Download Direct marketing creativity – how to do it

Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Chapter 10.1
Direct marketing creativity – how
to do it
This chapter includes:
J
Back to basics
J
What makes good direct salesmanship?
J
Don’t just do direct, think direct
J
Preparation before inspiration
J
Be clear about what you are selling
J
Be clear who you are talking to
J
Lead with the main benefit
J
Speak your brand
J
Make the creative sweat
J
Have one direction, one destination
About this chapter:
I
n this chapter we look at the special function of creativity in direct marketing
– above all, at the levers we can pull to produce a profitable response. We are
not concerned here with the finer points of copywriting or design, but rather
with what constitutes a response-generating communication; how it can be
planned and assembled. Most importantly, how direct response differs from other
forms of advertising. How can we make the most of the sales opportunities in
whichever medium by concentrating on those with a predisposition to respond to
what we are offering? How can we maximise the chances of our message being
noticed, read, understood, accepted and acted upon? The underlying principles
are applicable to all direct marketing channels, including the exciting new
opportunities in digital media.
Author/Consultant: Terry Hunt
10.1 – 1
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Terry Hunt F IDM
Chairman, EHS Brann
Terry joined direct
marketing and
fundraising specialists
Smith Bundy as a
copywriter in 1978. After four years he left to
become Creative Director of DDM Advertising. In
December 1986, he set up ground-breaking direct
agency Evans Hunt Scott.
Under the creative direction of Terry Hunt and
Ken Scott, Evans Hunt Scott earned over 100 UK
and international direct marketing and
advertising awards. Terry also built one of the
most respected creative departments in the
business. In 1993 Terry was closely involved in the
development and testing of the Tesco Clubcard,
and was instrumental in the re-launches of the
Clubcard programme to wide media and City
acclaim during 1999 and 2004. In the two years
prior to The Labour Party’s election in 1997, Terry
led the agency team charged with raising £7
million plus - successfully exceeded - for the
Party’s election “war chest”
In 1996, Terry was voted Agency Direct Marketer
of the Year. He was elected a Fellow of the
Institute of Direct Marketing in 1997 - the same
year that Evans Hunt Scott was voted Campaign
‘Direct Marketing Agency of the Year’. In 2001
Terry led the merger of Evans Hunt Scott with
digital design agency Real Time, to create a
radically new direct-digital-data integrated
agency. In 2002 he led the merger with Brann to
create EHS Brann, one of the biggest direct
agencies in Europe. In 2004 he published
“Scoring Points”, the story of Tesco and its unique
success in customer loyalty. The book was named
as WH Smith Business Book of the Month in
February of that year. In 2005 Terry was cited by
Marketing Direct magazine as the UK’s “most
powerful” individual in the UK direct marketing
industry.
Chapter 10.1
Direct marketing creativity – how
to do it
Back to basics
I think a ‘back to basics’ approach is needed in direct marketing, especially when
it comes to the words and pictures we use.
Having been a participant in direct marketing as it has grown in scale and
influence over the last couple of decades it’s been thrilling to see how major
companies and their brands have embraced all that DM has to offer. And as a
businessman I’ve benefited from the shift of budget to more accountable
marketing communication. In the same period I’ve seen the creative challenges
grow, from off-the-page to long-format DRTV, from mail order catalogues to email
marketing and everything in between. We’re working in direct response, brand
response, loyalty marketing, internet marketing, SMS, CRM, direct promotions,
customer experience, contract publishing, banner advertising and integrated
media campaigns. Oh, and we do some direct mail too. It’s an incredibly broad
canvas for our creative talent to cover. But faced with all this exciting innovation
we shouldn’t forget why we got the opportunities in the first place.
10.1 – 2
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Marketing money is spent on direct marketing because it works; demonstrably,
measurably, controllably and profitably. And a lot of that is down to what we have
learned and relearned from creative testing over decades of investment.
So what follows is a deliberate attempt to talk basic DM. It’s based as much on
the experience of getting it wrong as well as right. I’ve also organised the argument
in short sections. For me it’s like unbundling the essential toolkit that’s available
to direct marketing creatives: propositions, offers, personalisation, benefits, the
fact base, persuasive copy and calls to action. Those sorts of things. And brand of
course, because strong branding is a very clever way to get a lower cost per
response.
But before we put crayon to paper let’s first consider what direct marketing is and
what it isn’t.
Strange but true
Direct marketing has to do a very different job to conventional advertising.
In fact you could say there are two sorts of marketing. There is direct marketing
and then there is indirect marketing. Both happen in every medium, from print to
TV to web. But while the latter measures success by influencing customers, the
former measures success by activating them.
Most advertising is written and designed to appeal to as broad an audience as
possible; direct marketing is aimed primarily at the small minority who are most
likely to be predisposed to respond immediately.
Most advertising seeks to inform, intrigue or entertain to gain interest; direct
marketing seeks to interest, justify and motivate to gain a transaction.
While most advertising starts from the product or the brand, the ’we’ and works
out to the market, direct marketing starts from the customer, the ’you’ and works
back to the product or brand.
Or look at it another way. If you want people to notice you, tell them a joke – just
make sure it’s really funny.
If you want people to respond to you, make them an offer – just make sure it’s
really compelling.
10.1 – 3
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
A checklist of direct differences
G
Advertising seeks awareness, direct marketing seeks response
G
Advertising aims to change minds, direct marketing aims to change
behaviour
G
Advertising turns suspects into prospects, direct marketing turns
prospects into customers
G
Advertising focuses on a product, direct marketing focuses on a
proposition
G
Advertising talks to communities, direct marketing talks to
individuals
G
Advertising creates disposition, direct marketing targets
predisposition
G
Advertising is theatre, direct marketing is retail
In fact the retail analogy is a useful one in creating direct marketing. I’ll return to
it later, but first let’s think about what happens most in retail – selling.
What makes good direct salesmanship?
I was once asked to give a seminar at the sales conference of a large US business
services company. This company sold financial information to all sizes of
businesses in all sectors, and ran a highly successful, highly rewarded team of
fiercely competitive salespeople. My job was to talk to them about lead generation:
the lifeblood of their business. They were a pretty scary, egotistical bunch, so I
started by talking about them, which seemed to be one of their favourite subjects.
