Useful Tips for Direct Mail Marketing PromotionsDirect mail marketing promotions come in all forms including catalogs and letters. Many come in the form of brochures, post cards, packets, clever boxes or with a coin showing through the window envelope. The purpose of any and all of this is to get someone to open the mail! Yes—the piece has to yell out "open me..open me" otherwise it will get trashed and it will be forgotten. Your direct mail marketing promotions must be eye catching to the receiver and written in a way for them to respond... the MOST important element in direct mail marketing is the direct mail list! Yes, this list is gold, and without a good list your direct mail promotion can sink to the bottom of the landfill. It doesn't matter if you have the prettiest envelope with the four colored printed brochure with your letterhead and business card attached if the mailing list is not for the right audience you lose!! A source of mailing list brokers is available on our page for "Direct Mail Lists".
Don't worry as there are many "letter shops" available to help you. What is a "letter shop"? It is a service that is often offered by a printing company that will not only print your direct mail marketing piece, but they will put the letter, brochure, reply envelope into an envelope and address the envelope and affix the postage to each piece! "Do It Yourself" MethodsLet's say you don't have a lot of money so the letter shop services are out of the question right now. Then you will do it yourself!! It's not that difficult and takes less time than you think if you organize your supplies correctly.In every good direct mail promotion piece you should have a letter along with your promotional flyers or brochure and a reply envelope if you budget for it. If you are a small business you may wish to forego that for now. I don't advise including on prepaid postage envelope as many people will recycle the envelope for their own use and not to send you an order! People will recycle your pre-addressed envelope so you need to decide if it is worth it? It is true the easier you make for your customer the more likely you will receive an order. Your budget will help you decide what to do at this point.
Printing OptionsGetting your direct mail marketing material printed can be very inexpensive or very expensive. The most inexpensive printers are those who do business via mail and not at the local corner print shop. You can get your material printed along with your envelopes and brochures fairly quickly using a mail order printer. They often offer typesetting, ad copy writing, desktop publishing and other services.
Postage ConsiderationsOnce your material has been printed, then the post office will be your next stop to purchase stamps. It has been proven that using colorful interesting "live" stamps make your promotion order likely to be opened than using a postal meter or the Common postage stamps that are available year round. Also envelopes that are a different color will also make your mailing piece stand out too!One thing to consider is the weight of your mailing piece! Do you want to keep it to one ounce or less and pay the lowest rate or go a hair over and pay more? It makes a real difference when you are mailing 100's of pieces. Check out www.usps.com for postage rates. When you are starting out with your direct mail marketing promotions, you probably won't have a machine that automatically folds and inserts your direct mail piece for you. So find a table or desk with room enough for all your printed material and start stuffing, licking and stamping! This is after you have printed your mailing list directly on your envelope or put on the peel and stick labels. Be Aware of Copyright for Marketing MaterialsOne thing you might consider is purchasing marketing material from the company you are promoting the product or service for. Some company's have copyrights so you need to get their approval if you are going to make up your own material.Once your have everything done it's time to dropped them off at the post office and wait for the results! In order to keep a good flow of cash coming in you should mail consistently and not just do a giant mailing and take time off! Be ConsistentAnother thing to remember in direct mail marketing promotions, you do not mail once and then sit back and wait! Successful marketers mail consistently every day or week to keep the cash flowing. Keep Records of Responses and Follow Up!When people begin to respond to your direct mail marketing promotions, it is absolutely necessary you keep their name and address on file!Back End SalesThese people are now YOUR customers and if they are happy with your service or product it is likely they will buy from you again! So be sure you have something else to sell them which is called a "back end sale" and that is when you really start to profit. Your first sale is the most expense, so sales following that are the ones that really put money into your pocket. If they bought a book on coin collecting from you then why not offer some coin collecting supplies, other books, or coins on approval? Just be sure to offer them related items and not try to sell them an eggbeater or shovel!! Direct mail marketing promotions do request an investment and time, but the rewards of a successful plan not only puts money in your bank account but gives your more satisfaction that you'll get working for someone else! Sources for SuppliesSources for direct mail promotional supplies:www.Envelopes.com (real eye catching envelopes) www.uline.comm (fancy mailers) PrintersAce Information Print & Copy, 319-A S Scott St, Oklahoma City, OK 73115 (does letter shop as well as printing of booklets, flyers, envelopes, etc.) Liberty Printing, PO Box 326, Gold Hill, OR 97537 (www. libertyprintingco.com) (Does basic printing with free shipping and free colored ink.)
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