Direct mail is the most important part of your marketing plan. Developing and executing the campaign can be very confusing. Today’s mailing regulations are getting more complicated–postage rates are changing all the time and the flood of mail makes it harder to get noticed. The right message and presentation is very important and must get to your target market in the correct way. Capturing your reader must happen quickly and your reader must be motivated to take action.
Here are some valuable tips when planning out your direct marketing campaign:
- consult with a direct mailing house before planning your next campaign
- keep your mailing piece simple and readable
- consult with a copywriter regarding your sales content
- use a reputable list broker
- use colored envelopes to get attention
- personalize the message in your mail piece
- have a clear message on what you offer
- insert a strong call to action – call in, fax in or mail back
- develop a free gift to further intice action
- offer a free trial period of your product or service
- have a professional graphic artist design art work
- mention guarantees (risk avoidance)
This is only a partial list of direct mail marketing techniques, but you get the idea. There are so many things to develop for your next mailing. Always remember to test and change things slightly to measure the effectiveness of your mailings. For example, the wording of the headline on the mail piece can be changed to make two or three versions. You measure the response rate of each headline….the headline that brings in the best return or response will prevail on all mailings from now on.
Stay tuned for more valuable tips and tricks from Mail Marketing Masters!
Make a comment here if you have some tips you can share with our readers. Just click on the comment button below.
For your direct mail processing needs call Business Helpers at 480-483-7677. Serving all of Arizona, USA.
Filed under Arizona mail services, direct mail campaign, mail services by on Nov 20th, 2009. 1 Comment. 
Before you start your direct mail campaign, make sure you know your target audience thoroughly before spending any money on renting a list to mail to.
You have spent some good money on making a great product, and you know that it fits what your market needs, you composed attention grabbing copy on your sales piece and you have all your call center in place to take orders. But remember that the most important thing is the mailing list you are sending mail to. What good is your sales piece going to do if you send it to a poor performing list?
Here are some pointers on how to “shop” for a profitable mailing list.
One of the most important things you can do when selecting a mail list house is to look in the Standard Rate & Data Service Directory under mailing list brokers. This is a very reputable publication that only contains good to very good list brokers. These brokers explain within the directory the different lists that are available for rent, what kind of buyers the lists are made up of, and the date the list was last cleaned–that is, the last time all the names on the list were verified relative to the correctness of addresses.
Once you narrow down your list brokers to a select few companies, contact them and let them know about your current mailing campaign and ask them if they have good lists to attract their specific lists. Quite often, a good list broker will have much knowledge and start asking you pertinent questions to further help you. When you get the feeling that you are talking to a sincere list broker, ask them for their minimum list of names along with prices. Then call on the other companies you were also intersted in and see if you can spot a trend of pricing and kind of lists available.
Once you and the list broker and have decided upon the mailing list best suited to your offer, the broker will require you to rent a minimum of 5,000 names. The going price will range from $35 to $95 per thousand names. This may seem like a lot of money to you at first, but you have to look at the quality of the list that the broker will give you to translate those names into “paying customers.”
Remember too, that the list brokers have their own interests to get repeat busines from you and will do their darnest to give you a quality list.
For all your direct mailing service needs, call us at 480-483-7677.
Filed under Arizona mail services, direct mail by on Nov 9th, 2009. Comment.
This post is brought to you by: Business Helpers Mail Center in Scottsdale, Arizona
Here is a quick list of services we are able to assist you with.
- Mail List Preparation: Merge/Purge, clean, remove duplicates, CASS certification (ensure accuracy and deliverability), NCOA (updates change of address)
- Mail Processing: Address (directly onto mail piece), collate, stuff, fold, seal, affix wafer seal closures, sort, stamp/meter, bundle for postage discounts, and deliver to the post office. We can accommodate a wide variety of insert and envelope sizes
- Letter Shop Services: Print personalized, high quality laser letters, folding, tabbing, and inserting while accommodating a wide variety of insert and envelope sizes
- Custom Printing: We find the best price and quickest service available through our printing partners
- Hand Assembly: Quality hand assembly (collating, folding, inserting, labeling and addressing) for custom or unusual jobs
Let us make a no obligation quote for your next mailing job. You will notice the difference on the service and attention we provide! We love what we do and looking forward to helping you.
Call us now at 480-483-7677
Filed under Arizona mail services, direct mail, mail services by on Oct 30th, 2009. Comment.