I asked them to tell me what made them so effective as individuals, and what they
believed in their experience were the main characteristics of successful sales
professionals. There was clear unanimity. Here’s a summary of what they said:
G
Friendliness/accessibility/empathy
G
Confidence/no hedging
G
Authority/ knowledge/communicating benefits
G
Clarity/brevity
G
Ability to close the deal
Then with a theatrical flourish I revealed an almost identical list that I had
prepared earlier, describing the characteristics of successful direct marketing. My
point was that of all the disciplines in marketing communications, direct is the
closest cousin of face-to-face selling. David Ogilvy said that “advertising is
salesmanship in print.” I’m sure that in our more demarcated times he would
have revised his definition to attribute it to direct marketing.
10.1 – 4
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
When you consider where the direct marketing trade has come from you see that
it has its roots in a sales culture. In the beginning was mail order. Mail order
directly sells products from a catalogue, in the same way that a supermarket
directly sells tinned soup from the shelf.
All the knowledge that makes direct marketers successful in the early twenty first
century is the result of what was pioneered by the mail order companies in the
early twentieth. And that includes the design and messaging techniques used by
the most advanced digital brands like Amazon.com.
Just a few decades ago when this was an infant business being developed by
creative pioneers like George Smith and Graeme McCorkell in the UK and Lester
Wunderman in the States, this sales heritage would never have been questioned.
Now we work in a growing, multi-billion dollar industry employing thousands of
intelligent, well-paid people and more computing power than a dozen space
programmes. Direct marketers work with all the major companies in the world.
In fact they work with many of the major governments too.The budgets have
multiplied, the numbers have soared, the stakes are now enormously high. We
can’t afford to rely on raw creativity and sales bluff alone. Direct marketing has
grown up. We’re in MBA territory now.
But there’s the problem. The gentrification of direct marketing has brought with it
the baggage that weighs down every mature business discipline. There is the
abstract language. There are consultants. There are layers of managers and
analysts. There is interminable PowerPoint.
Yet underneath it all it is still selling. And creatively it is about salesmanship in
print, pixels and digits.
Recently I was talking to Tim Walton who heads up the company behind Telegraph
Readers’ Offers. It was great to hear that the entrepreneurial creativity of direct
marketing is alive and kicking. This will always be a great business for those who
want to trust their instincts. That’s a fine place to start if you want to create
successful marketing. Direct marketing will always be a business for natural born
sellers.
British Gas is one of the biggest direct marketers in the UK. To sustain their
market-leading status in energy and home services they constantly test and refine
their offers to customers. In this instance they are defending their central heating
service territory against new competitors. That means confronting the price issue,
and you can’t get more price-confrontational than this A4 press insert. It says that
if you thought British Gas service only came at higher prices, think again. Some
brands are shy of talking price, few customers are. A good example of
salesmanship in print follows:
10.1 – 5
10.1 – 6
£16
Expert care for your boiler now starts from just £6 a month*
£6
The standards you expect –
now at a price you wouldn’t
British Gas now has a range of HomeCare services
for boilers and central heating systems designed to
suit different homes and different budgets: from a
simple yearly safety check† to the complete peace
of mind of Central Heating Care.
For advice on how we can help to care
for your central heating, call now on
0845 600 1054
quoting DR16
Phone lines open 7am–11pm seven days a week.
Your call may be monitored and recorded for
quality assurance.
house.co.uk/gascare
Offer ends 31st August 2005
a month*
BUSINESS REPLY SERVICE
Licence No. NEA4922
If you would like this leaflet in an alternative format
such as large print, Braille or audio cassette, please
call 0845 600 1054.
British Gas
HomeCare Membership Office
Bridge Street
Leeds
LS2 3YY
Customers with impaired hearing who have a text
phone can call us on 18001 0845 070 0178.
Figure 10.1.1 British Gas £16 visual
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
A checklist for direct salesmanship
This could be a useful list of questions to use when judging its effectiveness to
sell:
G
Is it clear why they are talking to me? Do I understand what they are
saying?
G
Is what they are saying compelling to me?
G
Does it show understanding or empathy for me?
G
Am I clear about the benefits?
G
Is it engaging and friendly or does it boast or take me for granted?
G
Is it believable? Do they seem to know what they are talking about?
G
Is the communication clear and honest, or are they using weasel
words?
G
Do I feel confident about responding? Is this authoritative enough?
G
Do they get to the point or waste my precious time?
G
Do I know what to do next? Do they make it easy for me to respond?
So when creating any form of DM remember that its principal purpose is to sell. It
may be a soft sell or a hard sell, a subtle sell or a brash sell. It can be a one-stage,
two-stage, or twelve-stage sell. Whatever, if it is direct marketing it should be
unashamed about selling in some shape or form. And to succeed in selling, you
don’t merely need to know the right techniques. You need to think right.
Don’t just do direct, think direct
Selling is a state of mind, an enthusiasm, something you have to love if you’re
going to do it well. It has to come from the heart as well as the head. You need
belief in the product you’re selling, in the medium you’re using and in the
rightness of you selling it.
Belief, enthusiasm and confidence should ooze from every pore of your mailings
and ads. If you don’t believe in what you’re doing it shows. It gets through the
work you produce and sows seeds of doubt in the customers’ minds. Why should
they bother buying a product if you can’t be bothered to sell it?
Now this may sound rather unBritish, and it is. There is a deep-rooted distrust,
even contempt, in our culture for salesmanship. As a word it is often used as an
insult. With a few exceptions, salespeople are not respected here.
This explains why so much conventional British advertising, what I call indirect
marketing, entertaining though it might be, is shy about selling anything. It can be
oblique, subtle, subversive, ironic and charming. Anything but simple,
straightforward and determined to close a deal. We can’t afford such
squeamishness in direct marketing.
10.1 – 7
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Just consider the word ’direct’ itself. Look it up in the dictionary. It can mean
’without intermediary’, a direct transaction with a consumer. But it has more
significant meaning – “not deviating …unambiguous …immediate …
straightforward”.
