Mail Order in the Internet Age by Ted Ciuba - HTML preview

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book

Total profit per

$3.81

letter

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“Mail Order in the Internet Age” by Ted Ciuba

Page 56 of 231

Also, remember, your hard work is all done. You’ve got your product and copy in place. Now you just kick back with no work and no effort!

You’re earning $3.81 for every single letter that you mail out on the rollout!!! That’s with the same effort and risk - no more. Your earnings are up from $1,835.90 to $3,813.57, a very doable 108% increase!

And you’re no fool! How long do you think it would take you to ask this question?:

How many names can I mail to?

Grab hold of this one! Direct marketing is not a crapshoot! Once your project is producing profits, you simply roll out on success. The numbers get larger. It’s that simple. Also, in this populous country of ours, there’s hardly a category that doesn’t have 1,000,000 or more names.

1,000,000 x $3.81/ltr = $3,810,000

Wowee! Multiplication was never this fun in school!

Since you have to think anyway

But wait! Let’s do a little more math, trying on a few

You might as well think BIG!

different sets of the ‘universe’ of names for people

- Donald Trump interested in your product. Let’s say, averaging the effects

of dilution (reaching to people beyond the first levels of predisposed interest in your product) and duplication (same names on different lists), your response rate takes a staggering drop of 40% down to a 5.91 response rate. That would bring your profit per letter down to a meager

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“Mail Order in the Internet Age” by Ted Ciuba

Page 57 of 231

$2.02 per letter mailed. Everything else remains the same, of course, as it has been tested to be effective. Let’s see...

Names 1,000,000 2,000,000 5,000,000

Profit/Letter

$2.02 $2.02 $2.02

Total Profit

$2,020,000.00 $4,040,000.00 $10,100,000.00

How would you like to make $2,020,000 in a couple of years?

The good news is you can!

What if you do a mail out and

Reality Chicklet. What if you’d done a mail out of a 1,000

letters and lost money? How much? The likelihood of a

lose? How much can you lose?

The likelihood of a zero return is

zero return is almost infinitesimal... especially if you’re

following a good sales letter checklist! It’s only when

almost infinitesimal.

you’ve got the numbers that you launch yourself into a

rollout.

So, you can lose some money... but not very much. Then, of course, it’s made up for with the winners.

It’s Not a Crapshoot, But It Is A NUMBERS Game! ...

The big event is to get a definitive win in an optimized test marketing effort, and then roll out with the winner!

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“Mail Order in the Internet Age” by Ted Ciuba

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If you have a stinker... two things:

1. you probably made back some or most of your money... so it wasn’t a washout. You’re not gambling like that.

2. you’ve also received feedback on what’s not successful. Proceed as the market indicates, testing something different, such as a different headline, a higher or a lower price, a different offer, or a different guarantee.

This is optimization - getting the highest return possible

√ out of every dollar you invest,

√ out of every ad you run,

√ out of every process you employ.

Place two ads side-by-side. Nine times out of ten, there will be a significant difference in pulling power, attributable to headline, offer, bonus, premise, or a group of other things which I promise to discuss with you in greater depth.

Optimization is essentially a scientific process wherein we test, or try out, different alternatives to find the better one. We can’t tell by guessing, even by ‘educated guesses’. But the marketplace will always reveal its preferences.

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So your business becomes, in effect, an arena of science.

When you test something and you

You don’t risk very much. But trying a few alternatives will

know you have a winner

usually give you one that far outperforms the others...

there’s no risk involved

That’s the one you rollout with!

E. Joseph Cossman

This is every business person’s dream... And you’ve got it in mail order. There’s nothing like it!

√ To have definable, knowable profits!...

√ To control and eliminate risk!

Because, when the numbers are secure, it’s like you’re playing with a rigged table... Of course you’re winning!!!

...And the best is yet to come! So far, you haven’t seen anything but the beginning! I can’t wait to show you how you can pyramid your profits to over $100,000 from a single customer - starting with just a $337 sale!

