Five Marketing Communications You Can
Use Right Now To Get Fast New Business
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
There isn't a business in the world that doesn't use some
kind of marketing communication in an attempt to get new and
repeat business. These communications include brochures,
letters, ads, proposals... and everything else you use to
motivate response. Problem is, most business people --
including most people special-izing in corporate
communications -- are fatuously ill-prepared to write
marketing communications that motivate immediate action.
They understand neither the purpose of such communications,
the document formats available to them to achieve this
purpose, or what should go into each format so that the
purpose is achieved as fast as possible. As a result, most
people creating the vast majority of marketing
communications are simply throwing their money away. To help
solve this ridiculously expensive and entirely avoidable
problem, here are five marketing communications you should
use right now. When properly created and used, you'll notice
an immediate increase in the number of leads and sales you
generate.
#1 The Reason Why Communication
Approaching a prospect (whether that person has done
business with you before or not) means mounting an argument.
You've got to under-stand that your objective is getting
this person to take the fast-est possible action and
providing the strongest possible reasons for doing so. Face
it: every marketing communication demands that the prospect
make a decision, either to act... or postpone action. Most
marketing communications are so written that postponing
action (or altogether declining to act) is actually the most
sensible thing to do. That's where the "reason why"
communication comes in.
When you create this communication you must understand your
job is to provide the strongest possible reasons why it's in
the prospect's interest to MOVE NOW! To get this response,
start by:
## brainstorming all the reasons you can think of why the
prospect should take immediate action;
## then review these reasons. Are they entirely convincing?
Unless you've done this before, they're probably not. You've
probably written a lot of "fluff", words without teeth or
substance. Maybe you've written that your product is "state-
of-the-art". However, without the facts, there's no reason
to believe you... and thus no reason for the prospect to
take fast action.
## Thus, rewrite. Provide reason that are really
convincing... that will get the prospect to sit up and
salivate about what you're offering. By the time you've
finished with this crucial work, your designated prospect
should be unable to help himself from taking action! That's
how good your reasons must be!
As you create your reasons for immediate action, see
yourself engaging and connecting with a real prospect. Don't
write in the abstract. See yourself trying to convince a
real person. And remember, if what you're writing doesn't
seem so hot to you, it's a cinch it's not going to seem very
motivational to your prospects, either. I know I'm on the
right track, when I'm excited by the reasons I've fashioned.
Once you've got the reasons (five or six good ones are
usually quite adequate), put them in a letter or standard
three-fold brochure. Start this communication by telling
the prospect what you're going to do ("I'm writing to
provide the five reasons that will motivate you to acquire
our product/service right now.") Don't be sheepish. If the
reasons you provide are truly motivating, that's precisely
what the prospect will want to do!
Once you've opened this way, get right into the reasons. Lay
them out in rat-rat-rat fashion. Once you've given them,
tell the prospect clearly what you want him to do next
("Call right this minute!")... or what you'll be doing next
("You'll hear from me within 72 hours!")
The "reason why" document is a powerful marketing
communication because it breathes confidence, rests upon
your thoughtful consideration about what's meaningful to the
prospect, and tells the prospect in no uncertain terms that
what you've got is really the best.
#2 The Comparison Document
Are you offering a superior product or service to your
competitors? Don't just say so, prove it... with The
Comparison Document. Start by writing all the aspects of
your product/service that your prospects want to know
about/have asked about. These may include:
## location
## size
## frequency
## unique aspects
## speed
## convenience, and of course
## price.
Do an apples-to-apples comparison (no cheating please, for
both ethical and legal reasons) with your competitors,
focusing on those who are most well-known and/or industry
leaders.
What you'll find will either
1) clearly establish the case for why your prospects should
buy what you're selling as opposed to what others are
offering, or
2) indicate that you've got work to do to improve and
different-iate your offer.
Either way, the exercise is worth doing.
If you've established your "selling case", now lay it out in
your comparison document. Use a column format. Run the names
of your competitors across the top of the page and the
features you're comparing down the side. Put yourself in the
final column which you should head with words like these:
"Here's why you should use (name of your product/service)."
