Creative, targeted direct mail
- your flexible friend!

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Direct mail is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to you, but you must use it with care! A letter gets your message right into the hands of your target customers. Make sure it strikes a chord with them and compels them to take action.

Here are my rules for successful direct mail campaigns:

1. Do not attempt to roll out a large scale campaign until you’ve tested it on a small subset of your mailing list. If you have a list of 10,000 targets, start by mailing 200. Then scale up to 1,000 if it works. Finally, if it’s still successful, mail the whole list. This way you'll spot any "dud" campaigns before you commit too much money.

2. Concentrate on your headline and "P.S.". Most readers will look at the headline. If it grabs their attention, they may start reading your letter. Some may skip straight to the P.S. to see “What’s in it for me?”.

3. If you get a good response, repeat the mailing within 2-3 weeks. You will often get around 50% of the response you received from the first mailing.

4. If you’re targeting new prospects, don’t worry if you only break even on the campaign, or even be prepared to lose a little money. Why? Because you’ve acquired a customer and they are likely to buy more from you in future.

5. Existing customers will give you easier business than new customers. Reflect that in the offers you make to them. Many companies spend a fortune trying to pull in new business. Their existing clients walk out of the back door because no-one’s talking to them. Some of that money would be better spent keeping those existing clients. They’ve already crossed that painful "barrier" of doing business with you for the first time.

6. Every written communication with the customer is an opportunity to sell. Don’t just make it a "here we are" message. Grab their attention. Make it interesting to them. Create a desire in them to have what you’re offering. Prove that it works. And compel them to act now. These are the five basics for any good sales message - Attention, Interest, Desire, Credibility, Action - known as AIDCA.

There are numerous offers you can make to your existing customers in this way:

• Special pricing
• Offers specific to products and services they already buy
• News of new products and services
• Membership of customer loyalty schemes or clubs
• Bulk discounts
• “Packaging” products that are normally sold separately, at a price advantage together
• Regular payment plans
• Other people’s products you’re endorsing (for a fee! - see “Joint Ventures”)
• Gifts for responding to customer satisfaction surveys
• Thank them for their recent order/visit/business. Remind them of the value they’ve gained by doing business with you. Offer them an incentive to do more.
• Do all your customers know about all the products and services you offer? If not, tell them in a letter.

Successful direct mail campaigns are not difficult to create. My guidelines will help you quickly create the mailing piece you need.

You don’t have to do it all yourself. Try the following direct mail services, which include creating the mailing piece, compiling a target list and posting - the complete package!:

• Direct mail services for USA customers
• Direct mail services for UK customers

1. Plan your next (or first!) direct mail campaign. You should identify:

• Your objective: what you want to achieve from this mailing (it might be four enquiries from existing customers for a product they haven’t tried before; it might be £500 repeat business from customers who’ve bought it before). Have a specific, clear objective for each mailing. Don’t try to address all your targets with a single mailing - it may just confuse the customer.
• Your offer: what you will offer the customer to achieve this.
• Your benefits: how this will benefit the customer.
• Your target market: which customers you will make the offer to (maybe all of them).
• Likely cost and break-even point of the campaign: Are you likely to meet your objective at a reasonable cost? If not, rethink the objective, cost, or both.
• Your response mechanism: should the customer respond by telephone, fax, mail, in person? Or will you contact them by telephone?

2. Do it! If you have a computer and printer, merge the letter with your own mailing list or a rented list, print your envelopes, sign and insert the letters and post them. Be sure to include all accompaniments (e.g. brochures, reply envelopes, etc.).

If you don’t have a computer, type and duplicate the letter (or have it produced by a print shop or typing bureau). You can add the salutation (e.g. “Dear Mr Jones”) when signing each letter. Hand write the envelopes neatly, assuming you’re sending a reasonably small number. In all cases, make it look as professional as you can.

3. Make sure you can respond quickly to any enquiries. Make a record of enquiries to analyse later.

4. While the ideas are fresh in your mind, plan your next mail campaign. To whom will you send it? What will the offer be? When? Put it in your diary now. Once a month is reasonable for contacting existing customers provided your offers are not too repetitive.