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“Mail Order in the Internet Age” by Ted Ciuba

Page 60 of 231

Information Marketing

Every business is first and

There are two distinct aspects to business. If you understand

foremost a marketing vehicle.

this distinction, you’ll be light years ahead of 95% of your

Only after you understand that

competitors...

does your brilliant and badly

needed product stand a chance in

Most people do it wrong... poor product, low prices,

today’s competitive marketplace. ineffective advertising, traditional opportunity... No wonder they fail! You won’t have to do that.

Ted Ciuba

Most people don’t understand the rudimentary division in business between the two prime divisions of business - any business.

Every business consists of the core expertise - that is, the product or service that is offered.

However, many people stop there, thinking they’re in the design business, or consulting business, or landscaping business, or oil business, or railroad business, or dance

business...They’ve only got half the picture at best.

The real business that every business person is in is the marketing business. Cars, insurance, information products, etc... these are the particular ‘vehicles -’ each separate ‘business’ chooses to do business with. That is, one person or company chooses to originate mortgages (vehicle) as their method to make money (the common end of all Whatever else you do, you are

business). Another person or company chooses to sell also in the marketing business

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antique furniture and trinkets (vehicle) as their method to make money (business).

Every business - all business - Is MARKETING. Without marketing, you have no productive activity. There is no income. There’s just a product in a warehouse or a garage or a skill lodged with an individual or a firm.

Most people don’t understand this simple distinction. Your business is not really

‘health products’ or

‘business opportunities’ or

‘mortgages’ or

a ‘search engine submission service’ or

‘indigenous products from Bolivia’ or

Civil War artefacts.

Your business is really letting the people that might be interested in these products know that you have them, at a high value, and they can make their lives immediately better when they get them.

That’s marketing!

One easy way to sprint ahead of your competitors is to simply realize that you’re in the marketing business. Leave ‘em eating your dust!

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To Optimize... to fully optimize your results, you should take your understanding to the next level. You’ll more fully optimize when you conceive both your product and marketing

maneuvers as including substantial elements of each other, simultaneously affecting and being affected by each other; independent and integrally connected.

Fortunately, it sounds a lot worse than it is... In theory you might think you need to be versed in Eastern mysticism. In practice, I’m just talking about reverse engineering. The most successful enterprises are those that select their market first, according to where they find a starving crowd and then adopt and develop their product with an eye to what that market wants. After having decided on your product, you then develop and launch your marketing plan with your market and your product both clearly in mind. Talk about targeting!

Easy. There’s only 3 things;

1. Market

2. Product

3. Marketing.

Easy. When you know how!

WHEN you know the secrets, it’s a breeze. Kind of like the juggler, keeping 5 balls in the air...

Easy, when you know the secrets. Then it’s just developing the flow that comes with mindful and engaged experience.

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Page 63 of 231

We Have A Very Strong Bias

You and I... We want the business that offers us the most advantages with the least disadvantages, don’t we? Maximum returns for minimum effort. Right?

Maximum money in minimum time.

That’s why you need to know about Information Marketing. That’s what we call the direct response marketing of information products. When you combine the advantages of direct response marketing and information products together in Information Marketing you’ve just found the best business there is!

It’s trouble-free, profitable, and reliable.

Successful, Savvy, in

There is no more ideal product than an information product.

tune with the trends...

In a nutshell, it’s got a high perceived value, it’s cheap to

Using Today’s Simple

reproduce, and very affordable to ship. Losses due to

Technology Tools like The

damages are virtually non-existent. Your prospects are easy

Phone, A Fax and, Above All,

to find, cheap to approach, and easy to convert.

Your Computer Hooked To The

If you operate your Internet Business as an Information

Internet, Working Part-Time

Business, all these advantages are multiplied exponentially!

From Your Home, You Can

There are NO costs associated with digital delivery - there

Quickly, Easily, & Safely Earn

are NO product costs. Further, it costs you NOTHING to

Well Over $100,000 Per Year

send an e-mail to your customers... E-mail is free! The

in... Mail Order ‘in the Internet

Internet is a revolution that is benefitting YOU!

Age!

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“Mail Order in the Internet Age” by Ted Ciuba

Page 64 of 231

Online and offline, all of these things make a setup for the perfect business... Which is what Mail Order in the Internet Age is all about!

