Marketing tips: Getting Direct Mail to Work for You

These tried and tested tips will help you with any direct mail activity you plan to use in your business.

Select Targets Carefully
You should only send your direct mail letters to people who are the most likely to respond. Obvious? Well – if it’s obvious why do companies buy blanket lists of companies when they want to promote very specific services? If you are a firm of accountants and want to write to companies about your new payroll service there’s probably very little point in selecting companies with fewer than 5 employees. If you are a furniture manufacturer making high-end furniture you wouldn’t bother targeting the cheap and cheerful MDF retailer. Think carefully about who is in the target market for your product, focusing down as much as possible on those most likely to be in the market.

The average response rate for business-to-business direct mail is 8.4%, although the majority of campaigns achieve a response rate of just 3%. If your response rates don’t match these levels careful targeting can result in an uplift. (figures taken from DMIS In Brief, issue 14 2006).

Make Them an Offer They Can’t Refuse
We are all bombarded with thousands of advertising messages every day. And over time we’ve developed sophisticated filtering systems so that we ignore most of what’s put in front of us. You need to break though this with an offer, something to grab attention, something of value.

There are many different types of offer you can use, money off, guarantees, free delivery. You will need to determine the value of the prospective client and their purchasing potential and the cost of the offer to your business. Very often it is possible to package up an aspect of your service which you sometimes give away for free anyway and put a notional price on it so that the prospective client can see the true value of what you offer. Being creative with your offer can be critical to a successful direct mail campaign.

Write an Attention Grabbing Headline
The headline is probably the most important part of your direct mail piece. Five times more people read the headline than read the body copy, which is good news. But, and it’s a big but, if there’s no BENEFIT in the headline 90% of people won’t read on. You’ve probably only got 3 or 4 seconds to get your readers attention. So make that time count.

Another important little tip is around the P.S. You’ll have noticed that lots of the better direct mail that you receive will have a P.S. at the end. And there’s a good reason for that. Research has shown that around 79% of people will read the P.S. almost immediately – and obviously if you have a compelling offer in the P.S. it will make the reader want to find out more.

Tell Them What to do Next
The call to action in your direct mail letter should be absolutely obvious. Do you want them to call, email or go on to your website? Don’t leave them to scan around your letter to find a phone number – include it in the text at the appropriate point.

If there’s an offer make it absolutely clear how to take advantage, and equally importantly make sure your staff are fully briefed in how you want this handled too.

The call to action should be clear throughout the letter and reiterated in the P.S.

If you’ve tried direct mail in the past and not been successful have a think about whether you followed these basic principles. If you did and feel you need further advice and support why not give is a call on 01789 740396.

For more ideas on how to improve the effectiveness of your direct mail take a look at the following resources on the Second Opinion Marketing website.

Getting the most for direct mail – presentation
The Secrets of Effective Direct Mail - article

Article written by Teresa Harris, Second Opinion Marketing. Teresa is an independent marketing consultant working with professional practices, small businesses and public sector bodies to develop effective marketing plans which achieve their business objectives.

As a marketing coach Teresa works with new marketing managers and small business owners to enhance their marketing performance.

Contact Teresa on 01789 740396 or by email here