Is your small business thinking about using direct mail? Is it the right tactic? Perhaps. There are two broad areas you should think about: first, does it make financial sense and then, if it makes sense, how can you improve your odds of success.Will direct mail deliver a positive ROI?
Direct mail is not as easy to execute as it appears. Sure, it’s easy to put a flyer or a brochure in an envelope, pay for postage, and off it goes. All those potential customers receiving your message. Feels good doesn’t it. But wait, have you thought it through? Direct Mail can cost $650+ per thousand pieces or more. (Cost per thousand includes creative development, list rental, production and postage.) Even if you can do it for less, it’s an expensive tactic.Some things to consider:
All consumers aren’t responsive to direct mail. In fact, very few are and the number is getting smaller every day.
All consumers aren’t your customers. Only a portion of the consumers you reach are in your category, and only a portion of them are your customers.ROI Calculation
Before embarking on a direct mail campaign do a pro-forma ROI calculation.What will the effort cost? – COST
How many packages will you send? – PACKAGES
How many responses do you expect? – RESPONSE RATE
How many of the responses will convert to customers? – CONVERSION RATE
What’s the sale or the customer worth? – VALUE((((PACKAGES X RESPONSE RATE) X CONVERSION RATE) X VALUE) – COST) / COST = ROIIs the ROI positive or negative? If it’s positive move to step two.How can you improve the odds of success?
To improve the odds of success, you need to understand direct mail’s success hierarchy: List, Offer, and Creative.List
Generally customer or “House” lists perform best. Recipients are past customer, you don’t have to convince them you are legitimate, and they have proven interest in what you sell.Managing your house file can get very sophisticated but, for a small business owner, you will go a long way if you understand and use RFM.”R” – Recency, or how recently has this customer purchased from you.
“F” – Frequency, or how frequently has this customer bought from you.
“M” – Money, or how much has this customer spent with you.Update the information in your house file on a regular basis and rank your customers in terms of their RFM score. Mail your latest offer to the top 2 or 3 quintiles. Don’t waste money mailing to lower scoring customers; it’s unlikely to pay out.If you don’t have a house file or want to expand your market, rented lists are another option. Rented lists add cost to the direct mail, and are generally not as effective as house lists because, in essence you are cold calling through the mail.Don’t try and rent lists on your own. Use a reputable list broker. They are paid by the list owners so it won’t cost you, and they have expertise and knowledge about direct mail lists that you won’t have.Offer
Make the best offer you can afford. And be sure the offer is relevant to your best customers. You don’t have to bribe them. Think in terms of rewarding them. Lead with the offer. Close with the offer. Include the offer in the letter’s PS. Mention it on the response device. Direct mail isn’t a branding vehicle. It needs to sell.Some offer options are:Free offers
Discount offers
Sale offers
Sample offers
Time limit offers
Guarantee offers
Build-up-the-sale offers
Sweepstakes offers
Club/continuity offers
Philanthropic offersCreative
While third in the hierarchy, how your mail package looks and what it says are still important.”Pictures tell, copy sells.”Effective direct mail uses design and pictures to support the sales message. If a potential customer has taken the time to open your package don’t ask them to interpret an obscure visual reference to understand your product’s benefit. Show them and tell them.Conventional direct marketing wisdom says long copy sells better than short copy. Many years ago I asked the Executive Creative Director where I worked to explain why this was true. His explanation was simple, succinct and laden with common sense.”Long copy sells better because it provides an interested prospect with all the information they need to make the purchase decision. If they aren’t interested, then they probably won’t see the piece so it doesn’t matter if the copy is long or short.”Creative is another place where DIY isn’t worth the money you save. Hire professional direct mail copywriters and designers. They’ve already made the mistakes producing many, many direct marketing campaigns for others. They know what works and are worth every dollar.How can you make direct mail work for your small business? Get the right message, to the right person, at the right time.

