9 Steps to Successful Direct Mail

1. Hire a pro. The services of a design professional are well worth the cost; and costs can vary depending on the skills and experience of the designer. Those just starting their own businesses may be a bargain. Whatever you spend on paper, printing, and postage will be wasted if your marketing materials resemble “junk mail.”

TIP: If you can’t afford a designer for every piece, hire a pro to create a master “template” that you can change with new photos and copy. This technique is particularly cost effective for newsletters and other frequent, standardized promotions.

2. Use an up-to-date, appropriate, and carefully culled mailing list to avoid mailing to bad addresses. When buying a mailing list, request a credit for a returned mail rate of higher than 5 percent.

TIP: Save money by trading mailing lists with other organizations, such as churches and community groups.

3. Create our own mailing list. Collection ideas include posting an “add me to your mailing list” feature on your Web site, using an open house guest book, or holding a free homebuying seminar. Be sure you keep you own list updated.

TIP: Code your mailing list responses by source; when you analyze results, you can determine if some sources of leads are more productive than others.

4. Send a consistent message to the same group of people. Research by marketing expert Edward Strong suggested that messages repeated at monthly or bi-weekly intervals are more effective for recall than weekly messages.

5. Create a personalized look for smaller mailings with hand-addressed envelopes and commemorative postage stamps.

6. Match the look and feel of your direct mail to your Web site and other marketing materials.

7. Don’t offend anyone’s cultural or political sensitivities with stereotypes.

8. Include a free special offer, guarantee, or coupon that’s targeted toward your niche. It gives people a reason to call you.

9. Encourage people to respond by including a toll-free telephone number, your e-mail address, and a pre-addressed, postage-paid direct-response postcard.

TIP: Humor is a powerful marketing tool. A real estate associate in Columbus, Ohio, sent prospects an unmemorable marketing postcard. A week later, he sent the same prospects the same postcard—crumpled up, then flattened—inside a business envelope with a hand-written note that said,” Please don’t throw this away, again.” These mailings netted a lot of attention and a mention in the neighborhood newspaper.

For the Advanced Salesperson
Create a personal marketing CD that includes a full-color marketing brochure about yourself and your services and video customer testimonials, suggests James Young of The Jamesan Group in Carlsbad, Calif. Paste your name and contact information on the CD label.

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