Rules are made to be broken. But some rules are there to help give you a launch to success. In a successful Direct Mail campaign, there are rules that, when followed, help get new clients, establish your name and business in the area and make you a bestseller. The following are a few of those rules that will take you to the top.
Answer the question Why. You need to clearly explain why your business exists and why you want to achieve your goals. Explain why your business is a better choice than other businesses. And you need to state why you want the prospect to become your client.
Have a Marketing Schedule and stick with it. When starting a mailing campaign, you want them to go out at set intervals. This allows you to track results and statistics. Consistency is key in driving for success. Figure out a year’s worth of direct mail campaigns by putting them on a calendar and marking a mailing for every six weeks for each promotion. Pre-planning helps you to establish a schedule and eliminates the stress of putting together a mailing at the last minute.
Have a list of the perfect prospects. Once you have figured out who your perfect prospect is, develop a list of their names along with profiles of each with details about their work and personal lives, likes, dislikes and interests. The more information you have in their profile, it will help you automatically know what kind of marketing message you want to send to your prospects. This information is helpful in culling the list along with the design and message on the postcards you use.
Emphasise the Benefits in your mailers. The benefits for a prospect is the eye-catching hook in your writing of copy. Do not try to brag or impress the prospect. Instead, put the benefits of your service or product in the spotlight and educate them on how you can improve their lives.
Mailings should have a familiar look. Put a similar design element in each piece that you mail throughout the mailing calendar. Whether it is your Logo or a photo or a motto, having a thread running your campaign will create an atmosphere of familiarity and recognition. When the prospect opens the mailbox half way through the mailing cycle, they will immediately know it is from you. If you are sending the right information, they will soon be expecting your information and responding
Personalise the message to reach the prospect. Just look at what you receive each day in your own mailbox and see how much of it feels “dropped off”. Now put a personal twist in your postcard and letter and the receiver will think that there is a person behind the letter and not a machine. Hand addressing, real stamps, colourful stationery all drive the “just for you” feeling you want to create. Higher response rates come from a “feel good” point of view.
A Call to Action is your goal for prospects. Give them instructions on what to do next. Provide them with a timeline in which to act. Create urgency in your words. Layout the reward for responding on time. And most importantly, keep it all short and to the point.
Keep mailing and keep trying. People respond to direct mail differently and unfortunately, there is no exact way to get them to do what you want. The number of times to send a postcard or letter to get to the response rate volume you seek may vary from five times to 12 times. Keeping track of the statistics with each mailing segment and tweaking the mailing list, will get to better and better response numbers. So, if your first campaign didn’t do well, change the idea a bit and try again! Sometimes it can be something as minor as the type of picture or the colours of the headline that will get people to respond and affect your response rate.
Follow Up on all leads immediately. It doesn’t matter if it is an email or a letter or a phone call. It is necessary to follow up communication as soon as you receive a response. The faster that you can answer an inquiry, the higher the chance your information is still in the mind of the prospect. And a fast response will start the journey towards closing the deal and creating a relationship with the prospect turned client.
Build a relationship, keep a relationship. Just like everything, building a bond, friendship or an alliance takes effort and work. And this building should start right at the beginning of your acquaintance. Keep in mind the work it took to get the prospect to become a client and continue to build on that strong connection to a genuine relationship.
Everest Direct Mail serves small, medium and large businesses with direct mail marketing, postcard printing and mailing as well as thousands of other services such as producing handwritten yellow letters for real estate investors, transactional mail, unique postcards and amazing mailing lists. Follow them on Facebook.
