Direct response marketing:
some guerrilla insights

Direct response marketing is a lot different from indirect response marketing, although guerrillas like it best when the two are teamed up. The first is geared to obtain orders right here and right now. The second is geared to obtain orders eventually.

Although a fair amount of standard, indirect marketing often is necessary to set the stage, to make prospects ready to buy, and to separate your company from strangers, it's when you initiate direct marketing that you first taste blood.

As you well know, we are living in the Age of Information, most of it very easy to obtain. But information is hardly enough for a guerrilla. And information is not insight. It's the combination of information and thought that leads to insight and it's insight that's going to make you a stand-out in the direct response arena.

Direct response works immediately - or not
The first insight for you to absorb is that direct response marketing either works immediately or not at all. Unlike standard marketing which changes attitudes slowly and ultimately leads to a sale if you go about things right, guerrilla direct response marketing changes minds and attitudes instantly and leads to a sale instantly if you go about things right.

When it works, you know it. You don't have to sit around and wonder. You don't have to wait months and months for your message to penetrate the mind of your prospect. Your time-dated direct marketing offer either results in a sale right now -- or it doesn't.

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How to succeed with direct marketing - remember these points:

1. Your offer is omnipotent. The best presentation in the world has a major uphill battle if you make a weak or ordinary offer.
2. The market to whom you direct your message can make or break your campaign. Saying the right thing to the wrong people results in no sale.
3. What you say and how you say it is easily as important as to whom you say it. Talk in terms of your prospects and how your offer benefits them.
4. Carefully planning every cent of your campaign for maximum profits requires as much creativity as your message. Guerrillas excel at this.
5. The more that people have been exposed to your other marketing, the more readily they'll accept what you offer with your direct marketing.

Some principles of indirect marketing apply to direct marketing. You must still talk of the prospect, not yourself, and you must make a clear and cogent offer. But from that point on, direct marketing is a whole new ballgame. And it's one that you can win with the insights of the guerrilla.

Avoid these blunders:
Stupid mistakes in horrid abundance have been made by otherwise bright companies when testing the direct response waters. Fortunately, guerrillas can learn from these blunders, making those waters a bit safer. Listing them would take an endless series of books, but it's worth your time if I make a start by providing insight into ten of the most notable:

As direct response vehicles become more sophisticated and prolific, guerrillas have the insight to zero in on the exact people to contact, so as not to waste time or money on strangers. Successful mailings to strangers net as high as two percent response rates. Successful mailings to customers and qualified prospects net up to ten percent. Precision leads to profits.

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Jay Conrad Levinson is the creator of the Guerrilla Marketing series of books - the best selling series of business books in history. He is also responsible for some of the most successful ad campaigns in history, including the most successful in history: "The Marlboro Man". Jay is responsible for countless small businesses becoming huge household names.

If you found this article useful, we really recommend than you read his latest book: "Guerrilla Marketing for the New Millennium". For once, Jay has not put his book into general circulation. You can only buy it from here. Check out the details before you buy.. Click on through