No need for employees, expensive overhead... You can live your life on the beachfront, if you want. Or from home in Spokane, working part-time, if that’s where you want to live.

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Announcing!

- The Marketing of Information -

Direct Response - The Greatest Method

Direct response marketing, or ‘mail order’, is a method - one way - of conducting the marketing and selling function of your business. There are many more, such as

1. opening a storefront and letting people walk in or

2. sending a sales force out to make calls,

but mail order is the most elegant, trouble free, affordable, and profitable.

The principles of direct response marketing can be used to sell darn near anything! Just think of your own experience as a consumer and as a person who’s seen lots of ads in magazines,

newspapers, the radio, and on TV (Among other places).

Companies are using direct mail to successfully sell furniture, magazines, gourmet food, jewelry, fine wine, electronics, kitchen ware, clothing, toys, magazines, cigars, records, golf equipment, home loans, business opportunities, insurance, credit cards, computers, software, adult things, works of art, shoes, vitamins, cameras, office supplies, printing, wigs, flowers, gardening plants and equipment, books, cosmetics, videos, exercise equipment, real estate, real estate plans, pet supplies, collectibles, newsletters and much more!

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Think there’s any opportunity in mail order? Nobody’s become a millionaires overnight. The first successful letter that Gary Halbert wrote has already pulled in over $700 million! (Using conservative estimates... others place it 3-4 times as high!) He wrote it one evening after they turned the electricity back on in his house!

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It’s Easy To Find Your Market

We affectionately call Gary Halbert the ‘wildman’ of the copywriting profession. He once asked a group of aspiring marketers a simple question. “Assuming,” he says, “you’ve got a hamburger stand”, he continued, “and you could have any one feature concerning your business... What would it be?”

The motivated group shouted their answers:

Killer advertising!

The best location!

Reliable help!

The best hamburger around!

A price lower than my competitor’s!

The cheapest price!

And so it went... After all the answers were out, and he’d written them all on the board, he asked everybody to review the list, to think again... ?Are you sure there isn’t something else? If you can only have one thing?”

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A few more things were mentioned, actually repeats or variations of things already on the board.

Then Gary, getting close, huddled with the crowd and whispered into the mic, “if I could only have ONE thing, I’d want”...

A Starving Crowd!

Instantly everybody knew Gary was right.

With a starving crowd you don’t need any advertising, any location will do, because they’re there, and they’re hungry. They’re MOTIVATED TO BUY!

And if it takes a few minutes longer to get their burger, because you’re short one unreliable employee, they’ll wait. And nobody asks if you’re the ‘best’ burger around...

By the way, I’ve never met anyone over 12 years old who actually thought McDonald’s had the

‘best’ burger around... Have you? Of course, you know, no one sells more! This should illustrate to you that it’s more than just the ‘best’ burger that makes for financial success.

And, when a person’s hungry, and you’re the one there, you’re not compared against some competitor’s pricing, because there are no competitors... (for this reason you want to develop your U.S.P. - Unique Selling Proposition. More on eliminating competition later.) And how’s this for a sweet note?! With all these advantages, you’d be a fool to give your customers the ‘lowest’ price and not make any money for yourself... And likewise not be around to serve them another day...

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Things are totally different when you’re selling to someone who’s aggressively seeking you out!

If you’ve ever been a salesperson, you know what a dream this is!

Well guess what? It’s not a dream in mail order!

The advantages that you have with direct marketing allow you to target niche audiences. You only spend your advertising dollars in areas where you know people are predisposed to your product or service. People who are hungry to buy from you!

Different people read different magazines and different e-zines. Different people frequent different newsgroups. They, like every human being, are just following their interests. Therefore, when you advertise in different publications, you are advertising to people with a professed interest in the subject matter. Everything from The Economist to The Globe, The Wall Street Journal to People, the Hog Farmer’s Update to Guitar Player, Vintage Porcelain Dolls to Sniper.

