Once you've outlined your target market, staging a direct-mail campaign has seven key steps:
1. Develop a mailing list. Put your description of the targets on this list in writing, so you know to whom you're mailing. If you're mailing to a larger-sized list (more than 20,000), you'll probably want to provide your letter shop with Cheshire labels: unglued labels that are affixed to your mailing piece with special glue. For smaller quantities, you might just provide pressure-sensitive (self-sticking) labels. When you have a small quantity of labels, you can put them on by hand with pressure-sensitive labels. Cheshire labels require machine application at the mailing house. Your list supplier will provide you the labels in whatever format you want.
2. Create a mailing piece. You don't just mail out a brochure to your list. That gets too expensive, and your brochures weren't designed for it. You need to create a direct-mail piece with a strong offer that will spur the recipient to action. All direct mail leads to the "call to action": What do you want the recipient to do next? Mail back the business reply card? Call the 800-number? Fill out the order form and fax it to your number?
You can never be too pushy in direct-mail materials. You can also be clever, cute, whimsical, even overpowering, but only in connection with being pushy. Your goal is to get action. You don't create a direct-mail piece to inform. That's what your brochures are for. You want action!
Designers of direct-mail pieces like to get creative with graphics. Your goal is to get the reader to respond to the offer. Any graphics that don't contribute to that are not worth the design and printing costs.
According to most direct-mail gurus:
40 percent of a piece's impact comes from sending it to the right list in the first place.
40 percent comes from the value of the offer.
20 percent comes from the design or writing of the piece.
3. Code your response vehicle. Whatever way you ask recipients to respond, make sure you code your mailing. All you have to do is assign each mailing a batch number, such as 04052103: 0405 is the month/year of the mailing; 21 is the identifier for the particular list you mailed from; and 03 is the identifier for the particular offer. Coding provides a simple device for revealing just who has responded to which mailing and which offer. It makes individual responses much more valuable, since you can easily tabulate the different codes to see what's working the best for you.
4. Test the campaign. Even a modest campaign of a few thousand pieces can run up the budget with mailing and duplication costs. So you should always test mail a portion of your mailing list and check the results. No one can predict the response rate you'll get; there are just too many variables.
What percentage of your mailing makes for a reliable test? Again, it varies, but most authorities would tell you to test 10 percent of your list and no less than 250 pieces. This will give you enough of a spread across the variables to make the results worth something. Before you do your test, you should decide what response rate will support your going ahead with the planned major mailing. This will depend on your budget.
Writers on direct mail duck the issue of response rates because there are so many variables--and because no one really knows how to predict response. Experience suggests that if your rate is less than 2 percent, something is wrong. Either your list is wrong, or your offer is too weak. If you get a response rate above 7 percent for a mass mailing (without giving away the farm), you've done very, very well.
5. Run the campaign. Keep your mailing pace in line with your ability to handle the potential responses. Your test mailing will give you some sense of the rate of customer response. Use that as a gauge for how many pieces you should mail in a given week. Mail only those pieces you can support with your sales effort.
6. Handle customer responses. You can't handle the fulfillment end of a direct-mail campaign without considerable planning. If you're asking respondents to request additional information, what are you going to send them? How soon do you want to mail the information out? What else will you do with the responses? In other words, how will you make maximum use of the names you have spent so much money to acquire?
If you're a company with distributors or sales offices, it's common to pass along the names of prospects, so that follow-up can be handled on the local level. This can be handled with e-mail or faxes. The quicker the response the better, since your speed in dispatching information can quite justifiably be viewed as reflective of your commitment to customer service. Why should respondents have to wait for materials?
If you are mailing out product or samples, do you want that handled from your main offices? Many mail order campaigns depend on fulfillment houses, professional operations that handle the logistics of sending out materials to large quantities of customers. You provide the products and the prospects, they'll take care of the rest.
7. Analyze the results of the campaign. This is perhaps the most important, and underrated, aspect of the campaign. Did the final results match what you expected from the test? What parts of the demographic responded better than expected? Are there subsets of your target audience that you can focus on in future mailings? Every direct-mail campaign you run should contribute not just to your sales figures but to enhancing your customer database. In very real terms, it represents the future of your business.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
7 Steps to Direct Mail Marketing Success
After years of spending tremendous amounts of money on television, radio or print advertising, some marketers arrive at the idea of testing direct mail marketing. After all, it’s cheap and it gets you a gazillion responses for next to nothing, right? Wrong. It’s amazing how many CEOs and corporate executives have mistaken ideas about direct mail (DM.) DM can be a very affordable way to reach specific target audiences in the long run, but you have to plan carefully (the STRATEGY) before you ever mail unit number 1, (the TACTICS).
