1. Add copy to your covers:Testing proves time and again that a catalog cover with copy outperforms one without — much to many creatives’ chagrin. But this makes sense. The most newsworthy things get our attention most quickly. Notice the newsstands near grocery checkout and you can see, they’ve figured out how to get someone to take a look! Even with a photo of a popular celebrity, it’s still not enough “juice” to get away with plain cover that doesn’t tell the customer why they need to open up and look.
   
   For this Crazy Shirts catalog, the cover with
   the teasers pulled in 124% more in sales.
2. Make a list of your core competencies and your unique selling propositions. Often catalogs are so merchandise-focused that they can’t separate themselves long enough to see that, from the outside, consumers need more clues as to what makes you the one they should buy from.  It’s time to interview customers and ask them, what words or phrases that describe why they come to you. If there are benefits such as exclusive products or handmade goods or exceptional customer service, that don’t show up in the discussion, it’s time to rethink your positioning.
3. Make the back of your catalog work harder. Got one product for sale on the back cover? Try two or three! Got any teasers into key spots inside the catalog? If not, it’s time you did! Got different price points and categories of products on the back cover? If not, you’re not telling the whole story. Your back cover has to tell a more complete story and work even harder than the front cover. Remember that when you put it off ‘til the last minute… like everyone else does. This back cover is actually the thing you should be working on FIRST.
   
   For both B2B or consumer catalogs, the back cover still has a lot of work to do. Its most important jobs – selling product, and getting customers inside. 
4. Think of your catalog as a “Paper Salesman”^TM - it represents all the best of who you are to your prospects. It steps through all the selling steps to engage a prospect, answer their questions, and call for action. It keeps your customer or prospect interested via design and copy that is thoughtful and compelling. Every product in your catalog deserves its day in the sun – and you don’t feel it’s worth it to do a 100% sales effort for a product, then that product is wasting space in your book. Don’t fall for the ‘it’s there because it just has to be there.” even if it’s a poor performer.  Put those things on your website where space is cheap.
5. Paginate for sales, not for merchandising.   I’ve seen some extraordinary leaps in response when we repaginated a book that had been plugging along at a low level for many years. People have changed so much in terms of shopping habits, and even what kind of features get their attention, and they continue to change. Create a smart, marketing-driven pagination that is reflective of your customer base and who you are marketing to – and who YOU are.
6. Make it easy to find things in your book. I’ve heard a million reasons why catalogs don’t have tables of contents, and none of them are in the customer’s best interest. A table of contents does not need to take up much room, but it’s one of the most commented-on and called-upon features in your entire catalog! How do you know you need one? When your customers give up on the catalog completely and only go online when they need something. Beware – your catalog is the thing that works harder to establish your brand and customer loyalty, so if you become only a website to them, you’ll eventually lose their business.
7. Make it easy to read your book. Teeny little reversed-out type might please a twenty-something graphic designer, but to anyone with money it’s a total turnoff. And it’s not about taste or even style, it’s about human physiology. You can’t make someone read something they find uncomfortable to read. While magazines get away with it on occasion, most have turned back to a much more practical and easy-reading format.
8. Add an offer to your catalog.A good offer is what’s needed to get customers  moving right NOW to order. Those of you who have been disappointed with offer strategy just haven’t tried enough offers and tactics. If you need to brainstorm on this to find the best offer, go outside and speak with experienced pros who have done lots of offer strategy in a wide range of products and services.  And don’t be afraid that once you start doing an offer, you can never go without one again. Just use different levels of offers so that people won’t “expect it” every time, and you can do it without it costing you a lot of money. And meanwhile you can also increase customer loyalty.Testing of offers is an essential step to finding the right one.

