Experimenting with the "Professional Discount" offer. (DM Notebook).We've all received "Professional Discount" offers in the mail--such as the "Professional Courtesty Rate," pictured below, from Phillips Business International. The most recent one I received came from Briefings Publishing Group, which offered me a choice from a dozen business and professional titles. Briefings calls its an "Annual Subscription Service Requisition A written demand; a formal request or requirement. The formal demand by one government upon another, or by the governor of one state upon the governor of another state, of the surrender of a fugitive from justice. The taking or seizure of property by government. ." These are inexpensive to do. One sheet and a reply envelope. For that reason they may be a good place to test some new offer ideas. My major problem with the effort from Briefings is that the one sheet contains just too many numbers--almost bound to confuse many prospects. Here's a sample line for one newsletter: 321 Manager's Edge ME $147 $127 $97 The upper-left numbers are the term in years; those on the next line are the prices: "cover price" (which always seems a little bogus bo·gus adj. Counterfeit or fake; not genuine: bogus money; bogus tasks. [From obsolete bogus, a device for making counterfeit money. for titles not normally sold on the newsstand), "regular subscription price" in the middle, and "your professional rate." Multiply this by a dozen and you can see how crowded the page becomes. Two bedrock rules of this kind of mailing are: * The publication must be so familiar to the prospect that no long sales pitch is necessary. * The offer must be simple and straightforward--no plethora plethora /pleth·o·ra/ (pleth´ah-rah) 1. an excess of blood. 2. by extension, a red florid complexion.pletho´ric pleth·o·ra n. 1. of choices, as Briefings offers. A better but still complicated offer A recent similar package from Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated is the largest weekly American sports magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. It has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men, 19% of the adult males in the country. broke some new ground. SI positions what it calls the "Preferred Subscriber's Advantage" this way: * Convenience of subscription automatically continuing at GUARANTEED SAVINGS without interruption unless you ask us to stop * We'll bill you or charge your credit card automatically * Option to cancel at any time and receive full refund for any unmailed issues. Comment: I'd have been strongly tempted to make this offer credit card only. When they take my check or bill-me instructions, which they are happy to have, the renewal effort for this 26-issue initial offer has to begin almost immediately after they get the first check. "We'll bill you" makes this a standard subscription offer. "Charge your credit card automatically" opens the door to automatic renewals. Mailed prior to September 11, the SI package used a blank outer envelope. Today, post-anthrax scare, I'm sure they'd add a return address. The bold "bulk rate" indicia Signs; indications. Circumstances that point to the existence of a given fact as probable, but not certain. For example, indicia of partnership are any circumstances which would induce the belief that a given person was in reality, though not technically, a member of a given gives away the game that it isn't a bill or personal correspondence. "Lowest Price Available to any Subscriber for Sports Illustrated" would get me into the envelope. * Experiment with a short intro ductory term. Inside, the "Executive & Professional Rate," $19.50 really caught my eye. The order device/statement of benefits states, once in fine print, once in bold, that the term is 26 issues. With that, if any prospects somehow think that great price is for a full year (as I did), SI has certainly done nothing wrong--even though 26 issues covers only six months. (Briefings doesn't indicate the frequency of any of the titles in its offer.) * Account numbers? The SI offer also assigns me an "account number." Briefings calls its a "service number." I'm not sure what this is all about. I did know a publisher who printed something like a "registration number on his BREs. It didn't mean anything, he explained; the same number appeared on all envelopes, "but it reduces the amount if crap I get returned at my expense since the jokers think I can track who they are." * The dreaded dread v. dread·ed, dread·ing, dreads v.tr. 1. To be in terror of. 2. To anticipate with alarm, distaste, or reluctance: dreaded the long drive home. asterisk (1) See Asterisk PBX. (2) In programming, the asterisk or "star" symbol (*) means multiplication. For example, 10 * 7 means 10 multiplied by 7. The * is also a key on computer keypads for entering expressions using multiplication. . I hate to see them in direct marketing. Airlines (and others) have trained prospects to recognize that, following a benefit headline, they are really saying, "We don't really mean this." The SI offer has two in the description of benefits under headings of "Blockbuster block·bust·er n. 1. Something, such as a film or book, that sustains widespread popularity and achieves enormous sales. 2. A high-explosive bomb used for demolition purposes. 3. Season Preview Issues*" and "Swimsuit Issue and Sportsman of the Year Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated magazine has annually presented the "Sportsman of the Year" award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." A majority of the winners have been American. Issue.*" Having already calculated that a 26-issue term would not get me to the next Swimsuit issue, I followed it to the fine print to learn "based on annual subscription." * Tax deductible That which may be taken away or subtracted. In taxation, an item that may be subtracted from gross income or adjusted gross income in determining taxable income (e.g., interest expenses, charitable contributions, certain taxes). if used for business purposes. This language appears on both offers. You have to love it. I suppose it can be used for every publication imaginable i·mag·i·na·ble adj. Conceivable in the imagination: imaginable exploits. i·mag ; some people read In Style for "business purposes." |
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