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Direct Mailing - A Time Tested Tool For Marketing

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 key to an effective mailing campaign is repetition. The mail should not be a one-time event. It should be repeated with a certain frequency and on occasions that are related to your business. For example, a tax preparer would start mailing right before people receive their W2 forms and then would repeat during tax season.

Computers and the latest technology make direct mailing easier and cost effective. The most important aspects of your direct mailing campaign are your mail pieces, like the post card, and your mailing list.

An effective mail piece: The mail piece must be eye-catching and appealing to your audience. The reason for doing business with you should be clear. Discounts and sales are among the most common offers because they immediately steer business your way that might otherwise go to your competitors. A great technique is offering a pre-sale discount to customers on your mailing list. This is a very effective tool to retain your existing customers. If your business thrives on repeat customers, a well-timed reminder is as much customer service as it is a traffic builder. A dentist, for instance, can remind patients about teeth-cleaning and offer some discounts on other services. Professionals seeking new customers can offer anything from a free consultation to a get-acquainted cup of coffee. Anything that might get the attention and interest of a prospect can do the trick.

The most important technology tip: Do track how people have heard about you in your mailing list database: which batch of your direct mail, which segment they belong to, etc. This will help you to conduct better mailing campaigns in the future.

An effective mailing list: You must use computers to compile a mailing list. Microsoft Excel is a good tool for creating lists that will allow you to save money by printing addresses directly on your mail piece rather than printing labels, which is more laborious and costly. Following are some tips to make the most out of your mailing lists:

  1. Make sure that your mailing list is current; any address changes must be updated regularly. This is especially important when you are sending messages or special offers to existing customers or clients.
  2. Your mailing list should be a database file and not a running text file in a word processor. This will help expedite processing of the file and lessen the cost for setup and reformatting.
  3. Augment your mailing list by buying a current mailing list. Your mail house, like Roadrunner Mailing Service in Fremont, can use specialized software to help you combine these lists and eliminate duplicates, thereby saving on postage and mailer costs.
  4. Segment your mailing list based upon criteria that is important for your business, such as geography, age, income level, education level.
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