How so?

Well, from my experience, most business owners who decide to run some sort of marketing and advertising campaign, unbeknown to them, do their utmost to block themselves from ever getting rich.

Let me explain that:

See, planning a marketing campaign takes time, energy and money. So why is it then that many business owners opt for a one-shot-approach? and then? somehow, magically, expect a rush of business, whilst at the same time, putting their feet up.

Scandalous!

The key thing here is that one shot marketing? rarely pays off. The reason for that is there are too many variables that can hinder the message from reaching its intended target.

Things like the letter or email, didn't reach because of postage problems or email filter programmes blocking out the messages. Or, the message reached but was kept to one side to respond to at a more convenient time. Or, the recipient wasn't interested and just dismissed it as another bit of irrelevant information.

The way to get a promotion alive and responsive, can best be illustrated by a promotion that ran in of all places? local government.

A friend of mine used a simple process to attract local school head-teachers to a seminar, all about modern foreign languages.

A list of local head teachers were emailed with a message to do with attending the seminar.

Out of 70 on the target list, 5 responded within the first provisional time line. Another email was sent to those who completed a questionnaire but who didn't send in their booking form. Another 4 responded. The next step in the marketing sequence was to phone all those head teachers who had neither replied to the questionnaire, or to the booking form.

Another 4 more teachers responded.

Then, a direct contact approach to the head teachers was made by phoning them. And, to create even greater impact, a senior executive from the local education authority was used to phone the heads of 10 schools.

Another 5 had responded positively to that message.

A fax was then sent to certain head teachers who were not available in the phone round stage. Another 2 responded.

In total number terms, 20 head teachers signed their name to attending this seminar, which by the feedback given, is fantastic!

Now, what we can learn from the above is that if we were content with just sending out one email to get the attention and interest of the target audience, it really would've killed the promotion dead in its tracks.

But, because of the power of sequence, repetition, varied media and third party endorsement, the seminar is heading for an unprecedented success.

And? I hope you'll notice the particular industry that this marketing strategy was used in!

So let me ask you how many times in your business have you stopped short in sending more than a single message for a particular product or service? Could you have added a few more steps in your marketing funnel that would've netted you more profit for your investment?

If you can avoid it, never use one shot mail.