Tips to Running a Successful Direct Mail Campaign

Direct mail campaigns can be a crucial part of any marketung strategy. Unlike unwanted or un solicited email, people do not mind as much to get things they did not ask for in their postal mail. According to recent surveys more than 60% of Americans like checking their mailboxes for paper mail. About 63% of Canadians feel the same way. Many companies in the United States use direct mail to promote their goods and servies. In 2014, they spent about $44.5 billion on this kind of advertising. Promotional gifts, such as calendars, are very popular. Most American consumers say they will keep the promotional calendars they receive for at least the year. At least 84% of people surveyed remember the name and logo of businesses that give then promotional gifts. Most companies outspource these campaigns to businesses that handle everything from the printing jobs to the mailing of the direct mail campaigns.

Tips to Making Your Direct Mail Campaign Succeed:

Create your list.The best direct mail campaigns all start with a reliable list. If you have a brick and mortar business, you can get customers to leave you their business card when include that in a contest. Say you run a pizza business, you can giver away a free lunch once a week to a winning card. This way the list you create from the cards you receive is compiled from people you know like your product. You can also buy a targeted list but you need to be careful. You can buy a list that is just filled with people who either do not exist or who moved. If you already use a printing company for your big printing jobs, you can ask them for suggestions.

Make your mailers offer something.If you take the time to design, print and mail out something to current and potential customers, you will get a better return on your intestment when you include some kind of offer. Maybe the first 100 people to bring the ad into your shop get a discount or something for free. If people have to give a code or the coupon you mailed them you can also track how successful your direct mail product was.

Make It look good. Make sure the printing jobs all come out great. If your direct mail pieces look terrible or unprofessional, they will backfire and do you more harm than good. When you design your piece try to get experts in big printing jobs to weigh in. Your design should be clear, simple and easy to read. It should have your logo and tagline, if you have one. It does not need to have a list of all of the goods and services your company provides. If it is too busy, it will be tossed without making any kind of good impression. Make the copy on your direct mail pieces be clear, concise and to the point. Long winded copy will make you no new friends.

Save money by using the same print company print and mail it.Most companies can handle large print jobs and handle the mailing at the same time. This saves you a lot of time in getting everything printed at one shop and then mailed from another. It is also much more cost efficient to have an outside company handle your mailing and printing jobs. The equipment you have is not going to be able to handle a large direct mail campaign.

Make sure you follow upDepending on what kind of business you operate and what kinds of leads you are hoping to generate, you can follow a post card mailing with phone calls or personal letters. This can be a very effective way to follow up on a direct mail piece. The company you used to get out your postcards can also handle the personalized letters.

Companies and politicians use direct mail marketing because it works. When you mail something to a person’s home, most of the people who live there will see it. If you take care when you create or buy your list and then when you design your direct mail pieces, you can see a big increase in your sales and the awareness of your brand.