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Editor:
Today, we’re chatting with a true expert in direct marketing. He’s been trained alongside some of the biggest names in marketing. People like Bill Glazer and Dan Kennedy. And now, he stands shoulder to shoulder with those guys.
In the last few years, Craig Simpson has sent over 300 million pieces of direct mail, and he’s been able to analyse what works and what doesn’t work. And that’s why I’m really excited about chatting to Craig today. We’ll also find out about how direct marketing stacks up against email marketing, or advertising online, with sites such as YouTube and Google.
Craig, it’s lovely to meet you.
Craig Simpson:
Thank you. I’m glad to be with you and chat with you today.
Editor:
Well, let me start by asking a little bit more about you and your background, and how you got started.
Craig Simpson:
Yeah. So, I got started in direct mail marketing in a really unique way. The first thing I actually sold through the mail was fake rock climbing holds. I had built this climbing wall in my backyard and I wanted to bolt on these holds, but I didn’t have any money for them. And so, I ended up making these fake rock climbing holds on my own. And everyone loved them. They said, “You should start selling them.”
So, I did my first mail campaign, which was a complete flop. Nobody responded.
Editor:
Right.
Craig Simpson:
But I kept trying and testing. And I eventually sold over 4,000 rocks, fake rocks, through the mail, for the rock climbing industry. And that got my start into direct mail marketing.
Editor:
Wow. So, did you have a full-time job at the time
Craig Simpson:
Well, I was just out of high school. I was only 19 years old. I think I was working at a gas station, or something, on the side.
Editor:
Right.
Craig Simpson:
And I was an entrepreneur. I got started real early ended out, and it turned into a full business. And it led me into direct mail marketing for a big publishing industry and everything else. But that was my start, selling fake rocks through the mail.
Editor:
That’s amazing. What a way to get started. And did you get great feedback about your fake rocks?
Craig Simpson:
Well, my first mailing was complete bomb. I got zero calls, zero orders. But I learned some things, and I tweaked and I changed. And eventually, obviously, became a success because I sold thousands of them.
But there was a lot that I learned in every campaign, and I didn’t know anything. I just knew back then that, I had heard direct mail worked, and so I just had to start tweaking and testing things until I found something that worked well.
Editor:
Got you. And for anyone who’s unfamiliar with the term direct marketing, could you just maybe explain what it is and how it works?
Craig Simpson:
Sure. So, direct marketing is basically sending out an advertising message to somebody and then asking them to respond. And when they respond, that’s kind of that engagement.
There’s a lot of marketing, say, like a billboard, where it’s just promoting something. And you look at the billboard, you remember the name on the billboard, but it’s not asking you to take the next step.
Direct marketing, we’re asking the prospects to do something, to call, to go online, to make some kind of commitment by responding. And that’s what we consider direct marketing.
Editor:
Got you. Because I think people may be familiar with the term CTA, so Call to Action, I guess this is that, but on steroids, right?
Craig Simpson:
Yes, yes, exactly.
Editor:
And is it true that direct marketing is one of the best ways to get traffic to a website?
Craig Simpson:
It is. So, what I specialise in is direct mail, direct marketing, and that’s sending things through the physical mailbox. And what I love about it, it’s the one media where the prospect has a physical thing in their hand that they’re forced to do something with.
So, we show up in their mailbox and they take it to their counter or their coffee table or their desk, and they have to decide whether to keep it, read it, toss it, whatever they want to do. But it forces them to make a decision. Whereas with email or TV or radio, you can push a button and those ads disappear. They’re gone instantly. It’s easy to get rid of them. With the mail, they physically have to do something with it, and that’s what I love about it.
So, when it comes to, hey, even though it’s this physical piece, we can drive people to an online website to register for something, to go get more information. And it’s a great tool for driving people online.
Editor:
Absolutely. I think a lot of people shy away from direct mail because of course it does have a cost associated with it, whereas a lot of people think that emailing is free. Maybe they’re mistaken in that belief, but what are your thoughts on that, Craig?
Craig Simpson:
Yeah. There is a cost to direct mail marketing. It’s not something where you can just quickly test something and hope it works, because there’s all this cost involved. I mean, there’s postage and there’s printing, and there’s lists, and there’s all these things that go into it.
So, you really have to strategize and come up with your best message, and solution, and offer you can, it’s not something you just want to do halfway. You’ve got to be all in with it. You’ve really got to make sure your I’s are dotted and your T’s are crossed.
Note from the editor:
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