The language we use is important because it denotes how we think. Think direct.
A checklist for direct thinking
G
Think about the customer first
G
Think what’s important to that customer
G
Think what the customer needs
G
Think what that customer understands
G
Think what the customer desires
G
Think what language the customer uses
G
Think how you can answer the customer’s needs
G
Think what the customer will do
G
Think like a sales professional
So direct marketing is not just a means of distribution; it’s a way of thinking
about how we engage with customers. So what’s next? Putting the thinking into
practice.
Preparation before inspiration
The first step in producing effective DM creative is not to do any. Don’t scribble
headlines. Don’t fold up paper formats. Don’t look at photographers’ portfolios.
Don’t brainstorm promotional gimmicks. The first thing to do is get prepared.
There are other chapters in this estimable manual advising you on how to gather
market information, do research, analyse competitors and understand response
data. So there’s no point me covering the same ground. Suffice to say that all
those are essential preparations if you want to produce relevant and effective
creative work.
Let me highlight a few preparations that should involve the creative people and
the people briefing them.
Creative briefing
A creative brief is the fuel that drives the machine. Pump in the refined highoctane stuff and you should expect high performance in return. Use chicken
grease and don’t be surprised if it won’t get started.
10.1 – 8
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
A creative brief should be the distillation of all the understanding, thinking and
insight you could credibly be asked for before expecting a creative person to start
work.
A creative brief should be a springboard of opportunity based on customer
insight, not a statement of predicament based on ignorance.
A creative brief is 90 per cent of the job done; the creatives are paid to magic up
the final 10 per cent.
And finally a creative brief is not just a piece of paper. A creative brief is a
thought-provoking conversation between the briefer (who should know what
needs to be done) and the briefee (who should know how to creatively do it). In
fact, the best briefing is a creative experience itself. To inspire one of our teams
about the service offered by British Gas heating engineers the account manager
took them out in one of the vans for a day and briefed them as they observed the
engineer at work. Now that was preparation for a new big- budget DRTV
campaign, so the investment time was proportionate. But no matter how humble
the task, smart and inspiring briefing is always time well spent.
Figure 10.1.2 British Gas uses DRTV
10.1 – 9
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Concentrate on the proposition
Any creative brief that deserves serious attention has a focal point. It’s the proposition. The
IDM defines a direct marketing proposition as a single-minded approach to an emotional
need supported by a rational argument that inspires people to act. I prefer to describe it as
the reason to respond.
As with all forms of advertising, the proposition is grounded in a product fact and
expressed as the answer to a customer need or desire. In direct marketing we
summarise this as the key benefit (more on this later). It’s the best answer you
can give to that ever-present question: “what’s in it for me?”
The benefit must be substantiated by facts. These facts will come from different
sources: the features of the product itself, endorsements from already satisfied
customers, comparative performance with competitor products, qualitative
improvements from previous versions and independent best buy tables etc.
Expanding on the relevant facts makes up the ‘supports’ for the argument and
forms the body of your communication – the way you justify your proposition.
So it is vital to successful creative work that there is a fact base to work from.
Direct marketing creative that is spun from thin air is never going to convince a
prospect to become a customer. In fact the dependency on a solid fact base is
greatest in direct marketing compared to sales promotion or general advertising.
It’s logical really. If you are trying to get someone to commit to making a
transaction that directly leads to a sale they’ll need sufficient facts to give them
the confidence to act.
Consider the example of a ‘flexible mortgage’:
The product fact is that it allows the customer to vary their monthly
payments.
The benefit is that it liberates them to pay more when they’re flush with
cash or take a payment holiday if they’ve built up some surplus.
The supports come from the ease of doing it, from the proven customerfriendliness of the brand and from the typical example table that shows how
it might work for someone like you etc.
The proposition might be: “With our flexible mortgage you can take control
of your interest payments.”
And the compelling creative expression of all this good news could be: “Do
you want to pay your mortgage off 10 years early?”
Simple isn’t it? You can see from that example that the creative thought is the
logical outcome of a well-substantiated brief. If only it was always that
straightforward, but we can but try!
10.1 – 10
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Be a junk mail junkie
Everyone involved in creating direct marketing should become a collector of
things that most sane people throw away. Get on every mailing list, cut out direct
response ads, Sky Plus the daytime TV commercials, save spam, enter prize
draws, complete questionnaires, irritate your family and burden your postman.
All the stuff you see from competitor direct marketers is relevant. You can follow
trends. You can pick up ideas. You can spot repeat usage. Think about it, if
something is repeated – an off-the-page press offer, a door-drop leaflet or whatever
– it’s working. Even the thickest marketer is unlikely to keep pumping something
out that doesn’t deliver a profitable response. So ask yourself why? What is it
about that ad that hits the spot for customers? What are they testing here? What
makes that mailing work?
The advice I give to companies with low budgets, possibly brands trying direct
marketing for the first time, is never, never innovate; always, always plagiarise.
The easiest way to blow a small test budget is to try to be original. The world is
littered with the brave corpses of mould-breaking ideas that didn’t quite make it,
because there wasn’t the money to cope with partial successes and to invest to
turn them into profit. Which would you prefer to be known for: Microsoft
Windows or the Sinclair C5? For every rich entrepreneur who never had an
original thought in their lives, there are a thousand original thinkers who saw
their infant ideas fade and die. So if you’re trying to make a modest marketing
budget work in DM your duty is to scour your market, see what’s working and
steal from it mercilessly.
Figure 10.1.3 First Direct space ad.
10.1 – 11
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
First Direct is widely respected for its quality of customer service. They should
also be credited with consistency and tenacity in their direct response advertising.
The proposition is straightforward: “Switch your bank to First Direct today and
we’ll pay you”. They’ve been running that one for 15 years so it’s probably a
banker. Strange how few brands find out what works and stick with it.
This is no more cynical than the methods of research scientists who start from
established theory before testing new hypotheses.
Learn to love creative testing
In fact best DM practice is scientific. That goes for the creative process too. In
general direct marketing is an expensive way to do business if you measure it by
cost per contact. Even in big media like the national press a direct response ad is
only targeting a small proportion of the audience – the predisposed – at any one
time. So direct marketers should be constantly testing, learning, rolling out and
testing again in order to increase incrementally the effectiveness of their
communications.
