Direct Marketing News

There are many businesses out there that have tried direct mail and found it to be a very big letdown.

They haphazardly attempt to create a direct mail campaign without adequate preparation. They then spend thousands without first testing their offer. Once they’ve failed, they lament the whole idea and quickly give up. They fail to test and adjust, then test again.

Nothing gives you a better return on investment than direct mail marketing; it doesn’t matter what product or service you sell. You can make all the initial phone calls in the world and not come out ahead as you would with a great sales letter.

A sales letter is the most powerful marketing tool you could ever use. I know I sound positively evangelical about this, but take it from a guy who has cold called in person and on the phone for years.

For about the price of a kid’s burger - it will tirelessly prospect for you and even more importantly, qualify prospects for you time and time again. It will never, never get its feeling hurt from too many rejections. A sales letter will never make excuses for lack of performance. And it will never quit to go get a salaried position somewhere else.

So how do you test your offer and develop a solid direct mail program without busting your wallet? It takes a whole lot of planning but it can be done in less than 30 days. The first step is to decide what the objective of your program will be. Do you want the mailing to grab potential clients? Do you want to sell something on a one-call close? These are the decisions that need to be made at this point.

The secret to winning this game is to make the postal presentation very personal. People do not hesitate to open an envelope that looks like Aunt Tilly sent it to them. If the package is presented appropriately and the contents looks simple and has appealing offers, the conversion rate can be head and shoulders above the competition.

Once you determine the goal of your mailing, write your ad copy for the postcard format. I highly recommend the free offer strategy by the way. A cold mailing list needs a great offer to get the best results. The postcard format allows you to reach your audience with a brief but powerful offer that directs them to your phone number or website for further details. You want your prospects to take the extra step to get in touch with you.

After you’ve crafted the perfect postcard mailer, you’ll need to do some negotiating. Get a sample of your postcard and 11 blanks of the same size. Obtain an envelope that fits them all. Now you need to figure out the exact postage. I find that the 6×9 format with 12 postcards go for about $1.14 (US) first class mail.

It’s now time to hire a production team. You’ve got better things to do with your day than to play marketing guru. You can find a great direct mail copywriter and a mail fulfillment team that specializes in custom mailing projects on the Internet.

The reason for packing 12 postcards in your mailing envelope is the heart of the strategy. Rent a targeted list that fits your ideal clients, you can start with a small selection (around 5,000 - 10,000 names).

You’ll now begin to propose your plan to fellow local entrepreneurs who would also benefit from your ideal list (without conflicting with your product or service offer, of course.). You’ll need to show your 11 other Joint Venture Partners why getting an 87% attention rate is better in a co-op mailing than a 3% attention rate with a solo postcard effort.

You need to explain to them why paying a fraction of the first class mailing cost in a co-op effort is better than paying more for bulk mail in a solo effort. You’ll also need to explain to them why getting more exposure for less money is a good thing. Once your 11 other JV’s get on board, your graphics and mailing fulfillment team will go to work to get everything together for your project. They will be happy to assist your partners in taking all the postcards to completion.

If you plan the program properly, you can test a co-op mailing of 10,000 targeted prospects at no cost to your own business. Your Joint Venture Partners can realize a significant increase in their results with this personalized, hand written envelope that has real stamps on the front. Your JV’s can absorb your share of the production and mailing costs with no hardship. Consider it your fee for putting the project together.

Once they see the benefits and cost savings, they’ll want to do it again. Believe me when I say that nothing hurts a direct mail piece more than a mailing label marked “To Occupant” combined with the image of a bulk mail imprint in the upper right corner. It’s very important to the project that the envelope be as personalized as possible at a price that’s affordable for all of you.

There are companies out there that will handle the complete project for you at a reasonable return on investment. Instead of paying for example; $5,000.00 for a mailing program of 10,000 postcards, with a 3% attention rate, a co-op mailing campaign can result in an 87% attention rate costing less than $2,000 per company. What better way to test a direct mail marketing piece than to do it free of charge?

Dennis Francis is a consultant and business coach for chiropractors and other professional healthcare and wellness practitioners. His website, http://www.doublemyrevenues.com offers its members online coaching on automating marketing on and off the web. He offers a free book called “Double Your Revenues in 12 Months or Less.”

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