The Big Questions People Ask

1. How are you different from an advertising agency?
Most advertising agencies work with mass advertising and media that does not require or request any action from the reader.  In contrast, we capitalize on the techniques of direct response marketing.  Direct response asks the recipient to take some sort of action.  This is what makes direct response so powerful.  The prospect picks up the phone and calls an 800#, or sends in a response card, or faxes back a form, or responds via e-mail.  The beauty of the direct response technique is that its impact on your bottom line is measurable and greatly increased.  We create powerful marketing  to generate business for our clients by knowing what works and what doesn’t.

2. What is it you do?
What we do at D.C. Woolsey & Associates is simply this - “We create and implement high-impact marketing strategies that help you get maximum leverage out of every dollar you spend on our services.”

3. I’ve tried direct mail and it didn’t work for my business.  How can you promise me a good response?
Direct mail is golden when it works, and can be costly and disappointing when it doesn’t. We’ve taken the entire process and created a system that greatly increases the odds that a mail campaign will produce a sizable return on investment.  Let me give you just 3 of 28 steps we’ve identified for implementing a successful mail campaign.

Step #4 — The 40/40/20 Rule - developed years ago by Ed Mayer who was considered to be the dean of direct mail for many years.  The rule states your success or failure in direct mail depends on three factors.

1. 40% - Your List.  If you mail to the best targeted list, you greatly increase you chance of success.
2. 40% - Your Offer.  Your price or deal is your offer.  What makes you special?  Why should a prospect buy from you instead of your competitor?  Why should they act now?
3. 20% - Everything Else.  A letter or a post card, the paper stock, the color, the use of graphics, cost of postage, etc.  The 20% is what people see first and remember, so it is important though not as easy to measure.

Step #12 — Mail yourself three direct mail mockups.  Do your best to create three samples as identical as possible to your intended pieces.  Study the test mailer when it arrives.  How does it look?  Did it stand out in the stack of mail?  What can be done to improve it?

Step #27 — Do several mailings to part of your prospect list before you mail to your entire list or audience.

4. Have you ever marketed my product or service?
“We sell green lawn mowers.  Have you ever sold green lawn mowers before?”  In direct marketing the prospect is the main focus, not the product or service.  People don’t care about the product, they care about what it will do for them.  To help you, we have identified 26 specific reasons people will buy a product or service.  We have successfully marketed a diverse range of both products and services.

5. We’ve always used sales people for selling our product or service.  How can you help us?
We can help you better manage your sales staff’s time and speed up the sales cycle.  Unless you are selling an inexpensive service or product, most people won’t buy from you the first time.  You need to establish a presence in their mind.  In marketing, people often talk about touches.  What’s a touch?  It’s simply each time a person sees or hears your message.

The movie industry back in the 1930's discovered that the average person had to have seven touches before he or she would go to see a new movie.  Some recent research now indicates eleven touches are required on average.

By using an integrated approach of ads, sales letters, phone calls and post cards it’s possible for you to significantly shorten your sales cycle and reduce cost.  People often refer to a 2% response rate in direct mail.  If you follow up a mailer with tele-marketing and post cards (i.e. - a mail, call, mail format) it’s quite possible to close 300% - 800% more sales.

6. How can I measure the results of the marketing campaign?
There are a number of ways to track various tactics used in direct response marketing.  We will help you figure out a way that works for you.  It’s usually best to appoint one individual in your company to be responsible for tracking results.  We will work with that person to help create an accurate and cost effective system.  Accurately tracking all aspects of your campaign is critical.  With accurate data we can help you maximize your return on investment (ROI).  To be a true “marketeer”, one must always be trying to beat the results of the existing control (the most successful mail package to date).

7. Will you help us get the mailing list?
Yes.  We assist you by selecting the absolute best list possible for you.  With a quality mailing list your ability to succeed with direct mail is greatly enhanced.

8. Do you design web sites?
We will write the copy and help create the concept and page layout, but when it gets down to the technical details we’ll recommend that you use who we use, proven experts in web site design and programming.

9. Can you help us move our existing customers to buy more services or product?
Most definitely!  Your existing customers can be one of the easiest and most rewarding targets.  You’ve probably heard that it’s five time as expensive to acquire a new client than it is to resell to an existing one.  All clients of D.C. Woolsey & Associates complete a marketing questionnaire that helps us to maximize the value of their existing clients.  Based on your present level of communication and relationship with existing clients, we can help you maximize the relationship for both of you.

10. How do you charge?
We usually charge by the project.  When we aren’t sure of all the details we’ll give you a range.  For example, “from $2,000 to $2,400...”

11. You do a lot of work for big companies.  We’re just a small company.  Will we be able to afford you?
While it’s true that we have a number of large clients like Marriott, Johnson & Johnson, Pella Windows and Maxer Corporation, we also work with a number of mid to small sized clients.  There are three things to keep in mind:

Big companies have budgets too.  They didn’t get big by squandering money.
We find small to mid-sized companies can be easier to help because decisions can be made quickly.  Also, small companies can be more flexible and open to change.
The companies for whom we’ve made the biggest improvements, strides and breakthroughs are the small to mid sized ones.

12. What’s the biggest mistake you see companies making?
Spending too much or too little on their marketing and sales efforts is the biggest mistake.  It’s not unusual to discover clients are spending way too much on a given area of their marketing while not spending enough on another area.  By simply reallocating funds, we can often dramatically effect your bottom line in a positive manner.  If you are a $2 million dollar company and in two years you want to be a $5 million dollar company, you’re going to have to invest more in your marketing!  Everyone has heard - “What came first – the chicken or the egg?”.  What about this - “What came first - profits or marketing?”.  Ninety-eight percent of the time it’s the marketing expenditure.