1. Choose your CATEGORY correctly between two options:
a. Business-to-Business (B2B)
b. Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
Many people will laugh at this determination, thinking it’s too basic. But it’s kind of like deciding which half of your body your pants go on. If you’re wearing your pants on your head, you’ll give your audience a good laugh – but you’ll never sell a single item. Some inexperienced marketers will say, “I don’t care who I sell to – I just want to sell to EVERYONE!” Cute, but no cigar.
You have to know who your potential buyer is, before you implement a direct mail campaign – or any marketing campaign, truth be told. Let’s say you’re selling an informational guide on pet grooming. That is obviously going to appeal to consumers, not businesses. The only way it would appeal to professional pet groomers is if it contained very advanced information. In other words, professional pet groomers already know the basics – and a whole lot more. Your book had better contain some very high-level ground-breaking information to get their interest.
But if your book was a ‘do-it-yourself’ guide to entry-level pet grooming, consumers are you one and only target.
2. Choose your LIST. List is the number 1 cause of DM success or failure. You can invest $10 per unit into the format and design of the kit (strong tactics), but if you mail it to the wrong list (bad strategy), you’ll get a bad response. Conversely, if you find the ultimate list of people who want, need and can afford your product and service (good strategy), you can scribble your offer on a sheet of notebook paper (weak tactics) and get a good response.
There are two categories of lists, business and consumer. And there are two basic types of mailing lists, COMPILED and RESPONSE. Compiled lists are gathered from multiple sources, i.e. phone directories, county property deed files, credit bureaus, surveys, etc. Response or ‘vertical’ lists are people who have registered a specific interest in a product, service or category. For example, magazine subscribers are a source of vertical information, because they have shown an interest in the magazine’s subject category. Organizational membership lists are vertical because these people have a bond in the type of industry or cause that the organization revolves around.
3. Choose your OFFER. Your offer is more that just what you are selling; it is the way you are presenting it or packaging it to get the buyer to take action today. In other words, your PRODUCT may be a commercial space heater for warehouses, but your OFFER is ‘try one for 30 days with no money down, and we’ll give you a free golf putter – yours to keep even if you return the heater at our expense later.” In other words, this offer removed the objection (cost / may not need it / may have a better offer elsewhere) and it added an upside (free golf putter whether you buy the heater or not.)
The standard DM success formula is that 70 from selecting the correct OFFER, and just 10% from selecting the right CREATIVE.
4. Choose your FORMAT or “CREATIVE”. Choosing the right format for your marketing effort can be critical to its success. There are some key steps you should take to narrow in your target audience before you write your copy, design your layout, or print the first unit of mail.
Formats that appeal to consumers are:
a. Postcards – the bigger and shinier, the better. With a postcard, no envelope needs to be opened, so your copy is read by many more people than with an envelope (at least for basic consumer offers.)
b. Invitations. Everyone likes to be invited to a party, so an invitation-size mailing – preferably an A6 or A7 envelope with a live stamp and script font in blue ink – would be opened by most of the recipients.
c. Check letters. If you use a window envelope and the letter in the window looks like a live check, many people will open it. It’s a bit deceptive, so caution is the word of the day.
d. Rebate checks. We call these “snap-packs” in the industry. If you’ve ever gotten a rebate check from a purchase you made, you know what these are; you tear off three sides to reveal the check inside. Well, if the content inside is your offer, you’ve gotten through the hurdle: you’ve gotten the consumer to open it. It will get read by many people.
Formats that appeal to businesses are:
a. Legal Letters. These are closed-face envelopes made of high-quality, bright-white stock, personalized in a strong business-looking font. If the secretary / gatekeeper thinks it might contain personal information for the boss, you’ll get your document onto his/her desk.
b. Tactile Mailings. These are boxes that rattle and shake and usually contain a gift item. Everybody likes getting a free gift in the mail – even corporate execs. If it’s a toy or gimmick item, they still like to get them. Usually, they give the item to their kid or grandkid, since kids love getting gifts of any kind and it brings a smile to their face. If the secretary knows that the boss likes to give these items to his grandkids, you’ll get your mailing onto his desk.
c. Postcards. These may or may not get screened by the secretary. Again, the larger the better; we typically use 6” high x 11” wide postcards, the maximum size that can be sent at Standard Class (bulk) mail rates.
