subject: Direct Mail Campaign: What Do You Have To Prepare? [print this page] Maybe it sounds crazy that direct mail continues to bloom and up until now, it is still the most effective way of marketing. By looking at your mailbox, you will see that indeed this is true. For sure, you have about a dozen of direct mails everyday and that is for one reason; it really works.
In a business where timing is a big factor in the purchase decision, using direct mails as a form of marketing is much suited, that is because in that kind of business, you need to stay in front of those prospects. By doing so, customers will think of you when the timing is finally right.
This is one way of mentioning indirectly the most important point in a direct mail campaign and that is the process of direct mailing is only useful if you will do it on a regular basis. This does not mean that you need to send your marketing pieces to different people each time but you need to send your marketing piece to the same audience over and over again until youll get recognized. Think of this, the main key here for your direct mail campaign to be successful is repetition.
Millions of dollars are actually spent by the companies who do direct mail, just to analyze their campaigns and to plan more how to maximize the returns they get. This area of marketing is studied more than any other areas because of its importance. On average, it was found out that a person doesnt actually realize that you exist until he has seen your marketing piece at least seven times.
Indeed, this fact is amazing but I have to repeat this sad truth. An average person does not recognize the fact that your business exists unless he has seen your direct marketing piece seven times in a row. Thats seven times everyone and there are even some analysts who estimated that its even more than that.
So, it is certainly a big nonsense starting a direct mail campaign without the needed resources to send your mailing pieces to the same individuals at least seven times in a row. Im not actually kidding here. If you cant afford to do this, dont even bother starting a campaign because you wouldnt be able to gauge whether the campaign really become a success after running your mailer at least seven times.
In doing a direct marketing campaign, you can consider having a two-step approach. You wont be selling to them right away instead you would be inviting them to get more information about your business first. You can invite them to call you and then let them listen to pre-recorded information or customers can make a request of a free information booklet or visit your website for further details.
This kind of two-step marketing is a smart move to pull customers into your bait. By giving them an invitation to take action and get more information about your business for free can actually make customers recognize you more. If you also let them take action, at that very moment youll have an access to their personal data so, you can already call them for follow-up in the future. Aside from that, because of the rich information you are giving them, you are building a kind of rapport and trust among your clients, which might be the reason why they would stick to your business more and patronize your products and services.
In order for you to be able to run a very successful campaign, you still have to prepare a lot of things beforehand. You should be able to decide on your value item, the information that you will be providing your clients the moment they contact you, what do they really want, and what can make their lives easier. Put all these concepts together and you are now ready to craft your perfect mail piece.
Direct mail has been proven to be very effective but it wont give good results unless you are sending the mails to the same people in a row, practicing the two-step approach, and preparing the information piece first. These are just a few tips about direct mail campaign that I can share with you but give it a try, so youll know if they work best for you or not.