Testing direct mail pieces is the best way to track your return on investment (ROI). Direct mail marketing may not be an exact science due to the constant evolution of consumer behaviors and preferences, but some of the guesswork can be taken out of the process by simply testing various messages, materials and methods to small groups of consumers before conducting a large-scale campaign.When should you test? Direct mailers should test when:You want to fine tune a successful mailing for even greater results;Your cost-per-order fails to meet expectations;You have new creative and need concrete justification before rolling it out into a full-fledged campaign;You are interested in expanding your market with a wider list;Something in the marketing mix changes, like price or offer;You are introducing a new product.Test the mailing listThe mailing list is a crucial step in the element of your direct mail campaign. It can make up over 40% of your total responses according to the Direct Marketing Association. The best offer in the world – if not targeted to the right audience – will fail. What is the best type of list? Look at your own in house mailing list. What are the characteristics of that list? Use your house list to build outside lists. There are more than 50,000 lists out there, which are available from a wide variety of sources. The main categories of lists are compiled lists, response lists, paid subscription lists, and controlled lists. Choosing the right one – with its corresponding benefits and features – has the potential to make or break your campaign. They are as follows:Compiled lists are databases collected from a variety of directories, credit files, and other resources. They are generated for marketing purposes, updated regularly, and give broad coverage of the market, including basic demographics. These lists work best for broad offers and are available at our website (www.zairmail.com)Response lists are generated from a company’s sales records. They may include information about what product was purchased, and how and when it was purchased, in addition to the purchase price and the frequency of purchase. However, response lists are often less complete, and depending on the purchase procedure, may not include the purchaser’s name and title. In addition, response lists may not be updated as frequently as other types of lists.Paid subscriptions lists have the advantage of compiling recipients who are proven buyers, having subscribed to a specific publication and, therefore demonstrating their interest in a given industry or field. They tend to have fewer change of address issues than other lists and provide a relatively targeted audience; however, they may not provide complete demographics.The result of free magazine subscriptions offered to qualified subscribers who agree to provide detailed demographic information about their companies and purchasing authorities, controlled circulation lists are, as a rule, very niche-oriented. They offer rich demographics and are highly selectable, but may cover only a portion of your entire target market.As stated before, the mailing list is the most important factor in determining the effectiveness of any direct mail campaign, so it should be selected carefully. Direct mailers can significant improve their response rates by using a more recently updated list. Many compiled lists are updated 2 or 3 times a month.Vary your offerThe second most influential factor in determining the success of a direct mail campaign is the offer – what you will give people for responding and how you present it. Mailers should make sure that they understand what the recipients want. Keep in mind that the offer must match with the list. Some general tips to improve your offer are:Be as specific as possible.Offer something unique and valuable to your market.Make the offer as risk-free as possible, incorporatinga “limited time trial” or “money back guarantee” if necessary.Be clear about when recipients must respond by; avoid pressuring prospects with too short of a response time, but don’t leave it open-ended. Generally, four to six weeks to respond works well.Know the difference between the features of your product or service and the benefits. It is not sufficient to discuss features alone; you must tell recipients why they need to respond. When in doubt about the distinction, remember that features are inherent to the product, while benefits attach the feature to a customer need.Tie your offer to your main benefit. For example, “Act now and save thousands of dollars on online direct mailing costs.”
