A tough IM nut to crack - your advice?

[JonathanBoettcher]

Hi guys,

I've got a client who wants to setup an internet marketing campaign for a pretty small and very targeted niche. There are less than 1000 of these people in Canada, and on top of that, as managers and supervisors in this particular resource industry they're not likely to be doing a lot of searching online.

My client has a list of prospects, so I'm thinking of starting out with a postcard that gets their attention (his product will help keep them out of jail by limiting their liability, so we can use that as a hook). The postcard will drive them to a website where I'll have a video of my client answering their most pressing question, then ask for their email to see more videos & get more information.

The email campaign will be mostly newsletters with industry info.

I'll then turn the video transcripts into articles and use them for SEO purposes, and i'll also post the videos around the net with Traffic Geyser.

Individual sales could run from $20,000 to $300,000 each, depending.

So, I've got two questions:
1. Do you guys have any great ideas on what else I could do to really make an impact with this campaign? Any other steps you would recommend? Any great ideas for capturing the attention of extremely busy managers?

2. What do you think I should charge for this? I haven't done anything quite like this before, and when we talked last he wants me to put something together in terms of action plan and price, and we'll likely go ahead with it.

Your ideas & suggestions are MUCH appreciated!

Cheers
Jonathan

[jmidas]

is he selling something to pimps?

[JonathanBoettcher]

yeah - and I've got the mailing list for all of them in Canada! =)

Now... what else could we do with that I wonder?

[Dan C. Rinnert]

Originally Posted by JonathanBoettcher

1. Do you guys have any great ideas on what else I could do to really make an impact with this campaign? Any other steps you would recommend? Any great ideas for capturing the attention of extremely busy managers?

Send at least three postcards to get their attention. The first one probably won't be sufficient.

And, would these busy managers have secretaries that sort their mail, and toss the junk? If so, you're going to need to design the postcard to get the gatekeepers' attention so they think it's worth passing along and then to get the managers' attention once they do have it in hand.

[JonathanBoettcher]

Hmm good point. Yes, they will likely have secretaries sorting the mail. They are essentially plant managers.

I was thinking of a postcard of a manager with a white construction hat on sitting behind bars, and a headline saying "Don't Let This Be You" or something to that affect.

Could also try bulky mail I guess - like the rubber chicken approach. This one would likely get past the gatekeepers, though the postcard might not.

[Dan C. Rinnert]

Originally Posted by JonathanBoettcher

Hmm good point. Yes, they will likely have secretaries sorting the mail. They are essentially plant managers.

I was thinking of a postcard of a manager with a white construction hat on sitting behind bars, and a headline saying "Don't Let This Be You" or something to that affect.

Could also try bulky mail I guess - like the rubber chicken approach. This one would likely get past the gatekeepers, though the postcard might not.

Or just lumpy mail.

What if you send them a padded envelope? Inside the envelope, have a metal file with a note tied around it. Inside the note, say something like, "There's a better way of getting out of jail..." followed by your message about your service and how you can keep them out of jail to begin with.

Of course, you could do that with a small box too.

[Loren Woirhaye]

If your client won't make at least 7 points of contact in
a 1 year period they should abandon the whole idea and
it will probably lose money.

Postcards alone are insufficent - though they can start
something. Read Jay Abraham, Dan Kennedy, Jeffrey Lant -
or don't read them... and lose money. These guys will
all pound you with the reality of direct mail. It's a tough
nut to crack but you can win the battle by being more
committed than the competition.

A "lumpy" direct mailing will get opened and read. A follow-up
call to such a mailing will be greated with entusiasm. If
your client is too cheap to send 1st class mail and do
phone follow-up I would take the concept to a client
who is not too cheap to do it properly.

[jmidas]

Loren is right - dont start a mail campaign unless you are dedicated to making it work.

Since the list is not that big, he needs to send mail first class (or even Fedex 2 day or equiv). Lumpy is good. Don't waste time with bulk or other standard junk mail tactics. The list is small and in a high dollar product.

A follow up call a couple days later is a great idea. Again, the list is not that big so calling is within reason.

Follow that first mail and call with a series of other mailings - change up envelope size, type, etc...

I really dont think a post card approach works when you have someone screening mail - most will be tossed long before the intended target gets them.

If you have their direct numbers, you could even try voice broadcast - you can do them for a penny and a half each - letting them know to watch for the fedex (or large envelope, etc..) that is coming tomorrow and what they need to do ...

[JonathanBoettcher]

Yeah I like the lumpy mail idea. Originally the client came to me wanting to set up some internet marketing, however I thought of starting with direct mail because of how specific the target was. The point of the mailer is to get them to the internet where we'll follow up with emails on a regular basis.

I like the voice broadcast idea, however I'm not sure if the client has direct lines in his list. I think nearly every phone number listed would be for a switchboard.

Any ideas what should be charged for this type of job?

[Frank Donovan]

Hi Jonathan

If I understand your OP correctly, there are up to 1000 potential prospects for your client's product/service.

And..

Originally Posted by JonathanBoettcher

Individual sales could run from $20,000 to $300,000 each, depending.

So if you were to contact all prospects and achieved just a 1% success rate, the sales value could be anything between $200,000 and $3m.

You haven't specified what margin they will earn on the sales or whether there's any upsell potential.

Nor do we know their marketing budget.

However, if the prospects are spread throughout Canada, I'm wondering why your clients are so keen on an IM campaign.

If I were them, with the sort of potential sales value available, I would do everything I could to contact the prospects directly. This might mean:

- Find out what is the most popular seminar/exhibition/trade show for the industry and either sponsor the whole event or at least be represented there.

- Organize an industry-specific event and invite the relevant managers (not many execs turn down the chance of a freebie, if it can be justified as work-related).

- Get to their place of work and talk to them personally.

With such a small target market and such a high sales value, it doesn't make sense to me to spend time getting these guys to find your product online.

Internet marketing is a wonderful thing, but it's not a replacement for good, old-fashioned, offline salesmanship.


Best,


Frank

[JonathanBoettcher]

Hi Frank,

Yeah, I don't know the answers to many of those questions - ie margins, budget etc. I do know that he has been pushing the marketing fairly hard last year, though I don't know what specifically he has been doing. It has been showing good results though, and he now wants to add an internet arm to it.

He'll be going to a trade show in May where many of them will be in attendance. I'll mention he do a special event or dinner or something for them...

I realize IM isn't a replacement for offline stuff - but I think it can serve a purpose here...

My client has years and years of experience in the field, and we want to do a series of short interviews with him, so he can essentially be the face of the company to these people, and draw them in further... at least that's the plan!