Using Direct Mail "The Right Way"

Sorry its been a while since I posted.  I've been busy working on my business and haven't had a chance to get on here and write this post.  Hopefully you have taken my last two tips and IMPLEMENTED them; taken action.  It does you no good to just learn something and not take action on it.  Yes you may have the knowledge but what good is it if you do not use it.

Today, for my third tip I wanted to talk to you about the relatively low cost but highly effective (if done right) direct mail marketing.  When I say direct mail I'm talking about anything that you send through the postal system including postcards, letters, packages, etc...

Now many business owners moan and groan when people say use direct mail.  They like to say that Direct Mail doesn't work.  Well they are right, direct mail doesn't work if you do it wrong.  Keep reading and I will show you the steps to dramatically increasing your response rate to your direct mail campaigns.

Before creating a direct mail piece you have to decide what you want the receipt to do.  Are you trying to get them to purchase directly?  Are you trying to "raise their hand" to show they are interested in what you have to offer?  What action do you want the receipt to perform after reading your direct mail piece.

Once you decide the purpose, the MOST CRITICAL step (the part that can determine if your campaign is a success or failure) is the selection of your mailing list or your target market.  

You want to send your pieces to people who are most likely to respond to your mailing piece.  The best way to know this is by looking at your current customers and see what they have in common.  Do they all live in the same neighborhood, are they all 26-40 years of age, do they all drive Chevy's, do they own homes, how much are the homes worth?  These are all things you need to know about your current "ideal" customers.  You need to know the commonalities of your customers and the more specific the better.

Now armed with this information you can purchase mailing lists that match your "ideal customer".  Yes this may take a little work and the list may cost a little bit more but the response rates will more than justify these added costs.  

Now once you are confident that you have a list of your ideal prospects, it is time to start designing your actual direct mail piece.

An important thing to remember about your mail is what the marketing legend Gary Halbert calls A pile mail, B pile mail and C pile mail.  Most people sort their mail over a trash can and pieces that look like junk go straight into it.  The rest of the mail is then sorted into "mail to open later", i.e. bills and mail that is to be opened immediately, ie a letter from your friend.  It is your goal to at least get your mail opened and not trashed.  You can't get your message across if it never gets opened.  

The first step to getting it opened is by the design of your envelope.  You don't want your prospect to know its a sales letter unless they have previously requested the information from you.  

An easy way to achieve this is by handwriting their name and address on the envelope and just your return address.  You can put your name on the return address but never include a company name.  Write it just like you are writing a letter to grandma.

A cool tool I like to use that allows me to use my own handwriting on the computer is called www.fontifier.com .  It only cost $9 to make your handwriting into a font, then I just go into Word, make an enevelope and then print it out.  Looks just like I hand wrote it.  Its simple and fast especially when sending out hundreds.

Second step for the envelope is using a live first class stamp.  Using bulk rate postage screams junk mail and will most likely land your piece in the trash can.  Using the live envelope along with the hand addressing builds curiousity and normally leads to the ripping the envelope open immediately.  There are many other ways to get your letters open and I will include those in future messages or reports.

On to the letter...once your ideal prospect opens the envelope the 1st thing they should see is a large benefit driven headline that intrigues them to continue reading the letter.  

The body of the letter should be benefit laden.  Everybody listens to station WIIFM.  Everyone wants to know "What's In It For Me".  They don't care about you, they want to know the benefits THEY will get from your product/service/report and its your job in the body of the letter to let them know these.

Once you have spelled out the benefits, you must clearly tell your prospect directly and specificly what they must do next.   Now matter how well you think you wrote your offer, you must assume that they have no idea what to do next.  You must tell them and probably tell them again.  For example, say "Call 800-000-0000 between 8am-6pm to receive XXXX" Or "Log onto our website at www.XXXX.com 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week." I can't stress this point enough. Don't be shy about telling them what exactly you expect them 
to do.  

The other great direct mail piece out there is postcards.  All of the above principles apply to postcards but you have to be more consise and more attention grabbing.  Your headline will be the most important part of the postcard.  It will have to be so powerful and attention grabbing that they want to know more and will read the whole message.  Pictures are also very powerful when it comes to postcards.  It can help tell your story as well as capture the prospects attention.

Well, I think this tip has gone on long enough.  I hope these tips are helping you and as always leave me any questions or comments below.  Also be on the look out for a more through report I will have out on direct mail pieces.  Also stay tuned to my next tip of how to get more new prospects with little effort. 

John Barry