Of course, there are hundreds of other approaches to take, and it’s important to choose the appropriate format for your target audience. But there are many other steps to consider – style, offer, kit elements such as letter size, personalized vs. generic letter, lift note, business reply envelope or ‘courtesy’ reply envelope (postage NOT pre-paid), First Class Postage or Standard Class, pre-printed indicia / live stamp / meter imprint, etc. These are best implemented by a direct marketing agency or DM professional.
5. Determine your CAMPAIGN STRATEGY. Are you looking for one-shot sales, or do you want to build a long-term relationship with the prospect? One-off sales mean that you want to sell them one item (i.e. a vacuum cleaner) one time, get their money and be done with it. Long-term sales are for multiple-product or multiple-service fulfillment, i.e. vitamins or lifelong carpet cleaning. You always have to demonstrate credibility and reliability, but long-term sales require better BRANDING or POSITIONING to prove that you’re the best long-term choice.
6. Next, choose your COPY POSITIONING. If you are writing to business executives, use clear and concise business language. Don’t try to be clever, funny or whimsical; your audience will think your product is a joke. But if you are writing to homemakers about a product that will save them cleaning time and help them get through the stresses of managing a home, whimsy may help them relate to your product.
It’s always important to focus on the BENEFITS of your product rather than focusing on the FEATURES. Every product has features, but you have to present them in a way that your audience can relate to. What’s in it for them?
7. Finally, choose your FOLLOW-UP and ONGOING COMMUNICATION approach. In a long-term approach, you want to consider your choices for multi-media communication. In other words, you’ll want to capture the prospects email address and/or phone number so you can stay in touch with them over time. Then, you want to plan a series of email messages or mailings to present other offers and cross-sell opportunities. For expensive items, you want to schedule follow-up telemarketing and / or surveys to make sure the customer is satisfied.
In summary, it is generally a wise move to hire an expert to guide you through the many aspects of a successful direct mail campaign. A professional has done this type of work many, many times, and can keep you on track with both your strategy and tactics before you invest your marketing dollars. The money you save by short-cutting your way through the basics could cost you dearly in the long run. As we like to say in the industry, there are 1,000 steps to producing a successful DM campaign. The only one that people remember if you’re unsuccessful is the one that you missed.
1. Choose your CATEGORY correctly between two options:
a. Business-to-Business (B2B)
b. Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
Many people will laugh at this determination, thinking it’s too basic. But it’s kind of like deciding which half of your body your pants go on. If you’re wearing your pants on your head, you’ll give your audience a good laugh – but you’ll never sell a single item. Some inexperienced marketers will say, “I don’t care who I sell to – I just want to sell to EVERYONE!” Cute, but no cigar.
You have to know who your potential buyer is, before you implement a direct mail campaign – or any marketing campaign, truth be told. Let’s say you’re selling an informational guide on pet grooming. That is obviously going to appeal to consumers, not businesses. The only way it would appeal to professional pet groomers is if it contained very advanced information. In other words, professional pet groomers already know the basics – and a whole lot more. Your book had better contain some very high-level ground-breaking information to get their interest.
But if your book was a ‘do-it-yourself’ guide to entry-level pet grooming, consumers are you one and only target.
2. Choose your LIST. List is the number 1 cause of DM success or failure. You can invest $10 per unit into the format and design of the kit (strong tactics), but if you mail it to the wrong list (bad strategy), you’ll get a bad response. Conversely, if you find the ultimate list of people who want, need and can afford your product and service (good strategy), you can scribble your offer on a sheet of notebook paper (weak tactics) and get a good response.
There are two categories of lists, business and consumer. And there are two basic types of mailing lists, COMPILED and RESPONSE. Compiled lists are gathered from multiple sources, i.e. phone directories, county property deed files, credit bureaus, surveys, etc. Response or ‘vertical’ lists are people who have registered a specific interest in a product, service or category. For example, magazine subscribers are a source of vertical information, because they have shown an interest in the magazine’s subject category. Organizational membership lists are vertical because these people have a bond in the type of industry or cause that the organization revolves around.
