Direct Mail Vs. Everything Else
I’m a huge proponent of direct mail. It’s such an effective means of generating business for freelancers.
Why? Because it’s the most accurate and efficient self-promotion tool out there for pinpointing the exact companies you want to go after and win over.
Can you employ other marketing tactics aside from direct mail? Certainly you can. Let’s look at a few of the things you could do…
- You could spend countless hours mastering the myriad of search engine optimization (SEO) techniques required to rank high enough on search engine pages to make an impact (only to risk being bumped deeper down the list the very next day by competitors who spend even longer doing the same thing);
- You could spend a small fortune testing and retesting pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and wondering if the reason why it’s not paying off is because you haven’t quite yet found the right combination of words for your tiny little ad… or because virtually no one clicks on PPC ads anymore when they find what they’re looking for in organic search results;
- You could spend even more money running puny space ads in trade magazines, only to find out what countless other freelancers who have gone before you already know: they just don’t work.
Now, granted, you may have success with some of the options above, but the first three options mentioned share a major drawback in that they are not targeted tactics. In other words, they require that you invest your time and energy trying to attract the attention of people whom you did not specifically choose to go after.
There are other marketing tactics you can try. Article marketing, for example, can be quite effective over time. It is a tactic that requires some germination before you see results, however.
In contrast to all of the above methods, only direct mail gives you complete control over three critical factors which, when optimized, can work in your favor to generate powerful results by attracting the kind of clients who will give you high-paying, regular, repeat assignments.
These three factors are:
1. The Offer (what you’re offering to your target audience)
2. The Copy (the words you use in your sales letter to entice action)
3. The List (the people to whom you are mailing)
Wait! What about cold calls? Yes, cold calling is at least targeted. But with the prevalence of voice mail, its effectiveness has been reduced drastically. In fact, here’s my favorite definition of what cold calling really is…
“Cold calling is the act of dialing hundreds of phone numbers and leaving cheerful (but largely ineffective) voice mail messages for hundreds of ice-cold prospects who’ve never heard of you.”
Cold calling can work when it’s not cold. In other words, when you’ve warmed your targets up with a prior contact, like a sales letter, so that when you follow up by phone, they’ve at least heard your name before… and may even have your sales letter sitting on their desk as they listen to your voice mail.
So… that’s my opinion. What would you say is the most effective method of self-promotion for freelancers?
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Pete Savage is co-editor of The Wealthy Freelancer and host of the The Freelancer’s Friday Call-In Club, the world’s only FREE weekly teleseminar for freelancers. Membership is complimentary for subscribers to Pete’s free SAVAGE Marketing newsletter.
Ben Waugh says:
August 16th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Great Blog post. I am going to bookmark and read more often. I love the Blog template
Dianna Huff says:
August 18th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Pete,
May I respectfully disagree with you about SEO? I have found SEO to be very beneficial — as have my clients. An optimized site lets companies find you when they are ready to buy versus you going after them via direct mail and maybe they aren’t quite ready yet.
I tell people that if you don’t have an optimized site, you’re pretty much sending prospective clients to your competition.
Paul Lima says:
August 18th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Pete wrote: You could spend countless hours mastering the myriad of search engine optimization (SEO) techniques required to rank high enough on search engine pages to make an impact (only to risk being bumped deeper down the list the very next day by competitors who spend even longer doing the same thing)…
As a co-contributor to this blog, and as someone who generates about 50% of his new writing business and 75% of his training business through his website, I must object.
If you have a website you might as well take a few more hours and optimize it. The thing about optimization is this: it can be broadly based or targeted. Go to http://www.google.ca and type in these search terms: “paul lima” (you’d expect me to be number one, but wait - there are other paul limas online), “freelance writer toronto”, “copywriter toronto”, “media interview trainer”. There are other terms that I could give you, but I’ll keep them to myself (and the prospects who find me when they use them).
I am not #1 based on each term. To be #1 bases on each term would, as Pete says, take many hours — more than I prepared to put into SEO. However, I am high enough that I generate solid RFQs and business (you don’t have to be #1 to generate a click to your site) and yes, a few crank requests; welcome to the fringe side of the web.
Ironically, a couple of people who rank higher than I do either paid me to optimize their sites (not a plug; I don’t do this any more) or used my SEO book!
I really don’t mean to go so long on this, but if you have a website, optimize it. Otherwise, you are tossing away a great deal of potential value. You can find everything you need to know online at no cost. You can also find dissenting views - Google my name and you will see a link to “Roland Tanglao’s Weblog”. He says I don’t know what I am talking about. You should also be able to read my reply. And, bottom line, Google some of the other terms to find out if I know what I am talking about.
