Business Express

While Internet-based marketing is all the rage right now, you know from personal experience that you are deluged with email and social media messages. Actually getting breakthrough and connection is increasingly difficult. While direct mail seems “old school” it is still one of the most effective marketing approaches around if done properly.

Direct mail is typically postal mail that is addressed to a specific person. But there are good ways to do direct mail, and not-so-good ways. Here are a few pointers:

• Qualify your prospect list. Try to only send to people who you think are more likely to buy (or at least be the ones who make the recommendation/decision).
• Get the right contact name. Nothing speaks to people more effectively than using their own name (make sure that you spell it right though or you will get the reverse reaction). Sending the mail to the “General Manager” is much less likely to get to the right person, but if you address it to “Jane Smith” you are more likely to get through. Spend some time in advance getting good data.
• Use a real stamp. Permit Post or postage included envelopes are really easy to use but nothing makes people think “junk mail” faster than these approaches.
• Hand write the address. I know this takes a lot more time and, if you’re like me, you may need to get someone with better calligraphy skills to do the work (“Honey, can you help me out for a few hours?), you’ll find a much better open rate if people think that it’s personal mail. Window envelopes are a no-go (they look like bills) and stick on labels look like mass-mailings.
• Personailse the letter. Now that you’ve got personal addressee information, why not use it? “Dear Jane” sounds much more personal than “To whom it may concern” or “Dear Buyer”. If you’ve got the data why not include more of it? Include their company name and industry words as appropriate. A well designed letter and database can create a much better connection with your reader – which leads to more sales. Integrating recipient data and tailoring the letter to the recipient (even changing images) is called “Variable Data Printing” – or simply “Mail Merge.”’
• Make it look good. Gone are the days of simple black printing with a signature. Your sales letter should be as high-quality as your flyers. Industry research shows that response rates significantly increase when you use a well-designed colour letter. You want your product to stand out as top class, so don’t make it look cheap with low-quality photocopying.
• Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up. If you treat direct mail like mass marketing, don’t be surprised if you get mass-marketing responses (2% or lower). They key to a great direct mail campaign is to follow-up. A phone call is the best way, and then continue to follow-up with relevant newsletters and offers until your prospects buys or dies (in appropriate ways, of course).
• Small is good. You don’t need to send out thousands. In fact, you shouldn’t send out more than you can follow-up on (see point above). If you can follow-up on 50 per week, then send out 50, follow-up on them, and then send out the next 50. There is a huge temptation to send out as many as you can, but if you can’t follow-up you have reduced your effectiveness. It will be cheaper and give you better results if you keep it small and active.

At Copy Express we can help you with almost all aspects of your direct mail campaign, from planning to execution. We can help you design your sales letter/flyer, create the mail merge/VDP templates, print the final letters and even manage the mail out for you (and, yes, my wife will handwrite the addresses if you want it).