Direct mail marketing: right on target

One of the reasons that direct mail is the ultimate form of marketing is that it is targeted marketing. You are using a rifle, not a shotgun. When you run ads in newspapers, magazines, or on television or radio, you are “shooting” your offer to all types of people, most of whom will not be interested in your service or products. Direct mail allows you to focus on exactly the type of people you want to reach.

That customization makes the difference. You can spend your money to reach the people most likely to do business with you, not waste it on the general public. Learn what worked best and where they found out about your offer, as opposed to TV, radio, magazine or newspaper ads, so you save money. Your sales message can be confidential, personal, and individualized, and that’s very powerful.

With direct mail, there are no limitations. You have complete flexibility and control over the length and format of your sales message. Other forms of advertising make you comply with their rules; no direct mail. You have the power to make your sales message say what you want and to ask for the offer directly. When you mail 10,000 pieces of mail, it’s like having 10,000 salespeople in one envelope. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that if you had a sales force making calls, they would probably have a better ratio of orders per person called than direct mail. In fact, it would be very unusual if they did not.

But how many people can a salesperson reach in one day? Ten? Twenty? They are limited by the number of businesses or consumers they can call or call. With direct mail, you can mail as many parts as you want. They may not have the face-to-face seller impact, but they will do a better job because you will get more orders. The salesmanship is excellent, but few of us can afford to send a large sales team to visit our potential clients.

Direct mail is also the best marketing research tool. It’s the best way to reach new customers and it’s relatively inexpensive because you can test email. You can start with small shipments; And then when you see results, you can double, triple, or quadruple the number of shipments you make.

I believe that direct mail has proven to be a powerful communication tool, even in this age of email marketing. It is tailor-made for two-step marketing and you can use it for any business. Some people think that if they have a store, they can’t really use direct mail because all their sales are done in the store, but that’s not true, because it can attract people who would otherwise never have come. It can make you a great deal of money, and you need to get involved with it as soon as possible.

You know how a shotgun works; sends out a burst of shot that hits everything within a certain distance. If you are using a shotgun approach to marketing, your message will spread in all directions. Above all, hit the wrong targets. Radio commercials, television commercials, billboards, newspaper and magazine ads – all of those are shotgun approaches. Your message is wasted on most people. That is the nature of a shotgun.

On the other hand, you’ve probably heard of sniper rifles and how a really good sniper can hit a target hundreds or thousands of meters away. Rifles offer extreme precision. When you extend this analogy to your marketing, you are talking about precision and control, putting your sales message exactly where you want it for maximum impact. There are very few wasted resources. While it won’t reach everyone, at least your mailing will only reach people you already know are interested in the types of products and services you sell, whether it’s a local reaching out to specific people in the community or a National mail. firm order. Your list may consist of your own customers (people to whom you have sold similar things before) or a rented list of those who have bought similar things from other people.

The fact that a direct mail package is basically a sales rep in an envelope is particularly effective. You can present your entire sales presentation in one envelope thousands or millions of times, and you never have to worry about your sales reps getting moody, tired, or depressed, and never asking for a raise. When people open your envelope, you give them a great promise and a guarantee of what they will receive when they do business with you. If you use two-step marketing, you invite them to request more information. If you are a local business, you can invite them to come to your store for a sale or a special event.

Direct mail it is salesmanship. It’s about taking the best qualities you see in an entire sales presentation and reducing them to a single package. Answer all the main objections a potential buyer will have. It brings all the benefits to life and creates a great sense of urgency for them to respond. now. Your strategy can and should include a lot of follow-through. I recently ran a two-step campaign where we followed up with a 44-page sales letter. During those 44 pages, we reveal everything. It gets people fired up, excited, and ready to go.

You can start small with direct mail and grow as your business expands. That is another aspect of total control; the scale is up to you. You can go as big as you can or move slowly. I love this aspect of control, as I think any entrepreneur would. Control feels good. You are not giving your money to some magazine, newspaper, radio station or television station. You don’t even have to give your money to a mail house. You can do it all yourself if you want.