GETTING STARTED WITH DIRECT MAIL MARKETING
Direct mail marketing is a specific form of marketing where you are able to reach out to your customers directly and allow them to place orders or take advantage of your services by following steps or instructions provided in a mailer. Direct mail marketing might involve mail order catalogs, but it can also involve any type of mailers sent out to the homes of potential customers inviting them to use your services, buy your goods or otherwise get in touch with you to learn more about your business.
Direct mail marketing is a very effective way to introduce yourself to potential customers and to remind existing customers of who you are and why they should do business with you. However, direct mail marketing is not as easy as just sending out a few letters or postcards to customers. In fact, a lot goes into a good direct mail marketing campaign and in many cases, it pays to work with professionals who can help you with the logistics of the direct mail campaign.
Getting Started with Direct Mail Marketing
The first thing you are going to need to have if you want direct mail marketing to be a success if a great list of names to send out your mailers to. While you can send out your marketing material to existing customers using a database of their addresses that you might have on file, this may not always be the best or only way to engage in direct mail marketing. After all, the people whose addresses you have in your customer file are already customers and you won’t be expanding your market or reaching out to someone new.
Instead of using addresses you have, you may want to define a target market and obtain a customer list or a list of names of people who might be interested in your product. There are many ways to collect names for a direct mail marketing campaign, ranging from allowing people to sign up for newsletters or information using an online website to buying customer lists or doing other types of market research. A company that specializes in direct mail marketing can usually advise you on how best to get a list of people to send your mailers to.
Of course, once you know who you are sending your marketing to, it is important to make sure that your direct mail campaign is effective. Doing this is a bit more challenging. You will need to know exactly what the target of your campaign is- do you want people to order, come into your store, call you for information or do any number of other things? It is important to decide what your goal is and then come up with a comprehensive plan to create a piece of marketing material that will spur customers on to do what you are asking of them.
You will want to make sure this campaign takes into account the needs of your customers and explains how your product or service can fulfill those needs. Again, a direct mail marketing company may be able to assist you in coming up with a comprehensive plan for direct mail marketing and in printing the material that you create so it looks professional and makes a great first impression.