    

9. Consider how the human brain is wired. Reader gravity is an extremely powerful way to choreograph your customer’s movements across a spread, picking up items for their shopping cart. Many consider it hocus pocus, but I’ve seen with my own eyes (and by the response clients have told me about) that this kind of thoughtful and strategic thinking is well worth the extra bit of time it takes to get it right.
10. Use a designer that embraces response and makes it a priority.  Probably only 1 out of 100 designers know about reader gravity or comprehension through proper use of typography and color. And sadly, the great majority of them simply don’t care. But, it’s not THEIR money being spent to mail the catalog — it’s YOURS. And it certainly is your problem if your income and your job are depending on this being a successful mailing.How do you find out if a designer is an advocate for your success? Ask them how past work has done. Ask them for response numbers – not just ‘it did well” or “customers loved it” or “the client loved it”. These are mealy-mouthed phrases for “I don’t know and I didn’t ask”.
11. Use a real copywriter who loves to SELL.Often the copy for catalog products ends up being the merchant or — oh NO! — the designer. A great copywriter knows that selling is their business, and they write copy to sell your product, not just describe it. A great writer will ask you for unique selling propositions, and they want to see, touch and try the product so they can understand why someone would want it. They don’t rely solely on product sheets to get their information.Yes, this takes time and it often costs more than hiring a “wrist” who calls themselves a writer. But I’ve seen great copy alone increase sales by hundreds of thousands of dollars in tests I’ve participated in. Not sure to hire? Ask around, or (to be self-serving!) talk to us! We enthusiastically sell our clients’ products through compelling copy, every day, and we love to see our clients thrive through stronger creative!
12. Wondering if your catalog will do better with a change in creative (or anything else)?  Test it! Testing does not have to cost a fortune and if done properly and scientifically it will prove itself a valued ally in the drive for better response. It is so worthwhile to test creative and offers that it should be built into every annual mailing plan and budget. Test first using email or your website, and then once you have a feel for it, do a real on-paper test to confirm results.
13. Can’t afford to test it?  Research it!  For a smaller budget, it’s possible to utilize research such as eResearch (not focus groups and certainly not ‘grandmother research’) to figure out what rings the bells of your house file customer, and your prospect.  To get the most accurate research done, I highly recommend you look outside your company for an unbiased research pro.Why? First, you’ll get the best and truest readings when you use an outside resource who’s expert in eResearch. My experience has been that research done internally (by an internal team who answers to an internal boss) will always be tainted to some degree regardless of all best intentions. It’s human nature to tend to turn things just a tiny bit to create a hoped-for outcome… especially when everyone wants it to be so.  A proven professional research specialist will tell you the truth and has the discipline and the lack of buy-in on the outcome to keep the study on the straight and narrow – and they’ll work with you to interpret results at the end so you can plan your next steps.

If you’re looking for ways to incorporate any of the ideas I’ve presented here into your own catalog, feel free to give me a call at 408-269-6871 and we can discuss what’s worked for you and what’s not working. Together we can determine a course of action to get your cash register ringing!

Ouch!

This consumer behavior — while very wise, considering the state of the economy — increases retailers’ challenge to sell direct. Consumers today are trying with all their might to resist the emotional buying habits they’ve fallen victim to before.

Of course, we’ve been talking about this struggling economy for so long, it seems like old news. Despite the rays of hope seen recently, retailers are a long way from the robust spending days they enjoyed for so long, I’m afraid to say.

Copywriters and designers should consider the mood of their audience in order to create attention-grabbing headlines and design.

Creative teams should also understand how to sell to an audience that’s more reluctant to part with their cash than they were two years ago.

Does this mean that your message has to be strictly about belt tightening, doom and gloom? No, not at all.

That said, there’s a careful balance that must be dealt with in today’s marketing campaigns. Remember, this is sensitive territory.

Successfully selling in this difficult environment requires a keen understanding of the selling process. Every good creative person — i.e., copywriter or designer — should know these steps. Messaging must then be fine-tuned so that it’s applicable to consumers in a strapped economy.

Use Creative as the Salesman
If you’ve ever read books written by experienced salespeople, you must be familiar with the process they use to make a sale:

1. Get prospects’ attention with something they care about. Emails, catalog covers, homepages, outgoing envelopes, etc., must put your best foot forward in terms of in-demand products and clear messaging that teases or delights. Photography must sparkle. It’s time to fine-tune your brand so it’s appealing enough that consumers will look into it for possible purchases.

