subject: Increase Direct Mail Response With Promotional Products [print this page] Increase Direct Mail Response With Promotional Products
Despite the popularity of Internet marketing, direct mail is still one of the best marketing strategies for reaching new and old customers, according to one of the top marketing companies in the country. The trick is to target your audience carefully and make it worth their while to respond to your marketing come-on. One of the best ways to increase the response to your direct mail solicitations is to include a promotional product -or a promise of one-with the mail. These five strategies can help you increase the response to your direct mail marketing efforts.
1. Target your market carefully. Before you send out a single piece of direct mail or promotional product, identify your target market and acquire a targeted mailing list. By narrowing your field, you'll be increasing the likelihood of a positive response. For example, if you're marketing a new infant formula, you'll get a far higher response rate by targeting subscribers to a parenting newsletter than you will if you simply blanket a city.
2. Include a promotional product with your solicitation. When you narrow your field, you also can increase your per-piece budget for your marketing mail. That opens up the possibility of including a gift with your marketing letter. Research by a major marketing corporation has found that people who receive a gift with a solicitation are far more likely to respond to it positively. The gift can be as small as a wallet-size printed calendar. As long as it has your name on it, it will remind your target of your company each time he consults it.
3. Up the ante with higher value promotional products. Another strategy with a high success rate is to offer a free gift for every response. Choose promotional items with a relatively high perceived value, which is not quite the same as expensive. For example, a USB flash drive imprinted with your company name is a nice incentive to convince potential customers to respond to a survey request, and an excellent strategy for a non-profit trying to compile information.
4. Send one part of a two-part promotional product by direct mail and require redemption of the second part. If you need a response within a time limit, try sending a redemption coupon or one part of a two-part promotional product by direct mail. For instance, a gardening or landscaping business might send a packet of seeds along with a catalog-printed with the company's name, of course-with a direct mail solicitation along with a coupon to be redeemed for a flowerpot to plant them in with any purchase. An accountant might send out a checkbook cover with a promise of an engraved pen to match if the customer makes an appointment to talk about their tax return.
5. Keep careful track of the results. One of the biggest mistakes companies make when they run direct mail marketing campaigns is poor record keeping. Assign someone in your company to track every response and follow up on it. Remember that on average, it takes seven repetitions of a business message before most people follow up on it. Track responses, follow up on them and update your list regularly to make sure you're targeting the right people with the right offers.