Probably, the most important part of your direct mail campaign will be choosing your mailing list. That is also the most challenging part of your success or failure when doing a mailing. The most common way to get a good list is from a list broker. Here are some tips when going out to secure your mailing list.
- The first thing you have to do is find a qualified and targeted list for your product or service.
- Your list should be current with all duplicates removed
- The list should be sold from an experienced and reputable list house that has a proven record in high quality lists
- Know the profile of who you are mailing too. This goes along with knowing your product and service enough to know who is likely to buy
- Lastly, check on the past record of the list broker and even ask for references of current or past customers…..and check up on them.
You don’t have time to fool with less than quality list brokers since normal response rates in the direct marketing field is about 1.5%. That means you have to make sure your quality of the list is high enough to practially “guarantee” that percentage norm.
For your direct mail processing needs call Business Helpers at 480-483-7677. Serving all of Arizona, USA.
Filed under direct mail campaign, direct mail tips, targeting your market by on Oct 21st, 2009. Comment.
We have complied a short list of 4 of the most helpful resources when planning and implementing a direct mail campaign.
3) USPS direct mail resource page
shows how to create your mail piece
direct mail defined
create mail list
sending procedures
mailing and shipping tools
direct mail research
We hope you find these resources helpful to your next direct mail campaign. Remember to always do your due diligence when hiring a direct mail house to process your mailing. Check on their references, their past history of clients and programs they worked on, check with the Better Business Bureau, and make sure they are proactive in following up with you.
Filed under US Postal Service, direct mail, direct mail campaign, direct mail tips by on Oct 12th, 2009. Comment.
We are going to scour the internet for very clever direct mail promotions from time to time to give you some valuable ideas to promote your business.
Here is an ingenius direct mail campaign that was implemented by an ad agency. Check out how they used a simple approach but got a lot of attention.
For your direct mail processing needs call Business Helpers at 480-483-7677. Serving all of Arizona, USA.
Filed under direct mail campaign, direct mail promotions by on Oct 7th, 2009. Comment.
The US Postal Service has recently reported that they may close up to 410 branches across the USA. It is caused by lower quantities of personal mailings in conjunction with the recession.
Although the comsumer market is practically in panic, professional mailers and direct mailing houses are not worrying. The closures will definitely have an impact on the upcoming holiday market, causing delays and such. But as far as the direct mail houses, USPS services will continue as normal as they put priority on these places since it is high volume and therefore higher revenue to the USPS.
The only worry direct mail houses may have is the mail processing centers. If any of those places gets shut down, there could be a fallout of productivity on behalf of direct mail houses.
There are direct mail houses that have declared that if a lot of branches are closed, there is still a lot of branches left to pick up the slack. Fortunately, there is great density of post office branch retail offices. So, no need to worry now!
Filed under US Postal Service, direct mail, mail services by on Oct 1st, 2009. Comment.
We found a very informative video revealing what it takes for a successful direct mail campaign. First, you have to have a great list from a source you can trust, and a very compelling offer that is clearly stated in the direct mail piece. Enjoy!
Filed under Arizona mail services, direct mail campaign, direct mail tips by on Sep 22nd, 2009. Comment.
When you think of planning out your next direct mail campaign, think Business Helpers. No, think “award winning” direct mail house! As seen by the previous post here, we are very proud of our 2009 Best of Scottsdale Award from the U.S. Commerce Association.
For those of you in the Phoenix, Arizona area, please make sure you visit us at our location and say “hello.” For visitors here from out of town, contact us either through our contact form or just call us for a cheerful, no obligation quote on your next job. We will always go the “extra mile” for you.
Call us at (480) 483-7677
Filed under Arizona mail services, direct mail, mail services by on Sep 16th, 2009. Comment.
We are pleased that our company, Business Helpers, has received the 2009 Best of Scottsdale Award from the US Commerce Association. We are celebrating!! Please see below:
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Business Helpers Mail Center Receives 2009 Best of Scottsdale Award
U.S. Commerce Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement
WASHINGTON D.C., June 8, 2009 — Business Helpers has been selected for the 2009 Best of Scottsdale Award in the Direct Mail Advertising Services category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).
The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.
Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2009 USCA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.
About U.S. Commerce Association (USCA)
U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USCA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.
The USCA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.
SOURCE: U.S. Commerce Association
CONTACT:
U.S. Commerce Association
Email: PublicRelations@us-ca.org
URL: http://www.us-ca.org
Filed under Arizona mail services, mail services by on Sep 4th, 2009. 1 Comment.