...is one of the most effective marketing tools available to businesses today. Well planned, well designed, targeted mailing can dramatically increase your response rates.
Direct Mailing uses the postal system to communicate directly to your existing and prospective customers. It can be sent to large or small volumes of customer and can be unpersonalised (addressing ‘The Homeowner’, ‘Managing Director’ or unaddressed) or personalised (addressing 'Mr Roger Smith'). Done well, Direct Mailing is a promotional strategy that puts your message in the hands of precisely the people you most want to reach.
Direct Mailing can be used for anything you’d like to share with your existing and prospective customers in any area of business. Direct Mail’s purposes are mainly to acquire and retain customers and encourage them to spend more. Direct Mailing can be very effective at building a positive image for your business, and at its best, is a highly targeted, highly personal, and highly successful form of marketing. One of the first things people do when they arrive home or at work is check their post, so Direct Mailing is one of the easiest ways to get your product or service instant attention.
A Direct Mail campaign helps you achieve the following objectives:
• Increasing sales to existing customers.
• Building customer loyalty.
• Re-establishing contact with lapsed customers.
• Generating new business.
Thinking about what you want to achieve before you set out on your campaign is crucial to its success. Spend as much time as possible drafting key objectives and use them to refer back to throughout the campaign.
As with most marketing there are no guarantees, and Direct Mail is no different. However, well planned, well designed, targeted mailing will ALWAYS return much better response rates than standard mailing, and many other forms of marketing. The success of your mail campaign will depend on a number of factors, the most important being that you use an experienced Mailing House, like us. This way you will benefit from years of experience ensuring your Direct Mail campaign is successful.
Whoever you are and whatever your business, being clear about what you’re trying to achieve by using Direct Mail is absolutely essential. Here are some examples of types of companies that find Direct Mail effective, and what they’ve achieved by using it:
Small Businesses:
Direct Mailing is a cost-effective way of building relationships with old and new customers, as long as you have customer addresses or can get them, you can conduct a successful Direct Mail campaign.
Start-ups
Direct Mailing is a great way to get your business off the ground if you’re just starting up, with relatively small outlay for potentially high returns. You can even test the water before taking the leap by organising a Direct Mail campaign before opening your business.
Retailers
Direct Mailing is well suited to building customer relationships and developing the reputation of your product, brand, or services. It can really make you stand out from the competition by allowing you to personalise your message.
Sales
If you work in sales you can use Direct Mail to generate leads to follow up. It’s also a great way of launching new products and offers or making customers aware of any changes to your company.
Events
If your business is driven by events, for example, insurance companies where customer's policies are due for renewal. Then Direct Mail is the obvious choice for a personalised, relevant and timely message.
Fundraisers
Fundraising is one of the areas where Direct Mailing is used most effectively. Over the years, charities have conducted highly successful Direct Mail campaigns that have helped raise huge amounts of money. Many potential donors feel Direct Mail’s much less intrusive than being approached on the street.
We have a wealth of experience and many tips, a small selection of which are detailed below:
• This goes without saying but first and foremost ensure that you use an experienced Mailing House, like us. This way you will benefit from years of experience ensuring your Direct Mail campaign is successful.
• Don’t set your objectives too low or too high. Make them realistic and achievable, but also worth the investment. Staggering your objectives, perhaps in a series of Direct Mail campaigns, is an effective and realistic way of achieving your overall goal.
• Ensure your database is in good order, this will save you time and most importantly money (see below).
Your entire Direct Mail campaign can be undermined if you don’t pay careful attention to accuracy of information, this is key and an up-to-date database...
• Increases response rates.
• Reduces production and postage costs, for example, by eliminating duplications.
• Helps ensure compliance with data protection regulations.
Five basic data processing principles ensure a high degree of accuracy:
• Your database use dictates your address management systems, not vice versa. For example, if you mail your customers on the basis of their purchases, make sure your database can select relevant dates and products.
• Everyone with access to your database uses a common system for obtaining and inputting names and addresses.
• Check newly acquired information. If you put poor quality information in, you’ll get poor quality information out. Always check information against the most up-to-date reference data.
• Check for gone aways and duplicates on a regular basis. Gone aways are people who no longer live at the address you hold for them. Print a return address on all of your mailings to help you keep track of this.
• Check your list against that of the Mailing Preference Service. This is a list of people who have exercised their right not to receive unsolicited mail and using it is a legal obligation.
Obviously the above is just a guide and not everybody has the time to keep their database in check, as a result our Data Cleansing Service may be of interest to you.
Of course, we have extensive experience and have offered Direct Mailing & Mail Fulfilment Services for over 10 years. If you are looking for a professional Mailing House for your next or indeed first direct marketing campaign then you have come to the right place. For further information please get in touch.
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