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Direct Mail Campaigns: The Simple Solutions to Success

Applying the tools that make the difference between junk mail and a successful marketing piece.

Brian Whiteman

August 17, 2007

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Direct mail may be a familiar option for most small business professionals.  Only a fraction of them, however, leverage this medium to its full potential.  The flexibility of its usage, as well the ability to measure results, make direct mail an attractive marketing tool.

Perhaps you are trying to raise awareness about your products or services, or you are looking to generate new customer leads, or maybe you are simply reinforcing your message to existing customers.  Direct mail campaigns can serve a myriad of strategic objectives.

Here are a few suggestions to consider before your next direct marketing campaign:

Begin with the end.  First and foremost, determine your desired goals and the anticipated end result.  How wide do you want to cast the net? Is it a local, regional, national or global campaign?  Who needs to be reached?  Who shouldn’t be reached?  Is it better to target or blanket the market?  Which demographics represent your core constituency?

Having these answers will help you craft the best strategy at the inception of your campaign, and you will consequently save yourself both time and money.

Frequency matters.  What you say can be as important as how often you say it.  Direct mail can be used as frequently as you see fit.  A one-time mailer to 50,000 people can serve as a good announcement.  But sometimes the results are even more effective when sending 10 unique mailers to the same 5,000 people?  In today’s environment of cluttered mailboxes and inboxes, there is reason to believe that repetition matters.  The average individual is much less likely to notice a one-time mailer versus 10 different ones.  Whenever possible, narrow your audience to the core demographics (or at least a test group) and remember that less is not always more.

Vary the theme.  What’s the difference between “spam” and a successful mailer?  One gets thrown in the trash and the other one leads to a sale.  Taking that a step further, if you received the exact same mailer with the same message 10 times in a month, would you find it persistent or annoying?   Even for those who are receptive to your message, a repetitive mailer is not the best use of your marketing dollars.  Vary your message for the best results.  Be creative.  If you are going to send 10 messages, why not have a campaign that announces the Top 10 reasons why someone should use your product or service (with one reason per mailer)?  Or how about the Top 10 problems that others have encountered by not using your product or service?  You increase the likelihood that those you are targeting will view your campaign as unique and interesting over the residual clutter. 

Call to action.  You have crafted the plan, created the message, targeted the audience and mailed the postcard or brochure.  Why isn’t anything happening?  Perhaps you neglected to ask your prospects to do anything.  A “call to action” is the single most important, yet often overlooked, tactic within a direct mail campaign.  Do you want them to call you?  Email you?  Write you back?  These questions are important.  And be sure to answer the final question, “What is their incentive to do so?”  The “call to action” must be seamless and logical of a next step for your prospects.

The SuperBowl is the notorious hotbed for entertaining television advertising.  But think back, even if you remember some of the ads, do you remember the companies sponsoring them?  Those commercials cost millions of dollars per spot!  While you may not even be wasting a fraction of that amount, why waste any money on your marketing campaigns?  Don’t make the same mistake.  Small business tend to be disciplined than larger companies when it comes to superfluous expenditures.  You should be equally responsible in how you customize a direct mail campaign that is best for you.

Some businesses get too carried away with their advertising – perhaps it’s a function of corporate ego.  As I plainly advise my customers at PrintsMadeEasy.com before they design and print their postcards (or even business cards), just tell your prospects what you want them to do and how you want them to do it.  Make it prominent and make it easy.

Marketing executives are usually convinced that they misspend half of their budgets each year.  The problem, however, is that they never know which half.  Direct mail allows you to spend according to your return on investment.  You can test and retest before spending more.  You can vary the message as you see fit and make adjustments as you go.

It’s one thing to be familiar with direct mail.  It’s another thing altogether for your prospects to be familiar with you.  Indeed, direct mail is the means to the end, not the end itself.

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