Is Dan Kennedy Missing the Mark with His Outdated Marketing Strategy?

I’ve been hearing about Dan Kennedy, one of the most respected copywriters in history, for years, but I never picked up the gauntlet and explored him until recently. A potential client mentioned him, and I thought, wow, I haven’t heard that name in a while. Clearly he’s still helping people. I should check him out.

So I visited his website. He’s now branding himself as the Glazer Kennedy Insiders Circle, and offers a subscription service for people who want to sell through copy. The site is modern enough, and I took the bait by clicking on the big “The Most Incredible Free Gift Ever” ad in the corner. There, I land on a — now that I think about it — surprisingly short sales letter encouraging me to sign up to get this free gift and just pay shipping, which amounted to about $20. What have I got to lose?

The box arrives via DHL (who uses them anymore??). I like opening boxes as much as the next person, so I do. Inside are several sheets of paper and…oh my god. DVDs. I don’t even have a disc drive on my computer, and I don’t see myself curling up on the couch to watch some guy talk at me about copywriting. Now, the DVD case says there are 4 discs included, with a value of $484. I pause only slightly before I toss them into the trash.

But let’s keep digging. There’s more and more paper to push through (and speaking as a digital native, I hate the fact that they printed all this drivel. Where’s my zip file?). There’s an exclusive-to-members newsletter in there…with writing examples from 2012. Now, my logical brain knows that the fact that these are three years old doesn’t make them lower in quality, but my digital brain says they’re old and therefore trash.

I’ll give them props for using urgent design that makes the envelopes look like top secret spy mail. But I ask you: how relevant is direct mail to you these days? I know right off the bat that this packet was not targeted at me. If it were, it would have been an instant download sent to me via email, and the video content would be digital. So are there people reading this who enjoy rifling through 30 pieces of paper mailed in a box and watching 5 DVDs on writing?

To this defender of Dan‘s point, it’s hard to get people’s attention through email, so direct mail made its point. But this isn’t a mailer blindly sent to everyone in a zip code. I requested it. So if I got it via email, I would pay attention to it, because I wanted it. Maybe there’s still a market for incredibly long, printed sales letters with big bold font and tons of underlines, but it’s not me, and it’s not my clients.

Let’s stir up discussion. Argue with me. Prove me I’m wrong.

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