3. Choose your OFFER. Your offer is more that just what you are selling; it is the way you are presenting it or packaging it to get the buyer to take action today. In other words, your PRODUCT may be a commercial space heater for warehouses, but your OFFER is ‘try one for 30 days with no money down, and we’ll give you a free golf putter – yours to keep even if you return the heater at our expense later.” In other words, this offer removed the objection (cost / may not need it / may have a better offer elsewhere) and it added an upside (free golf putter whether you buy the heater or not.)
The standard DM success formula is that 70 from selecting the correct OFFER, and just 10% from selecting the right CREATIVE.
4. Choose your FORMAT or “CREATIVE”. Choosing the right format for your marketing effort can be critical to its success. There are some key steps you should take to narrow in your target audience before you write your copy, design your layout, or print the first unit of mail.
Formats that appeal to consumers are:
a. Postcards – the bigger and shinier, the better. With a postcard, no envelope needs to be opened, so your copy is read by many more people than with an envelope (at least for basic consumer offers.)
b. Invitations. Everyone likes to be invited to a party, so an invitation-size mailing – preferably an A6 or A7 envelope with a live stamp and script font in blue ink – would be opened by most of the recipients.
c. Check letters. If you use a window envelope and the letter in the window looks like a live check, many people will open it. It’s a bit deceptive, so caution is the word of the day.
d. Rebate checks. We call these “snap-packs” in the industry. If you’ve ever gotten a rebate check from a purchase you made, you know what these are; you tear off three sides to reveal the check inside. Well, if the content inside is your offer, you’ve gotten through the hurdle: you’ve gotten the consumer to open it. It will get read by many people.
Formats that appeal to businesses are:
a. Legal Letters. These are closed-face envelopes made of high-quality, bright-white stock, personalized in a strong business-looking font. If the secretary / gatekeeper thinks it might contain personal information for the boss, you’ll get your document onto his/her desk.
b. Tactile Mailings. These are boxes that rattle and shake and usually contain a gift item. Everybody likes getting a free gift in the mail – even corporate execs. If it’s a toy or gimmick item, they still like to get them. Usually, they give the item to their kid or grandkid, since kids love getting gifts of any kind and it brings a smile to their face. If the secretary knows that the boss likes to give these items to his grandkids, you’ll get your mailing onto his desk.
c. Postcards. These may or may not get screened by the secretary. Again, the larger the better; we typically use 6” high x 11” wide postcards, the maximum size that can be sent at Standard Class (bulk) mail rates.
Of course, there are hundreds of other approaches to take, and it’s important to choose the appropriate format for your target audience. But there are many other steps to consider – style, offer, kit elements such as letter size, personalized vs. generic letter, lift note, business reply envelope or ‘courtesy’ reply envelope (postage NOT pre-paid), First Class Postage or Standard Class, pre-printed indicia / live stamp / meter imprint, etc. These are best implemented by a direct marketing agency or DM professional.
5. Determine your CAMPAIGN STRATEGY. Are you looking for one-shot sales, or do you want to build a long-term relationship with the prospect? One-off sales mean that you want to sell them one item (i.e. a vacuum cleaner) one time, get their money and be done with it. Long-term sales are for multiple-product or multiple-service fulfillment, i.e. vitamins or lifelong carpet cleaning. You always have to demonstrate credibility and reliability, but long-term sales require better BRANDING or POSITIONING to prove that you’re the best long-term choice.
6. Next, choose your COPY POSITIONING. If you are writing to business executives, use clear and concise business language. Don’t try to be clever, funny or whimsical; your audience will think your product is a joke. But if you are writing to homemakers about a product that will save them cleaning time and help them get through the stresses of managing a home, whimsy may help them relate to your product.
It’s always important to focus on the BENEFITS of your product rather than focusing on the FEATURES. Every product has features, but you have to present them in a way that your audience can relate to. What’s in it for them?
7. Finally, choose your FOLLOW-UP and ONGOING COMMUNICATION approach. In a long-term approach, you want to consider your choices for multi-media communication. In other words, you’ll want to capture the prospects email address and/or phone number so you can stay in touch with them over time. Then, you want to plan a series of email messages or mailings to present other offers and cross-sell opportunities. For expensive items, you want to schedule follow-up telemarketing and / or surveys to make sure the customer is satisfied.