Some offer elements worth testing, include price points, quantity of volume discounts, the way you state your offer (e.g. “save 50 percent” versus “purchase for half price”), and the method of response.Experiment with your mail packageWhen considering your mail package, begin with the outside, or you could miss out on a valuable selling opportunity. A consumer’s interaction with the typical direct mail piece is like their interaction with a door-to-door salesman. The key is to “make your pitch before the door is slammed in your face.”The average person spends three to five seconds deciding whether to open your direct mail piece, so start selling immediately. Testing outside logos versus blind envelopes can help you determine what’s best for your audience.When testing different mail packages, try to vary the package type (e.g. postcard, letter, self-mailer, etc.) In addition test the use of stamps versus indicia. Even the use of stamps with different designs could produce a noticeable lift in response.The inside of the mail package should be test also. The following suggestions apply the body of direct mail letters and solicitations:Use a strong lead. Recipients will likely scan the letter before deciding whether to read it, so seize this important opportunity to make an impression.State your offer at the beginning and the end of your letter.Reinforce what you’re asking the recipient to do and why they should do it.Keep the letter short and simple. A maximum of two pages should be used and avoid busy graphics.Highlight the solutions you can offer. Appeal to the recipient’s problems and daily challenges and offer a way to ease their stress.Use solid facts. Back up your claims with proof in the form of guarantees and testimonials.Make it easy to respond. Close with a call to action and include a vehicle to do so (e.g. coupon, response card, 1-800 number, etc.).Test different letter styles, graphic elements, and techniques. Experiment with different elements of your letter including use of signatures, personalization, bullets, aggressive versus non-aggressive tone, etc., to determine what combination of factors will pull the best.Seasonality, timing and frequencyWhen are your customers doing budgets? Will the mailing hit at the end of a quarter, when they have little money to spend? Is it best to market your product or service before or after the holidays? If you’re marketing to trade show attendees, how far out from the event do you market? Is it best to send e-mail before or after the direct mail piece to alert recipients of its arrival?The effects of such factors generally vary by market, and are worth testing to determine the best approach for your product or service as they could have a significant effect on the response rate.General rules for testingThere are several basic rules of testing to ensure success:Have a good reason for the test.Test one variable at a time.Test against a control.Make sure the test batch and the control mail at the same time.Test sufficient quantities to get an accurate response.Track your results.Above all, continue to test.Your markets and customers are always changing, so you have to keep testing to find out what works.

Using direct mail is a tried-and-true ways to generate leads for any business. For owners of pet sitting businesses, it can be one of the most effective ways to get new clients, because it can physically reach the homes in targeted services areas where their ideal pet sitting customers reside.I. FlyersWhen business owners think about direct mail, “flyers” is one of the first things to come to mind and the ease of making them is one of the reasons why.Flyers can be made in a variety of ways. If you really wanted to, you could simply write one flyer in long hand and copy it off several times. But for those pet sitting business owners, a more professional look is a few clicks away. You can create a sleek-looking flyer accessing Microsoft Word or Publisher and using one of the many available templates in these programs.Think about where your target market frequents. Do members of your target market go to dog parks? Do they visit pet stores often for specialized supplies? Are they clients of exotic pet veterinarians? Wherever your target market goes, your flyers should go, too.II. Postcards Like flyers, you can also create postcards to advertise your pet sitting business using Microsoft Word or Publisher. If these programs aren’t available to you, you can design and order them on various “printing” Internet websites. Postcards are great when you want to be succinct and use images to communicate your pet sitting business’ brand, ideals, values or services. For postcards, you may need to do research to get potential clients’ physical addresses. When determining how you’re going to distribute, you should also consider the cost of postage. Postcards can be one of the most costly direct mail forms because of their creation and distribution costs, even though the total cost should be relatively pretty cheap. If you find that postage will break your advertising budget, you can also make postcards available at physical locations like on bulletin boards, kiosks or newsstands. III. Door HangersIt shouldn’t come as a surprise that door hangers can be made using the same tools and programs mentioned above. For a more professional feel, you can also enlist the help of a print shop- especially if you want them custom made in a way that totally differs from what’s available on those programs. Print shops can also come in handy if you plan on mass producing thousands of door hangers for each door in a specific neighborhood.While door hangers may seem to be the most work intensive of the direct mail options, they do have benefits. Their distribution method means that they can be very localized and have a more personalized feel to them. And statistically speaking, door hangers have a great chance of being read and saved in comparison to postcards or flyers. Besides, knocking on a potential client’s door is always bound to get a response!

