Direct MailThe Ultimate Guide

After reading, you will know if direct mail is right for your business, how to create and send direct mail that sells, how much direct mail marketing costs, and how to track your success.

This guide is for local businesses that want to increase their business using good old fashion snail mail.

Does Direct Mail Work? According to a recent study by the United States Postal Service, 79% of households either read or scan advertising mail sent to their household. The response rate on direct mail is also multiple times that of online and email marketing. According to the direct marketing association, the response rate of direct mail when sent to a house list is 3.94%.

Will direct mail work for your business?If a company with no physical products that specializes in online advertising is using direct mail, there is a good bet that it will work for your business as well.

At the end of the day, the answer is going to depend on two things:1. Can you offer something that is interesting

enough to elicit a response? 2. Do the sales that you make from your direct

mail campaign generate enough revenue to cover the costs of your direct mail campaign, with profit to spare?

It is the Lifetime Value of your customer that matter’s. You don’t necessarily need to cover the cost of your mailer via the first sale you make to responders. If you are a restaurant where you expect people to come back in the future, then you are earning more from acquiring that new client than just the first sale.

There are many different things that you can send via direct mail including: !• Sales letters • Postcards • Coupons • Brochures • Catalogs • Physical Items (also referred to

as dimensional mail)

What Should You Send?

The less the recipient knows about you and

your product or service, the more elaborate

your mailer is going to need to be.

If you are selling vacations to an exotic country, to people that have

never travelled with you before, then a lengthy brochure is likely to

convert better than a postcard. !

If you are a restaurant targeting existing customers however, then a long brochure is likely to be overkill.

In this instance a short post card with a coupon is more likely to

accomplish your goal.

If you need some inspiration here are 13 creative examples of direct mail from Sourcelink.

What Should It Say?You want to have a single purpose for your direct mail piece. Often times the goal of a direct mail campaign is to get the recipient to buy a product or use a service. You can however also send direct mail for other reasons.

They care about their own goals and interests, which is what your piece needs to speak to.

While it is important to have a singular goal for your piece, you should also keep in mind that your potential customer doesn’t care about your goal.

Once you have a handle on what people want, it’s time to write directly to that desire. We call that persuasive content “copy.” If you’re writing your

own copy, it’s a good idea to follow a time-tested principle: AIDA.

AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Let’s break it down:

AttentionThe very first thing you must do in your copy is grab a person’s attention. This is your headline. It’s where you announce what’s so special and important about this particular mail. !For more on how to write a great headline see this article by Russ Henneberry on the Crazy Egg Blog.

InterestThis comes next and it’s where you discuss your customer’s problem and then present your business as the solution. Don’t get too wordy, but take a general approach on how your business can help that person.

DesireIf you’ve captured the reader’s attention this far, now is the time for some serious selling. Be careful not to simply list features. You want to share the benefits of your product or service. For example, A benefit is that your vacuums can deep clean years’ worth of dirt and soil without the use of harmful cleaners. Now I’m interested because I like the idea of being environmentally responsible.

Action What would you like for them to do? Maybe you’d like for them to stop by soon or on a specific date, or set up an appointment? Lead them to the very next step that needs to happen as soon as they stop reading your mail. !For some great examples of effective calls to action, see this article from Kathryn Aragon.

• If you are looking for the recipient to get in touch with you then make sure you provide several different ways for them to respond, including phone, email, website, and location.

• Keep paragraphs short • Use bullet points that make it easy to skim. • Keep repeating the main point in different ways. • Always write to an audience of 1, use the words you and your. • Create a sense of urgency with a limited time offer.

Other things to keep in mind when writing your sales copy:

Who should I send it to?

Target Existing Customers For most businesses it is way more cost effective to increase the business that you are doing with existing clients, than it is to gain a completely new client. The fact that your existing customers have already bought from you means that they know who you are, and have already trusted you enough to do business with you.

•Ask when they checkout if they would like to leave their address for special deals and coupons.

•Create a loyalty program •Run a contest •Request address for things like appointment booking, reservations, and

warranties. •Have an event and request address to attend !Once you have their information you will need a way to store it. We recommend Insightly CRM for this purpose. For more on Insightly read our article comparing the top CRM software.

Businesses that deal with people in person need to get a little more creative. Here are some ideas on how to capture the address:

Target New CustomersThe sky is really the limit in terms of how many people you can reach via direct mail. In order for your offer to work however, it has to be relevant to the people that you are sending it too.

• Where do they live • What are their interests • What types of things do they buy • Income level • Gender • Age • Political leanings • Religious beliefs

If you are a new business what you think your ideal client will look like:

Once you have an understanding of who your customer is then you can look into acquiring a mailing list that includes that type of customer.

The easiest way to send direct mail is using the USPS Every Door Direct Mail Service. This allows you to deliver to

every address within a target area without having to know the names or addresses of

the recipients.

How to Acquire a Third Party Mailing List

There are five major costs involved in direct mail. They are design, copy, mailing lists, print, and distribution. You may not need to pay for all of these, but you will have to pay for at least printing and mailing. !Here they are in detail:

How much does Direct Mail Cost?

DesignYou can choose to hire a designer, buy a template, or do your own design from scratch. If you just need something basic then we recommend finding a freelancer on Elance. You should be able to get something created for around $100.

Buying a template can be done on a variety of print shops and also on Graphic River. They cost around $10 on average. !If you choose to do your own direct mail design, keep in mind that you may need to order stock images or illustrations to spice it up. Popular stock sites include Shutterstock and Dreamstime. You can get 5 images there for around $50.

Mailing ListsRegardless of whether you rent or purchase, a mailing list will cost you between .03¢ to .20¢ per record. Generally speaking, the more you request, the less per record you pay.

Printing CostsA postcard will be a different price than a brochure. For 5000 postcards, you price averages around .03¢ per postcard at places like PrintPlace to VistaPrint. For 5000 one-page brochures, you can expect to pay anywhere between .08¢ to .14¢ per brochure at the same online print shops.

Mailing CostsThe final cost consideration you must remember is mailing costs. The price fluctuates, depending on the current rate of postage, and on the amount of mail you send. !Following the same amount of 5000, your mailing costs will be: For postcards: The rate is between .25¢ to .34¢. For brochures and letters under 3.5 oz: The rate is between .38¢ to .44¢.

If you follow the advice outlined in the rest of this guide, then you will include a clear call to action in your direct mail campaign. Now you just need a way to track those that complete the call to action so you can judge effectiveness.

How do you track success?

If you are not currently asking your customers how they found out about you, you should start doing so and recording their responses in your CRM software. This is true whether or not you are running a direct marketing campaign or not.

First off

Click here to tweet this presentation.

Join The Community:

www.FitSmallBusiness.com

See the full article here