2. Present your product benefits that matter most to prospects. When you do, consider each consumer’s needs at the time — e.g., convenience, value, comfort, fun. This isn’t the time to talk about big savings; talking about price and price comparison is putting the cart before the horse.

Prestige can be a benefit, but use it carefully in this economy. You can use that lever in the luxury goods market, but it may seem in bad taste in many others. Customers must feel that they’re being smart when making a purchase, not extravagant.

3. Present product features that appeal to consumers’ cognitive side (the part of them that’s seeking justification for their purchase). This is often the place sales pitches fail. Remember that benefits are more emotional and draw in prospects. Features simply confirm that this product has everything they need.

4. Eliminate other barriers to consideration, such as telling consumers about your risk-free guarantee. Show them how easy it is to order. Share testimonials from other happy customers.

At this point, the shopper is seeking an out, particularly because the pressure’s on to NOT spend. This is your last chance to convince them that your product is worth their time and money.

And since they’re interested enough to have gotten this far, they’re hoping you give them some final “icing on the cake” that will justify to them why this is something they must buy.

The guarantee is probably one of the most important member in this group of levers. It’s time for you to look carefully at yours to make sure it really provides value. Tests show that a no-time-limit, money-back guarantee is most likely to improve response (and an increase in returns is unlikely). Remember, most people are sincere about their purchase, and really do want their purchase to work out.

5. Ask for orders using a clear call to action, providing a few different ways to place orders so customers can make a purchase their preferred way. This is no time to be coy. Remind them that their purchase will be a very smart one.

Are you offering payment by credit card? Probably. Are you offering PayPal as another payment option? If not, it’s time to add it to your payment options. Consumers are using PayPal more than ever. Reflect your ease of ordering by placing credit card and PayPal logos on your order form, as well as the shopping cart and checkout areas of your website.

For your web design, consider and TEST a one-page checkout as an improvement to what you have now. Remember, every time a shopper moves to another page of your website, your odds of converting them go down.

Now it’s time to review how you’re selling your product or service. Consider the methodology that the most successful marketers use, and compare it to the steps you’re taking. Then, find ways to follow these steps yourself.

After that, sit back and enjoy stronger sales!

Rather than go on about it, here’s where to see a short preview of the book. It’s 160 pages, and the preview is brief, but perhaps some of you will like it enough to enjoy it for yourself.

As is my practice, the sale of this and any other of my books is not marked up a lot, and the proceeds will be donated to Canine  Companions for Independence.

Here’s the book:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2849604

On whose scale is that either measurable or successful?  D’oh!  Many purveyors of social media use smoke and mirrors that tell a warm fuzzy story, but never talk about true measurable results. This demonstrates how naive our industry is:  by writing stories with big, attention-getting headlines that exaggerate, they seduce everyone into imagining a big bucks outcome… and don’t really tell the truth. And our journalists from our own industry media report it as it’s told to them – which expands the perception of big money making success.

Social media is a challenge because many companies waste inordinate amounts of time (time = money) on campaigns that don’t pay off.  We don’t want this to turn into the “dot com boom syndrome” (DCBS) where people start pouring money into it without measurement. I know companies who can’t afford to hire someone, who have hired a ‘social media guru’ with their whole job to just work on that. But others I know have done well without hiring anyone new. In fact, sometimes it’s best to have the ‘insiders’ creating the messaging anyway. They know the voice of their own business, unlike a newbie or an outsider.

When a $61B company like Dell pours a cool million into social media, it’s nuthin’ at all.  When a typical small to midsized business pours hours and hours of labor into it, this makes social media financially dangerous territory if not carefully monitored.

Ah – back to the presentation! Glenda Ervin of Lehman’s Hardware, one of the nation’s most successful small to mid-sized businesses, is ‘in charge’ of their social media, along with her many other responsibilites.  This company sells non-electric tools and products for the farm and the home—everything from wood stoves to hand-churned ice cream makers… real “off-the-grid” stuff! And they’re incredible at finding quality products that people want.

Lehman’s is on Facebook and Twitter, and of course this is even more intriguing because it seems so counterintuitive given the off-the-grid nature of most of their customers.

