One of the major struggles of sending a marketing piece through the mail is standing out from all the junk mail we all sort through each day. Not to mention your investment is at rick of being tossed in the trash if you send a direct mail piece that blends in with the daily “junk” mail. So, if you have ever tried to implement a direct mail campaign and have noticed you did not stand out as much as you would have liked, or have always wanted to try a direct mail campaign but didn’t know where to begin? No worries! All you need is an effective plan of action. The following 5 steps will help you create and implement a plan of action that will lead you to a better direct mail campaign and WOW your target audience!
Step 1: First and foremost, always narrow down your target audience. Gather as much information about your target audience as possible to figure out who they are. What is their demographic? What do they do for a living? What do they do for fun? This will help you find out which promotional products your target audience will use (opposed to ones they will glance at once and put to the side, or worse, throw out!).
Step 2: Next, choose promotional products that will be useful to your target audience based on the information you collected. Get creative with this…you can place a logo on virtually everything so make sure something you choose will stand out. If you need help, a promotional product consultant should be able to give you suggestions based on your needs (and not give you suggestions based on the hottest product currently on the market!). Note: think outside the box and stay away from flat items – “bulk” mailers have a higher open rate (see Step 3).
Step 3: Now, you have the product that will be mailed. There are two choices here, you can send a “bulk mailer” or consider using creative packaging. With a “bulk mailer”, you place your product and information in an envelope (with a handwritten address!). The alternate option is to choose a 3-D “Box Mailer”. With a 3-D mailer, you can choose a uniquely shaped box relevant to your campaign with a special spot for your promotional item that will “showcase” your promotional products.
Step 4: When it is time to mail your masterpiece to your target audience, a good rule of thumb is to not mail out every single piece you ordered at once. Instead, cycle your mailers. It is easier to send your mailers in “batches”, by spreading out your mailings, you will be able to better manage your sales calls. For example, send a few mailers each day and call on prospects around the time when they will receive them. This way, you don’t have to make a large amount of sales calls each day and you will have time to accomplish other daily tasks.
Step 5: Make sure you keep track of the sales that come from your direct mail campaign to find out the return on your investment. If your campaign was successful, congratulations! Keep up the good work. If your campaign was not as successful as you would like it to be, find out what worked and what did not work so well and tweak the parts that need work. Most importantly, don’t give up.
Creating Memorable Impressions For Your Brand 