Businesses today face increasingly difficult decisions with their advertising budgets due to low sales and reduced customer response. It is very typical to see businesses stop advertising when the economy is down and cash flow is tight. I recommend my clients never stop spending altogether in a down market, but rather adjust how and where they spend.
Once you determine direct mail is right for you the next step is to choose a firm to work with who can help you with your campaign. A successful direct mail campaign includes several factors including design, offer, target, cost, etc. I spoke with national full color printing and graphic design company Preferred Print on the subject.
When asked about customer success they said “it is important to our customers to have their campaign handled by one shop. By handling all aspects of the campaign from graphic design, full color printing, as well as the prospect mailing list needs and postage it keeps their costs down.” He added ”I had a recent customer mail 5000 full color postcards to a targeted list and picked up new customers worth $60,000 in total sales.”
When designing a direct mail campaign, full color printing is better than not. A postcard in full color is more impactful and is proven to get better results. Design your mailer around the goal of the campaign and the audience, as well as the product. Next you need to decide what type of mailer to use.
Brochures and Sell Sheets are better suited to share lots of information you can’t fit on full color postcards by having more space to convey the message visually and verbally. An 11” x 17”tri-fold brochure is great for getting your message out in a newsletter format and has good responses with the right design, plus you don’t need to use an envelope saving even more.
Finally, the most critical component is the list itself. This will make or break your campaign. “By properly targeting the people in the right stage in the buying cycle the conversions can be staggering. As an example, targeting a list of consumers for automotive lease can garner a typical .5% response. However, by targeting people in the last 3-6 months of their lease, our customer tripled their response by getting their prospects at a time they were already looking to make a move.” This can translate to virtually any industry; it simply requires working with the right partner.