And what can you creatively test? Everything. But the main components worth
testing will be:
G
Proposition 1 versus proposition 2
G
Offer versus no offer
G
Headline A versus headline B
G
Format (large) versus format (small)
G
Colour versus mono
G
Illustration versus text only
G
Call to action 1 versus call to action 2
G
Response mechanic 1 versus response mechanic 2
The testing science should not be kept from creative people. And creative people
should not hide from it. It’s the job.
These days the best testing environment for direct marketing is online. It’s faster,
cheaper, more flexible and more reactive to customer response than any other
channel. In fact it’s the ultimate DM medium. These MPU (messaging panels)
campaigns for First Plus both ran head-to-head in early January, targeted at postChristmas debt sufferers. Each element was tested and the responses monitored
hour by hour to optimise the effectiveness.
10.1 – 12
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Credit Card ISP
Online
Pay Cheque ISP
Figure 10.1.4 First Plus MPUs
10.1 – 13
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
A checklist for preparation
When you’re preparing a direct marketing piece it’s useful to use the AIDCA model
as a planning tool. This is the mnemonic used by salesforces throughout the
world – Attention, Interest, Desire, Conviction, Action.
AIDCA recognises that there are logical steps that you can plan to successfully
engage a customer and convert them to sale. You have to get a prospect’s attention
first; you then capture their interest, encourage desire, reassure them enough to
establish conviction and then culminate with inviting them to take action:
G
Attention = headline/visuals/flashes/product flags/positioning/format
(big, small, different, colours)/pop-ups
G
Interest = proposition/news/benefits/features/advantages
G
Desire = offers/discounts/exclusives/design
G
Conviction = tone/information/ empathy/demonstration/comparison/
testimonials/endorsements/guarantees/trial/helpline
G
Action = benefits summary/early bird offer/call to action/response
device
And here is Chris Barraclough’s AIDCA response checklist:
G
Attention: Are you talking to me?
G
Interest: Why are you talking to me? What is it you want me to know?
G
Desire: It’s a nice idea but do I really need it? What do you want me
to accept?
G
Conviction: How can I be sure I’m not making a mistake?
G
Action: What do I have to do? Is it easy to do?
Be clear about what you are selling
You won’t sell a loan to someone who doesn’t want to borrow money. Equally you
won’t sell a loan to someone who wants to borrow money but doesn’t understand
that’s what you’re selling.
Direct marketing talks to people who are more predisposed than the average to
respond to a particular offer. We can call them suspects (the broadly defined
target market), cold prospects (the smaller group likely to be ready to buy), or
warm prospects (the precious few who have somehow indicated they are actively
in the buying frame of mind). So it’s a game of diminishing numbers in which you
can’t afford to waste an opportunity.
10.1 – 14
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
The first requirement in direct marketing therefore is to make it very clear what
you are selling. You can’t afford to be overlooked by the predisposed minority in
your audience simply because they didn’t recognise what you were trying to sell to
them.
It’s important to flag up what the product category is. This is particularly true in
financial services direct marketing. People buy financial services on a product by
product basis. Because it’s generally a low-interest area, the most basic
signposting is needed to focus the reader’s mind.
For example, it is important from a cursory look at an off-the-page ad to know
whether it’s selling a unit trust or an ISA. A good technique is to ask yourself
whether, without a product flag or name in the headline, the messaging could be
misconstrued to apply to any other product. To take one example: “Act now to
secure our great rates” could apply to any type of loan (mortgage, unsecured or
secured personal loan or credit card). On the other hand, the same headline could
equally apply to a savings account – a completely different concept.
A potential borrower or investor grazing casually through the crowded money
sections of the national press will alight on the ads most clearly aimed at their
interest at that time. Product flagging is equally relevant when devising messages
on envelopes, subject lines on emails, landing-pages on the web, or intro screens
on DRTV commercials. People select what they pay attention to on the basis of
relevance. The creative work has to establish relevance as swiftly as possible. This
common sense also applies to classified and recruitment advertising.
A checklist for product knowledge
G
Interrogate the product
G
Talk to call centre staff and salespeople
G
Handle it, read up about it, see it in action
G
How does it work? Precisely.
G
What’s the fact base?
G
Where’s the proof?
G
Do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
G
How do customers use it now? What do they think of it?
G
What research is available? What does the data say?
G
What features make the best benefits?
G
Why is this good? Why is it different?
G
What would make it a better product?
G
If you were in the target market, would you buy it? Why?
10.1 – 15
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Be clear who you are talking to
When you go fishing you use different tackle and bait depending on what you want
to catch.
It’s the same with any form of direct response advertising. Don’t try catching the
entire marine population; set out to catch marlin or trout.
So when you are creating a direct mailing, email, ad or whatever, you need to
think about the who. Who is most likely to be predisposed to buy what you’re
selling? Who has the most need or desire? Who is asking the question for which
you have the answer? Is it first-time homeowners? Past customers? Dedicated
clubbers? Disgruntled clients of competitors? Affluent retirees? Teachers? Sun
readers? Opera lovers? The residents of Romford?
The more specific you can be about your target audience the better, as long as
there are enough of them to go for. Of course it will define your media strategy,
your list choice and your data selection. It should also define your creative
approach. Because the more explicitly you state who you are talking to (and
conversely who you are not talking to) the more directly will you be
communicating to the predisposed audience.
It’s not unusual for people to spend longer planning the purchase of their next car
than choosing a partner for life. Up to 18 months of research and test driving is
not exceptional. Volvo has developed a smart prospecting strategy based on
attitudinal research and profiling data that highlights key opportunity groups and
targets them with highly relevant propositions. This exceptionally successful mail
pack is sent to young families, dramatising the relevance of Volvo design and
engineering to safety-conscious nest builders. There’s no doubt that Volvo cares
about growing families.
10.1 – 16
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Figure 10.1.5 Volvo mums-to-be
Even if you don’t really know who is most predisposed to your proposition in the
market, you’ll get better results from testing, learning and then rolling out what
works, rather than persisting with a one-size-fits-all message.
