For instance, suppose you own a vacation lodge and you recently hosted best-selling mystery writer John Grisham, who signed ten books while there on a fishing trip. Autographed books can't easily be bought on open market, and for fans, they have a powerful appeal. You could thus create a "Grisham weekend" and give away a book to each of ten guests signing up for a three-day package including lodging, food, boat and equipment rental and a couple more luxuries or gifts ordinary patron wouldn't spring for a la carte.

Even without a scarce or package-deal-only item, you can increase appeal of your special deal by giving it a tantalizing name. The name might indicate a special purpose that plants ideas in minds of people who don't ordinarily buy from you, as in "Treat Your Spouse" weekend at a city hotel, aimed at local residents.

For an auto repair shop, you might call your package "The Midwinter Tuneup," including a rationale for maintenance services that most car owners don't usually think of bringing their car in for that time of year. A publisher might likewise create a Valentine's Special -- four romantic books that a woman might love to receive from her man, who might otherwise buy just one, or none at all, in favor of that old standby, roses.

Most lists fall into two categories compiled lists or direct response lists. Compiled lists are phone directories annual membership rosters, and manufacturing directories. Response lists are just as they imply they have responded and purchased a targeted product or service recently, because of this fact they are most likely to purchase a similar item again. Response lists are common for magazine subscriptions or lists of prospects that have purchased life insurance or indexed annuities recently.

Standard Rates and Data Services (SRDS) are directories of response lists. They will include quantities and descriptions of each list for sale.

Part 3: Direct Marketing Strategy

The offer is often referred to as deal. This is what people get for there money. Whether you're planning a direct marketing strategy, evaluating a campaign or writing an ad much of work revolves around three important elements. The offer list and creative and these elements work together or separately to make your direct marketing promotion work.

The offer is product or service being sold and includes any warranties, guarantees, features, and price and credit terms. The offer could also be actions someone needs to take to place an order like a shopping cart or form on a Web site or reply card in a bulk mailing.

Offers separate general advertising from direct response. General advertising often excludes critical information that should always be included in direct response advertising. Direct response puts all necessary information together in an offer and tells reader exactly how to respond. People expect offers in direct response advertising. You must give prospective customer a reason to respond like limited offer or special bonus, since purchase is impulsive in nature.

Failing to make offer clear or forgetting to make an offer at all is a common mistake among direct response marketing beginners. The way to get a response to an offer is to make a deal that prospects can't refuse.

In direct marketing, offers are categorized by method of payment. Offers with delayed billing and trial periods are soft offers. Asking for a payment up front with a special bonus for paying now by credit card is a hard offer. The payment terms like accepting credit cards online makes a big difference in response to offer. Splitting up payments can sometimes make a difference on higher priced items.

Sometimes in direct marketing elements included in a product can make a big difference in response. The price of an offer should be tested at certain price points. Testing hard offer verses soft offer sometimes can make a big difference in response rates. Always strive to improve your offer by testing different elements of an offer.

Part 4: Direct Marketing Creative

Your actual copy and graphic design is important in direct response but less than a well defined strategy using your offer and a targeted list.

Poor graphic design can hurt your response and professional image. Lavish or unusual artistic techniques may work well for magazines and other types of advertising but would actually distract or lower response rates in direct mail. It would be wise to keep your graphic design to a minimum unless you employ a graphic designer for design or professional photographer to shoot your photography. Direct response advertising is a combination of words, pictures and graphics. The words used almost always must move and persuade.

Write a sales letter for entry-level products or service's and feature it on your home page. Write a sales letter convincing prospects to send an e-mail requesting a sales representative to contact them. Offer free reports, e-zine to build list. Personalizing with first name last name, gender zip-code using mail/merge software will increase response and will separate you from clutter of emails prospects get.

Using a compelling headline that draws your prospect into your letter and promotion can triple marketing response. The headline should be driven by product benefits or solving a problem. Headline offers would be a good item to test in a letter and can pay for it self many times over since this would become your control letter. Newspapers and tabloids use well crafted headlines to sell there publications at point of purchase display's.

Only a few Web sites use direct response marketing in there copy and Web sites that have tested sales copy have been successful. Marlon Sanders and Cory Rudl are good examples of internet direct response marketing pioneers. Both have made fortunes selling and testing there books and e-books on internet using old fashioned marketing techniques. Web sites that sell products and services do better if graphics and flashy programming designs are excluded since they take longer to load which will greatly lower response unless closely tested.

The focus is writing compelling copy that describes many benefits and features of products or services. Products that are digital in nature like e-books and MP3 music and software do especially well since visitor will get immediate satisfaction by checking out with credit card and downloading within a couple of minutes. If you are selling e-commerce web mall items clean digital photography with limited graphics and strong copy featuring benefits like free delivery, guaranteed satisfaction or free downloads will help response levels.

Direct response soft offer trial periods are being used frequently by Microsoft Network and AOL to market there internet services. Like 60 days free with credit card verification. When competition is fierce and pockets are deep soft offers can be very effective as long as your billing package has been tested and has proved to be effective. Payment variations (credit card, check, installment by phone or emailed by CGI form) may work well for products and services on internet. This technique used in direct mail would have opposite effect and may lower response. Testing this feature would give you best answer.

Sometimes billing prospects for services can triple response rate. The payment offer can be a crucial element in a direct response campaign and should be evaluated closely, since pay up rate could possibly break a small business. Please be sure to contact me for a free quote and guaranteed satisfaction concerning your Direct Response Marketing online or offline promotion at: Timlit7@nethawk.com

Timothy Little--For details on how to launch your direct response Web site or mail marketing campaign. E-mail quote form at my website for a free consultation. At: e-SiteSolutions.com or email address: timlit7@nethawk.com. Phone number is (989) 463-5951