Imagination Technology

7 Secrets to Direct Mail Success

Even with the cost of postage, direct mail is still a valuable tool for most small businesses to use. But, making each dollar count is also important, so here are the 7 secrets to making your direct mail campaign a success.

1. Target Market. The more focused your list, the better your chances of creating the right message and marketing piece to appeal to that market.

2. Personal. You can add personal touches to your direct mail pieces, such as using your customer's first name in the salutation, e.g. "Dear Paul" rather than "Dear customer."

3. Flexibility. There are many, many different ways to reach out to your customers by mail, e.g. letters, postcards, brochures, specialty items, calendars, catalogs, etc.

4. Tangible. Mailing pieces are often kept until the time is right to act upon them.

5. Extended Reach. A tangible mailing piece can be passed along to another person who might be interested.

6. Testing. Direct mail pieces can be tested one against another for effectiveness. If you split your list, you can send out 2 different mailing pieces and see which one gets the greater response.

7. Measurable. You can measure easily the responses of a direct mail campaign by counting the responses.

The only downside to a direct mail campaign is the cost. Never waste your money sending a badly worded, or badly designed piece. You'll save more than postage by getting your piece written and designed well.

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All Good Marketing Pieces Need a Little AIA

First ... you have to capture the potential buyer's attention. Nothing will come of your brochure, your website, your advertisement unless you get the prospect's attention. Good strong headlines and well-designed graphics do this.

Second ... you have to get them to read beyond the headline and for this you must create some interestin your product or service. For this you need good copy writing. Good marketing copy writing does not focus on you or your business or your product. It focuses on what benefit you can provide to your buyer.

Third ... the person reading your marketing piece has to do something. They have to take some action. Unless the reader becomes a customer, your marketing piece has failed no matter how well-designed or well-written.

Why Use Direct Mail?

You can still make a big impression using direct mail. Direct mail lets you get your message into the hands of specific customers.

Consider all of the ways that you could use direct mail. Postcards, for example.

Your stationery can make an impression.

  

Or maybe an insert in your billing statements. They're already going in the mail, right? Why not let your customers know about a new product or service?