However, these types of social media connect customers and enthusiasts to other like-minded individuals and to the Lehman family who still owns and run Lehman’s.  They use it to ask their customers about what they’d like to see in the catalog, what buying choices they should offer, and how their products are being used.  As people email in answers, the testimonials also roll in!  This is manna from heaven in the marketing world.  Customers as evangelists sell more product than one could ever imagine.

Another of our presenters was Scott Wentzell of Thos.  Moser, a high-end creator and purveyor of handmade solid wood furniture, based in Maine.  Thos. Moser uses Facebook and Twitter to connect a network together that includes fans of beautiful furniture, interior designers, customers and more, and the conversation keeps these people engaged and sharing their values.  Plus, they can share links to presentations by and about the founder, Tom, and his son, David, who is the talented designer of all current lines.  This connection capability is an extraordinary plus for social media—people want to know the founder and the family, just as they do with Lehman’s.

Our third presenter was Jennifer Levanduski of VWR Science Education.  Now this was very different indeed, as a large group of her customers are educators and scientists, and they aren’t networking on Twitter or Facebook.  Their venues are dominated by the educators’ and scientists’ markets:  physics blogs, forums for physics teachers, and more.  These are old platforms that most of us have never even heard of—but in their industry, these are the places to go.

Additional bits in the session included some resources for measuring Twitter for response and outcome, tips on keeping entries in Facebook and Twitter interesting, and more.

The most valuable lessons of the session may well have been these:

• Choose your platform based on where your people are going, not on where you just assume they go.
• Choose a limited number of platforms.  There are hundreds out there, but only one or two are right for you, and you can only maintain a few if you’re as short on time as most of us are.  Don’t spread yourself too thin.  It’s worse to abandon one of them once you’ve launched it than to never start it at all.
• Limit how much time is spent—that means time budgeting and sticking with it.  Social media can be a huge time suck if you’re not careful.
• Keep it interesting.  If adding video really adds value—products in use or an expansion of culture—think about it.  If you can share and access goodies that are out there already to support your brand and your culture, do it.  And never, ever let the same thing show up again and again, or you’re bound to bore your customers and they’ll opt out.
• Measure as much and as often as you can.  There are measuring tools, and you can set up your own tests with specific product to create opportunities to measure.
• Write thoughtfully and efficiently.  At Lehman’s, they write most of a week’s Facebook entries and tweets over the course of about 2 to 3 hours on a Saturday morning.  This is not rocket science, folks—it’s sharing news and cultural goodies that your market wants to see and will share with others.  And it’s certainly not going to keep their attention if you discuss inane stuff that doesn’t move them.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that just because it’s from  YOU, and just because they opted in, they will be interested in what  you have to say, unless there is something in it for them to check it  out. E-newsletters are a good way to approach a non-offer email  but even then an offer will pique the attention of a jaded or overloaded  recipient. But what about the offer itself?  How can you make it work  for you, aside from getting the reader to open up your email?

Well, first, you must decide what you want them to do.

1. Get them to register at your site. Experts agree: the reason to send an email is to get people to come to  your site to order.  A standalone email that doesn’t generate action is  useless.  And the next step after getting someone to visit is to get  them to register and provide a little more information so you can  actually start sending them offers they’d be interested in, which will  substantially improve your relationship with your customer.  Hey, it  shows you’re listening! So if that’s your intent (and I do hope it is)  then it’s time to offer the customer or prospect something to  incentivise them to come in and register.

One of my favorite websites, Veer, which sells stock  photography and fonts, offers me $10 to spend at their Veer marketplace.

Now if this was a boring site that would be a lame offer.  But the  fact that it’s an ultra-cool marketplace that along with its fonts and  stock photos has hip t-shirts and goofy gifts (these guys really know  their customer) makes this an ultracool offer that then becomes a hot  potato in my hand.

2. Get them to shop where YOU want them to shop. If you’re selling in a few different channels, you may be happy that  your customer is coming to one channel to shop.  But you’re missing an  opportunity to sell them more.  People’s behavior changes when they shop in a new or different channel and often they will purchase more just  from the sheer novelty of it.

