* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Direct marketing creativity – how to do it
Marketing research wikipedia , lookup
Target audience wikipedia , lookup
Ambush marketing wikipedia , lookup
Digital marketing wikipedia , lookup
Marketing communications wikipedia , lookup
Guerrilla marketing wikipedia , lookup
Marketing channel wikipedia , lookup
Youth marketing wikipedia , lookup
Viral marketing wikipedia , lookup
Target market wikipedia , lookup
Marketing strategy wikipedia , lookup
Multicultural marketing wikipedia , lookup
Marketing plan wikipedia , lookup
Integrated marketing communications wikipedia , lookup
Green marketing wikipedia , lookup
Marketing mix modeling wikipedia , lookup
Multi-level marketing wikipedia , lookup
Global marketing wikipedia , lookup
Advertising campaign wikipedia , lookup
Street marketing wikipedia , lookup
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