Two Fundamental Questions That Make The Difference

Let’s talk about the main premise behind why I do marketing the way I do.

The core belief of direct marketers is that it is our priority to communicate our offer clearly to people who are in the market for our products or services.

Our offers must be relevant and good.

Is it easier to sell a severely thirsty man in the desert a bottle of water or an Apple iPad? As much as he may desire the iPad, if his most pressing need is to stave off death by relieving his thirst, he will not respond to your iPad offer. He will choose the water. At least, he will choose it first.

If someone else is standing by you and is also selling a bottle of water, but yours is pleasantly chilled while theirs is nonchalantly warm, who gets the sale?

Find the pressing desire and fulfil it. As John Paul Mendocha, Dr Speed Selling, says, “Where’s the bleeding neck?”

We don’t “spray and pray” inordinately.

In other words, we don’t send out cute messaging without a crystal clear offer to mass media.

Instead we argue that targeting your ideal customers with the messages that make them more receptive to what you offer is your first step.

As Claude Hopkins, a legendary ad man, said: “Your message should single out your prospect like a bell-boy paging a man in a crowded hotel lobby.”

Translated to your business that means, before purchasing that ad, stop and think. “Are the people I want to reach going to see or hear my advertising? Am I making a clear, compelling offer?”

Simple questions, but fundamental to a great response.