An online-only offer can convert a retail customer into one  who shops online if they don’t find what they want in retail, instead of  just giving up.

I’ve recently seen Chico’s make me the offer of FREE shipping  when I buy online, even though I have two Chico’s near me.  It’s easier  and cheaper than getting in the car and driving there!

They make it even more interesting now that they’ve started creating some product that is online only—so even if I went to the store I wouldn’t find it. I  found myself responding yesterday by purchasing the “Artist’s Jacket.”  This was also referred to elsewhere as the Kaylen Jacket. (Note to merchants:  naming a product like that made it automatically  more appealing—the customer gets a feeling this jacket will make her  more creative!  This builds a benefit that normally would not be so  obvious with the purchase of an ‘ordinary’ jacket).

When I saw this was limited quantity, it really got my attention!

By the way, I believe that this kind of offer is going gangbusters  for Chico’s, as i noticed that almost as soon as they launched, they were already running out of sizes—and I’d only  gotten the offer a few days before.  Does that make anyone else’s heart  beat a little faster?  It sure did mine.

I am getting more and more emails that tell me I must come  into the store, or I must shop online, to take advantage of the offer.   And very often, this gets my attention and can even move me to act out  of curiosity.

3. Get ‘em to open and buy NOW. It breaks  my heart to see email offers with a response “tail” that’s too far out.  The offer deadlines (“You must order by [this date] to take advantage of  this offer”) for direct mail and catalog must be a few weeks from when  the recipient gets the catalog or mail offer.  But email is a  now-or-never medium and you must treat it like that when you set your  limits on the offer.

We’re seeing more and more “Today ONLY” or “This Wednesday  and Thursday ONLY” offers in email, and the reason is because it works.

Announcing this short time limit is essential both in the  email and the subject line. Think of that subject line as your envelope  teaser, in that its reason is to get someone to open and check it out.

Here’s the deal: If you send me an email on the 27th of the month, and think I’ll  pay any attention to it if the deadline is 2 weeks later, or even a week later, you’re in  dreamland.  I’ll forget that sucker as quickly as you can say, “click on  something more time-sensitive.”

Don’t give people a week—make them act  now.  Not doing so will drastically reduce action and subsequent sales.

So it’s time to try this on for size yourself. Look at your email history for the past six months and read your  results.  Then take on
the challenge of a short deadline offer, a small  window of opportunity,and decide if you have a particular place you  want to drive traffic.

Then, start testing your offers—and enjoy the results!

But there are so many missed opportunities! That’s because so many companies split up the responsibility, and then don’t have a strong conduit and brand that holds all their efforts together. This is something that cannot be taken for granted: given a lack of guidance a creative will just start making stuff up!

As creative as they are, it will do nothing short of sabotaging your multichannel effort, because it won’t be attached to your brand and your other campaigns.

What’s more, your very first contact must be the ‘leader’ of the multichannel effort. Whether working with an email/landing page combo, or a catalog cover/first inside spread, or a direct mail effort, your teaser, headline or subject line is your first opportunity to get someone’s attention. So every effort in your arsenal – be it email, mail or whatever – must provide both the tease and the PAYOFF.

If your message – the copy – is meaningful to your customer, and a real grabber, the next step—the follow through, or payoff—is essential to keep continuity of thought.  That’s a highly effective way to keep a customer’s attention long enough to woo them and sell a product or service.

The exciting news is this:  when created with  the focus and strategy that is appropriate for direct mail, it can pack a  wallop.

Direct mail is short, fast, and like email, has a  very limited lifespan, so it needs to be highly focused in  order to get and keep a
customer’s attention. But direct mail has some power that even email doesn’t  have—it’s something they can’t help but touch when they go  through their mail at the end of the day.  And when you send it to a  customer who knows you, you have a built-in advantage.

But that is not enough! Here are seven more guidelines to help you tackle and achieve success with a  direct mail piece.

5. Is the format interesting, and does it compel them  to dig in and look? Hey, anyone can fold a piece of paper in  half.  Static electricity often holds these pieces closed enough that  it’s not even obvious that the piece should be opened up.  So not only  is a standard folded piece boring, it won’t even effectively pull the  reader inside.