Many companies use postcards in direct mail advertising. Even though postcard printing and design should be easy and quick, things can get muddled without a clear plan. Follow the eight step plan below for a postcard process that leaves you feeling satisfied.1. Determine your purpose. Knowing the goals of your postcards will help to focus your design and send a clear message to your customers.2. Decide on the style. A postcard should help to market your company brand. A customer should be able to look at your postcard and know immediately that it is from your company without turning the card over.3. Write the headline. Make a bold and clear offer. Customers should be able to believe the offer and also feel compelled to find out more.4. Write a call to action. Be clear with what a customer needs to do to take the next step, like call a number, visit the office, or go to the website.5. Choose the colors and font. Do not go overboard on a variety of colors and fonts. Keep it simple yet powerful by using contrasting colors and font types that capture attention but are easy to read.6. Choose an image or two. Pictures are great way to display the product that you are advertising. Make sure to use high resolution photographs and pictures that accurately display the product.7. Design the layout. Remember that the natural tendency is to begin reading in the upper left corner and moving around in a backward S pattern to the lower right corner. Don’t forget to include contact information, on the back side if there is no room on the front, with several options for clients to contact your office.8. Find a printer. Make sure that the printing company you choose uses the full color method, offers custom options, and provides services that you need such as mailing or design.Sometimes designing an advertising tool can be difficult, especially when there is no plan in place. Along with the eight steps above, you may want to customize your own plan so your entire experience from planning to postcard printing is both enjoyable and productive.

Many companies use postcards in direct mail advertising. Even though postcard printing and design should be easy and quick, things can get muddled without a clear plan. Follow the eight step plan below for a postcard process that leaves you feeling satisfied.1. Determine your purpose. Knowing the goals of your postcards will help to focus your design and send a clear message to your customers.2. Decide on the style. A postcard should help to market your company brand. A customer should be able to look at your postcard and know immediately that it is from your company without turning the card over.3. Write the headline. Make a bold and clear offer. Customers should be able to believe the offer and also feel compelled to find out more.4. Write a call to action. Be clear with what a customer needs to do to take the next step, like call a number, visit the office, or go to the website.5. Choose the colors and font. Do not go overboard on a variety of colors and fonts. Keep it simple yet powerful by using contrasting colors and font types that capture attention but are easy to read.6. Choose an image or two. Pictures are great way to display the product that you are advertising. Make sure to use high resolution photographs and pictures that accurately display the product.7. Design the layout. Remember that the natural tendency is to begin reading in the upper left corner and moving around in a backward S pattern to the lower right corner. Don’t forget to include contact information, on the back side if there is no room on the front, with several options for clients to contact your office.8. Find a printer. Make sure that the printing company you choose uses the full color method, offers custom options, and provides services that you need such as mailing or design.Sometimes designing an advertising tool can be difficult, especially when there is no plan in place. Along with the eight steps above, you may want to customize your own plan so your entire experience from planning to postcard printing is both enjoyable and productive.

Chances are, you have come across the concept of direct mail for your small business advertising needs. This is a type of marketing technique where the marketing messages are sent by the company to the buyer (without other advertisers) via direct mail. When you opt for using direct mail, you do not have to worry about spreading your message or managing the delivery to customers, the USPS does that for you. Unlike other advertising vehicles, direct mail forces the customer to handle your marketing piece and make a decision about your product or services on-the-spot.Promoting your itemsFor the average small business, direct mail is a way to deliver special offers, coupons, or promotional messages to a targeted audience. For example, some common mailers feature restaurant dining discounts, free service trials, buy one get one free, and limited time discount offers.Common Uses of Direct MarketingLet us have a look at the uses of the direct marketing. Obviously, mailers help in exposing your products to a much larger market. It can also be used in order to test new markets for the location of stores. It also helps in preparing prospects for telephone call campaigns.Types of Direct MailTargeted mailers come in many popular forms – catalogs, sales letters, brochures, menus, postcards, flyers, magnets, envelopes, tear off coupons, and much more. No matter the format, mail pieces must always be delivered to the correct audience.Understand your target The average small business owner must clearly understand the target market in order to launch an effective marketing campaign. What does your target audience or demographic respond best too? Consider their general likes and dislikes, views, and financial status range to better plan your offer. A good rule of thumb is that the “Customer Benefits” must be made clear and simple. So, in the direct mail piece, you should always try to focus on the benefits of your product or your services. Also, you need to ensure that you keep the offer very simple as well as easy understandable and persuasive at the same time. Another technique is to keep the offer for a limited period of time in order to encourage prospects. Do not forget to include a toll free number so that they can go for ordering it when required. Also the fax numbers, web site, email addresses, etc should be mentioned clearly.Remember that the quality of your offer counts, and will directly affect the response rate.

