Simple Steps To A Successful Direct Mail Marketing Campaign
Direct mail has continually been a trusted and effective method of conveying your message to customers. However, for a direct mail marketing campaign to work, it requires a considerable direct mail printing job, costing both money and time to monitor the results.
Are there ways to conduct a direct mail marketing campaign that is budget-friendly and effective? Here are some ideas to get you started.
1. Acquire a Targeted Mailing List
Your direct mail recipient list should be targeted specifically to your researched demographic. Remember all the target customer research you did before you ever got your business off the ground? This information can be helpful in getting a solid mailing list of leads.
A direct mail campaign geared to acquire new customers can get very expensive when you start mailing to untargeted recipients. Your responses end up being much less than the standard, and money is wasted. However, when you aim your direct mail printing materials to targeted individuals, you have a much better chance that they will at least read your material and get a response.
2. Develop a strategy
- What are you trying to accomplish with your campaigns. This can be very simple . . . . To acquire new customers, build awareness, invite to an event, etc. But, you do need to be very clear on this point.
- Budget – the amount of money you will devote to your campaign over a given period of time
- Frequency – the number of times you will mail to the same group of prospects over a given period. I suggest mailing to the same group at least four times in a one year time frame.
2. Choose a Cost-Effective Direct Mail Piece
Postcards: Postcards are economical to print and mail. Postcards are effective for most products or services. Postcards come in a variety of sizes. The reason postcards are effective in generating leads is mainly that your prospect does not need to open anything to see your message. The right offer put in an eye catching design will generate leads. If you would like more information on post card marketing click here.
Pros:
a. Prospect does not have to open anything to see the message. You mail a post card and you make an impression.
b. Unlike other forms of marketing available, people do still manually get their mail. They will at least see your message.
c. Postcards are inexpensive to print and mail. This allows you to reach prospective buyers more often.
d. Postcards results are easily tracked.
e. You can target exactly the prospect you want to reach.
Cons:
a. Limited space your message has to be focused.
Using a simple postcard can save you considerable money on your direct mail printing and provide you a better chance of getting read. With a postcard, there is no envelope to open, which means your recipients are more likely to get your headline message.
Brochures: Brochures are effective for most products or services. They are made in a variety of sizes. The term brochure means they stand alone in the mail and are not inserted into an envelope. Brochures are usually tri-folds or bi- folded pieces. They are best used for products or services that need more space for photos and product information.
Pros:
a. Are effective in generating leads.
b. More space to display product information.
c. You can better position your company’s products and services.
d. Are well suited to build image and corporate identity.
e. If designed properly prospect does not have to open anything to get the main benefit.
Cons:
a. Mailing costs are slightly higher than with postcards.
b. Because of increase space available some feel the urge to load up the piece with too much information. Marketing materials with too much information tend not to be read and end up in the trash. The purpose is to give them enough information to generate interest so they will call you.
3. Test your mail campaign
Test your mailings with a small number of mailings before sending out “the” campaign. A simple method to accomplishing a test is the A/B split test. This is where you have a small sample size of say 200. You mail 100 hundred of your target market a mailing with one headline; and the other 100 a mailing with a different headline to see which mailing will get a better response.
The benefits of using direct mail include:
- Less competition -because direct mail is not the new shiny object that is promoted these days, there is less competition and a great opportunity for you to stand out from the pack by using this form of marketing.
- Precise target - you can precisely target you messages to a very specific audience unlike other tactics.
- Control of the message – you have total control of the message you would like to communicate to your target.
- Control of the timing – you can time your mailings to coincide with the purchasing timing triggers of your target audience.
The most difficult part of developing a direct mail campaign is getting started.
So commit to start your campaign today and contact WePrintQuick.Com for all of your Print and Direct Mail Needs.