Beginning from the customer’s standpoint rather than the product’s is a key
difference between direct marketing and general advertising. It explains why some
direct advertisers (charities, self-improvement courses, specialist mail order
companies, language coaches, and music and book clubs etc.) can successfully
continue to run the same ads for years and years, unthinkable in the general
advertising world. Because the customer need or desire does not change, the most
successful creative executions may not need to change either. If at the moment I
do not need to learn business German I will pay little attention to the BBC’s offer
to teach me, no matter how many times they change their banner ads. But if one
day I do have the need I will focus on their online advertising, and the familiarity
of the company’s consistent approach will work in their favour. Not unlike a
familiar shopfront that I seek out when I’m ready to buy.
By clearly defining your target group you will help readers or viewers self-select
themselves. The headline for a direct response ad in the Telegraph Magazine
simply saying “Want the cheapest broadband?” immediately draws out the
predisposed minority who will answer yes. A small space ad in the Daily Star
announcing “Have you been turned down for credit?” encourages prospects to
self-select themselves in the same way.
10.1 – 17
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
In fact I got into the direct marketing business through a fiendishly clever use of
this tactic. I answered a recruitment ad in the back of Campaign magazine. The
headline read: “Do you want to double your salary?” I was a graduate trainee at
the time, pulling in a princely £2,000 a year, which even in those distant days was
barely sufficient to fund a normal human’s beer consumption, so the question
pierced my heart. “Yes, yes I do,” I cried. It was my first real experience of the
power of direct response advertising. That headline, that offer, how did they know
so much about me?
Personalisation works
In general, the more you are able to tailor your communication to the person you
are talking to, the more effective it will be. Some of the media used most
successfully by direct marketers – direct mail, email and phone – can be tailored
to a very high degree, using profiled or transactional data to drive personalisation
that makes the communication more relevant. Why does direct mail succeed
better with a letter in the pack than it does without one? Because a letter is
personal and carries the customer’s name, and people focus on anything that has
their name on it.
Of course it depends on how sensibly you attempt to create personal
identification. A mailing saying, “Thank you Mr Hunt,” is a perfectly reasonable
start to a sales letter but “Dear Mr Hunt, as you sit by your fireside at 23 Station
Road, Balham … “ while far more personalised is just daft. I don’t need
reminding where I live, let alone being patronised while I’m there.
Personalisation can mean more than name and address and customers can be
impressed by how you use data they have given you to improve the relevance of
the communication. This clever B2B mailing, received by Chris Barraclough of
Barraclough Edwards Chamberlain, used the personal touch to sell him creative
services:
Figure 10.1.6
10.1 – 18
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
It uses all the customisation techniques available with the latest digital printing.
Not only does it feature his name, address and the name of the production
director at his agency, but to grab attention, it features photographs of his desk,
and the nearest cashpoint, restaurant and local pub to his office!
Such CIA-style witticism can be very effective if the target is a sophisticate like
Barraclough, but should be used sparingly to a general audience; you never want
to be careless with the demand for privacy.
On the other hand, your current customers are likely to expect you to know
certain facts about them and to use them in your communications with them.
That information might include what they last ordered, when they ordered, how
much credit they have left and what their phone number or email address is etc.
But there’s only one thing more annoying than being asked for information you
know the company already has on you, and that is for the information to be
wrong. So it’s best to play safe and only use personal information in the
communication that you can rely on.
Probably the finest example that I know of direct marketing personalised to the
individual customer is the Tesco Clubcard quarterly statement mailing, one of the
most consistently successful direct marketing programmes in the world.
One of the world’s most successful direct marketing programmes, Tesco Clubcard
has virtually achieved one-to-one marketing with the sophisticated
personalisation of its quarterly statement mailings.
10.1 – 19
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Figure 10.1.7 Tesco Clubcard
10.1 – 20
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Since its launch Tesco Clubcard has used direct mail to deliver offers to known
customers and create massive sales peaks. The premise of Clubcard is to
personalise the famous ’Every little helps’ brand promise to the needs and desires
of the individual customer. In the first mailings the ability to personalise was
quite basic, with1800 significant variations of offers and 100 different letter texts
targeting different customer segments, preferences and local details – nonetheless
the sales effect was remarkable. After just a year the incremental sales benefit
directly attributable to the statement mailing had reached around £20 million a
quarter. This success led the Tesco marketers to strive for better targeting with
every mailing while retaining simplicity of message and creative presentation. By
February 1999, the customisation of the mailing had risen to 145,000 versions.
Today, Tesco sends out between nine and 10 million mailings each quarter, with
personalisation so sophisticated that it is truly mass customised. By methodically
testing and tracking the performance of the mailing on a number of levels of
customer response (from redemption to attitude), every significant aspect can be
measured to answer the question: “are we doing the right thing for customers?”
What’s more the incremental sales effect is as strong as ever.
A checklist for personalisation
How can you most effectively tailor your direct marketing to appeal to the
predisposed customers?
G
Can you use their name? Address? Telephone number? Email address?
G
Can you refer to past transactions (account-based, sales or non-sales)?
G
Can you recommend purchases based on past choices?
G
Can you address a clear community (e.g. students, home workers or club
supporters)?
G
Can you target them by postcode or region?
G
Can you target by age or life stage (e.g. mums-to-be or birthdays)?
G
Can you target by interest (e.g. day traders or golfers)?
G
Can you select offers by predictive data (e.g. brand-switching coupons)?
G
Can you prefill application forms?
Lead with the main benefit
When a new copywriter first attempts to write a direct response ad she or he will
spend ages anguishing over the headline. The kindest thing to do is to take the
result of their efforts, thank them and then cross it out. Direct response ads do
not need headlines; they need benefit propositions.
Put yourself into the customer’s shoes; for example, an unhappy current account
holder, and it’s obvious why.
“I know I’m getting a poor deal from my current account and I’m so irritated that
one of these days I might just do something about it”. If that’s the mindset of
your predisposed reader why say something anodyne like: “Make your money
10.1 – 21
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
work harder for you”? They’ve gone beyond that; that may have been where they
were years ago, but that was before they got angry. Offer them a good reason to get
off their backside and sort this out once and for all: “Switch your current account
and you’ll earn 3 per cent from now on”. That’s the difference between a headline
and a benefit proposition.
