Browsing Category: "Direct Mail"
You have to market to stay ahead in business today. Even if you live in a small community, marketing plays a big role in making your business creditable. Consumers today are subjected to anywhere from 1800 – 3000 advertising messages per day. With that large of a statistic, it is no longer viable to rely only on word-of-mouth marketing.
Word-of-mouth marketing is the best way to build a reputation, but if a competitor’s marketing message comes along that hits your consumers’ “buttons” they may be likely to leave your business in search for a better price, closer location or just plain curiosity.
You have to continually market to let people know you exist and so they will not forget about you. The way you do it may vary depending on your type of business, but there is one marketing avenue that will get you an excellent return on investment, if done right. Direct mail.
A survey by the International Communication Research concluded that people prefer receiving messages by direct mail.
• 73% of respondents said that they prefer receiving new product announcements by mail, versus 18% for email.
• Fewer people trash unsolicited direct mail when compared to email, 31% to 53% respectively.
Direct mail coupled with community networking and involvement, and some free internet listings on local search engines can markedly increase your business. With that being said you need to know how to do it right. Do it right
First you need to know the power of repetition. If location is the mantra of real estate success, then repetition is the mantra for promotional success.
Regular, repeated mailings are the way to create big, measurable results. When you mail every 30 days for a year you will cause a dramatic growth in your business.
With direct mail, you can send your message to a targeted group of prospects or to your existing customers for only 25 to 30 cents each, including postage.
If you put out a blast of communication you will get inflow – prospects, customers calling or coming in and buying. Yes, if you deliver a good product you will get some business from referrals…some. But you want that blast repeated over and over and over to get the inflow that it will generate consistently. Consistency is where prediction comes in.
Say you send out 5000 postcards one month:
• Out of that 5000, 150 hang onto your postcard.
• Out of that 5000, so many call the 1st week.
• Out of that 5000, so many call the 2nd week.
• Out of that 5000, so many call the next month.
• Out of that 5000, so many call in 6 months.
• Out of that 5000, so many never call…
There is a dwindling inflow from that first mailing and therefore can give a false impression of what occurs from one mailing. Someone sends out a postcard and says, “I only got four responses from my mailing!” But there is a whole dynamic that is going on that is continuing from that one mailing way after the person who sent the mailing expects things to happen. Every month you send out 5000 postcards you have the scenario happening above.
Eventually it is going to snowball because it’s coming in from all different places! You are really putting your communication out there consistently in a big way and you are going to get consistent and continuous growth.
Likewise, any local community activities that you do to help get your name out there will get you even more results if you have a targeted and consistent direct mail campaign running. Know your target market
Don’t try and sell beer to the Temperance Society or real estate to people who cannot afford it. You have to target your direct mail marketing efforts.
The mailing list is a key factor in a successful small business direct mail marketing campaign. The right list targets people who want your product or service. The wrong list fails to target people who would want to buy from you. Sent to the wrong list, your mailing will be treated as ‘junk mail.’
You should also look for local community venues that cater to your target market. Register to speak at their functions; sponsor some of their charity activities; see how you can help them, their children and their churches or organizations. But don’t do this type of activity only to get the business – it will not ring true and you might get a reputation as a fake. Find some worthy cause to get behind and help. This will increase the effectiveness of your direct mail efforts.Design your direct mail pieces to your target market
A good design and a good message go a long way to making your direct mail piece a hit.
Your design should reflect your business/franchise, be relevant to who you are marketing to and should include an offer to create an immediate call to action. The graphic and headline is what ultimately prompts your prospect to turn your card over and read your message so make sure they communicate to your target audience.
Don’t want your direct mail to end up in the trash with the rest of the unread mail?
These 10 tips will help you get the results you want:
1. A clear, bold headline.
2. A graphic that supports the message. The graphic should be easy to understand and add to the message the headline is trying to convey.
3. Color that pops. Make the headline and other text stand out by using a color that stands out from the background color.
4. Subheads that lead into text. If you have a couple of paragraphs of text with no lead in, there’s nothing to entice people to actually read the copy. A subhead will give people a place to start reading.
5. Benefits, benefits, benefits. One of the biggest errors people make in advertising is stating features, rather than benefits.
6. The offer. An offer is always a good idea and should represent a specific reason to call now, such as “Limited supply”.
7. Your company name and logo. Although this needs to be on the mailer, it shouldn’t overshadow the offer. Customers care most about what you can do for them.
8. Call to action. Tell prospects exactly what you want them to do. “Call today for more information” or “See us online” are two of the most common desired actions.
9. Contact information. Provide your name, phone number, and Web address directly following the call to action.
10. Return address. A return address ensures you’ll get returned mail from the post office and sends a message that you’re an established professional. Be consistent and commit
One thing about marketing is that you have to commit.
