In this brave new world that speeds by in milliseconds with microchips, having a tangible, physical advertisement through direct mail lists can be a welcome change from a nigh constant cyber bombardment. Not everyone listens to the radio, watches TV, or goes online, but everyone has a mailbox, and direct marketing is a simple and quick way to make sure your ad gets inside the mailboxes of your target demographic.
Billboards, newspapers, radio, and online ads are like trying to hit a bulls-eye blindfolded, but direct mail lists let you see your target clearly.
Targeting Your Audience Through Direct Mail Lists
If you were to walk up to a hundred people on the street and ask if they like getting direct mail…you’ll probably get 100 answers of “no.” But the results speak for themselves. According to the Direct Marketing Association, Direct mail sales are growing at a rate of 8.6% a year, with 250 billion dollars sold just last year in the United States alone. There are some things you want to bear in mind when considering direct mail lists, because it is not the most cost effective way to advertise. Getting your message to just one person can cost between 30 cents up to a few dollars depending on your choices, but there are many advantages that counter that. Specifically, the fact that you can directly target your audience through direct mail lists. You can target the demographic that you know best needs the goods or services your business provides. Again, not everyone drives past a billboard, or reads the newspaper, but everyone has a mailbox.
Direct Mail lists are an easy and smart means to share information about your business and generate sales.
Advantages Of Direct Mail Lists
A major advantage direct marketing provides is tracking. You can easily track how many sales are generated through each mailing, and who is doing the purchasing, making it easier for
you to hone your targeting in future mailings. A third big plus is customization, because not only are you able to target your audience, you are able to tailor your message to that audience, instead of trying to reach a broad scope. Some other benefits of direct mail are the fast turnaround provided by mailing lists, since you don’t have to wait months for publications, and direct mail is response driven, since you can easily add a response card to your direct mailing with the expectation of reasonable feedback. Another factor to consider when you are deciding if direct mail lists are the right way to advertise for your business is the cost of your goods or services. Anything less than 20 dollars is probably not cost effective, as the costs of the lists will not be covered. But there is also an upper limit to what people will buy from a direct mail advertisement, usually around 5 thousand dollars.
So if you have determined that your goods or services are the right match for direct marketing, now you’ll want to generate the list that will best reach your audience. This is an important step. Some people will put 95 percent of their effort into making the direct mail piece itself, and only 5 percent effort into actually making the list, but both are equally important. You know the audience you want, so you just need to find the traits that your audience has. Are your customers generally male or female? Do they fall into any specific age range? Do they generally have a shared set of interests or economic standing? All those little details can help fine tune your list to target the maximum potential of people that will respond favorably to your direct marketing. So a good place to start your direct marketing is with a list of your existing customers. You already know they like your products, and would probably be open to new products through this advertisement.
Once you have your list ready, now you can start getting together the offer you plan to present in your direct mailing. Things like “50 percent off through this special offer,” or “buy one and get one free” are all ways to catch the eye of your audience and get them reading the rest of your mailer. Keep in mind that simplicity is your ally in this process. Too much information can lead to cramped small print, and that can make customers nervous about what is in that fine print. So have a clear message about what you want your mailer to say, and do it as simply as you can. Also, having a guarantee on your product puts a lot of minds at ease about buying from direct mail, and having a deadline gives a sense of urgency to the customer. Another key aspect of a successful mailer is letting your customers know what to do in order to make their purchase. That can be as simple as giving your phone number with a “call now,” or there can be many other tools you can use to get your customers to take the right steps to getting your services. Phrases like “supplies are limited” or “offer available for a limited time only” can really help drive home the emphasis that folks need to move quickly in order to capitalize on the offer you are sharing.
Direct mail lists are easy to put together once you have the right knowledge of what to, and more importantly, what NOT to put in your mailer.
Check out this short YouTube video which gives a lot of good information about building direct mail lists.