|
|
|
10 Elements Every Direct Mail Piece Should Have
Don’t want your direct mail to end up in the trash with the rest of the unread mail? Studies show an effective direct mail campaign should draw a .5 to 1 percent response. These 10 tips will help you get the results you want: 1. A clear, bold...
Direct Mail
Direct Mail The web is a most versatile and often misused medium for direct marketing. In this email, I will share tips and techniques to make the web a major advertising tool for your sales and marketing efforts. Do you have a website? A Web...
Direct Mail Marketing Done Correctly, Cannot Fail
So how do you do it? Direct mail marketing. When it comes to marketing your product or services there are two basic challenges: 1. How do you obtain new customers or clients? 2. How do you get your existing customers to come back for more? ...
Direct Mail Marketing: Is It Your Choice?
Direct mail marketing is a system of marketing that is directed at specific people. In direct marketing, the advertisement is directed to a specific individual. This is unlike marketing that is open ended such as a billboard or a television...
Direct Mail Response Rates Low? Eliminate these Mistakes
Are your direct mail response rates lower than you expect? Check your sales letter or direct mail package against this checklist to uncover the reasons for your poor response. LIST You are mailing to people who are never likely to buy You are...
Eleven Ideas to Generate More Direct Mail Responses
Eleven Ideas to Generate More Direct Mail Responses
1. When writing copy for your direct mail marketing pieces, make sure to indent the first line of each paragraph. It, literally, pulls your potential customers into the copy you've written.
2....
"Internet Direct Mail Is Different: 14 Things To Remember"
Internet Direct Mail (IDM) and Traditional Direct Mail (TDM) both have the same goals in mind. They are to generate leads or orders. However, marketers need to respect that online media and print media present different hurdles in achieving this...
Raise Funds For Your Nonprofit Using An Annual Direct Mail Program
A good annual direct mail solicitation program can produce unrestrictive operating funds for your nonprofit organization year after year. And such an annual direct mail program, if done right, should produce more funding for your organization each...
Self-mailers in B2B Direct Mail: Advantages and Disadvantages
Business-to-business direct mail marketers have learned through
testing that a letter in an envelope will usually generate more
sales and pull more inquiries than a self-mailer will.
Why is that? And on what occasions are you wise to use...
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...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Postcard direct mail marketing tips and ideas
Postcards are perhaps the least expensive way of reaching a large number of people with your sales message. Although they have their drawbacks, they are cost-effective at attracting new customers. But only if you follow some simple rules that professional direct mail copywriters follow.
Grab their attention on Side A
Side A is the side with the picture on it. One beauty of a direct mail postcard is that your prospective customer does not have to open it. There in the morning mail is your sales message, seen by all. So make sure you put something on Side A that arrests the attention of your prospect. Here are some ideas:
1. a wacky photograph
2. a photo of your product in an unusual setting
3. an outrageous (but true) claim
4. your unique selling promise stated in a clever or intriguing way
5. your prospect’s problem (the one that your product or service solves), stated or presented in a compelling way
The only goal of Side A is to arrest attention and stimulate interest. OK, so that’s two goals. You must motivate your prospect to turn your postcard over to read the other side. So make sure Side A is arresting and interesting but does not tell your whole story.
Sell them on Side B
Side B is the one with the address and postage stamp. Here you create desire and motive your reader to take action. You do not have much real estate upon which to give your sales pitch, so stick to your strongest benefit. Describe in clear, compelling language what your reader gets by buying your product or service. You don’t have enough room here to say enough to make a sale, so just sell the next step.
Ask for the next step, not the order
The next step these days is
often for the prospect to visit your website. That’s a great use for a direct mail marketing postcard: driving potential buyers to a special page on your website (called a landing page) where you give the entire dog and pony show and give prospects a convenient way to part with their money, if I may put it that way.
The next step may also be for the reader to call you, or to visit your business. Both good uses of direct response postcards. So make sure you say enough, and in a strong enough way, on this side of the card to motivate a potential buyer to lift the receiver or start heading in your direction. Which brings us to your offer.
Make your offer irresistible
All direct mail pieces should contain an offer. The offer is what you dangle in front of prospects to motivate them to take the next step in giving you their business. What you are selling and what your offer is are two different things. For example, using direct mail, banks promote credit cards. That’s what they are selling. But to persuade you to act today they extend you an introductory and time-limited interest rate of only 2.5% (some conditions apply, of course!). That’s their offer. Their offer must overcome inertia. And so must yours. Make sure your postcard features a strong offer. For more information on crafting effective offers, read the many articles I’ve written on the topic, found at my website.
About the Author
Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter who helps business owners and marketing managers generate leads, close sales and retain customers using creative direct mail marketing. Learn more about his services and sign up for free weekly tips like this at www.sharpecopy.com.
|
|
|
|
|
|