Profitable Direct Marketing

Many new entrepreneurs want to learn about Direct Marketing. Often, they pick up books telling them it is trivial to build and grow a profitable, direct-mail company earning millions of dollars in a very short time. Many established small businesses spend tens of thousands of dollars on direct-mail ad campaigns which prove a disappointment. Whenever either group asks for a solid, authoritative information about direct mail, the first book which comes to my mind is "Profitable Direct Marketing: A Strategic Guide to Starting, Improving, and Expanding Any Direct Marketing Operation" by Jim Kobs.Kobs explains that the actions of the respondents must be measurable. Inquiries or orders received are measurable. Kobs notes that while billions of dollars are spent on advertising, the companies spending this money aren't completely aware of just how effective the advertising is in generating sales and company awareness.In the Chapter, Launching a New Direct Mail Program, Kobs teaches us basic direct marketing math. We learn how to calculate media cost, CPM (or, cost per thousand), OPM (orders per thousand), and cost per response (CPO). While such calculations are basic, they form the foundation of successful direct marketing. This is how direct marketing gurus measure in direct mail.In a later Chapter, Direct marketing's Testing Laboratory, Kobs introduces us to some of the more advanced aspects of direct mail, such as segmentation analysis, regression techniques, and confidence levels. However, "Profitable Direct Marketing" doesn't show the use of these more advanced techniques in detail. This is probably because many readers of "Profitable Direct Marketing" probably don't have the statistical background or inclination to learn the most advanced direct-mail techniques. Further, these advanced techniques aren't necessary for many smaller businesses which want to use direct marketing.Kobs covers much direct-mail testing in depth. In particular, Kob does an excellent job of discussing list testing and list segmentation. Kobs gives us useful rules for making successful tests. Among Kobs' Eight Testing Ground Rules are trying to "beat the champ." This means using your currently most successful direct-mail package as a "control" to which all of your other direct marketing packages are compared. Another of Kobs' ground rules is being sure that "your tests are statistically valid." "Profitable Direct Marketing" also devotes an appendix to The Mathematics of Planning Profitable Mailings.Direct marketing isn't all about testing and math, however. Part III of "Profitable Direct Marketing" is aptly titled Targeted Creativity. Or, we might think, "Measurable Creativity."Kobs discusses how to write successful direct-mail copy. He asks us to contemplate our market, our offer, and our objective. We learn about letter writing formulas which have proven to be successful in the past. Kobs tells us "These seven steps have stood the test of time:1. Promise a benefit in your