Note: don't be afraid to use the exact names of your
competitors in this comparison. So long as you're reported
the facts accurately, you have nothing to worry about. Too,
feel free to cite your source for the information you're
quoting, like a competitor's brochure, catalog, etc. The
more authoritative this chart looks, the better for you!
#3 Selling The Offer
One of the reasons prospects act fast is because you've
provided a special reason for faster action. This reason is
called the offer and every marketing communication needs
one. There are many kinds of offer, including:
## special price if you act before a certain date;
## more of the product/service if you take faster action;
## two for the price of one, etc.
The important thing is that the prospect clearly understand
that by acting quickly he gets more value than if he
procrastinates.
Obviously offers should be used in conjunction with other
marketing communications. An offer, for instance, will
improve the respon-siveness of both the "reason why" and
"comparison" communications. Less obviously, you can create
marketing communications that focus on selling the offer.
These communications need not be long -- a standard business
letter or even fax are suitable. What you need to do is:
## create a sizzling offer, the kind of proposition that is
really to the benefit of the prospect;
## be clear about what the prospect gets, why the prospect
is better off using this offer;
## make the offer severely limited in terms of the number
who can benefit from it and also limited in time, and
## (whenever possible) provide an accompanying testimonial
about someone who used the offer... and the kinds of
valuable results he achieved.
Now hit your designated prospect with a short, punchy
communication highlighting this offer. I do this quite a lot
with my Sales & Marketing Success Card Deck, where one of
our offers is providing advertisers who pay 60 days prior to
publication with a Top 20 position in the deck. These spots
not only provide a benefit to the prospect... but they are
strictly limited. As the supply dwindles, the offer becomes
more urgent, meaningful. Note: a fax is very valuable here.
When we're down to, say, a half dozen available spaces, I
need fax out no more than about 10 brief letters focusing on
the importance of this offer -- and its diminishing
availability -- and the spaces will be promptly filled.
Selling the offer -- and its attendant benefits -- works!
#4 The Quick Follow-Up
All too often so-called marketers create a marketing
communication, disseminate it... and then sit back and await
nirvana. This is ridiculous! One of the marketing formats
you must master is the Quick Follow-Up.
Take the illustration I provided above, selling the strictly
limited Top 20 positions in my quarterly card-deck mailings.
Dumb marketers might know that they have a dwindling supply
of these motivating offers; a smart marketer understands
that he must keep thrusting home the fact that the supply is
not only valuable... but continually diminishing. Hence, the
quick follow-up. Here, you not only expect to tell the
prospect what you've got... but are committed to telling him
again and again and again... until such time as your supply
is gone.
Say, for instance, that in the morning you notify a prospect
you've got a certain availability of your product/service
and make him a sizzling offer. Now, you can either wait for
him to act... or you can, by the apt use of quick follow-up,
motivate his faster action. Thus, you could either:
## fax him in the afternoon, indicating that you had even
less of the special offer available than you had when you
last wrote -- only hours before, or
## send him a second letter in a day or two with the same
message.
Either way, you are using fast follow-up as a motivator. You
are saying, in effect, "This goody train is moving; lots of
others are jumping on; if you don't jump on now, too, you're
going to be OUT OF LUCK!" This is a very powerful message.
Note: some pompous business people will find this
motivational element distasteful. If this is you, GET OVER
IT! Marketing is by definition motivational. It is about
motivating a designated prospect to take the fastest
possible action in pursuit of clearly defined benefits.
Merely bringing value to a prospect's attention is not
enough; doing what it takes to let him know that that value
is getting away from him is very much a part of what makes
marketing successful. The sooner pompous and egotistical
business people understand this, the better -- for them and
their prospects.
#5 The "We Thought You Were Dead" Communication
With the best will in the world, with the best marketing
communications in the world, all prospects, no matter how
much they want your source of value, will not take fast
action. There are any number of reasons, many actually
valid. As a marketer you must understand this, anticipate
this -- and work to overcome this. Hence the "We Thought You
Were Dead" Communication.
