Direct mail is still the most effective way of reaching your target audience. Reaching customers is an everyday challenge for marketers. Pundits suggest using all or most of the available marketing channels to be most effective and to ensure that your message reaches the full spectrum of your target market. Conventional methods like advertising and billboards are expensive, and while modern channels such as emails and social media are evolving, email filters make them ineffective a lot of the time.

The logical way to get new business by Direct Mail requires a very fundamental clarity in your marketing campaign. It is used by small to large businesses day in and day out. Remember when your neighborhood mechanic sent you a welcome-cum-introductory offer as soon as you moved in your new home. You felt welcome and kept that card for future reference! Believe it or not, it is very simple to reach your target audience. If he/she could do it; so can you.

Make your mailing the picture of success.

No design school required. You can make your whole campaign with a basic desktop publishing program. These programs offer a variety of typestyles, clip art images, design tools, and colors. There are plenty of easy-to-use Web sites that you can use to format, design, print, and even send your mailing.

Increase customer response rates with Reply Mail.

Reply Mail encourages customers to reply to your offer, because you pay the postage on the returned mailpiece for most types of Reply Mail. All your customers have to do is drop it in the mail. Using Reply Mail lets you:

Who is most likely to be interested in your product or service? Chances are, they’re a lot like your current customers. Use their characteristics as a model for a mailing list.

Even in a digital world, many people look forward to receiving their daily mail, and sort through it immediately the day it’s delivered. It’s a powerful medium that can reach people nationwide.

One of the biggest factors in planning a direct mail campaign is how much you decide to spend. Set a budget while you plan the campaign to stay on track and deliver your message cost-effectively.

Get the point across with the right delivery.

You've got a great story to tell-now all you need are the right words. While you don't have to be a professional writer to develop your message, there's a subtle art to fine-tuning what you say in order to make it sell.

Unenveloped letter-size mailpieces prepared for automation mailings must be secured (tabbed) to prevent an open edge from jamming high-speed processing equipment. Standards for tabbing are based on basis weight of paper stock used and the location of the folded or bound edge. As an alternative to tabs or wafer seals, the open edge of the length of the mailpiece may be continuously glued or spot glued. Continuous glue or spot glue is permissible with single-sheet self-mailers and postcards, and specific booklet designs.

Any postcard must be prepared from paper stock meeting the industry standard a basis weight of 75 pounds or greater, with none less than 71.25 pounds (measured weight for 500 25- by 38-inch sheets). The stock must be free from groundwood unless coated with a substance adding to the stock's ability to resist an applied bending force. A double postcard not prepared with all edges sealed must have the folded edge at the top or bottom, and the open edge parallel to the address must be secured with one tab (or other permitted closure) in the middle of the length. Pieces claimed at First-Class Mail automation card prices also must meet the standards in 1.2.