Direct Mail Works … For YOU!
According to the USPS (United States Postal Service), back in 2006 over 213 billion (with a “B”) were processed and delivered.
We all get mail in our inbox, just like we do email. According to recent statistics, Direct Mail is getting much love from marketers, simply because despite of new technologies we all consume (like mobile apps), people still like and respond to the personal touch of a printed, personalized messages. Kind of like how printed books still sell in an era when you can read them on your kindle or iPad. We are all humans, and the touch of holding a piece of mail in your hands – has a certain effect and impact on us, no digital means of marketing has. This has not gone unnoticed by the big companies – as you well know if you open your mailbox and go through the offers big credit cards, banks and other corporations mail you.
BUT, it is much more satisfying, when you get a personalized mail piece from a local, small business that offers a product and service that you need and love, and lies only a few minutes or a phone call away. Your neighborhood pizza place is much more personal to you than your big bank.
Now, if you’re running a business and have a compelling product or service – we can put you in front of new homeowners who just moved to your area of business, each and every week.
Now this begs the question – what are you going to mail a prospect when we easily give you their details ? That brings us to the tips below.
Effective Mail Piece – Tips
We wanted to share this useful video by Jennifer of Ritter’s Communications (Please note, we provide this link to their site, but their site is not secured, so clicking the link will not provide a secure connection. We apologize, but that is out of our control as this is the limitation of Ritter’s Communications’ site) .
The main items it identifies and address are
Mailing List – Audience
It is no secret we provide a list of new homeowners who recently moved near your area of business and most likely have no knowledge of you and your business. That means you probably don’t know them and they don’t know you. As Jennifer says, a list of people who know you is likely to bring higher response rate, however, it is not going to earn you any new customers. Our list is the best and most efficient way (as in saving you big $$) to reach new people who probably never heard of your products and services and are likely to need what you have to offer; be it a restaurant, medical services, pet services, contractor / remodeling, florist services, you name it – as they just moved in to a new area (in 80% of cases more than 5 miles away from their previous residence) and thus they need new providers for these services and products.
So clearly, while we agree with Jennifer, our list is geared towards GROWING your sales and list of customers, not retention (keeping your existing customers).
Mailing List – Quality
We also agree with Jennifer’s point on the quality of the list – our list goes through state of the art hygiene and NCOA each and every day to make sure it delivers. Meaning – that whoever you’re going to mail, your message will reach them and not be tossed or returned by the USPS.
Jennifer even discusses what happens when more than one person lives in a certain address or similar addresses (such as building units) – again – where our list shines. We make sure to properly prefix names and make sure unit numbers appear where they need to appear and can even provide you with additional information about the property – such as date of purchase, sales price, loan value, pool and square footage or even ethnicity factors – all in attempt to help you better PERSONALIZE the message.
Personalized Message
Jennifer discusses different examples of Direct Mail pieces and postcards and the impact of personalizing the message by means of text, graphics and any other idea you might have – to ensuring people pay attention to your mail piece, engage with the message and eventually contact you to inquire about your product or service.
Simplicity
Jennifer raises the golden rule of keeping it simple. From a graphics stand point – don’t make it heavy on the eyes, so people don’t lose the tree for the forest. Make it eye catching but simply lead them to the message – what you want to say.
For example are you about “I’ll save you lots of money – I’m most affordable” or are you about “I’ll be the highest quality of product you have ever seen” ??
Make sure people get your mail piece and clearly see what you’re about and how it benefits them.
Testing and Optimizing
Jennifer reminds us to always try more than one approach to a mail piece. It doesn’t have to be expensive. For example – you might want to print a nice postcard professionally (with a printing store) and at the same time print a simple flyer on your home printer. Send some of each piece to parts of your mailing list.
Each week as you get our list on labels, peel and stick some to your home-printed flyer and some to your nice colorful postcards.
Now, measure which gets more response and results.
You may sometimes be surprised to find out that simple and cheap solutions (like a flyer, or a personalized letter) achieve more bang for the buck than expensive mail pieces, and allow you to get to market faster, too.
Learn How for Free
If you wish to find out more about how to create your own personalized flyer using your home computer and printer for pennies – check out our guide on generating personalized letters using mail merge and our list. You can find the guide at our FREE RESOURCES section of this site.
Questions Anyone?
Finally, if you wish to find out more about what we can do for your business and how our affordable mailing list can work to make your business money and increase your sales – don’t hesitate to give us a call during business hours at (888) 888-5557or fill our contact form and let us know what challenges you have in your marketing efforts and let us do it for you.
Additional Tips
You can also watch this short lecture by Joy from Postcardmania that also discusses what makes an effective mail piece.
Thank you for your interest in Direct Marketing.
If your business has a product or service that a New Mover / New Homeowner needs, you should talk to us. We’ve been compiling the nation’s best New Homeowners Mailing List for over 40 years. We also can provide you with New Movers list if this target audience proves a better match. Each week we capture almost 100,000 New Homeowners who move into their new property. Want to know how many of them move into a neighborhood in your area of business? Don’t let your business lose another customer to your competitors just because you didn’t send them a simple flyer you can print in your office or home. Contact us today and find out how you can start adding new customers each week. Let us help you reach the right people at the right time, when they are ready to make a purchase.