We shared a six-seater helicopter tour of San Francisco. It was awesome. Anyway, my heli seatmate was a fellow attendee at The Big Seminar – a three-day event in San Francisco (Aug. 22 – 24) that’s the best direct response marketing conference I’ve ever attended.
Yeah, I know. The conference page is filled with screaming sales copy. Ignore it. These guys know how to sell.
After the heli ride I asked him what he does. This guy is THE REAL THING. He has a list of 100,000 names that he sends promotional offers to. Just do the math (which he helpfully offered). If you make 30 sales on a vitamin enhancer/body enlargement etc. product that sells for $40, that’s $1,200. OK, so the response rate is three one-hundredths of one percent. That’s a nice chunk of change for one mailing.
He’s a young guy based in San Diego. Struck me as extremely bright and articulate. In fact he sounded like a ClickZ columnist unraveling email marketing best practices. “Your list is the most important; then comes your offer. Your copy is a distant third,” he said. I guess it comes as no surprise that successful spammers know what they’re doing.
Addendum: I do NOT condone what this fellow is doing!
P.S. I took the photo above from the helicopter. You’re looking at the Golden Gate Bridge from Sausalito.
P.P.S. If you’re interested you can download my Big Seminar Notes to learn more about guerrilla direct response marketing tactics.
P.P.S. Get the inside scoop on Insider Secrets of Profitable E-Newsletters!