subject: Fundamentals Of Marketing With Direct Mail [print this page] Marketing with direct mail has been a part of many companies' promotional plans throughout the years. The mail sent out could come in many forms, including postcards, brochures, letters, catalogs, and other pieces. The direct mail process involves a few steps which are: creating a piece to send out, selecting lists which the mail will be sent to, sending the pieces out, and analyzing the results. Each of these steps will be analyzed in detail below.
To start, a direct mailing piece has to be created. The type of piece created depends on a company's particular needs and financial constraints. The piece can be anywhere from a plain postcard to a decorative brochure. At the time that a specific kind of mailing piece has been established, a graphic professional is employed to design it. The mailing piece will most likely go through a few different versions before everyone on the marketing team gives it their full approval.
During the same period when a direct mail piece is being put together, marketers must select lists of individuals who the promotion will be sent out to. Lists can be comprised of past customers and inquiries, which are typically the best sources of names for a company. They can also be rented from list brokers. For example, a firm that sells products for infants and toddlers may wish to mail out a postcard promoting their new baby wash. They could send out a mailing to those who signed up for their website as well as a rented list of people who subscribe to parenting publications.
Once the piece is ready to go and lists are selected, lists are sent to a mailing house, and an electronic copy of the creative piece is forwarded to a printer. The mailer will merge all of the lists together and take out any duplicates. The printer will print the creative piece, and the printed copies will be sent to the mail house. Depending on what the company wants, the mailing will either be sent out first class or bulk rate. While first class will get the pieces out sooner, it is also a lot more expensive than the bulk postage rate is.
It can take up to 2 weeks for the mailing pieces to reach their destinations. At the time that the mail reaches people, the business sending out the promotion uses the marketing performance indicators of hit rate, performance profit, and ROI (return on investment) to measure how well the piece did. Hit rates are the number of people per thousand promotional pieces sent out who responded to the company's offer. Higher hit rates are better. ROI equals the revenue divided by promotional expenses multiplied by one hundred, and performance profit is revenue minus expenses. Higher ROIs and performance profits are better, though if they are too high, it may be a negative. This is since astronomically high performance profits and returns on investment indicate that a marketer could have spent more money to capitalize on revenue potential.
In conclusion, direct mail marketing involves a series of steps. These include the creation of a piece to mail out and the selection of lists which the piece will go out to. After this, the pieces are sent out and the results of the mailing are analyzed.
