Increase Sales with Direct Mail
Five tips to increase sales with direct mail.
The number of businesses using direct mail marketing to increase sales now compared to 10 to 15 years ago is staggeringly higher.
We are noticing that after the temporary dip, now there are more and more business owners and marketing managers who understand and appreciate the effectiveness of direct mail marketing.
Our clients who are doing direct mail marketing right now include mortgage brokers, real estate investors, telecom companies, insurance agents, investment advisors, non-profit organizations, and many others.
I’ll be the first to admit that while it used to be exciting for a consumer to receive a direct marketing piece in the mail, and they were not only looked at but actually read, nowadays you have to work a little harder to really catch your prospects’ attention.
By the way: I was surprised to learn that the term Junk Mail can be traced back to 1954. (Online Etymology Dictionary). I thought it was much more recently than that. But I always say, if you are doing your direct marketing properly, and using a list broker to help you narrow your target market down thoroughly, then you are NOT sending junk mail. There’s a difference between sending out your direct mailing piece to anyone with a pulse and sending it out to people who match your current customers who could truly benefit from your offer and willingly act on it.
So how can you make your direct mail marketing piece more effective and increase your sales revenue?
1. Your Call to Action:
It always astounds us here at Strategic List Services how many people send out their marketing pieces with no call to action and then complains that their marketing campaign didn’t work. You must tell the reader what you want them to do! Tell them to call a certain phone number; request a free sample; visit your website; to order now.
2. Urgency time limit on a sale:
Persuade them to act now. Offer a limiting factor, such as a time limit or a limit to the number of items you’re going to be selling.
3. The design of your mail piece:
Most graphic designers like to make things look pretty but can forget that the number one job is for that marketing piece to SELL the prospect and make them do something. Judge your graphic designer based on how well the marketing piece converts prospects into buyers, not just on how pretty the piece looks.
Take some time to examine who your current customers are and create an avatar (In case you haven’t heard of the term avatar, it’s a computer user’s representation of themselves, used in computer gaming).
-
- Ask yourself, how old am I?
- What are my hobbies?
- Do I have children? How many?
- What kind of car do I drive?
- Or How big is the company I work for?
- What are their annual revenues?
- What kind of software do I use?
- All of these questions will help you determine your ideal customer.
4. Who is your target market?
Please see Identifying Your Target Market for more help with this. Working with one of our list brokers, you will be able to decisively narrow down your target market and save your marketing dollars by not sending your mailing piece to every person with a pulse in the hopes that one of them might respond. This leads me to…
5. Finally Your Mailing List:
The most important part of your marketing campaign is your mailing list. And I promise I’m not just saying this because I’m the boss. 😉 I know this to be true. Although we often hear that “Copy is King”, if you are sending a perfect copy to the wrong target market, no one will buy. (Doesn’t that make sense?) On the other hand, if you send so-so, average, copies to the right target market, some will indeed buy. Get the list right, and send out an amazing copy and you’ll be very pleased with your results!
Give us a call today at 1-866-575-0043 or fill out a free Research request (there’s a box to the right on the sidebar) if we can be of service.
