Mailing to the wrong address or the wrong person is a costly mistake to your direct mail campaign. Studies have shown that business addresses change, on average, at a rate of 1% a week. This adds up to about 1.7 million moves annually. It's not just the company's addressIn addition to company address changes, you also need to pay attention to who is still employed with the businesses you are mailing to.
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In the last issue I discussed the benefits of magalogs and how they are extremely effective for both business-to-business and consumer marketing. I also gave you examples of magalogs I created for my clients. As you might recall, a magalog looks like a magazine but focuses on selling one product or service. It has an editorial feel mixed with powerful direct response copy that informs and provides value, but also sells.
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Placing graphics in your advertisement, direct mail piece or website can be risky if you neglect to use direct response graphics. Typically, the eye travels from the upper-right-hand corner across the top of the spread, then down the far-left column, and across the bottom of the spread. The gutter is the last place the eye travels. Therefore, it is a good idea to place photos facing into the page and either above or facing the copy.
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In direct mail, the most common formats are:- Envelope mailings
- Postcard mailings
- Self mailers
There are, of course, many other formats, including magalogs, catalogs, bookalogs, three-dimensional mail and much more. The power of the magalogThe magalog has been growing in popularity for about 15 years. It is an excellent way to dramatically present your product or service.
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If you think that the only email your customers and prospects would consider spam is email sent without permission, you’re wrong. A recent survey indicated that 55% of consumers define "spam" as anything they don’t find interesting, and that includes permission email from companies they do business with. Getting trashed in the Christmas rushDespite the fact that consumers are more inclined to order online during the holiday season, it is also a time when they are more inclined to trash email messages. Too much to look atBecause people receive such an influx of email during the Christmas season, they tend to be overwhelmed and instead of reading your offer or promotion, they disregard it completely.
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If your email inbox is like mine, every day you are inundated with emails. Each vying for your attention. Email is undoubtedly the most competitive marketing medium. Far more so than space advertising, television commercials or even direct mail. Because of this, it is critical that when communicating with your customers and prospects via email, you take the opportunity to build and strengthen your relationship with them. Creating relationships and increasing valueMake your emails valuable to your customers. Speak to their needs. If you have any past information regarding gender or age, relate that information to your product or service when sending them your email.
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If you are marketing business-to-business, email is a little more complicated than consumer emailing. First of all, many business-to-business marketers find that only about 10% of the emails received get looked at. This is why it is so important that you apply serious direct marketing tactics and strategies. Remember, about 90% of your prospects will give their private email addresses, not their corporate email addresses. So be sure to ask for their business addresses as well. This will allow you to keep two separate lists so you can stagger your blasts. Internet Service Providers (ISP) may have email connection limits as low as 20 messages per hour, requiring email marketers to throttle down email blasts on a per ISP basis.
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Many marketers make a false assumption that they know all of the direct response lists on the market. However, often this is not the case. The marketplace changes quickly, new lists are available and new lists are negotiable. Getting your hands on the right listDirect response lists will produce four times the response of a compiled list. So it's definitely in your best interest to do a little research. If you haven't compared what you have with what is on the market, it's best to do so immediately. If you'd like to have me review your mailing list and see what's missing, feel free to contact me at 310-212-5727 or at inquire@cdmginc.com
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In past issues I have discussed the importance of the return address to your response. Many prospects will not even open your direct mail envelope if the return address gives them a clue regarding what you are going to say. Some companies substitute their addresses and vary the information regarding who is sending the mailing. Do titles help or hinder response? One of our readers asked that if our tactic is to only put the sender's name and address on the envelope without the company’s name, should the sender's title be included in the return address? Our answer...
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Does it matter what size envelope you use in your direct mail campaign? Yes, it absolutely does. Remember, the envelope is the first thing your prospects see when they receive your direct mail piece. So it is important to choose carefully. The purpose of the envelope is to: - Hold the contents.
- Provoke and motivate your prospect to tear open the envelope to discover what is inside.
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One of our subscribers wrote us regarding last week’s article on using personalization in direct mail campaigns. In that article I suggested that it was never a good idea to use both the first and last name in the salutation of your direct mail letter. I advised that instead you should address your letter either “Dear John” or “Dear Mr. Smith” but never “Dear John Smith.” What our readers are saying
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A personalized sales letter can often improve response, especially in database marketing. But poor personalization can hurt response. Here are 3 common personalization blunders you can’t afford to make
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It’s sad, but even when your customers want to receive your email, it still might end up getting trashed. Recently, we discovered that an average of 20.5% of all permission-based emails in the second half of last year ended up in recipients’ spam folders or didn’t get delivered at all. 73.4% of consumers said they have had email they wanted to receive either end up in their spam folders or go missing.
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The recent postage increase is just settling in and already they are already talking about another one. In fact, it’s possible that a case regarding a postage increase of 5.4% for next year may be filed with the Postal Board of Governors as soon as next month.
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If you’ve been doing direct marketing for any length of time, you know that a powerful P.S. can dramatically increase direct mail response. And everyone who knows direct marketing rules agrees. But most experts do a P.S. wrong. Tips to failproof your P.S.The main blunder many direct marketers make is failing to understand the psychology behind the P.S. They don’t use it as a hook to get customers intrigued or motivated to read the letter.
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Back in the 1990s, I experimented with putting yellow post-it notes on the outer envelope of my clients' direct marketing campaigns. In those tests, we saw a 12% to 30% increase in response. The post-it note was effective for both consumer and business-to-business mailings. However, this direct marketing technique was most effective with business to business.
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Several issues ago I raised what has turned out to be a fairly controversial issue. That of dishonesty in our industry. I have had a number of comments from readers about whether my concern over letter shops and other vendors is justified. There was a theme in the comments that we should only be working with vendors that “we trust.” My response to that is that I started out trusting my vendors...but have learned the hard way that I must take precautions to ensure that my trust is warranted.
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Since the advent of the Web, an interesting phenomenon has occurred: It has become more difficult for marketers to accurately track the response from their mailings.
Many multichannel marketers have as many as 50% of their orders untracked (I have one client who's untracked orders looks to be up to 70%). Most marketers will be in the 30% to 40% range.
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Over 40 million Americans will move this year. And of those, a startling 35% will not complete a change of address form with the post office.
That means if you rely on National Change of Address (NCOA) data to update your mailing list, you are going to miss more than a third of your bad addresses every year.
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Thrilling Results! Amazing ROI! Rip Roaring Response Rates!
Why your company should look into 3D direct marketing!
When you've got a high margin product to sell to a small group of hard-to-reach executives or very wealthy prospects, very few marketing techniques work as well as 3D direct mail.
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