“A revelation is not a revelation until it is a revelation to me.” (Anon.)The above is a quote I often use in church and around the other people I know. The idea behind the quote is this: There are lots of so-called revelations, new things and ideas thrown at us everyday of our lives. So, we tend to become jaded, dulled and bored by simply having too much information. But, when a truly new revelation or idea comes along – and I hear it – I sit up and take notice! It gets my immediate attention!That’s what happened to me when my wife handed this new book to me and said: “Terry you have to read this book!” I say all of this because I want to have your undivided attention when I tell you about the new ideas revealed to all of us in this book.I don’t usually write book reviews but, I’m so excited about this book and the impact it can have on all who read it, I just have to urge you to drop whatever you are doing and get a copy to read for yourself.I’ll try to tell you a little about the book – but not too much. This is because I don’t want to spoil it for you by giving away the idea – the plot of this remarkable book. In short, it is best for you to read it yourself and draw your own conclusions. The title of the book I’m talking about here is:The Shack, written by William P. Young.Young tells the story of his long-time friend Mack and some of the details about Mack, his wife Nan and their five children. He explains how a great sadness came upon Mack after a pervert abducted Mack’s youngest daughter, Missy. While still in the midst of struggling with this almost overwhelming tragedy Mack gets a typewritten note from God in his mailbox, it says:” Mackenzie, It’s been a while. I’ve missed you. I’ll be at the shack next weekend if you want to get together. Papa.”"Papa” is the name Mack’s family always uses when then referring to God during discussions and prayers.So now the grief stricken Mack has to decide if this is a hoax or if it is truly a message to him from Papa (God), or is it some kind of trick the pervert may have made up to lure him -alone- to the wilderness shack. Eventually, he decides to see for himself by making the trip all alone, to the shack.The rest of the story is what I call an “eye opener” because, through Mack’s eyes we are able to see and actually visit in person with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit during a whole weekend of conversation, instruction and healing love. It is a weekend of unsurpassed revelation.

Direct mail is effective but notoriously difficult to measure. Once a project is dropped off at the post office, it seems to fall into a black hole. Until recently, the best you can do is to pay attention to how often your phone rings and evaluate the return on investment through gut feeling.New options are available to help measure your direct mail project more objectively. Personalized URLs or PURLs represent a new way to track, test and tweak your campaigns.What is a PURL? Think of it as a mini site devoted to your direct mail campaign. If your company has a website at acmewidgets.com, register a new domain at acmeoffers.com (or whatever else you like) and build your PURLs there. Using a company like MindFire Inc or BlueTreeDirect, you can set up a page for each member of your mail list. Then you can print postcards or flyers with your prospects’ personalized URL right on it.Once they arrive at their PURL, you prospect will be greeted by name. You can also show different content to different members of your list. This can be useful when you’re introducing them to their territory representative or trying to cross sell relevant products to your past customers.By sending them to a PURL, rather than your main site, you can view the results of your mail more closely. Using reporting features, you can see which prospect responded to your mail and when they responded. You can see what they clicked on and how much time they spent there. You can also set up triggers so that a sales representative gets an email the instant a prospect clicks on a certain link.With so much trackability, you can test different offers and see which one gets the best results. Or you can add or remove pages based on how long users stay on the site. By fine tuning your project, you’ll enjoy better results on your direct mail campaign.
PURLs usually cost $.04-$.08 each to set up so they are an affordable solution for most businesses. Take advantage of this new technology and get more control over your next direct mail campaign.

