Ideal Marketing Company Blog

Direct mail summary

Keep it focused. Don’t try to cover too many points in your letter. Focus on one central benefit and perhaps a secondary one. You don’t want to confuse your audience with too many things to think about.

Think like the customer / prospect. Forget about your company as such and think about what you can do to help people and their businesses.

Don’t get bitter, get better. Even following all of these rules, you can’t guarantee that everything will go right every time. And even a great response can probably be bettered. Take time to reflect on what could be done better and how you can improve each aspect to fine tune your letters and generate a more fruitful result next time.

Some other direct mail ideas that work well

Create interest by being topical. By using a headline from a newspaper (quoting the publication and date) you can show just how up to date your product or offer is. It also makes it clear that your message is based on ‘facts’ rather than being made up by you to sell things.

It takes seven meaningful points of contact to make the average sale, yet most people give up on direct mail after one letter. Better to create a list of 100 companies that you REALLY want to work with and mail them regularly than to mail a hundred different companies every week.

As part of your regular mailing campaign, send cuttings (about you or relevant stories) to your contact to show that you understand the industry and how it works. Mixed in with regular direct mail letters, this can be very effective.

Timing is (almost everything). The day your letter arrives has an effect, as does the time of year you send it. Send your letter so that it arrives on a Tuesday. For other matters think about the time of year that people are most likely to reply. For example, when mailing schools, September seems to be the best month.

Stamp rather than frank. It looks less industrial and is almost always more cost effective.

Follow up with e-mail or a phone call. This area is covered later in the series, but a good direct mail letter that is followed up by phone within a week of being sent out will generate a far higher response rate for you.

3D Mailers and novelties can work IF they are very carefully targeted; the more personal or suited to the contact the better. For example, a personalised calendar can work well and even if it is expensive, it can prove to be a good investment in the long term if you bear in mind the lifetime value of a customer.

Qualify your data. It’s a pain, but worth calling people on a mailing list prior to writing to them. Make sure that the name you have is up to date and is the right person to contact otherwise you might as well save your stamp. Writing to somebody who isn’t there anymore or isn’t in a position to buy from you is rarely going to end well.

Test, test and test again. If you think you have a good product and there is a market for it, then direct mail should work for you – it’s just a question of finding the key to unlocking the door, so keep testing out different headlines, offers, lists etc. You’ll find one that works for you in the end – it might just take a few attempts to get it right. Remember that when you are testing, check out one thing at a time.

The format

There are many different ideas about how long a direct mail letter should be. One school of thought says that the more you tell, the more you sell. Whilst I understand this point, I haven’t found it to be true. However, the most effective length and style of direct mail letter I have worked on is no longer than a single sheet of A4.

The mailer is divided into a single page letter, (on headed paper) a response form that can be posted or faxed, plus a further letter or sheet with quotes from satisfied customers. This three part mailer generates a higher response rate than any other and has more words and certainly more substance to it than a single page. Test it out for yourself and see which variation works best for you.

 

 

The copy

Which do you find easier to read – Chaucer or The Sun editorial? My guess is that whilst we hate to admit it, The Sun will win out every time. I’m not suggesting that you copy their writing style, but elements of it are admirable. It’s clear what they are about. They use short, punchy sentences. There is little ambiguity over what is meant and you don’t need to re-read any of it because it was clear the first time. At school we are taught to expand our vocabulary and write to impress. With direct mail copy almost the opposite is true. You want to use words that everybody will understand and that people won’t stumble over.

One good way to discover any pitfalls is to read out loud what you have written and see if any bit makes you stumble. If they do, re-write it until the whole letter flows smoothly. Another important aspect is to use sub-headings to break up the text and use a PS at the end of your letter. When it’s all written, look at it without reading the words. Does it look like hard work to read? If it does, see if you can break it up with spaces and breaks.

The headline

You cannot sell to people if you haven’t got their attention. The headline is there solely to catch people’s attention. Newspapers use headlines to communicate what they stand for and the type of stories that you will find inside. The headlines actually sell the papers: once you have bought the paper, each story headline sells each individual story.

If you don’t have a clear benefit driven headline at the start of your letter you can wave goodbye to about half of your readers, so spend time getting it right. It has to appeal to your perfect customer so think up a series of headlines that sum up what the letter is about. Create at least 10, but you may write as many as 100 before you find one that perfectly sums up what you want to say.

When to use direct mail

Direct mail is great for launching something new to targeted groups of people. If you are launching a new finance product aimed at small companies which you have identified as having cash flow problems, then direct mail is perfect. It allows you to write to the appropriate person within an organisation, at the right time and be very specific with the information that you tell them.

For e-mail, it is best used as an opt in service. That means you give people who visit your site the opportunity to ‘opt in’ to receive updates and information about what you have to offer. Cold e-mail campaigns are far less effective that these warmer ‘opted in’ prospects.

 

 

I’ve just completed the latest of the new monthly webinars I’m running through the Marketing Mentor Programme.  this one was on direct mail and it reminded me of just how powerful & effective a way it is of marketing.  Just one direct mail letter can transform the fortunes of a company for the better.  But this won’t come about by chance.  We need to understand the rules and test our mailing until it works properly.  And frankly, even following the rules doesn’t mean success, but will make it far more likely. By applying the rules and testing the results the right letter (or series) will come about for you. Â

 

 

You won’t see many large companies letting their branding decline during tougher ecconomic times.  But smaller companies often cut their marketing spend at just the time that they should be expanding.

Pleased to say that the IOD Institute of Directors Magazine has recently published and article I wrote on how to market your business even during period of ecconomic decline.  Hope you find it of interest

http://www.director.co.uk/ONLINE/marketing_11_06.html

Thought you might like to see this recent marketing article I contributed to the New Business website…

http://www.newbusiness.co.uk/articles/marketing-advice

You can’t help but fall for the charms of this cheeky new Wonderbra advert.  It is a clasic example of an advert that everybody will talk about and remember - don’t you think?

Just click on this link to see it for yourself… CLICK HERE