Wednesday, March 30, 2022

#151 People Don't Buy From Clowns

 
#151  Blog Post – Wednesday, 30 March 2022

 

Posted by Denny Hatch

 

New Faces in Direct Mail

 Are Trashing the Old Rules

 

  
Hi, we’re Share Local Media

Share Local Media aims to reimagine the world of offline marketing for tech and e-commerce companies. 

As a full-service agency, program operator, and SaaS technology platform Share Local Media Helps tech and e-commerce companies leverage direct mail to achieve efficient direct response outcomes with high quality branding.

https://www.builtinnyc.com/company/share-local-media

 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

“People don’t buy from clowns.”   —David Ogilvy

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

 

It All began with This 6” x 9” Envelope
And Its Ten 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" Inserts.


   "The wickedest of all sins is to run an

     advertisement without a headline."

     —David Ogilvy 

 

•   “Avoid text printed over, or reversed out

     of, a busy or distracting background.”

     —Ed Elliott

 

Who Sent This? I Went Online And Found

These Clowns’ Manifesto Is Gibberish.

 

ABOUT

"Share Local Media (SLM) aims to reimagine the world of offline marketing for tech and e-commerce companies. We started as e-commerce marketers ourselves, and launched SLM with a goal of turning direct mail into a high performing, scalable channel for a digitally native client set. To do so, we’ve taken an inputs based-approach to the space, and re-engineered the channel from the ground up to make it easier to test, faster to execute, more measurable, and ultimately, more effective for e-commerce and tech clients of all types.


"We live and breathe direct response marketing, and strive to delight clients with high performing campaigns built around fast, data-driven client service, and premium, unique branding." 

 

Now Let's Have a Look at an Insert
Written and Designed by the Clowns

 Obverse (Front) Panel. Beauty Shot.
 

•   “Avoid text printed over, or reversed out

     of, a busy or distracting background.”

     —Ed Elliott

 

Reverse (Back) Panel. The Business Side (description, price, where available, order mechanism., etc.)
 

Never set your copy in reverse (white type on a black background) and never set it over a gray or colored tint. The old school of art directors believed that these devices forced  people to read the copy; we now know that they make reading physically impossible.”—David Ogilvy 
 
"Always make it easy and obvious how and where to order."       —Elsworth Howell 
 
"Type smaller than 9-point is difficult for most people to read."      —David Ogilvy
 
 
• The only contact information—where to order—is a single, easy-to-miss line in tiny type at the bottom of the back side of the insert:
Start exploring now at awaytravel.com
        
 
• There is no ordering information anywhere on the insert. 
 
• What is the price of these products? 
 
•  What is the USP (Unique Selling Proposition)? 
 
• In other words, how are they different from (and better than) competing products. E.g., Samsonite, TravelPro, American Tourister, Coolife? 
 
• What are these products made of? What are the "three durable materials" mentioned in the copy? 
 
• Where are they made? U.S.A? China? India?
 
BELOW: Copy Retyped for Readability

Built for modern travel        
We know travel might look different these days, but we’ve
got you covered—even if you’re not going far. Our thoughtfully
designed suitcases, bags and accessories offer something
for every type of traveler, and every type of trip.

THE PERFECT SUITCASES
Shop our suitcases in three durable materials—
each one is designed to last for life.

PREMIUM FEATURES
Four 360º spinner wheels, interior
compression system, and combination lock.

FREE SHIPPING, AND RETURNS
We’ve got all shipping covered, and
exchanges and  returns are always easy.*
 
Start exploring now at awaytravel.com
*Items with personalization cannot be returned.
 
 
Note: the asterisked disclaimer is in wee, tiny, itsy-bitsy, minuscule 6-point Courier type reversed out in white-on-black and unreadable sans magnifying glass. This guaranteed dishonest fight-starter with customer service is hardly a confidence-builder.
 
 
Takeaways to Consider

One day a man walked into a London agency and asked to see the boss. He had bought a county house and was about to open it as a hotel. Could the agency help him to get customers? He had $500—to spend. Not surprisingly, the head of the agency turned him over to the office boy, who happened to be the author of this book. I invested his money in penny postcards and mailed them to well-heeled people living in the neighborhood. Six weeks later the hotel opened to a full house. I had tasted blood!

   —David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising

 

• Direct mail is the world’s oldest advertising technique; it goes back to 10 July 1194 A.D.

 

• Direct mail is a not a slow, clunky, cumbersome, hugely expensive antique step-child of advertising. “Direct mail is the aristocrat of advertising.” —Lew Smith

 

• Never forget the direct marketing business hub started off as the DMA (Direct Mail Association) and over the next half-century went through myriad industry name-changes. Three years after it started calling itself “Data Driven Marketing” the entire once- massive and influential organization was basically outta business—a faint shadow of its grand former self.

