These days, mailboxes contain more junk mail (also known as direct mail) than anything else. Clearly this marketing strategy works to some degree, otherwise businesses wouldn’t keep doing it. As a small business owner who is just starting out myself, I am able to combine the need for marketing with a still apparent consumer perspective. And, if you plan on marketing through the US postal service, here are some things to keep in mind:

Letters
Letters are the most effective way to personalize your advertising enough that the consumer at least looks at what you have to offer. Postcards get glances before they hit the wastebasket, and catalogs usually just get set aside for a time to thumb through that may never come along. Advertising letters are the happy medium that may mean increased success.

Though the body of your letter will obviously need to be typed in order to mass produce and insure ease of reading, there are still great ways to add a personal touch. Take the time to chose letterhead that is appealing. Stick with earth tones for the color of the paper, staying away from plain white and colors found in the crayon box, especially bright ones. Basically, you need something classy, yet trendy and modest, yet attention grabbing. And of course, a great logo and your business’ contact information.

Hand-written touches are the most important element. First, hand-write the addressee’s name. That way the consumer knows you thought of her personally and thought she would enjoy hearing about the product/service or special deal you are offering (even if she has no idea who you are).

Next, sign your name personally (with the typed version underneath, of course). Don’t use a stamp or an electronic signature, but actually take the time to sign each letter your business sends. Not only does it add a personal touch, but it aids the consumer in believing that you personally stand behind the product or service described above your name.

If you’re sending the letter as a special office for previous customers, write a “P.S.” at the bottom of the letter, in your own hand-writing, asking him how the cordless drill he bought last month is helping him with the new deck he’s building. Let the customer know he’s important to you by remembering him and aspects of his life specifically.

When adding these personal touches, do so in blue ink so that it jumps out at the customer and emphasizes that you actually wrote it. Many larger companies will use a script font for these personal touches and simply change the text color to blue… in an attempt to add the appeal of a personal touch without the actual effort to do so… and potential customers can see right through it (I always do). So I would recommend you don’t do that, if it can be avoided.

Envelopes
When sending advertising letters, your envelope makes the first impression. It will make or break whether the potential customer actually opens your letter. First, make sure the envelope matches your letterhead. Avoid simple No.10 white envelopes or window envelopes (which are synonymous with credit card offers), but take the extra expense to have the return address pre-printed just like your logo and use the same color paper.

One way to practically guarantee that your advertising letter will be opened is to keep the envelope free of clutter. Just stick to the mailing address, return address and a stamp/postage mark. The extra phrases some businesses put all over the envelope, such as “Act now!” or “Open immediately for a great offer!” are a dead giveaway that what’s inside is advertising, which means many of them will likely end up in the trash without the seal even being broken.

If possible, hand-write each mailing address on each envelope. A tedious task indeed, but this provides an added personal touch that piques the curiosity of the consumer about what may be contained inside. And if you get them to open the envelope, you’ve won half the battle.

Now that you know what may help you to get that “junk mail” actually opened, what should you do with the text of the letter that turns it from “junk mail” to quality advertising? Tomorrow I’ll cover some tips for getting the potential clients to consider buying what you have to offer.

Direct Mail Marketing Tips Part 2

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4 Responses to “Direct Mail Marketing Tips (1 of 2)”

1. Jeffrey Loyd says:
   

   There seems to be a back and forth on which is better, letters or postcards. Some say that at least postcards get a look before they are shredded, whereas letters get trashed unopened.

   Some say to address the entire envelope by hand in order to get it opened. That might work.

   One thing I like to do is to send Thank You cards. They are feel good and are opened.

   Posted May 8th, 2007 @ 9:18 pm
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2. Ted Grigg says:
   

   I couldn’t resist responding to Jeffrey’s comment about the effectiveness of postcards. He states correctly about this “back and forth” discussion. This direct mail formatting perception revolves around the concept that short is better than long.

   But as with most testing I’ve done in multiple industries spending millions in testing even to this day, longer still outpulls shorter in most cases. This applies in BtoB as well as BtoC.

   There are places for postcards and self-mailers as support media or as a thank you card to build customer relationships. But as the main selling tool, stick with the classic letter-driven package with an outer envelope.

   Are there exceptions? Of course, but 95% of the testing will guide you away from postcards and self-mailers. This assumes you do the evaluation on a cost per lead or cost per sale basis. Postcards are cheaper, but classic packages pull better and achieve a lower cost per order that more than outweighs the extra cost.

   Check out some extensive tests that I outline in one of my pdfs on this very subject entitled “Do Direct Mail Formats Affect Response” at http://www.dmcgresults.com/articles_whitepapers.htm

   This article displays test samples along with actual results that validate my comments.

   Posted July 12th, 2007 @ 4:51 pm
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3. Chuck Lafean says:
   

   Companies continue to use direct mail because it works. But, it is changing. I recently read a study that indicated that 78% of people read their mail over a wastebasket. And while the mail format suggested in this post may pull well, I’m not sure your advice is valid for mailers communicating with more than about a hundred recipients at a time. I submit that all formats of mail have place in a marketing strategy that utilizes mail.

   Response is determined by several factors, mail form factor being just one. I lump all of the others into relevance. If your list contains people who don’t need what you are offering, your response will be low, for example. Other factors driving relevancy are the message (including the copy and the creative) and the timing. Data therefore drives the effectiveness of the mailing.

   In addition to the timing of the offer, frequency of the offer will have an impact on results. I always hesitate to help people “do a mailing”. Unless they are mailing to an enormous list, they will not be successful. I recommend low volume, high frequency campaigns, containing all form factors. You are always better off mailing to 2,000 once a month, than mailing to 24,000 one time.

   Just my two cents, for what it is worth.

   Posted August 4th, 2007 @ 2:17 pm
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4. Neal Brown says:
   

   Your comment about always catching the ‘fake’ personalization mailers that use the script font and blue ink, is true for you but not true for the population. The average person does not realize that it is a mass generated script font, but is more likely to believe that it was addressed by hand. One of our clients did extensive testing with standard fonts versus script fonts, as well as black ink versus blue ink. The results showed that the blue ink and script font pulled considerably better than black ink and a font like Arial. This is a mailer that sent out around 15-20 million pieces per year, so there is a lot of data to back up those conclusions.

   Additionally, unless you are mailing only a few pieces at a time it is unrealistic to personally sign each letter that is sent out.

   One place that companies lose out, is when they do not continually market to their own customer base. This is one place where complete personalization is crucial. The signature on the letter should be done by the President or CEO of the company, to show that the top dog cares about the customer and wants to serve their needs.

   One of the biggest errors companies make is to not fully proofread their materials before sending it to print. We have found numerous errors in the finished product, that definitely reduce the success rate of the mailing campaign.

   Posted February 24th, 2009 @ 12:39 pm
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