Not long ago, I read that well-known California winemaker Rodney Strong had passed away. While recounting his professional career, the article cited Strong’s innovative direct mail marketing tactics.An excerpt:”Strong developed a marketing strategy that involved direct mail in which he offered to sell wine with a buyer’s individual information on the label – ‘From the wine cellar of so-and-so,’ or ‘A gift from such-and-such corporation’.”

The program continues to this day, as living testament to its effectiveness.That story got me thinking about the way we market our products and services in relation to their uniqueness.For instance:Why do so many companies today waste time and money marketing average products and services to hard-to-impress consumers? Why don’t more companies follow the Rodney Strong model (remarkable product / service idea first; marketing second)?Marketing the Remarkable
Rodney Strong took something simple but interesting — personalized wine labels — and made it available to his audience. Why was it so popular? Because nobody else was doing it at the time. Rodney gambled on an idea, and it worked. He made something that was remarkable to his customers. Then, all he had left to do was tell them about it (in this case through direct mail), and they asked for it by the thousands!Here’s the idea again:Come up with a remarkable product or service, and then start telling people about it. Word-of-mouth will take it from there.How Do You Measure Up?
If you struggle when creating your direct mail message, it might indicate that your product or service could use a shot of “the old remarkable.”Or think of it this way…If you stripped away all the marketing glitz and set your product on a shelf by itself (or described your service on a plain piece of paper) — would it seem remarkable? Would it impress members of your target audience? Or, are you relying on your marketing to add the pizzazz?Instead of struggling to promote something average, dig deep to find the above-average aspect of what you’re selling. If there isn’t such an aspect … go back to the drawing board and make one.* You may republish this article in its entirety as long as you include the byline and author’s note. If publishing online, please leave the hyperlinks active.

Hospitals are generally frequented by people who really need to go there. No one that I know considers a hospital visit as something fun. Therefore, most people don’t think about which hospital they would prefer to patronize in the future. Obviously, if you have just been packaged up by paramedics due to some emergency, you probably won’t have much of a personal preference other than “something close by.”Non-Emergency VisitsOn the other hand, when people needing a medical facility for an outpatient or elective procedure, they often have many facilities from which to choose. Since most of us don’t window shop for a hospital, we will select a facility we already know. You, as the hospital administrator, want potential patients to think of you. That is where a good direct mail advertising campaign comes into play.Direct Mail?Direct mail campaigns have been very successful for many years. Hospitals, clinic, doctor offices, dentists, and pharmacists have relied on them to make them a household name. Direct mail reaches hundreds and thousands of potential patients for a very modest investment. When compared to radio, TV and print advertising it is quite a bargain. Periodically you have the direct mail product sent to homes and businesses all over town, and the repeated exposure to your hospital’s information will allow the viewers to become familiar you. It’s simply human nature.Human Nature?Professional advertisers know that it takes more than one viewing of an ad before it takes effect. If fact, some claim that it takes up to eight viewings before it is etched into their minds. That is why TV and radio ads are played over and over. They are trying to pound their business information into your heads. Direct mail doesn’t have that annoying “in your face” aspect to it. The recipient gets the mailer and can read it at his leisure.The Best Direct Mail ProductSince most direct mail products are paper post cards, a certain percentage of them are immediately tossed into the trash because they are “just another paper advertisement.” There is a new product that reduces that chance. It consists of an attractive postcard with a refrigerator style magnet attached to it. Instead of throwing it away, the recipient peels the magnet from the card. Now he has something of value in his hand. The magnet, with all you business information emblazoned on it, gets stuck to the fridge at home, or the cabinet in the break room at work, or on a toolbox in the shop. Every time someone passes by it, they’ll be gently exposed to your hospital’s information. When they require the services you provide, they’ll most likely refer to the magnet and give you a call instead of the hospital down the road.Contact a reliable vendor and ask for details about this new magnetic direct mail product designed specifically for the healthcare industry.