Congratulations, you’ve started your new direct mail marketing campaign! You’ve faithfully sent out your newsletter for six months in a row. And…crickets. Nothing.
You wonder…is it really even working? Self-doubt starts to kick in and you think: Is this campaign even worth it? Should I try to keep this campaign alive?
The “Grass is Always Greener” Trap
Each campaign you send needs to stand on its own merits, of course, but perhaps all your campaign really needs is a boost of, well … patience. It may be that you’re expecting results from your campaign way too soon. Unfortunately, wanting instant results can trap you in a “the grass is greener on the other side of the fence” mentality.
Instant results are nice when you can get ’em, but when it comes to marketing let’s focus on the rule and not the exception. According to Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the hugely popular Guerilla Marketing series, the rule is that a marketing message must penetrate the mind of a prospect a total of nine times before that prospect becomes a customer.
Here’s the second part of that rule: For every three times you expose your prospect to your marketing message – via ad, sign, monthly direct mail advertising, whatever – it gets missed or ignored two of those times. That means you’ve got to get your message in front of your prospect a total of 27 times in order to make those nine impressions.
The Grass is Greener Where You Water It!
So, have patience! Take a look at that campaign of yours and evaluate the number of impressions you’re making before you pass judgement on its effectiveness! Your persistence and patience will pay off. The grass is greener where you water it. So, make that next impression, keep on watering, and begin to see your customer list grow!
