Direct Mail Campaigns – Hit your Client where it feels good
By Wayne Aroozoo
Physical direct mail campaigns are considered by some to be an endangered species in the marketing world. With the growing popularity of the internet, electronic mail, and increasingly more available personal devices like PDAs and mobile phones being used to target customers directly and inexpensively, a mailed offer to a potential customer can seem downright old fashioned.
But the right direct mail offering can boost your business and attract the right client, if you handle the campaign correctly. But first, you need to identify whether direct mail is the right medium to promote your business.
Direct mail has a lot of benefits, but below are a few major ones. if your business can use one or more of the following, then direct mail might just be your best next move:
Why direct mail?
· To send information or news, such as a brochure, or leaflet
· To create interest your website
· To target customers who don’t trust the internet
· To showcase products (eg. catalogue)
· To increase foot traffic into a shop
· To change the way the consumer sees your brand
· To distribute tangible offers (samples, vouchers)
Unfortunately, small businesses that attempt to do bulk mailings are often disappointed. Despite the relatively low cost-per-contact associated with direct mail, small and home businesses often get dismal results when they attempt to do large mailings. If you find yourself in that position, these strategies will help you get maximum mileage from the money you spend on mailings.
Small Budget? Don't overdo it
Consider the story of a newly-opened masseuse in Perth. He wanted to kick-start his new business, so he spent several thousand dollars to create, print and mail a leaflet outlining the benefits of massage and even offered a free first fifteen minutes. The flier was mailed to 2,000 homeowners near his clinic. To his chagrin he got only 2 inquiries from the mailing, and only one of those actually came in for the free massage.
Sadly, this experience is not uncommon. Loosely targeted bulk mailings simply don't work for most small business. Residential mailings often bring only a 0.1 percent response rate (1 in 1000). Do the math before you mail out - if your total cost for the mailing (list rental, postage, printing) comes to $1.00 per name for 2000 letters, and if your mailing produces 2 new customers, each customer will need to spend $1,000 before you break even. If you get 5 inquiries and only one becomes a customer, that one customer would need to spend $2,000 just for you to break even on the cost of the mailing.
The three 'M's of direct mail
Although there are many factors that can influence the success of your mailing, a good practice is to focus on these three “M’s” to increase the likelihood of success:
Market – the quantity of identifiable people who need or want your product or service enough to be willing to make a purchase
Message – The copy and pictures and offers used to get attention and get customers to take action immediately.
Provide real incentives. Direct mail works by getting your prospect to respond to an offer. That could mean a sale coupon, a free trial or sample, a guarantee of service or money refunded, a special deal for a certain time period, or some other reward for taking action.
Mailing list – The actual potential customers who receive a mailing and how much these people resemble the types of people who are known to want your product or service.
Failing to get these three Ms to work together is where small businesses usually go wrong. Getting good results from a mailing means you need to send a compelling message to a carefully selected list of people who are likely to need or desire your product or service and have the means to purchase it now.
Source: Janet Atard, Author
Rather than start with a huge mass mailing, send a sequence of very small mailings to a list of carefully chosen individuals who are likely to have an interest in what you sell. These individuals may be promising new prospects, or long-standing customers who you expect to make additional purchases. The more closely your sales offer resembles their specific interests, the better your response rate will be.
Second shot mailings
Repeated mailings give rise to familiarity and can develop name recognition for you and increase the chances that your marketing materials will be on hand when the customer or prospect develops a need for what you sell. Send mailings at monthly intervals to the same list of prospects even if they don't respond in the first instance. Persistence in the right measure can be effective.
Direct mail is still an effective means of promoting many businesses, as the medium still accesses specific customer types that the internet and television often miss. Correctly used, direct mail can give your business the right exposure which lasts longer than a tv commercial or a glance at a web page.
For more information on how to conduct a successful direct mail campaign, contact Ego Creative Media on (08) 9228 3329.