As a general rule, people don’t respond to direct response ads because they want
to, but because they need to. A reader has already got to be quite a way along the
road to a decision before they’re going to commit to calling or clicking. That’s the
main reason why response rates come in single figures; in direct marketing you’re
igniting existing interest and activating predisposition.
How does it work? First, the push. That is the eye-catching cleverness of the ad
itself, making the offer appealing and urgent. Second, and most importantly, the
pull. That is the predicament or the desire felt by the reader who demands
immediate satisfaction. So the best direct response ad expresses the main benefit
by swiftly showing how the product answers a defined personal problem or
overcomes obstacles to action. Take private health insurance. A wide variety of
people want it but different customer segments among them will have particular
needs and motivations:
1.
Affordability:
“With Healthcure you and your family can enjoy the benefits of private
health care for just £30 a month.”
2.
Security:
“With Healthcure you can protect your own and your family’s health against
delays in the NHS.”
3.
Competitiveness:
“Here’s how Healthcure gives you the benefits of private health care without
the usual pain.”
It’s the same product but with distinct benefit propositions. Another version
could lead on speed of service, another on discounts for families, another could
target the over 50s and another could incentivise switchers who apply online.
There’s very rarely one answer that’s 100 per cent right for everyone. Once again
it’s about creative testing, and constant refreshing of your benefit proposition.
Why do we have to work so hard at this? Because in direct marketing it pays to
consider the territory you’re in as hostile. There was some research conducted a
few years ago by an international publisher. They used eyeball- tracking
technology to monitor how recipients read direct mail. The first finding was that
most people put the leaflets and such to one side and picked up the personally
addressed letter. But they didn’t read it, or at least not from the start and not
from the top left-hand corner to the bottom right. Instead the eyeball movements
flitted rapidly across the page, generally alighting on a few words or design
elements. The researchers called these the ’Fixing Points’ – and deduced that
there were a maximum of five per A4 page and that the reader gave less than a
second for each. So after just five seconds the communication is dead or alive.
And what keeps it alive is how quickly and how well you answer the question:
“What’s in it for me?” The answer is made up of three main components –
features, benefits and offers.
10.1 – 22
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Features, benefits and offers
As you’ll have gathered by now, the main proposition and the supporting
argument you give to gain response, should be expressed in terms of
benefit to the customer, to their family or to their business. The more credible
benefits there are, the more reasons people will have to respond. Put simply,
benefits are features seen from the customer’s viewpoint.
The veteran DM creative guru John Watson in his book Successful Creativity in
Direct Marketing advocates the feature/benefit triplet. This is based on the simple
formula: because x then y, which means z. Here’s an example he gives:
There’s a snooze button (x), so you can give yourself an extra few minutes of
dozing (y), safe in the knowledge you won’t miss the alarm again (z).
Another way of looking at it is like this:
Buy this pair of socks for £2 (that’s price-led)
Buy this sock for £2, get this one free (that’s benefit-led)
When National Savings & Investments announced their first double millionpound jackpot draw, they mailed 3.6 million current bondholders with this
upgrade. The novelty of the double window envelope and double letter text neatly
illustrated the news, prompting over half a billion pounds in new investment.
10.1 – 23
10.1 – 24
If undelivered, please return to:
National Savings and Investments (PB),
PO Box 569, Glasgow G58 1RZ.
£1 million jackpots
and still over a million
other prizes to be won
every month
two
There are now
£1 million jackpots
But 2
Premium Bonds
£1 million jackpot
Not 1
Premium Bonds
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Figure 10.1.8 Premium Bonds
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
So the most compelling reason to buy comes from the product itself, and the way
that is expressed comes from dramatising the features of the product as the
benefits of ownership. However, that isn’t the end of the story. In direct marketing
we also need to encourage a sense of urgency. Even after the most skilful
exposition of benefits, the easiest thing for a customer to do is nothing. So in
addition to the inherent benefit proposition we often need something concentrated
in responding immediately.
That’s the offer.
A checklist of offers
In essence there are eight species of offer:
G
Product offers (e.g. unique or new)
G
Free offers (e.g. free trial, free info, free sample, free gift or free
consultation)
G
Price offers (e.g. discount, sale, two-for-one or introductory)
G
Payment offers (e.g. buy now, pay later, credit or interest-free etc)
G
Exclusive offers (e.g. limited edition, members only and gold status)
G
Limited offers (e.g. early bird, close date or one-per-customer)
G
Winning offers (e.g. prize draw, competition or everyone’s a winner)
G
Guarantee offers (e.g. quality assured, money-back if dissatisfied, bestbuy tables or endorsements)
You should test product benefits and offers in different combinations to maximise
response. Think of it this way: the product is the gun, the benefit is the bullet and
the offer is the trigger.
Speak your brand
People buy from people. That’s as true in direct marketing as it is in retail.
The difference is that in press there’s no smiling, helpful member of staff. At best
there’s just a disembodied personality; a personality for the company that,
hopefully, people like, recognise and trust. In short, a brand.
In fact it is in direct marketing that all that investment in building a brand can
show a measurable payback.
If the brand is respected, understood and trusted, then the job of eliciting
response is so much easier. It gives the reader confidence to transact remotely. It
drives lower cost per response. So if you have no brand, or yours has no clear
values that customers admire, then it pays to build one.
That doesn’t necessarily mean spending millions on conventional brand
advertising. Think of a mail order pioneer like Boden or an online giant like eBay:
10.1 – 25
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
those brands were built through the customer experience and product choice, not
advertising. But building a brand requires belief and consistency on how you
communicate with and treat customers.
Heinz baby food is a brand with deep roots in British culture. The goodwill among
mums-to-be is the result of years of steady brand development and nurturing. The
success of the Heinz Tiny Tums mailing programme is a perfect example of taking
the brand promise and making it personal. The mailings talk to mums when their
babies are 4 months, 7 months and 11 months, reaching 80 per cent of total
potential prospects each year. Tracking research shows the programme has
significantly lifted spend, increased likelihood to buy and increased share of
market.