 

• In this epoch of the Internet, Social Media, TV, robo-calling and print advertising, direct mail is the only safe medium to use when you are testing a new product or service and be guaranteed it won’t be picked up, stolen and sold around the world by Chinese thieves and counterfeiters even before you’ve finalized your start-up financing.

 

• A simple, plain-Jane direct mail 775-word non-personalized junk mail letter was the most successful advertisement in the history of the world.

 

• Direct mail is the only medium where you can test small, precisely analyze response results, run confirming tests and—if the numbers hold up—roll out and cream the market and leave your competitors eating your dust.

 

• "Direct marketing is the science and art of creating wants.”      —Denny Hatch  
 
###
 
Word count: 934
 



292pp     6" x 9"
Hardcover:     $39.95
Paperback:     $29.95
ebook/Kindle: $19.95

Amazon

 https://www.amazon.com/Method-Marketing-Denison-Hatch/dp/1648372767/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=method+marketing&qid=1681898276&sr=8-9

Barnes & Noble

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/method-marketing-denison-hatch/1100485178?ean=9781648372766

 

At age 15, Denny Hatch—as a lowly apprentice—wrote his first news release for a Connecticut summer theater. To his astonishment it ran verbatim in The Middletown Press. He was instantly hooked on writing. After a two-year stint in the U.S. Army (1958-60), Denny had nine jobs in his first 12 years in business. He was fired from five of them and went on to save two businesses and start three others. One of his businesses—WHO’S MAILING WHAT! newsletter and archive service founded in 1984—revolutionized the science of how to measure the success of competitors’ direct mail. In the past 55 years he has been a book club director, magazine publisher, advertising copywriter/designer, editor, journalist and marketing consultant. He is the author of four published novels and seven books on business and marketing.

CONTACT
dennyhatch@yahoo.com


Note to Readers:  
May I send you an alert when each new blog is posted? If so, kindly give me the okay by send
ing your First Name, Last Name and email to dennyhatch@yahoo.com. I guarantee your personal information will not be shared with anyone at any time for any reason. The blog is a free service. No cost. No risk. No obligation. Cancel any time. I look forward to being in touch!

IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE POSTING A COMMENT… EMAIL ME! I'LL HELP!
Google owns Blogspot.com and this Comment Section. If you do not have a Google account — or if you find it too damn complicated — contact me directly and I will happily post your comment with a note that this is per your permission. Thank you and do keep in touch. dennyhatch@yahoo.com


Invitation to Marketers and Direct Marketers: 
Guest Blog Posts Are Welcome. 
If you have a marketing story to tell, case history, concept to propose or a memoir, give a shout. I’ll get right back to you. I am: dennyhatch@yahoo.com
215-644-9526 (rings on my desk). 

You Are Invited to Join the Discussion.

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

#150 A Congress Person's Horrors

 http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2022/03/150-congressmans-horrors.html

#150 Blog Post – Wednesday, 22 March 2022

 

Posted by Denny Hatch

 

The Simple $7.50/month Solution

To the Horrors Congress Faces

 

U.S. Representative  Dwight Evans,

Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District

 

Last week I was invited to Peggy’s Cosmopolitan Club to hear a talk by our Congressman, Dwight Evans. He is very big, huggy-bear of a guy with charm, grace and a phenomenal memory. First elected to the Pennsylvania House in 1980, Evans has been involved in politics for more than 40 years. He knows Pennsylvania — and the inner workings of Philadelphia and Congress — cold. We’re damn lucky to have him working for us.

 

My Problem with Rep. Dwight Evans

He robo-calls once or twice a month or more to beg for campaign money. We send him money occasionally. But his calls take up time and take me away from my work. When I’m in the middle of something, I don’t want to be interrupted by Dwight Evans.

 

How Dwight Evans’s Constituency Is Twice-screwed

Members of the U.S. Congress are paid $174,000 a year plus expenses. The average cost to run a winning campaign for Congress is $2 million for every two-year term. A number of congressmen are extremely wealthy (e.g., Darrell Issa, representing the 50th district of California has a reported net worth of $460 million.)

 

But the average member of Congress must spend 4 hours a day—every workday—in an offsite telemarketing boiler room with a script, pleading with donors for campaign contributions so he/she can get reelected and keep working in your behalf.

 

 The 116th Congress (2019-2021) was in session 196 days a year. Four hours of dialing for dollars means they each member of congress spent 784 hours working to raise money. That’s 784 hours working for himself and not working for me.