The longer you live, the longer you work, the more mundane
and entirely forgettable marketing communications you will
receive and, sadly, send. I am unconcerned about the former
and most concerned that you avoid the latter. For marketing
to work it must break through the prospect's Boredom
Barrier. It must capture his attention... make him smile,
laugh aloud, ponder, even get him angry... anything so that
he ACTS. This is why this particular communication is so
useful.
This rather irreverent communication starts something like
this: "I've been notifying you about all the value I have
for you... including (again list benefits you've previously
brought to his attention, hammering home just how beneficial
they are)."
"BUT UNBELIEVABLY YOU HAVEN'T RESPONDED. I therefore figure
you must have been
## kidnapped by aliens;
## put into a deep sleep by Morgan la Fay, or
## died.
IF YOU ARE ABLE TO ANSWER THIS COMMUNICATION, PLEASE DO --
IF ONLY TO SET MY MIND AT REST. The most astounding rumors
are being reported about it.
I know, you see, that if you were with it, you would have
responded to my offer... and that you'd be enjoying today
all the benefits I've been bringing to your attention. After
all, you're noted for spotting a good deal when you see
it... and taking prompt action."
Get the drift of this letter? Its purpose is to break
through the barrier that divides most marketers from most of
their prospects. These benighted folk are merely sending out
information on their products or services. You, on the
other hand, are insistent upon both making the immediate
sale... and establishing a valuable long-term relationship.
To establish this relationship, you must act like a
friend... not like a marketer. You must presume. You must
touch the prospect and make him pay attention to your
communication. Only by doing so will you be able to break
through the many barriers he has erected to protect himself
from most marketers.
Will everybody like this communication. No! Some will find
it intrusive, even in bad taste. But I tell you this: don't
let the prospect of any such picayune response deter you
from using such a powerful means of bringing your message to
a prospect.. and motivating his response. Your objective,
you see, is not to please all the people all the time; it's
to generate maximum response in the shortest period of time.
This communication helps achieve this objective.
Conclusion
Odds are, you're not using any of these marketing formats
now. Odds also are, you complain a lot about the response to
your marketing communications, wondering why its so low.
These two facts are not unconnected. When you start using
these formats, your response will rise -- often
dramatically. What's more, when you start using these
formats in tandem, your response will improve still more,
for you see there is absolutely no reason why you should one
of these formats in isolation from the rest. Use them
together and you'll get better results. It's as simple as
that.
Don't fall into the trap of so many would-be "marketers"
simply using certain marketing communications because
everybody else does. This is a mistake. The job of marketing
is not to mimic others. It's to think through who you're
trying to motivate, what you've got that will motivate them,
how to motivate them as quickly as possible... and to use --
even invent -- the marketing communication that ensures
fastest possible meaningful action by the prospect.
***************************************************
Dr. Jeffrey Lant is one of America's best known marketers.
Millions of people all over the world use his
products/services to help them sell more faster. You should,
too. Use CASH COPY: HOW TO OFFER YOUR PROSPECTS AND SERVICES
SO YOUR PROSPECTS BUY THEM... NOW! (480 pages, $38.50
postpaid); MONEY MAKING MARKETING: FINDING THE PEOPLE WHO
NEED WHAT YOU'RE SELLING AND MAKING SURE THEY BUY IT (285
pages, $39.50 postpaid), and his newest book NO MORE COLD
CALLS: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO GENERATING -- AND CLOSING --
ALL THE PROSPECTS YOU NEED TO BECOME A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE BY
SELLING YOUR SERVICE (600 pages, $39.50 postpaid). Get all -
- and a free year's subscription to his quarterly Sure-Fire
Business Success Catalog featuring over 350 ways to make
your business more profitable now -- by contacting JLA
Publications, 50 Follen St., suite 507, Cambridge, MA 02138
or calling (617) 547-6372 with MC/VISA.