Figure 10.1.9 Heinz Tiny Tums
10.1 – 26
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
The subject is too big for this chapter, but let’s consider one aspect of brand in
direct marketing – the brand voice.
As I’ve already stressed, direct marketing is selling. The purest sales pitch
happens face-to-face. In DM we are trying to emulate that experience. The brand
you represent in creative work is the personality of the salesperson. The clearest
demonstration of that personality should be in the copy you write. This is the
voice of the brand, talking one-to-one to the customer.
If you think of it like that then the task of copywriting becomes more grounded.
You should not try to show off. You should not try to be clever. You should not try
to grandstand or be comical. You should try to be as persuasive as you possibly
can, in much the same way as you would if you faced the customer and made your
case. People don’t listen to idiots, bores or show-offs.
So when you write …
G
Write like people talk
G
Talk to not at the reader
G
Talk sense
G
Don’t ramble
G
Use short sentences
G
Use structure and logic
G
Be an enthusiast
G
But don’t gush
G
Use the language that’s right for the brand personality
G
Read it out loud to someone; does it make you cringe?
A checklist for direct branding
This might be useful. Think of your brand as a person. Imagine what that person
would look like. What’s his or her style? How would they behave in certain
situations? How are they with people? Then think about how he or she would talk
face-to-face with a customer? From all that you can distil a brand voice:
1.
What’s your brand’s name?
2.
Is it male, female or neutral?
3.
Age?
4.
What’s it like as a person? (Example for BMW: He’s an expert. European
but international in outlook, mid-forties but very fit. He has a scientific
background but loves the arts. He’s discreetly affluent and quietly
confident; he has sophisticated and contemporary taste, impeccable
manners and a wry sense of humour.)
10.1 – 27
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
5.
Choose three characteristics from the following that most accurately
describe your brand’s personality (or add to the list):
Fun
Energetic
Traditional
Indulgent
Smart
Straightforward
Sophisticated
Witty
Reassuring
6.
Honest
Authoritative
Sympathetic
Cool
Knowing
Enthusiastic
Mature
Supportive
Expert
Here are three sets of vocabulary. Which one would your brand most
naturally use in conversation with a customer? If none of these, make up
your own set.
Impressive
Furthermore
Suggestion
Attain
Ad hoc
Decisive
Fantastic
Plus
Deal
Get
It’s up to you
Hurry
Delightful
What’s more
Dream
Possess
As you please
Unmissable
7.
What does your brand voice sound like? (Example for Oil of Olay: soft,
feminine and confident. For Microsoft: casual, enthusiastic and optimistic.)
8.
Your main competitor has just announced record bad results. The press ask
your brand for a comment. What does your brand say? It’s lunchtime, the
main course is served late and it’s undercooked. What would your brand say
to the waiter?
You may wish to add exercises to distil it further. However, the aim is to achieve
an agreed description of brand voice that can be used across your business and
by your suppliers. It’s important to clarify not only what it is, but also what it is
not.
Make the creative sweat
Retail success is measured in sales per square foot. Direct marketing success
should be measured in sales per square inch – or per second on radio or TV. This
imperative for space efficiency is particularly true in off-the-page advertising.
The least efficient direct response press ad format imaginable would be a colour
double-page spread in the national press. Too expensive, too big, too easy to pass
by. To get response, you want to be where the readers spend time; that is among
the editorial, not hidden away in your own expensive media ghetto.
It doesn’t necessarily follow that the most efficient format is a twenty double
mono, but that’s not a bad place to start. The trick in successful direct response
is learning what is the least you can spend on each insertion to achieve the most
efficient balance between volume and cost per response. So the creative challenge
is to make that limited space work as hard as possible. And keep refreshing and
testing to avoid wear-out.
10.1 – 28
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Think ‘shop’ in direct mail
In direct mail it can be useful to take the retail analogy even further as it helps
define the role of the various elements of the pack. Think of what components
make up a successful retail format. There’s an appealing shopfront and window
display. There’s a welcoming entrance and easy-to-browse display area. There’s a
well-informed and helpful sales assistant. There’s a clearly signposted checkout.
You can apply the same roles in direct mail:
Shop front
Sales assistant
Display
Checkout
Envelope
Letter
Leaflet/brochure
Response device
British supermarkets are the masters of the customer journey. I spend unnatural
amounts of time in them looking at how they’re laid out, how they use POS and
promotions and how they guide customer choice etc. The best are inspirational to
anyone who looks to use design to sell. What comes across clearly is how
everything has to work to the full; everything has a clear purpose and role in the
shopping experience. In direct marketing the retail lesson is clear:
Make the pictures work hard and the words easy
Start with the pictures. What’s their job? Why are they needed? What can they do
that words can’t? Is their role simply to grab attention or to reinforce desire or to
add product detail? Do the pictures add a new dimension to the communication
or do they duplicate the message? Will the reader or viewer be more motivated to
respond because of what you are showing them? Remember in direct marketing
every square inch or second counts. So the illustrations have to work very hard to
justify their space.
Next, the layout. The best design enhances function. The function of a direct
marketing communication is to get a response. So the challenge for the designer
is to use format, type, space and colour to make it easier to respond.
And the words? Well who do you buy from? Someone who wastes your time with
fancy language, who boasts or who fails to explain? Or someone who talks to you
clearly and relevantly to help you decide? Not only is there no space to waste in a
direct response ad, there’s also no time to spare. Every word has to count.
Readers will only give you a few moments to persuade. If you abuse their precious
attention with poorly crafted copy you’re lost.
But that doesn’t mean that copy should always be kept to the minimum. People
who are predisposed to respond want to know more than the casual reader. This
means you have to go into detail. Copy should be as long as it needs to be and
when you have said what you need to say, stop.
In the UK, cat owners will lap up everything and anything about
their cats; the more the better. This Whiskas mailing has a long
brochure on caring for your new kitten. Every word will be devoured by kitten
owners who view their pets in much the same way that new mums view their
infants.
