Over the past 50 years, I must have seen thousands of ads, mostly two-line classified ads in opportunity magazines, trying to sell the latest in a long list of “How To Make A Fortune Mail Order” books or systems. Most have been the same old, same old, regurgitated 4 claptrap pages priced from $ 5 to $ 20. Every now and then there has been a full course or manual for $ 97 to $ 197. Since the advent of the internet, these types of posts have moved on to “How to Make a Fortune on the Internet”, but they are still the same regurgitated nonsense.
Is it worth buying any? Maybe a few, but the $ 19.95 guy will only make money for the scammers who sell them, not the suckers who buy them. There are one or two that teach the science (or art) of direct mail and perhaps one or two more that effectively teach how to make money online. But these systems are usually priced well above $ 100.00.
Some contain some gold nuggets, others, the most expensive, teach the technical aspects and some techniques, but I have not seen any that are complete yet. Let’s face it, direct marketing (direct mail and mail order) is a complex, skill-intensive business and to teach it properly would require a full-time college course or an Encyclopedia Britannica-sized set of manuals. In practice, you learn a great deal by experience and by listening to others in the business.
By the way, what is the difference between direct mail and mail order? Very little. Both are in the realm of direct response marketing. Direct mail marketing is commonly started by sending an email to thousands of people; They respond by mail, phone, Internet, or in person. Mail order can be advertised in the press or other means, including mail, but the response is usually by mail (hence mail order). So today, with all available media, including the Internet, the most descriptive term is Direct Response Marketing (DRM).
DRM is a business in which the marketing message is sent through advertising through one or more of the means, including mail, and requests or responses are requested by phone, mail, email, Internet or personal visit. Delivery is made by post, courier, download (in the case of electronic products) and any other available means.
The primary intent of DRM is to attract positive attention to the advertisement or mail piece, cultivate positive interest in the offer, provide information on how to order and pay for the product, and make an urgent call to act. In other words, promote a direct response.
One of the most common pitfalls for young players in direct marketing is producing or securing a product and then looking for someone to sell it to.
Hears! I also made that mistake. I wrote this super book on the health value of fruit and vegetable juices, with many recipes to treat many common ailments. It was a great book and I printed a lot ready to sell. It would be a bestseller, he was sure.
Not so! People should be vitally interested in their health and should be willing to pay a measly $ 20 for a book to help them stay healthy, right?
Wrong! People, a lot of people, that is, they don’t buy those kinds of books. I still have a few copies at home, but most made it to the garbage disposal on my last move.
So how do you know what people will buy?
The answer is simple! See what people are buying now. To be reasonably sure that you won’t be left with a garage full of widgets, you need to identify what people want and are currently buying. And sell more of the same or similar.
If 5,000 people a day buy dog collars, you can probably sell dog collars; or name tags to attach to dog collars. Most likely, people buy other dog-related products as well.
If 50,000 people a month buy books on how to be successful in an Internet business, they are likely to buy a similar product from you.
In short, the answer to the question of what people will buy in DRM (including the Internet) is this: “What they are already buying.”
If you go to the supermarket and walk down the aisles, you will likely see an entire aisle dedicated to dog food and products. Another entire aisle will be dedicated to cat food and products. People love their pets. Just so you know that pet-related products are usually good sellers.
Keep going and you will come to another hallway dedicated to babies. Yes, people have babies every day, some say 120,000 babies are born in America every month. So baby related products will be a sure winner.
Every month a similar number of people die, get married, get divorced. Can you see a market there?
Do you want to make it easy for yourself and find an almost infinite source of markets for all kinds of products?
Then get a copy of the SRDS, the world’s largest list of lists of people in all kinds of categories who buy all kinds of things.