IS: What is ALIGNMENT MARKETING?
ALIGNMENT MARKETING is a simple, yet sophisticated, little personal direct marketing program. It was originally designed to enable small businesses, independent professionals and home based businesses to do effective, low cost marketing and new business prospecting.

IS: What does it involve?
In basic terms, the program involves identifying a seller's high potential markets, isolating the specific needs of the buyer within those markets, and then aligning seller solutions to buyer needs.

IS: What's your communications media?
A simple web site, email, personal business letters and high impact postcards.

IS: ALIGNMENT MARKETING's Direct Mail then?
No. If anything, ALIGNMENT MARKETING is Direct Mail taken to a higher level.

IS: How do you mean?
Consider the present evolution of Direct Mail.

As personal sales costs continue to rise, Direct Mail has become the most popular way to introduce a product or service to a new buyer. Last year, American business spent more than $3 billion on Direct Mail.

And, because Direct Mail works, more and more companies are mailing. To meet demand and to be price competitive, Direct Mail houses have automated the process by standardizing the product.

As a result, nearly all Direct Mail has the same look. It's so impersonal that, even when an offer might be of real value, more Direct Mail is tossed in the trash than is opened and read. In a very real sense, Direct Mail has become junk mail.

Now, the current thinking is to continue standardization, further cut costs, and just mail more pieces. The logic being that if one response in a hundred is acceptable, then at half the cost, one response in two hundred is just as good.

Of course, that's a disastrous cycle. You have to continually increase the mailing size and frequency to hit the same numbers. You spend tens of thousands to reach millions. And the millions become more and more questionable as qualified prospects.

A better solution, we think, is to fine focus the target and increase the effective reach. And that's ALIGNMENT MARKETING.

IS: Doesn't Direct Mail have the same agenda?
Not really. Direct Mail concentrates on the mailing - the size, frequency, and response rates. With ALIGNMENT MARKETING, we focus on communicating a specific message to a specific market about a specific issue or problem. Basically, Direct Mail is context driven. ALIGNMENT MARKETING is content driven.

IS: I'm not sure I understand the content difference.
The keys are seller distinction and message alignment.

In reality, a buyer can't truly differentiate the superiority of one product over another until after the purchase is made and the product is in use. So, often, the buyer's final choice becomes subjective. Therefore, there's no pivotal gain for the seller to key on the technical advantages of his offer.

But, there is a huge gain if the seller can differentiate his company from the competition.

You see, a buyer actually makes a purchase based on two criteria: The product (which other sellers could also provide) and the relationship he (the buyer) establishes with the seller (which no other seller can match exactly).

In short, the buyer doesn't just buy a product. The buyer buys the product and the person who represents the product.

So, we focus on distinguishing the offer and the company from all others and in aligning the right message to the right market.

If the alignment is on target, a simple proposition exists: The buyer has a need; the seller can supply a solution. So, the seller and buyer have a common interest that benefits both. And, that's the basis for a good, long term business relationship.

IS: You use the personal business letter and personalized postcards as your communications forms. Are they really that effective?
Yes, in a big way.

You see, ultimately, a buyer may not respond to an offer for a variety of reasons. He may not like the offer. He may like another offer better. Or, he may not have the money to buy.

These are realities. But, there is another, fundamentally more important reality that Direct Mail often ignores: A buyer will never respond to an offer unless the buyer knows what the seller is selling. Quite simply, if the offer is tossed in the trash, there is no chance of a sale.

Therefore, the real key to winning new business is through effective reach...getting each and every potential buyer to read the offer.

Consider your own reading habits. Do you open all the Direct Mail pieces that cross your desk? On the other hand, don't you always open and read all personal letters? And don't you always quick scan postcards?

IS: But, can you tell the whole sales story in a letter or on a postcard?
One of the most powerfully written messages in history is the Gettysburg address. It has 268 words.

Again, the key is alignment. If you deliver the right message to the right market, the market will respond. And again, we're not actually trying to make a sale. Our real interest is in introducing the seller to the buyer and in proposing a single good idea that may be the basis for on going future business.

IS: How do you establish that interest level in the message?
We focus on three elements: Motivations, implications, and action prompts.

IS: Walk me through motivations.
In today's market, the greatest motivation for a buyer to take action in buying a product or service is not for gain but rather to cure a problem. Therefore, we focus on identifying a particular problem then we propose a unique solution that the seller can provide.

IS: And what about implications?

I'll give you an example. Let's say you're trying to sell a car. It features a powerful engine which means the car can go very fast. If your target market were accountants, the implications regarding the car's speed would have no bearing. But, suppose your target market was bank robbers. The car's ability to go fast would have significant implications regarding a get-away. See, it's not just proposing a solution to a problem. It's understanding and communicating the implications.

IS: And what about action prompts?

Crudely said, nobody does nothing for nothing. If a seller wants the buyer to take the next step toward a purchase, then the seller must offer an incentive that prompts the buyer to act. Without offering a strong action incentive, the seller is dependent upon the buyer to take the initiative. And that is reactive rather than proactive.

IS: So, ALIGNMENT MARKETING is different from Direct Mail in how you target the market and the message. Is there any difference in the actual mailings?

Yes. Our offer is a personal offer rather than a standardized offer. And, our mailing rate is different.

For the small business, it makes no sense to mail a hundred thousand pieces, get a thousand responses, and not be able to follow up. So, we mail small batches of new letters or postcards to new prospects every day. By daily small batch mailings, we're controlling the follow up. Our feedback is more timely.

And, we can respond to market conditions better and more quickly.

Further, since we don't preprint in large quantities, we can change or adjust our offer at any time without losing money by having to dump preprints.

In total, with small batch mailings, we have continual market presence, good continuity, flexibility, the opportunity for good follow up, plus good cost control.