Direct Mail Strategies

Every successful Direct Mail program begins with one important question:

What am I trying to accomplish?

It may sound simplistic, but establishing a goal is a crucial first step. (You'd be amazed at how many people ignore this and then complain that Direct Mail doesn't work!) Common goals include increasing sales or awareness, but Direct Mail has the power and versatility to do much, much more.

Top 10 uses for Direct Mail include:

  1. Generating leads
  2. Generating store traffic
  3. Responding to competitive activity
  4. Building customer loyalty
  5. Generating new customers/referrals
  6. Improving sales force efficiency
  7. Improving customer service
  8. Increasing customers' average purchase amounts - generating higher sales
  9. Announcing store hours/sales/new locations
  10. Augmenting media advertising to top prospects and select customers
If you want to do something, chances are, Direct Mail can help you accomplish it. Effectively and efficiently.

Developing a Compelling Strategy

Once you've set a goal, the next step is developing a strategy to accomplish it. Whereas the goal is the "big picture" of what you want to do, the strategy is more fine-tuned. It's how you're going to achieve the goal you've set for your company. This is when you map out precisely what approach to take.

Unclear goals and indecisive strategies are guaranteed to bring disappointing results.

For instance, let's say that you have a retail store and your goal is to increase store traffic and sales. One strategy might involve an offer designed to bring in new customers, like a special sales event. What makes so many advertisers enthusiastic about Direct Mail is its very directness. When customers start responding to your mail, you know in a relatively short time how your Direct Mail effort did, simply by the number of respondents. Since measuring the success and the return-on-investment of a mailing is one of the great strengths of Direct Mail, you must determine at the very outset whether your strategy is designed to produce a measurable return overnight or over time.

The Offer

One defining characteristic of Direct Mail is "the offer". The others are the list, the creative, and the physical components of the mail package itself, including the letter, copy, brochure and even the envelope. The offer is in short what the consumer looks for, and more important what he or she responds to.

The three basic types of offers are:

Sale: Discount off the full price
Free: Usually a free gift, or "buy one, get one free" or free with purchase of specific dollar amount.
Guarantee: Trial offer or money back.

Elements in a typical Direct Mail offer include:

  • The product/service being sold.
  • Warranties, guarantees, service contracts, or any other accompanying feature.
  • The price, including special credit terms/finance charges/shipping/handling, etc.
  • The action someone needs to take to place an order or respond in some other way.
  • Give consumers a reason to respond to your Direct Mail piece. Otherwise, they won't.

    When you are writing your Direct Mail piece, be it a letter or a postcard, there are some basic rules to keep in mind regarding the offer. The price should be the last thing mentioned. If you mention that your product/service is "only" R139.99, you might lose them before they read on and realize that it's worth far more than that. Lead with the offer and all the benefits of your product or service.

    Key steps in determining your offer include:

  • Making it clear. Don't offer a variety of products/services or your message will get muddled. Choose one product to spotlight. More choices result in more customer confusion.
  • Telling them the details. What, exactly, do you want them to do? Call? Subscribe?
  • Getting your customers to realize that it's such a great opportunity, they can't say no. In other words, make your offer "no-proof." Give a money-back guarantee or a free sample, for instance.

    Targeting

    Targeting and demographics are two of the most important aspects of Direct Mail. In fact, it's been said that 40% of a Direct Mail effort's success is directly related to the list used. How narrowly you target (or broadly, for that matter) is strictly up to you and the goals you want to achieve. You'll be astonished at just how precisely you can target your audience. (As you might suspect, targeting to an audience as specific as the one above will cost you.)

    You can reach your audience by identifying a Postal Code, or combine more detailed consumer information such as:

  • Household income
  • Gender
  • Occupation
  • Education level
  • Hobbies
  • Clubs/memberships/affiliations.

    Business-to-business data can include:

  • Industry classifications
  • Size/revenues of targeted businesses
  • Number of employees
  • Locations
  • Credit ratings
  • Principals/owners/shareholders

    If you choose to do a geographically targeted mailing, it doesn't have to be an entire area. In fact, even if you're doing a "mass mailing" to an entire region, you've got the option to be selective in your demographic choice. This process of eliminating inappropriate demographics is called "suppression," and is very common and invaluable when launching a Direct Mail effort.

    As experienced Direct Mailers know, the possibilities are endless, and the opportunities have never been greater than they are right now.

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