Direct Marketing News

Direct mail is a cost-effective way to market your business to a specifically targeted audience. Direct mail can be personalized to fit your market’s interests and needs, for the highest return on investment, or ROI.

While it continues to grow in use and popularity, not all marketing departments are equipped to handle direct mail fulfillment and must outsource this often times mammoth task. The time required to create and distribute direct mail advertisements to your market while trying to maximizing your ROI, can be cumbersome for many companies. Not only can the stock required to mail out 10,000 direct mail pieces be hard to keep on hand, but the design work, addressing, labeling, sorting and printing, not to mention tracking of direct mail ads is often beyond the scope of your marketing department. It is often more profitable to outsource these tasks to a direct mail fulfillment company.

Direct mail fulfillment companies come in all sizes and capabilities. Direct mail printing has advanced technologically in the last few years, resulting in higher quality and more customized pieces with a faster turn around time. Marketing services have evolved as well. Variable Thinking, a full-service marketing firm in Tinley Park, Illinois offers everything from direct mail design and targeted mailing list, to printing and tracking personalized direct mail all at one facility, meaning your marketing department only deals with one business partner. This is a trend that is expected to grow. The easiest way to begin your decision-making process when choosing a direct mail fulfillment company is to decide exactly what your marketing staff can handle for the direct mail campaign and what needs to be outsourced.

This is a good time to take an assessment of your marketing staff and printing equipment to determine what they are capable of. Can your graphics department handle the design portion of the direct mail piece? Do they have the necessary software programs to create a truly eye-catching advertisement? Does your network support a commercial-grade printer with high quality graphics options? If you want customized direct mail, does your printer support variable data printing software? Do you have a warehouse to store the stock of paper or postcards you’ll need for the direct mail campaign? Do you have enough support staff to address and stamp each ad? If you’ve answered no to any of these options, then a direct mail fulfillment company may be an answer for you.

When choosing a direct mail fulfillment company, it is imperative that you know which functions you will outsource and which will be done in-house. Keep in mind the previous questions when assessing.

Many direct mail fulfillment companies have preset specifications regarding job size and outsourcing. It’s important to find out if the printer has a minimum volume requirement. For example, can you print 500 direct mail pieces, or is the minimum order 5,000 or more? It is also necessary to find out how much room the direct mail fulfillment company is willing to allot you in their warehouse for storage and material, both for your current order and any potential future orders you may place with them.

Visit the company’s direct mail fulfillment facility and request a tour. Check out the printing area and warehouse first-hand.

Ask each direct mail fulfillment company on your list, what their error rate is. The error rate is the percentage of printed direct mail pieces that come out wrong, either from a printer, human, or other error. When researching direct mail fulfillment companies, it’s important to know what their average error rate is and how it is handled. Does the company charge for errors made on their end? What percentage do they cover before the client is charged?

Although many companies will charge automatically for changes to an in-progress ad, some offer changes up to a particular stage in development. Find out if your potential direct mail firm offers such an option and what the ultimate deadline is.

Does the direct mail fulfillment company use a third-party mailer for distribution? If so, you may lose the ability to brand your envelope with your logo. Depending on the nature of your ad and how personalized you want it, this could also be a deciding factor, not to mention devastating to the success of your campaign. Typically, the more vendors involved in a project, the more finger pointing there is when a mistake or delay occurs.

Also, does the direct mail company have a tracking system for the distribution as well as your existing inventory in their warehouse? In order to get the most benefit of a direct mail campaign, it is necessary to know which ads do not reach their destinations and to have the ability to research why. How does the direct mail fulfillment company handle returned mail? How are you, as the actual sender, notified? And how do you know what stock is still in their warehouse for future use? Some companies, such as Variable Thinking, track your mail so closely they can tell you when it arrives in post offices across the country, and on what day it is delivered, so you know exactly when to expect responses.

Ask for a list of referrals from a potential direct mail fulfillment company to see what other customers have to say about their service. If they have a website, read any customer testimonials. Contact the local Better Business Bureau and do some Internet research. Do they meet deadlines? Was the job done to the specifications requested? Were there any creative differences between the customer and the direct mail company?

Direct mail, especially personalized direct mail, is the preferred direct marketing contact by consumers. Even in a lagging economy, direct mail still yields results. Take the time to do the research and you can find a direct mail fulfillment that can handle your advertising needs.

Katharine Bloom writers for Variable Thinking, at http://www.variablethinking.com

Variable Thinking is a full-service direct marketing firm that conceptualizes, designs, prints, double bar codes, and tracks your targeted direct mail! From start to finish, their 30,000 square foot facility is equipped to meet all of your marketing needs!

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