All Forum Posts by: Solomon Solomonov

@Michael Quarles 

Got it. Thanks! 

@Michael Quarles 

Would you suggest the same yellow letter ("Investor 1") on both yellow letter rounds or to use a different template on the second yellow letter round? Same postcards on both postcard rounds? Same zip letters on both zip letter rounds? 

Empirical data is convincing enough for me. Gona go with the YL, PC, ZL, YL, PC, ZL structure through YellowLetters.com. Should launch in about 30 days. Stay tuned for results. Thanks for all the help!

@Michael Quarles 

I see your point, but it also depends on the level of generalization. Coke has a greater market share in the beverage industry, but I doubt that Powerade helps sell Sprite (although having different flavors of Powerade can probably help sell more Powerade). 

As I understand, the cumulative effect of consistent mailing stems from receivers developing recall, which is achieved through awareness, branding, etc. I can see how mailing 6 postcards, or 6 yellow letters, or 6 zip letters would achieve this cumulative effect. I'm just not sure about a mixed approach (e.g. YL, PC, ZL, YL, PC, ZL).  

I've gotten a bunch of help from Norma and Alexis at YellowLetters.com and I am about 30 days away from launching my first campaign. I'm just on the fence about whether I should just go with yellow letters only or mix it up.  

@Dev Horn 

Thanks for the feedback! Your video set the foundation for the way I think about direct mail - the idea of consistency and repetition. 

I'm also glad you chimed in on the topic of branding. This is the issue I've been having: I accept the principal that you should "touch" your target market 5-7 times if you hope to get a response. However, that presumes that there is some cumulative effect that your mail pieces have on the Homeowner. Yet, how is that possible if there is no cohesive brand across multiple mail pieces? And how can that even be achieved when coupling yellow letters with other types of mail pieces (e.g. postcards, zip letters, etc.). It almost seems to me that you either send yellow letters or you send something else. You cant send both. It would be like having 6 campaigns of 1 mailer rather than a single campaign of 6 mailers. 

Thoughts? 

 @Chris Kennedy 

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll be sure to pick up the material. 

@Rick Harmon Great point!

There are more complex components to direct mailing than I originally thought. It's not just about the types of envelopes, letters, font, ink, etc. You have to consider things like the "voice," a USP that provides "relief" to specific target markets, and embedded commands and calls to action. On top of that, all these components need to be presented as a cohesive brand across multiple pieces. 

I think what I'll do is leverage the decades of experience that YellowLetters brings to the table. I think it would give me a head start. It might take years worth of testing and tweaking just to get to the point of what YellowLetters.com can provide. 

This thread actually provided a lot of clarity. The next step for me is to contact YellowLetters and get some details on what a comprehensive campaign would look like. 

@Jerry Puckett  @Michael Q  @Rick Harmon  

Your posts on this site have been incredibly helpful. At some point I put down the books and shifted to BP exclusively, in large part due to your contributions. Thank you!  

@Michael Q. 

"My solution is wrapping everyone together by utilizing a marketing strategy which encompasses multiple mail pieces which speaks to multiple social and educational mentalities."

Mastering brand awareness just for yellow letters is challenging enough. Achieving the type of cohesive marketing strategy with multiple mail pieces seems like a tall order (at least for beginners). Does YellowLetters (or some other turnkey company) provide such comprehensive solutions?

@Jerry Puckett 

Thanks for the helpful feedback! So from I understand, it's not necessarily about having a logo on your mailer. It's more about having a unique and effective mailer (e.g. envelope, stamp, color ink, font, message content), while also being consistent in your mailings (e.g. once a month for six months). 

I think I might consider only using yellow letters the first time around and testing a mix of YL and PC on a second campaign.

Checked out @Dev Horns video. Brought the concept home. Thanks for the reference.  

Quick follow up: 

I'm guessing it would follow that when you're doing split tests, you want to test a single component on two separate groups, rather than on the same group. For example, say you want to test different envelope types. You would use envelope X for group 1 and envelope Y for group 2, but you wouldn't test envelopes X and Y during the same campaign on group 1, since your branding could get lost. Is my thinking correct? 

Thanks again for the feedback. 

The expert consensus is that a campaign should include about 5-7 mailings. Statistics show the majority of the deals come from the 5th mailer and beyond. 

@Dev Horn has, on several occasions, stressed the importance of branding in direct mail campaigns in order to help stand out against competition. Moreover, @Jerry Puckett has advised that each subsequent mailer build on previous mailers (e.g. second mailer says "I have contacted you a few weeks back..."). These ideas make perfect sense if you want to create a campaign of 6 mailers, rather than 6 campaigns of one mailer. 

However, I would think that the synergies created would be lost if the recipient can't recognize a common brand from one mailer to the next. Yet, 1)  how does a homeowner distinguish two yellow letters sent from two different people (I'm not sure the name in the letter alone would do the trick)? 2) How can a homeowner recognize common brand between postcards and yellow letters? 

I am assuming several things here: the yellow letter is a handwritten letter the typical yellow paper. The only personal info of the sender included in the message is the name and phone number. There is no return address (according to @Michael Q., a return address could decrease the open rate). 

Any thoughts?