Pete Savage, Editor says:
August 18th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Thanks Dianna and Paul for weighing in! Yours are great examples of optimized web sites. And you’re absolutely right; a freelancer who ranks high on the first page or two of search engine rankings is sure to catch the attention of a prospective client on the day that she decides to go tapping around on Google… but why wait for that day to come? A decision maker may be psychologically ‘ready to buy’ (or close to ready to buy) before they perform an actual online search, and direct mail can get you in front of her earlier, and more frequently, if you hit your targets with multiple mailings. Using direct mail to catch decision makers one week, or two weeks, or one month prior to the day they do a Google search is one way to get an early leg up on your competitors who are eagerly waiting to be found via SEO.
When I think about the power of direct mail, I’m reminded of an old saying from the office equipment industry (I used to sell copiers for Pitney Bowes in a past life). In that industry, the adage was, “When a customer needs a new copier, he or she will usually call two sales reps: one from Xerox (the market leader at the time) and whoever else showed up on their doorstep last!”
In other words, if you keep showing up, you’ll make good things happen. For any freelancer who may not be the Xerox of his or her industry, it’s sound advice!
Ed Gandia, Editor says:
August 18th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
All of you make great points. I agree with both Dianna and Paul that you can have a steady stream of prospective clients knocking on your door if your site is optimized.
But here’s where I see folks stumble: when it comes to qualifying these prospective clients. Your site should do a very good job of helping these visitors qualify themselves. It should communicate clearly what you do, why you do it well, and whom you do it for. You should NOT promote yourself as the guy or gal who can do it all.
But don’t stop there. Don’t think that everyone will carefully self-qualify. You should also have a solid system for qualifying inquiries as they come in. Otherwise, you could end up with a bunch of inquiries who are simply shopping the market and aren’t ready to make a commitment or just looking for the lowest-cost provider.
I think Pete’s message is that direct mail enables you to temper some of this incoming (dare I say “reactive”) flow of inquiries with some carefully selected “suspects” (your direct mail list). In other words, a more proactive approach.
Most freelancers could use a good mix of both. The real question is, for you, what’s the ideal mix. I know that in my case, I like to see about 80% proactive measures (direct mail, networking, referrals, etc.) and 20% reactive (e.g., SEO) tactics.
And again, the more you depend on SEO and other reactive tactics, the better you have to become at qualifying inquiries.
No silver bullet here. Each tactic has its “costs.”
Paul Lima says:
August 18th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
As a lazy freelancer, I like to see my site generate work! Having said that, I agree that networking, cold calls, direct mail and generating repeat business are all important marketing components. Although I am a proponent of SEO, I am a bigger proponent of generating repeat business. I can’t believe how few freelancers have an active marketing plan in place that includes repeat business generation. However, before you can generate repeat business, you have to generate business. And direct mail is an important marketing tool for doing so.
Ed wrote: “You should NOT promote yourself as the guy or gal who can do it all.”
Agreed 100%. Go back to my business vision post on this blog and you will see that is where I think all marketing starts - with knowing what you do and who you do it for.
Eileen Coale says:
August 18th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
I can’t believe how few freelancers have an active marketing plan in place that includes repeat business generation.
Sounds like a good topic for a new blog post. I know I could use a little help in this area.
Ed Gandia, Editor says:
August 18th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Good suggestion, Eileen. One of us will definitely address this very soon. That will be a very interesting conversation!
-Ed
Dianna Huff says:
August 18th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
How come no one has mentioned e-newsletters? I have done only three direct mailings in 10 years. The bulk of my business comes from referrals, networking, online search, and my e-newsletter — which I’ve been publishing monthly since 2000.
John Hall says:
August 20th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
I’m inclined to agree with Pete. Cold Calls, locally (where I live) seem to have decent returns in a relatively small town. However, to really get the fires lit, you can’t beat direct mail. A return “request more info” card enclosed makes it easy to sort out the “not interested” to the (hopefully) paying clients. You can’t “click away” that letter or brochure on their desk.
Enjoy the site, Pete! Thanks for sharing that. Just hooked on today!
Angela K says:
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:43 pm
I think another powerful strategy is to contribute how-to articles to monthly newsletters. But how do I find those newsletters? Is Google Search enough to dig up a few good ones. Please advise. Thank you!
Pete Savage, Editor says:
September 26th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Right you are Angela! Contributing articles is a great way to get in front of your prospects. It’s well worth a few hours of searching online to identify opportunities for getting your name out there.
Break it out into two steps… 1) search to find out where your target audience is hanging out online (i.e. blogs, forums and other popular industry web sites), and 2) contribute useful information in any way you can, so that your name and web site appear in front of this audience. One method of contributing useful information is by offering to write articles, like you said. But it will take time and consistent effort pitching your article ideas. So while you’re pitching article ideas, you can also contribute comments to blogs and forums. Show up regularly and offer helpful advice, and you’ll start to make a name for yourself.