Thus, if you have a dazzling new guitar wah-wah pedal, you don’t waste your resources

advertising it in The Wall Street Journal, do you? Few guitar players read The Wall Street Journal. But they do congregate in the pages of Guitar Player or its online equivalent, don’t they? Here’s your starving crowd!

The same thing goes, in reverse, if you have a businessman’s product. Sure, some guitar players are businessmen, with businessman’s concerns... But, statistically very few pickers are businessmen. Therefore, you wouldn’t waste your money on an ad for a businessman’s product in Guitar Player. But The Wall Street Journal for a businessman’s product? There’s your starving crowd!

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And with either publication you wouldn’t advertise a great new high protein, high body building hog supplement that would increase hog farmers’ yields by 23.9%, would you? But if you’re in the Hog Farmer’s Update... There’s your starving crowd!

Thus you see how niching goes. ‘Everybody’ is not your customer. You’re always seeking to optimize the value of your investment, so you only pay to reach people who are predisposed with an interest in your product.

Your costs are lower, your prospects are more responsive. And the money you make is

multiplied many times over. It’s easy to ‘Get rich in a niche’. It’s likely you’ll go broke trying to sell to ‘everybody’!

Whether by advertisements in publications or you rent mailing lists of proven mail order buyers of similar products, or you advertise in e-zines that attract your type of buyer, with direct marketing you approach your exact specific market. It don’t get no better than this!

It’s like shooting fish in a barrel! They’re there, gathered together in a little area and you’ve got them.

It’s entirely legal and ethical! Understanding how direct marketing works literally gives you a license to print money.

Who Should Use Direct Marketing?

Some people have the mistaken notion that direct marketing is only for mail order companies.

You already know better. Nothing could be further from the truth.

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Direct response is truly the only kind of advertising that any company should ever do. It’s about maximizing your revenues! Minimizing your expenses. It’s trackable. It stimulates sales.

Conventional advertising doesn’t work. It’s not trackable. Why would you want to ever do anything else other than direct response advertising?

To maximize its effectiveness, even your Yellow Pages ad should be direct response oriented.

Not only will you make more money - because you’ll have an offer that inspires action, but you’ll know whether or not your ad is working. You see, every time people ask for the unique special you’ve identified in your ad, you know they’ve seen it in the Yellow Pages.

It’s the same online and offline - direct marketing brings a bundle of particular benefits to any business in the world!

Mortgage professionals, dentists, chiropractors, lawn care professionals, hair dressers, computer programmers, publishers, manufacturers, software developers, restaurants, consultants, speakers, printers, salespeople, nutritional companies, and almost any other business you can think of all use direct mail to generate leads and customers like mad. Watch your mail... or e-mail.

Direct marketing offers you the ultimate in marketing firepower - ALL your money goes to effective marketing... with no waste on people who could never buy. Hm-m-m-m.

Ads And The Mail

The basic selling devices of direct response marketing are ads and the mail. You’ve no doubt seen millions of impressions, so you know what I’m talking about. Something you may not be aware of, however, is the 2 standard approaches these devices use.

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Lead Generation and Direct Selling

Any ad or sales letter approaches the selling effort either with 1-step or 2-step selling. Lead For all the exciting facts simply

generation, or 2-step selling, refers to the process of getting

an interested person to respond at a low level of

request your... FREE Special

involvement and then stepping them up to the intended sale.

Report!

Any time you read, watch or hear an ad that invites you to

respond for a ‘free special report’ (a very powerful sequence of words!), or ‘free information’, you’re seeing 2-step advertising in action.

When they request it, they’ve taken step one in this sequence.

The free special report arrives, and it’s loaded with valuable information. Its sole purpose, however, is to get you to buy the product or service being offered. Some marketers refer to it as a

‘disguised’ sales letter. It is.

When they order the product, they’ve taken step 2.

Direct selling, or 1-step selling, most frequently involves mailing a full sales package to a prospect with your first contact. In fact, however, any ad that asks you to send money is a 1-step ad. Thus, for instance, you see many advertisements in magazines, papers and the TV that ask you to send anywhere from $3 to $79 dollars to purchase the product. That’s 1-step, selling directly from the ad.

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Even with affordable products, but especi