Nov 28, 2015
In this episode we talk about direct marketing and some rules that should not be broken.
Over at his website, direct marketing master Denny Hatch has pulled together what he considers the 9 Inviolable Rules of the trade. Even though most of these rules were conceived well before the Web existed, they still apply.
In fact some of these are more important in the Internet age than ever.
The Rules
1 & 2 There are two rules and two rules only: Rule 1: Test everything. Rule 2: See Rule 1. — Malcolm Decker
3 Ed Mayer’s Corollary: “Don’t test whispers.”
4 “Success in Direct Marketing is 40% Lists (Data), 40% Offer and 20% everything else.” —Ed Mayer
5 “The offer should be so attractive, only a lunatic would say no.” —Claude Hopkins
6 “If you want to dramatically increase your results, dramatically improve your offer.” —Axel Andersson
7 “The 7 key copy drivers—the emotional hot buttons that make people act—are Fear – Greed – Guilt – Anger – Exclusivity – Salvation - Flattery. If your copy isn’t dripping with one or more of these, tear it up and start over.” —Bob Hacker
8 “Make it easy to order.” —Elsworth Howell
9 “Avoid grey walls of type.” —David Ogilvy