With consumers constantly inundated with advertising and promotions, it’s a battle to deliver a powerful message that is well remembered. Is there an art to this or is it largely luck? Well.. you probably guessed it. Like everything in marketing, it’s about your creative thought-process behind that message. Whether it’s a TV jingle that you just can’t get out of your head or a slogan that you’d recognize a mile off, they’ve all been designed to evoke emotion.

Emotion Is the Key

We remember messages by an emotional recall. The exact emotion could be anything, as long as it activates that emotion long after the receiver has engaged with that content.

Here are two examples:

• A radio advert for a new local cleaning service might have a theme tune that is so silly it becomes humorous. This creates an emotional response because as you listen, you might laugh at the lyrics or sing-along because it’s so outrageously silly.
• A postcard sharing a new local charity helping animals in need might have such a strong visual that it creates empathy in the form of compassion, or even sadness, that in turn means we don’t forget that message for the rest of the day, week or month.

Some messages are designed to make the receiver take action there and then (like the charity postcard). Other messages, like a TV or radio advert with a memorable jingle, are also created to build brand awareness and association for future needs. When you hear a radio advert for home insurance it’s unlikely you will need to renew your insurance around that time. However, if you can recall the song and the name of the business, it becomes etched in your memory for that point at which you are looking for a new home insurance providers.

Humor, happiness, excitement, outrage, sadness, compassion. Generally, it doesn’t matter what type of emotional response a receiver has, as long as it’s not a neutral one.

No response = no impact.
But it is worth noting that if your message generates outrage or sadness that this is your intended response. This type of response would only work for select businesses, like non-profits or political campaigns.

You should initially try to select an approach which you feel connects best ‘for that specific audience’.  It all starts with identifying the specific audience and trying to understand which appeal will really connect (disrupt) them.

When Length Matters

It’s simply not true to use a blanket statement like ‘short and snappy messages are always better’. This completely depends on the message itself (the complexity of the issue) and the media being used. When running a direct mail postcard campaign, a short hard-hitting message is very effective. With a postcard you want to say as much as you can with very few words so short, snappy and packing punch is the way to go.
If you sell something a little more complex, although you still don’t want to overwhelm receivers with too much information, you also don’t want to neglect key selling points.

Finally, ask yourself, is your message even worth remembering? What’s so great about it? What makes it different? The message itself is still very important. Are you simply selling local cleaning services or are you RE-DEFINING domestic cleaning in family households?

Zairmail (www.zairmail.com) is the fastest and easiest way to send (real) postal mail. Give us a call anytime at 888.898.0066, we would be happy to help with your direct mail needs.

The call-to-action (CTA) is one of the most important elements of any promotion. It doesn’t matter if it’s an online or offline promotion, without a call-to-action your audience is left with no direction on what do to next. With offline direct mail marketing, CTA’s aren’t about just ‘clicking here’ and taking action in this way, but they are still about direct actions and direct results.

The Rules of a CTA

To start, ask yourself, what do you need customers to do first? If you’re in real estate and your end goal is to close that sale, how does that process start? Possibly it’s with a phone call. Your CTA would, therefore, need to be something like ‘Call Us Now’ followed by a phone number. In this example, the CTA could be even more enticing, so read on to find out how to take this further. Remember this key rule for a CTA: a CTA should be big, bold and explicitly clear!

Eye-catching creative isn’t enough if it fails to deliver responses via a strong call-to-action. It might stand out amongst other mail and it might well be read, but you must make it clear what the receiver should do next. They won’t take the time, or expend the energy, to discover this on their own, it needs to be explicitly clear.

So, step one is to ask what you want customers to do first. What action do you desire from them? The second part is to ask yourself, what benefit am I offering them? Finally, are you driving an incentive to make them take that action? Why should they take that action?

The incentive is called the “offer”.  The offer is the second most important piece of direct response (mail, tv, …other) campaign.  The CTA is an explicit request to take advantage of the offer.

The formula for successful direct response is 70/20/10 – 70% list, 20% offer, 10% creative.

We know that when we get the right offer, in front of the right audience, good things happen.

Creative helps us break through the clutter (get noticed or interrupt).  The offer is what compels people to respond. The offer needs to be compelling enough that no one in their right mind would ever be able to say no – though we still need to make money.  We can look at the first promotion as acquisition cost if it leads to regular ongoing orders (lifetime customer value).

The offer should be non-threatening or low perceived risk.  We also need to reduce/remove any barriers. You see how people say free, no obligation, complete money-back guarantee, free signup, not credit card required…?  These are all designed to reduce barriers for responders.

Enticing CTA’s

You could really make your CTA’s enticing, rather than the standard ‘Call us Now’ or ‘Visit our Website’. Add to this with powerful phrases such as ‘40% off when you call us today’. [This is the offer + CTA] You can add time-sensitive incentives or just give them a direct message such as ‘Call now for an exclusive quote’. If you don’t have the capacity to take calls, or this isn’t your desired action, then you might want to focus on driving website visits. This might seem like a difficult task without ‘click here’ buttons that you would find on a digital promotion. However, you can strategically position your web address with a CTA such as, ‘Visit our website for 20% off new sales!’.

Design is Key

The design of the CTA is also incredibly important and should be taken into consideration along with the overall design of the promotion (whether that’s a postcard, flyer or snap pack). Think about the different elements of the design, from the color of the CTA; does it pop against the rest of the design? The position of the CTA; could you place it higher on the design rather than at the end? Finally, think about the size of the CTA. You want it large enough to be seen, but not too dominating that the key message/benefits you’re trying to convey from the promotion get lost.

If you’re new to direct mail you could benefit from a FREE direct mail design session with one of our design team members here at Zairmail. We have everything you need to get your campaign off the ground, including targeted direct mail lists and free direct mail sample kits.

We have already helped 100’s of customers enhance their direct response programs and supercharge returns.  Can you afford not to produce the same results for your business?  Click here to schedule a free consultation and start driving greater business growth now!

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