My Blog

Make a Compelling Offer

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:06:00 GMT

The right incentive is hard to pass up.

Your offer should be based on who you are targeting, whether it’s existing customers who you’d like to see again, potential new customers who can benefit from your products or services, or a whole new market.

Start by asking yourself these questions:

Why do my customers need this product or service?
How does my product or service benefit my customers?
How is my product or service different from others on the market?
What do I want my customers to do when they read this Direct Mail piece?

Your offer should:

Relate to the audience.
Contribute to your business objectives.
Appeal to your customers’ emotions.
Create excitement.
Foster a sense of urgency.
Make it easy for people to take action.

How will customers reply to your offer?
You may invite your customer to your store or choose to provide your customer with a prepaid postcard, a phone number, an email address or Web site so that they may reply to your offer.

How will you measure the success of your offer?
With the right tools, you can easily track the success of your Direct Mail campaign. It can be as simple as counting the inquiries you received or the number of coupons redeemed. By tracking and analyzing your results, you’ll see what's working and can make adjustments to future mailings.

Determine Your Budget

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:02:00 GMT

How much do you have to spend?

Now that you’ve set your objective and determined your offer, you need to decide how much money you can spend on your mailing. Remember, setting a budget during the early planning stages helps you stay on track and determine the most cost-effective way to create and deliver your message.

Research potential costs:

How much will it cost to rent a mailing list?
How much will it cost to hire a writer and/or graphic designer?
What are the costs of printing Direct Mail pieces yourself versus at a print shop?
What kind of postage will this mailing require?
Are you using the most efficient size and format for your mailing?

Source: DMA Statistical Fact Book 2007

Compile Your Mailing List

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:58:00 GMT

Build the best list for your campaign’s success.

An effective mailing list is more than names and addresses—it’s a record of each person’s buying behaviors. Your customer list can track how often they shop with you, what they typically buy, and how much they spend. Keeping track of your customers and their purchasing habits will help you to personalize offers and increase the likelihood of a sale and response.

Here are some affordable ways to start your customer file:

Keep a guest book and encourage customers to sign it when they visit your business.
Hold a drawing and entice customers to enter their information for a chance to win a prize.
Develop a frequent buyer program and capture customer information on the application.
Make a customer feedback box and invite customers to include contact information.
Talk to your local Chamber of Commerce about how to establish a stronger business presence in your community.

Consider renting a mailing list
Choose the people who are most likely to do business with you by keeping your current customers in mind and use their characteristics as a model to determine what you’re looking for in a rental list. The more specific you are in defining these characteristics, the more effective your list will be.

How to compile customer information
It helps to store and manage your customer information in an easily accessible way by keeping printed information filed in a binder, or by creating a simple customer file using spreadsheet software.

As your customer file grows, you may want to consider investing in a contact management program. This type of software:

Keeps your customer database organized.
Tracks customer purchases and examines past mailing campaigns.
Develops specialized mailings for certain people or businesses in your customer database.
Determines which offers performed well in the past so you can model future offers after them.

Design Your Postcard

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:57:00 GMT

Make your mailing the picture of success.

No design school required. You can make your whole campaign with a basic desktop publishing program. These programs offer a variety of typestyles, clip art images, design tools, and colors. There are plenty of easy-to-use Web sites that you can use to format, design, print, and even send your mailing.

Easy design ideas

The design of your Direct Mail piece draws attention to your offer and helps the reader grasp the information presented. Keep these elements in mind:

Visualize your audience, who they are, and how your product or service appeals to their needs.
Give your layout a clean and simple design.
Allow only one element (headline or visual) to dominate the page.
If you have a logo, give it prominence so people know the message is from you.
Limit yourself to one or two typestyles.
Use large, bold type for headlines and smaller, easy-to-read type for text.
Don’t fear open space—an airy design is more inviting.
Use relevant images.
Break up your message with bold statements or bullet points. These call attention to benefits or important information.
Make sure the call-to-action is easy to locate and read.

The dos and don’ts of design

DO:
Keep your layout clean and airy, stick to one or two typestyles, break up your message with bold statements, and give your offer prominence.

DON’T:
Clutter up your layout with too many images, bury key points (especially your offer!), make it difficult to tell who it’s from, or overuse color.

Using photos
If you have something to sell, tell people why it’s great—and show them. A strategically positioned photo or illustration can work wonders for your mailpiece, and it’s a great way to show off your featured product or service.

Instead of showing a photo of your product or service, try using related images to create a mood for your mailing. A florist advertising Spring Specials could show a smiling couple to express the joy flowers bring—instead of just showing a bouquet of tulips.

Consider purchasing or borrowing a digital camera and taking your own photos to upload and place into your mailpiece design.