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3 Direct Mail Ideas That Almost Any Business Can Use To Increase Sales and Profits
Sending direct mail to current and past customers is an easy way to improve existing customer relationships, and drive revenue and profit growth.
This article discusses three strategies that are consistently profitable across varied...
Cost Effective Ways to Use Direct Mail
Cost Effective Ways to Use Direct Mail to Increase Investor
Leads
Direct mail is able to offer highly targeted, detailed sales
information to a large audience quickly and effectively.
Therefore, sending direct mail pieces to your investor...
Direct Mail Catalogs & Brochures: Write Captions That Sell
Many prospects skim through catalogs and brochures, glancing at the photos and reading the accompanying captions only when a particular image arouses their interest. That's when you have their attention. And so that's when you sell them. My advice...
Direct Mail Formats: How to Choose the Right One
Which pulls the best response, a postcard, a self-mailer or a letter? The answer, you’ll be irritated to know, is clear. It depends. The success of your mailing depends on who you mail to (your list), what you promise (your offer), when you mail...
Direct Mail Sales Letters Flow Better With Subheads
A subscriber to my newsletter asks: "Got any good pointers on writing great sub-heads?" Yes, I do. Here they are. Use subheads to draw attention to your copy Why do we use subheads anyway? Because you can’t just cover the important points in...
How to Increase Direct Mail Advertising Response Rates
A couple nights ago, I was watching the evening news. There was a piece about the anthrax scare. The story was about the fact that everyone is scared to open their mail. They showed a few clips of people checking their mail with much trepidation....
Increase Direct Mail Response Rates (And Revenue) By Segmenting Your List.
If you want to increase revenue using direct mail, you have two
options: sell more to the customers you have, or find new
customers and sell to them. The tricky part is knowing how to do
that.
I recommend that you start by segmenting...
Paper Direct Mail Is Not Dead
I recently witnessed a conversation about the “death” of paper direct mail due to the “life” of web presence and blogs. I’m not exactly sure why, but someone seems to declare the “death” of a marketing technique every few months…I guess that’s how...
Real Estate Marketing, Do You Use Direct Mail?
Prospecting for leads is by far the most difficult part of being a Realtor or small business professional. In fact, lead development is by far the most expensive and time consuming aspect of your job. However, you level of success in lead...
Writing direct mail that really, really works
So, you have something you want to sell. It may be a product, a service, or a cause. It could be a membership, a subscription, or a motor car. It might be paper, health products or the idea that the humane society or the Alzheimer’s association is...
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Eight Common Direct Mail Mistakes.
Some companies that use direct mail to sell their products and services are like the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn't there. They repeat the same mistakes, and enjoy the same poor results. Here are their eight most common misdemeanors, and a cure for each.
Wrong list
The most important part of any direct mail campaign is not the copy. It's not the art direction. And it's not the offer. It's the mailing list.
That's why you can mail identical packages to two lists, one good and one poor, and find that the good list pulls 10 times more responses than the poor list does. Your mailing list, after all, is not just a way to reach your market. It is your market.
No testing
There are no answers in direct mail except test answers. I didn't write that. Eugene Schwartz, the author of Breakthrough Advertising, did.
If you don't test one package against another, one list against another, you won't know what works and what fails. So test lists. Test offers. Test formats. Test envelope teaser copy. Don't assume you know what works. Test and be sure.
No offer
The second most important part of a direct mail package is the offer. The offer aims to persuade readers to choose your product or service over what your competitors are selling. Your offer must differentiate you from the competition by way of price, terms, guarantees or extras.
To generate leads, offer free technical information, a free analysis, free consultation, free demonstration, free trial use or free product sample. To build retail traffic, offer premiums, special discounts or exclusives. To sell a product directly through the mail, offer a free trial, sample, premium or discount.
Starting with you, not me
You're at a party. You meet two people. One greets you this way: "Hi, I'm a swell person and I make lots of money. But enough about me, what do you think about me?" The other greets you this way, "Hi, I'm Tony. You look like an interesting person. Tell me about yourself."
Now, then, which of these two people would you rather talk to? Your readers prefer to hear you talk about them, not about yourself or your product. Yet many businesses mail sales letters that begin: "ABC Incorporated was founded in 1982 and
is in the business of delivering quality, service and value into the new millennium." Big yawn. Big mistake. Aim your messages at the prospect and say everything from the prospect's point of view. Don't begin your copy with "we" when you can begin with "you."
Slow in getting to the point
You have five seconds. After that, your reader is either still reading or is preparing your mailing for a flight test into the wastepaper basket.
Don't make the mistake of a slow build-up. Avoid the roundabout approach. Start your letter with your most compelling sales point. Fire your biggest cannon in the first line of copy. Promise your reader a benefit. Give them a reason to continue reading.
Poor follow-up
Don't spend all your time and effort in generating a response and none in following up inquiries. Slow fulfillment is ly.
So are inadequate marketing literature and unprofessional telemarketing. They can destroy the interest that you work so hard to build. Fill requests for information within 48 hours. Send follow-up mailings to those who do not respond first time. Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up.
No time limit
Time may heal all wounds, but it kills response. Your enemy is procrastination. Your enemy is tomorrow.
Don't make the mistake of letting your readers put you off until they forget your mailing altogether. Put a time limit on your offer: "Call now. This offer expires June 1, 1999." Time-limited offers almost always outpull offers with no time limit.
No call for action
Ask for the order. BUY NOW! PHONE TODAY! ORDER YOUR FREE SAMPLE! If you don't ask for a response, you won't get one. Tell readers what to do. Show them the next step. Make your order form easy to read and easy to follow.
Fortunately, others have gone before us. My favourite sources for tested, practical wisdom on direct mail techniques are Successful Direct Marketing Methods by Bob Stone and anything by Herschell Gordon Lewis.
About the Author
Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter
and lead generation consultant who helps high-tech firms
attract new clients using creative, cost-effective direct mail.
Subscribe to "Sharpe & Direct," his weekly newsletter, at
www.sharpecopy.com
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