Try a little light origami and get yourself a winner!  For  Script and Scribble we designed a short-fold piece that begged to be  opened. We used fugitive glue (OK, I’ll say it for all you hedonists out there… bugger glue!)  to hold it closed so the customer didn’t  have to tear open those irritating tabs.  And it worked like  gangbusters. Even now, they still use this as an interim piece between  catalogs to drive traffic to their website.

Think big, too.  6” x 9” can be pretty ordinary.  A 4” x 6” postcard may go postcard rate but it’s a big yawn.  Go 6” x 10” or 11”  and it stands out from all the other pieces in the mailbox. Make it  colorful and it will hold its own.  Make the headline direct and  powerful and make the offer pop, so that people don’t have to look at it  too carefully to “get” that this is something cool.

6. Is there an action device? You may laugh  at scratch-offs, but they work.  Consider using either a scratch-off or  a peel-up replaceable dot or label, where lifting the label will tell  them what they’ve won or what they’re saving.  Even if the response you  want is online, you can do this with a hidden ‘prize number.’  By the time they’re done scratching or peeling up the label, you will have their attention.  And never, ever include a “sorry, try again next time” message—they’re insulting, and you come across as cheap and a little sleazy.  Everyone should feel like a winner.

7. Keep it focused. A direct mail piece  that tries to do too much will usually fail.  Decide what you want them  to do, and then tell them what that is, and how they can complete the  task to get a thank-you gift. People are time-impoverished.  They need  you to be straightforward with them.  Direct mail can drive a person  anywhere you want them to go but you have to tell them the rules.  Communicate that they can only get this deal by going online, if you  want to drive web orders.  Tell them when they need to do it by. And  make that big, bold and clear.

8. Choose your audience. It’s best to start  with your house list and make it an offer for good customers. Don’t  send it to someone who hasn’t ordered in three years and then tell them  they’re a good customer—they don’t believe you and you end up looking  foolish.  Choose the best of your list and treat them to some good,  old-fashioned honest deal that they’ll enjoy.

9. Offset the cost with some co-op dollars. If you are selling products by another maker, chances are there are  co-op dollars that they set aside for advertising.  That’s right; in  many cases over half the cost of space advertising comes from those  co-op dollars.  And the same is true for direct mail.  That’s why you  see stores doing a postcard with a special promotion on Jones New  York—its cost is half covered by Jones New York.  Maybe there’s some  money there for you, too. As my best friend’s grandmother used to tell  us, “if ya don’t ask, ya don’t get.”

10. Use it to feature one big product. If,  for example, you sell greenhouses and smaller goods, direct mail is a  great way to sell an individual special greenhouse, or a new line.  If  you have a huge piece of equipment, or a new line of computer monitors,  this is a great way to highlight it and not allow it to get lost inside a catalog, where people get distracted.  Do a real, honest-to-goodness  sell on the product. Think of it as an infomercial on paper.  This is  salesmanship at its finest, if you can pull it off.  Allow no creative  to work on this who is not comfortable with selling—it’s not a beauty  contest. Make no mistake, it can look great, but selling is paramount.  Use dynamics to keep it interesting looking, with big heroes and  secondary/tertiary shots. Develop a hierarchy of messaging to keep them  reading.

11. Use email to prime the pump. You know  how busy YOU are—and so are your customers.  Tell them that there is a  super secret sale mailer coming to them in a few days with an offer that  they will want to know about—and it’s good for only a week. This is  the Publisher’s Clearing House approach in a way—they used to  use postcards to tell us that a big mail pack was coming.  Those days  are over, but you do have email to do the same job.

You owe it to yourself to try direct mail. And when you do, make sure your dollars are smartly spent. Customers pay  attention to a piece that’s different from what you always send them.   Use the compelling promotional power that smart mail provides.

Use this checklist to tune up your mail! If you’re digging into this elusive but proven medium, drop me a line at CWL@Worthington-Levy.com and let me know what you’re up to! And if you like, we can spend a few minutes with you to  discuss your creative and offer strategy.