In summary, it is generally a wise move to hire an expert to guide you through the many aspects of a successful direct mail campaign. A professional has done this type of work many, many times, and can keep you on track with both your strategy and tactics before you invest your marketing dollars. The money you save by short-cutting your way through the basics could cost you dearly in the long run. As we like to say in the industry, there are 1,000 steps to producing a successful DM campaign. The only one that people remember if you’re unsuccessful is the one that you missed.
Why Every Business Should Use Direct Marketing
Every business owner aims to make their business profitable that is why there are numbers of marketing tactics that are endowed by experts in order to help achieve such desire. One of these tactics is direct marketing. There are two major definitional traits that distinguish this kind from any other kind of marketing strategies.
First, it aims to give off its message directly to consumers without having to use any intervening media. Second, it revolves in driving purchases which can be attributed to detailed "call-to-action". Some of the channels that are employed in this process would include e-mail, telemarketing, interactive TV, and other mobile devices.
Most people wish to obtain their direct marketing list without paying anything and this wish isn't impossible at all. With today's current information technology, it is highly feasible to obtain direct marketing lists of people in all regions of the world. But sad to say, "free" does not always mean "good". In fact a free list is typically the most expensive component of direct marketing program.
Try to consider the money that you need to spend on the costs of paper, ink, postage, and handling then you'll realize that the cost for the lists is probably the smallest cost items on your lists thus it is not really sensible to spend all of your time looking for a free list since it will only rob your time which is far more expensive if you try to compute how much consumer you lost because of wasted time.
Compared to any other marketing tactics, direct marketing is far most beneficial in different aspects. Home shopping is enjoyed the most since the customers can simply choose the products that they want without having to leave the house or put any make-up on just to look attractive in going out. Since consumers are given the chance to shop at various stores on the same time, they can do comparative shopping simply by browsing their mail catalogues and other online shopping services. If one item attracts them, they can simple place their item for themselves or for their love ones without the hassle of thinking if they have enough money left on the wallet since purchases can be made through the use of credit cards.
Truly, direct marketing is a serious consideration to consider but since everything in the business arena should operate with knowledge, it is highly sensible to test the water first before anything else. Obtain all needed information that you must know. Learn how the trend operates and in case of confusion, the internet is a friend to help you. Moreover, direct marketing companies also provide their consumers with people who are experts on such field in order to smoothen out every issue.
Once you dip your feet into the water of direct marketing, exhaust all means to be successful. Remember that an idle plan is something which is not worth-keeping. Hence you need to act and do your part in order to get your desires, it may not easy but it works.
First, it aims to give off its message directly to consumers without having to use any intervening media. Second, it revolves in driving purchases which can be attributed to detailed "call-to-action". Some of the channels that are employed in this process would include e-mail, telemarketing, interactive TV, and other mobile devices.
Most people wish to obtain their direct marketing list without paying anything and this wish isn't impossible at all. With today's current information technology, it is highly feasible to obtain direct marketing lists of people in all regions of the world. But sad to say, "free" does not always mean "good". In fact a free list is typically the most expensive component of direct marketing program.
Try to consider the money that you need to spend on the costs of paper, ink, postage, and handling then you'll realize that the cost for the lists is probably the smallest cost items on your lists thus it is not really sensible to spend all of your time looking for a free list since it will only rob your time which is far more expensive if you try to compute how much consumer you lost because of wasted time.
Compared to any other marketing tactics, direct marketing is far most beneficial in different aspects. Home shopping is enjoyed the most since the customers can simply choose the products that they want without having to leave the house or put any make-up on just to look attractive in going out. Since consumers are given the chance to shop at various stores on the same time, they can do comparative shopping simply by browsing their mail catalogues and other online shopping services. If one item attracts them, they can simple place their item for themselves or for their love ones without the hassle of thinking if they have enough money left on the wallet since purchases can be made through the use of credit cards.
Truly, direct marketing is a serious consideration to consider but since everything in the business arena should operate with knowledge, it is highly sensible to test the water first before anything else. Obtain all needed information that you must know. Learn how the trend operates and in case of confusion, the internet is a friend to help you. Moreover, direct marketing companies also provide their consumers with people who are experts on such field in order to smoothen out every issue.
Once you dip your feet into the water of direct marketing, exhaust all means to be successful. Remember that an idle plan is something which is not worth-keeping. Hence you need to act and do your part in order to get your desires, it may not easy but it works.
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