marketing is to test. Let the market itself prove which sales appeals it is most moved by.
But like Ogilvy said, clients have a right to run whatever type of ads they want to run. It’s their company. And their money.
Choosing which ads to run is a business decision best left to the client anyways.
If that is you, be wary of copywriters who’ll consistently pander to and manipulate clients for a buck.
Taking a loss ‘chasing the moon’ because a copywriter fears speaking up is a major reason sales copy fails. Another is failure to follow tested and proven advertising methods. If you want to know what works in direct mail, I’d encourage you to read our "$5,000 Direct Mail White Paper".
Yes, the “moon chasing” client paid that much and more to see the information. But you can have the report for free. Let’s just say this is a form of therapy for me :)
What to Do About Your Next Direct Mail Package
Start by downloading “The Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters Tips of All Time.” This white paper outlines proven processes for significantly improving the performance of your Direct Mail. It contains valuable advice written in plain English. And “The Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters Tips of All Time” will help you make a more informed choice about direct mail options before you invest money into your next campaign. Until now this white paper was available exclusively to clients paying a minimum of $5,000 for our copywriting services. A complimentary copy is available to you online as part of a marketing test (ahem…therapy). Grab “The Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters Tips of All Time.”