What is more daunting: the average member of the House of Representatives must raise $18,000 a day or be out of a job.

 

 




With a term of just two years (mandated by the U.S. Constitution), on the very day Dwight is re-elected, he must start his 4-hour-a-day fundraising schedule all over again in order to buy his seat for the next cycle. The system stinks. It’s debilitating. And we, the people, are screwed by being forced to rely on part-time congressmen.

 

Should Congressional Campaigns

Be Financed by the Government?

Hell, no! This would grant walking-around money to every out-of-work idiot who declared for candidacy. And what about myriad state and local candidates? Government funding is a lousy idea!

 

The Raw Numbers for a Congress Person and How

Just $5 to $10 a Month Would Make a Difference

• Number of bodies (men, women and children) in the average congressional district: 700,000.

 

• The Average Number of households per congressional district (@2.5 people): 280,000.  (This is the potential raw donor base).

 

• The cost of a winning congressional campaign every two years is roughly $2 million.

 




           OpenSecrets.org

 

• If ten percent (10%) of those 280,000 households contributed $5 or $10 a month, here’s what would happen. $5 to $10 per month from 10 percent of the electorate would mean a $7.50 average.

 

  Donor Base:                         28,000

     Avg. Monthly Gift:        x       $7.50

     Monthly Total:                 $210,000

     12 Months/per year:     x           12

                  Grand Total:                    $2,520,000

 

How to Guarantee the Monthly

$7.50 Pledge Will Be Collected

 



 

Takeaways to Consider

 

• U.S. politicians lead lives of perpetual desperation. (Exception: The U.S. Senate)

 

• Would you invest in a  company—or fly in a jet plane—if you knew the employees were forced to spend 4 hours a day raising money so they can keep their jobs?

 

• Cash-starved Congress members are ipso-facto the most inefficient workers of any organization in the country. We the taxpayers are screwed.

 

• The obvious solution would be small $5 to $10 credit card donations every month to congressional, state and local political election committees just the same as animal rescuers and children’s hospitals.

 

• Desperately needed: a patriotic, non-partisan national organization of savvy professional fundraisers to put together—and execute—a plan that will free up members of congress and local representatives to do their jobs on behalf of their constituencies.

 

• Members of the United States Senate need not apply. Below is a sampling from Open Secrets:

                                

 


 

• “The definition of an honest politician is one who, when bought, stays bought.” 

—Simon Cameron (1799-1889)

Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War                                                             

 ###

 

Word Count: 712




292pp     6" x 9"
Hardcover:     $39.95
Paperback:     $29.95
ebook/Kindle: $19.95

Amazon

 https://www.amazon.com/Method-Marketing-Denison-Hatch/dp/1648372767/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=method+marketing&qid=1681898276&sr=8-9

Barnes & Noble

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/method-marketing-denison-hatch/1100485178?ean=9781648372766

 

At age 15, Denny Hatch—as a lowly apprentice—wrote his first news release for a Connecticut summer theater. To his astonishment it ran verbatim in The Middletown Press. He was instantly hooked on writing. After a two-year stint in the U.S. Army (1958-60), Denny had nine jobs in his first 12 years in business. He was fired from five of them and went on to save two businesses and start three others. One of his businesses—WHO’S MAILING WHAT! newsletter and archive service founded in 1984—revolutionized the science of how to measure the success of competitors’ direct mail. In the past 55 years he has been a book club director, magazine publisher, advertising copywriter/designer, editor, journalist and marketing consultant. He is the author of four published novels and seven books on business and marketing.

CONTACT
dennyhatch@yahoo.com


Note to Readers:  
May I send you an alert when each new blog is posted? If so, kindly give me the okay by send
ing your First Name, Last Name and email to dennyhatch@yahoo.com. I guarantee your personal information will not be shared with anyone at any time for any reason. The blog is a free service. No cost. No risk. No obligation. Cancel any time. I look forward to being in touch!

IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE POSTING A COMMENT… EMAIL ME! I'LL HELP!
Google owns Blogspot.com and this Comment Section. If you do not have a Google account — or if you find it too damn complicated — contact me directly and I will happily post your comment with a note that this is per your permission. Thank you and do keep in touch. dennyhatch@yahoo.com


Invitation to Marketers and Direct Marketers: 
Guest Blog Posts Are Welcome. 
If you have a marketing story to tell, case history, concept to propose or a memoir, give a shout. I’ll get right back to you. I am: dennyhatch@yahoo.com
215-644-9526 (rings on my desk). 

You Are Invited to Join the Discussion.