7 Diverse Direct Mail Advice from 7 Different Marketers

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Direct mail marketing is a game of standing out with the marketing tools sent to your target audience. You’re not doing direct mail the right way if your postcards, brochures, or booklets are just like any other mail people receive in their inbox. As marketers, the challenge is finding a way to grab the attention of your audience the moment they see and read your direct mail. Following the best direct mail practices can go a long way, but turning people into actual clients requires creativity and  on your part.

Below is a mix of common and unconventional advice from marketers on how you could improve your direct mail  and maximize sales. These marketers have  achieved success in their direct mail projects, so it’s best to at least consider their tips for your respective campaigns.

Introduce yourself

Direct Mail as a strategy for startups should be geared a little differently – many are still in the process of acquiring their customers and collecting data for relevant targeting. In this phase, your direct mail would be more announcement based introducing your business to the community, via promotional cards, flyers or what have you.

It would also benefit you to drive a separate campaign to target businesses that may be attracting similar clientele, offering complementary services to that businesses customers.

– Jackie Purnell

Focus on what makes you different

Startups need to distinguish themselves from existing businesses to show prospects they’re offering services they never knew they needed. Set your new business apart with a direct mail piece that highlights your unique value proposition. For example, if you’re offering a discount on some product or service, choose one that few or no other competitors offer.

– Jill Havlat from Printing Hub

Personalize your direct mail pieces

The more targeted your mail is to the reader, the greater its chances of increasing a return on an advertising investment. So, along with strong creative, the secret to successful direct mail is in collecting the data to totally personalize a marketing piece with variable data printing. Variable data printing will let you insert different graphics into a marketing piece, change the layout and the number of pages, print unique bar codes on each document, customize colors, fonts and even the message for each person!

The creative rules have not changed when creating a successful direct mail campaign. The difference is how the advertiser can customize the message and graphic to each customer.

The information above is written in more detail in our blog post titled “Can Variable Data Printing Save the Small Commercial Printer?”

– Charisse Louise from Charene Creative

Add a yellow Post-it note

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It improved response for some of my clients by over 10%. You can even personalize them, and place them on any part of the package. One technique is to put a yellow Post-it note on a page that seems to be ripped out of a magazine. I received one for a diet workshop that said this: “Alan, try this. It really works!” It was “signed” J.

– Alan Rosenspan from his “101 Ways to Improve Your Response” e-book, which you can get for free by reaching him through his site.

Be proactive in following through

With smaller budgets, less people to handle lead follow-up and limited resources, having an effective plan to capture and respond to prospects is essential. Doing an incredible direct mail campaign that generates interest is worthless unless you have a method of identifying who is responding and a way to follow-up with them.

Integrating PURLS and using sophisticated marketing automation solutions has enabled companies automate some of these processes, but there is no substitute for calling someone on the personally to qualify and close the deal. The number one reason direct mail campaigns fail is not due to poor creative or lack of an offer, but because companies do not have a plan for how they are going to convert the interest generated from their campaign into actionable leads.

– Adam Scott from Go-Code

Be controversial

My advice is pretty simple: reference hardcore pornography, cocaine, and hashish in your direct mail pieces. Period. That’s it. Aside from that, my work speaks for itself:

Truly Groundbreaking Ideas in Direct Mail
More Truly Groundbreaking Copywriting
Truly Groundbreaking Advertising Ideas

– Dan Kennedy (follow him on Twitter)

Delight customers and build loyalty

You can do this by measuring every aspect of your direct mail operation. You need to spend plenty of time selecting the right lists, rather than waste money with a hasty decision. You must make your offer so attractive that only a fool would say “no.” Also, test everything: your copy, teasers, format, response channels, and of course, the offer. Then you’ll know what you can really afford to spend to get an order.

– Paul Bobnak from Direct Marketing IQ

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Ready to start your direct mail campaign? Check out PrintRunner’s Postcard Printing with Mailing Services for the pricing and other details.