Consumers rarely get multiple postcards from a business. Yet it is such a brilliant idea. When I receive multiple postcards, I take a look. I think, “Hmmm, these guys are still contacting me.” That shows persistence, it shows credibility.
You need to hit your prospects with different communication about the same thing or hit them with different products with the same look and feel or both. The rest will come.
Moreover, you have to be consistently in the community speaking, helping, contributing, networking and shaking hands. But you cannot rely on this alone. Direct mail is a very creditable marketing medium and the two go hand in hand. The business owner who sends direct mail to his target market and sponsors their kids’ little league baseball team is going to get more business than the business owner that only relies on word of mouth. People are bombarded with messages today — you have to constantly remind them who you are, where you are and what you can do for them. You have to drive customers to your business.
What you are building with a marketing and community involvement/networking is credibility. You are building your business through communication. You are communicating consistently, so much that people will believe you (credibility) and they will respond; they will come, they will buy.
Advertisements are everywhere. The different types, sizes and shapes of ads fill everybody’s lives with marketing copies and selling techniques. You are not safe from such tactics if you just stay at your home. For sure, you will be reached by direct mailing postcards. Direct MailThe name for this tool has evolved from the formal direct mail, to advertising mail and junk mail for people who feel that they’ve had enough. This tool, however you call it, is the delivery of the ad using different tools like direct mailing postcards, catalogs, brochures and the likes, through postal mail.The FormatAdvertisers should learn to experiment on the different formats that they could use for direct mailing purposes. People have been so used to the idea that there are even some companies and other non-profit organizations which help people if they want to opt out for any direct mail campaigns.You can trust the right printing company to do the trick for you. To do this, you must prioritize quality over cheap printing. The following formats can help you get the word out about you. So make sure to utilize everything that applies to your business and, of course, your budget.1. Catalogs. You can excite probable clients to shop from their own homes through multi-pager catalogs. You can include order forms on this tool just to make sure that people will be more tempted to fill those out because of the convenience of the setup.2. Greeting cards. Making your clients feel that you remember them on the special days of their lives and every holiday on the calendar is a big plus points for you. 3. Envelope mailers. You can include in the package all your marketing materials. You just have to make sure that the envelope is an advertisement in itself. It contains your company name, logo and address. Direct Mail PostcardsWhen it comes to this process, postcards still top off the list. You can do a lot of things with such. You can experiment with the sizes. You can customize the shape. And of course, you can go a lot of ways in terms of the design. Whatever tool you use, the success of this project lies on your mailing list. If you don’t have one, the right printing company can provide you with such need. But it is also important to keep a database of the people who have availed from you. They are important to your business especially if you find ways to retain them. Direct mailing can help you with the goal to retain these people. By making them feel valuable to your business, they may in return reciprocate that by availing your products and services over and over again.Direct mailing postcards will be effective to let people know about your gimmicks without being so obvious. The idea here is to match the design with a tag line that will captivate your target market. You don’t have to force people to buy in order to sell. In fact, you have to be subtle yet convincing in order for your marketing tool to succeed.
How CFH DocMail Can Help You
With the price of mailing a letter consistently climbing, it is getting more and more expensive to send out direct mailing campaign materials for your business or organization. Postage costs keep climbing and that even includes the bulk postage rate. If you used to use direct mail as a method of spreading the word about your business or organization related functions, you could find yourself facing a dilemma. How do you get the word out when direct mailing is costing you an arm and a leg in both postage and material?
There is a new way to get your message out. It is called CFH DocMail. This form of direct mailing saves you time and money as you no longer have to spend money on material to print your letters let alone personnel to fold and envelope the letters. Instead you have the option of using this new postage service and saving some money. CFH DocMail is an online mail management system that is administered by a company outside your own. You simply send them the letter or flyer that you want to use for your direct mail campaign, and who you need the information sent to, and they will take care of all of the work for one lump sum that will keep your costs down and cost you one bulk postage rate. CFH DocMail allows the direct mail user to upload all of their information onto their secure server. They will process your direct mailing package and provide you with a proof for approval before sending the direct mailing out on your behalf.
So far, users of the CFH DocMail postage service have been able to save up to 60 pence per letter, as a single sheet black print letter and envelope only costs you 25 pence using this service. Considering that each piece of direct mail costs 85 pence to put together and send out, this is definitely a way to cut down on your company’s postage cost. CFH DocMail allows new customers to test out their bulk postage package and if you find that your costs are climbing way too high to continue using direct mailing as a marketing tool, you may wish to try out CFH DocMail before discontinuing your direct mail campaigns all together.