10.1 – 29
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Figure 10.1.10
The exception to the ‘as long as it takes’ approach is in text emails, where
however worthy the copy, long chunks of text are very, very hard to read on screen
and you cannot rely on people taking the trouble to print them out. Perhaps the
best option here is to give people a PDF document containing all the relevant
information they need, and which they can then choose to read as they wish.
Use attention devices
People don’t seek out mail packs or direct response ads, so it’s our job to make
them unavoidable.
If I sneak up and blow a trumpet in your ear you’ll probably pay some attention.
It’s the power of disruption; something that jars and holds attention for a second.
Radio jingles do it. Package goods manufacturers use it to gain standout on the
shelf. The designers of website interstitials make a living from it.
Successful direct marketing will often have a disruptive, attention-grabbing
element. It could be video streaming in a banner, an odd photo or an unusual
word in the headline. It could be an elastic band-driven butterfly that bursts from
the envelope. It could be a cut-off date next to the phone number. It could be a
starburst shouting NEW! This is not to say that direct marketing should rely on
gimmicks or that it should rubbish brand guidelines; simply that if used
intelligently, disruption works.
Behold the masters of disruption. Every front cover of Britain’s biggest selling
daily newspaper is a lesson in attention grabbing. It may look like anarchy but it’s
seriously controlled anarchy. It works, and astoundingly it’s invented afresh every
day of the week.
Figure 10.1.11 The Sun
10.1 – 30
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Overwhelm the ‘yes, buts’
As the master of direct response advertising, Graeme McCorkell observed: “Inertia
is the greatest enemy of response.” It’s the Hamlet Syndrome: faced with a choice
between action and inaction it is a natural human instinct to do nothing.
Even the small minority of the readership who are most disposed to respond to
your ad have plenty of ingrained excuses why they shouldn’t do it right now. Good
direct marketing meets their ‘yes, buts’ head-on.
A checklist for creative persuasion
When the customer’s question is: “yes, but…?” make sure you’ve got the answer.
“Yes, but why exactly should I respond to you?”
Because only we’re making this new/free/unique/cheaper/winning/extra/limited
offer
“Yes, but what’s the catch?”
None, we guarantee no commitment/satisfaction/independent proof/no sales calls/
money-back/free returns/best price etc
“Yes, but why not do it another day?”
Because this offer ends this week/month/Christmas
“Yes, but do I lose by waiting?”
You could miss out because of limited supply/access/period/bonus offers
“Yes, but isn’t it a hassle?
Couldn’t be easier to respond now, just call/click/send/visit
Have one direction, one destination
It was called the ‘greased chute’ by Joe Sugarman, one of the greats of direct
response advertising.
The idea is that everything about a direct marketing communication should lead
the reader in one direction to one action – response.
Bryan Halsey, another direct marketing pioneer, identifies five considerations
when designing responsiveness into a communication:
1.
Plan for a response. Restate the chief benefit, the offer and any
incentives in the vicinity of the order device, if not actually on it.
Introduce additional benefits to ‘tip’ prospects into action, e.g. a
product benefit held back for the purpose, or inducements related
only to ordering, e.g. limited offer, early bird (gift for prompt
response) and discounts for volume.
2.
Prospects must know a response is expected. Clarity and simplicity
applies to phone numbers, coupons, order/application forms, email
addresses, fax numbers, reply-paid devices and payment options (e.g.
credit card logos and direct debit mandates).
10.1 – 31
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
3.
Ask for a response. Just as the good salesperson will attempt a trial
close early in the sales pitch, the good direct marketing creative will
introduce a ‘trial close’ onto the copy. Some confident marketers
bravely open with a trial close before a word about the product. Such
an approach requires a very powerful offer.
4.
State response expected. The response device should be specific as to
what response is expected, what commitment (if any) it entails and
what will ensue. In the case of charities and financial services,
recommended donations/investment amounts will encourage
imitation.
5.
Make it easy to respond. Ease may mean providing sufficient space
for writing, holding a phone number on the TV screen long enough for
prospects to jot it down, or other physical aids.
So the design and structure of a direct response ad leads your eye to the
invitation to respond. The persuasive copy of a DM letter leads the argument
there. The visuals and attention devices point your way there. The call to action in
a DRTV commercial flags you’ve arrived there.
The single-minded aim of a direct response ad is to prompt as many good quality
responses as possible. Anything else is at best a bonus, at worst a distraction.
And yet too few art directors start designing an ad from the response device and
work back to the rest of the sales message. In fact very few art directors care
much about the response device at all. Which is odd. You wouldn’t expect a retail
interior designer to site the checkouts as an afterthought.
That’s why good direct response creatives are a rare and prized breed; because
they look at response as the culmination of their design not a by-product.
A checklist for designing for response
The primary goal for direct marketing creativity is response. It means you should
consider things like:
10.1 – 32
G
Making the call to action the main headline
G
Directing the reader’s eye to the response device
G
Allocating enough space to make phone number, web or email address
a star feature
G
Headlining the response device with a call to action
G
Incorporating offers to respond next to the response device
G
Choosing a memorable number or address
G
Explaining clearly what will happen when you respond and why that’s
good
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
The basics of direct marketing creative:
G
Direct marketing persuades people to respond directly
G
Direct marketing focuses on the needs of the customer
G
Direct marketing targets defined groups of customers or known
individuals
G
Direct marketing makes propositions that are most likely to activate
predisposed customers
G
Direct marketing online should be as interactive as the medium
G
Direct marketing demands simplicity and clarity
G
Direct marketing needs to overcome inertia
These tips are just that. Not mandatories; not laws. Just some recommendations
based on what I and many fellow practitioners have observed and experienced
through trial and error over several decades in this trade. For further reading I
thoroughly recommend Advertising that Pulls Response by Graeme McCorkell
(McGraw Hill, 1990), still the best-written direct response practitioner’s manual.
All these tips are worth considering when creating advertising to gain a direct
response, but you’ll rarely see them all followed in any particular banner ad or
mailing. In fact you’ll see plenty of examples contradicting most of them in very
successful work. Nonetheless the axiom holds true:
It’s difficult to be a successful rule breaker if you never knew the rules in the first
place.
10.1 – 33
Chapter 10.1 : Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
10.1 – 34