Dear Friend,

From an early age I realized I think differently than the the rest of the world.

For a while I wondered if everybody else was normal and I wasn't. As I got older I realized I was one of the few sane ones.

I figured out at an early age that everybody else was sleep walking through life... like robots, doing exactly what they were programmed to do.... going through life making decisions without any rational thought...

Spending more time and energy planning a one-week vacation than they did planning their entire careers.

And even more unbelievable... they think that's NORMAL.

A great philosopher (Mr. Spock) once said...

"In an insane society, the sane man must appear insane."

What most seem to take for granted as normal doesn't "add up" in my eccentric mind.

For example... one thing I've really found confusing over the past several years is the Internet marketing community. Most of these guys are doing things that make no sense to me.

Here's what I mean:

Let's say I write an ad for Doberman Dan's Widgets and place it in the Akron Beacon Journal.

And let's say my ad is a winner, bringing in 5 times ad costs and a slew of new customers.

I know my ad is successful in the Akron Beacon Journal so I call the ad rep and run it again next week.

Knowing I have a great ad, guess what I do the week after that? I run it again in the Akron Beacon Journal.

That week, Clayton Makepeace calls me and asks about my ad. I tell him it's a winner in the Akron Beacon Journal.

Clayton asks, "What other newspapers and magazines are you running in?"

"Huh?", I reply, somewhat incredulous. "Don't you understand, Clayton? I have an Akron Beacon Journal business."

Long pause on the telephone. Clayton (restraining himself from laughing out loud) replies, "What the hell does that mean?"

I explain that my ad has proven it works well in the Akron Beacon Journal so I'm just going to continue running it there.

Of course I'm going to test different headlines, deck copy, colors, fonts and offers...

I'll even test an exclamation point instead of a period in the 4th paragraph, third sentence... and I'm going to do one of those high tech "Kristi Yamaguchi" tests on everything, too... but I'm only going to run it in the Akron Beacon Journal.

While trying to contain his laughter, Clayton responds "Uhhhh... good luck with your Akron Beacon Journal business. Ummmm... I gotta go."

After he hangs up the phone, he tells his wife...

"Hey Wendy. I really underestimated Gallapoo. He's either smoking wacky tobaccy or is a complete moron. Get this... he's got a winner ad that could make him a multimillionaire but he's only going to run it in the Akron Beacon Journal."

There are thousands of other newspapers and magazines I could run this ad in and it would probably do well.

I could put the ad on the Internet and accept orders that way. I could mail millions of letters in direct mail.

I could use inserts which other companies place in their outgoing packages for a small fee.

And if I wanted, I could test on radio and television.

The point is, I've got a successful ad so why restrict myself to only one media?

That's why I don't understand these "Internet" marketers.

See, I never looked at the Internet as a business. I looked at it as another kind of media I could use to sell products.

Saying you have an "Internet business" almost makes as much sense to me as saying you have an "Akron Beacon Journal business."

Someone please explain to me why you would want to restrict yourself to using only one media in getting the word out about your product. Because I honestly don't get it.

I'll admit that the Internet is a great media. You can test all kinds of different things quickly and easily and get valid results within a matter of hours.

Heck, it's EASY to test on the Internet. What used to take weeks or months to test in direct mail, newspaper or magazine ads only takes hours on the Net.

I think a lot of people have been spoiled by it because you can test quickly for free or really cheap.

I think you're really missing out if you've never done a direct mail test. Most of these young "gurus" teaching Internet marketing don't even know how to do a direct mail test. That's a shame.

I have an acquaintance who has his business exclusively online. He's extremely frugal. Actually, he's "frugal on steroids." I've never met anybody cheaper.

I've shown him how he could at least DOUBLE his business in 30 days with direct mail. Hell, he's seen me do it for my own businesses and several clients.

But he won't even try it.

Why? Because it costs $390 to buy a thousand postage stamps.

He says, "But it's free to send e-mail and request link trades."

Sure, it's free... if you don't value your time.

But you can leverage your time by exploiting a successful ad in print and direct mail.

If you know you've got an ad that's working, which makes more sense?

1. Sitting in front of your computer 12 hours a day searching for related sites and e-mailing them asking to trade links.
   
   
2. Having your successful promotion sent out to 500,000 targeted prospects via direct mail.

That's a no-brainer to me.

Sure, begging for link trades will get you a few links a day... and it doesn't cost you any money. And it may bring a handful of sales per year.

But direct mail can bring a FLOOD of new customers and prospects almost overnight. And all the work is done by the lettershop.

It's great if you've got a successful business on the Internet... but if you're not using offline media, you're missing out on a lot of money you could be making.

You can read more about using direct mail to increase your business in Issue 4.

All the best,

"Doberman" Dan Gallapoo

P.S. Have I beat you up enough that you're FINALLY ready to test some offline media?

Good!

I'll let you in on a little secret:

When you're mailing large quantities of direct mail, a good, reliable and HONEST lettershop is the best way to go.

But if you want to test small quantities of say 2,000 pieces or less... you can do it yourself "kitchen table" entrepreneur-style.

That's where you get a local printer to print your letters, then you fold and stuff them in a hand-addressed envelope and stick the stamps on by hand.

I've done it... and I got really tired of it after about 100 pieces. 1,000 is pure torture. More than that and you must be a masochist.

So now for small quantity direct mail tests, I use MailersClub.com.

They do a great job and will get your job finished and dropped in the mail in 5 business days or less.

If you're mailing more than 3,000 pieces, I would recommend a lettershop because it will be less expensive. But MailersClub.com works great for smaller quantities. I use them all the time.

Ray Uwate at MailersClub.com is a subscriber to my newsletter. When I mentioned I was going to recommend his service in my newsletter, he set up a special discount just for my subscribers.

When you place your initial order at MailersClub.com, enter "griffin07" (without the quotes) in the coupon code box and you'll receive 10% off your order.

They even have a design studio with free templates if you want design help with your mailing piece.

Check it out. It's a good resource.

See ya next issue.