(Newswire.net — January 12, 2015) Centreville, Maryland — Vance Morris, Founder of Deliver Service Now and MEGA (Marketing & Entrepreneur Growth Alliance, won Dan Kennedy’s International marketing competition in October 2014.
Morris submitted the following entry, Here’s his Report:
“I am very glad, as is my bank account, to have taken the challenge presented by Dan to S&D (Swipe & Deploy) the Broadway Play of-Rocky
poster, for new customer acquisition. I first tested my new Rocky ad against my control (a Disney themed piece) as a full-page newspaper-page size insert in my local paper, reaching 60,000 homes, for $700.00 (because in 2011, I noticed a large BLANK wrap around the paper, asked to buy the wrap, negotiated and locked in this price).”
“My control has been running since 2011, with an ROI of 3.18-to-1 to 5.21 to 1. I tested the new Rocky ad, and it came in at 3.8-to-1 its first month. This gives me a new, 2nd winner I can use going forward in rotation with the existent control. Encouraged by that ROI, I created an oversize, 9×12” postcard and tested it with a small list of 1,000. Initial ROI is 1.83-to-1, not as good as the newspaper, but I am only 2 weeks into the test. I am working on a new email sequence and a new video using this ad, too.”
Kennedy exclaimed “You can see more of Vance’s advertising for his carpet cleaning business at EasternShoreCarpetCleaning.com, and get a look at his info-business at DeliverProfitsSystem.com. The full-page newspaper ad that this postcard shown here is pulled from is a lot stronger, and his full-page Disney-related ad is spectacular.”
Kennedy continued “Now, let’s be sure no stone gets left unexplained here.
First of all, this is a guy who tracks and knows his numbers. ROI means Return On Investment. A 3.8-to-1 ROI means that for every $1.00 he spends, he directly gets $3.80 from customers – keeping in mind this is new customer acquisition, and these customers have lifetime value and referral value.”
“Second, ‘control’ means the ad or piece or site that you have established as ‘evergreen”; that works consistently within a range of variance, that you can stick with but also test against. He has one; his Disney related full-page ad. He knows what it produces. He can test against it. It has been in use for THREE years without being changed. He will now probably extend its life by being able to rest it for a few weeks now and then, running the Rocky ad instead.”
This is what you want to develop and constantly work at growing: a stable of good-performing racehorses, i.e. ads or mailers or campaigns that all work well enough they can be used in rotation, letting each get breaks and rests, and preventing any from wearing out. Most marketers get ONE
strong horse and ride it non-stop and hard until it drops dead.
Third, he is using “old” media. The death of the newspaper as a productive ad medium is grossly exaggerated. He has newspaper, direct-mail and online integrated. But he has not abandoned offline for online.
Fourth, he’s not lazy. He’s trying to migrate his winning ads into other media. He jumped at inspiration to try and beat his long-standing control. This is how really smart marketers act; as schizophrenic paranoids! They do everything possible to exploit their winners while fearing the inevitable day that winner stops winning and working feverishly to create its replacement in advance of urgent need.
Kennedy concluded with “IMPORTANT POINT: Without an evergreen control bringing in new customers every day or week, you are not really the owner of a business at all. You are creating from scratch as if new in business every day. Without an on-going effort in growing a stable of controls and at beating each control, you are not in direct marketing, and you will – at some point- suddenly find yourself without any way to get new customers. These are two defining functions in a direct marketing business.”
Morris is the owner of a bricks and mortar business carpet cleaning company. Based on the success of his marketing and systems created for this business, he created another business for an international alliance of entrepreneurs and business owners focused on exponentially developing their businesses through creating and implementing Disney-Style Service and Direct Response Marketing.
For the past two years, Morris has been sharing his service and marketing strategies through regional live Events in Annapolis, Easton and Salisbury as well as other events attracting an international audience. He has packaged his knowledge from a 25 year service and hospitality career; as a Resort Executive and Trainer at Walt Disney World in Florida, followed by 15 years of contracts with Legal Seafoods, Rain Forest Cafe, NASA, The Smithsonian and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Tireing of corporate life and layoffs, he dedcided to open his own company and has been a local business owner for the past seven years.
Morris received his award at the Glazer Kennedy Insider Circle Info-Summit, an annual international Marketing Conference, held in St. Louis, MO. Dan Kennedy presented Morris with his award on 11/5/14. As part of the award, Morris’ winning ads were then sent to the GKIC membership (over 50,000) throughout the world.
MEGA and DSNi teach better marketing by concentrating on Dan Kennedy’s proven system, which focuses on three things that make up the Marketing Triangle:The Right Message, to The Right Markets, with The Right Media.
Whereas most people ignore this straightforward approach and start with Media, MEGA and DSNi help members understand the correct process so they can attract their ideal customers and gain serious competitive advantages.