We firmly believe that direct printed mail and door drops through letterboxes are going through a renaissance at the moment.

For years this type of marketing was over-saturated it originally coined the phrase of ‘junk mail’. But what we are noticing is that because this type of advertising has been kind of de-valued over years that there are less people doing it.

Gone are the days that you would receive up to 20 pieces of mail each day with your morning post, these days I guess you get no more than 10 pieces a week, so this opens up a big opportunity for your message to get through.

Like any marketing or advertising if done correctly then it works. Any direct mail through either email or the post which if not correctly targeted is almost always annoying ‘spam’. But if for example its targeted to your mailing list of individuals who have already expressed an interest in your products or those who have brought from you in the past then its less likely to be discarded.
The main reason behind why Direct marketing has a bad reputation over the years and is because on the whole its been rather lifeless and bland.

Strategies for direct marketing forgot that they should be giving out advertisement that grabs the consumers’ attention, information that those consumers have not known before, new catch phrases that consumers can relate to and most especially it should be well-thought through. Advertisers should know what they are talking about and not just write for the sake of it.

One particular annoying tactic is repeated information, which readers have already read, why do they want to read it again? They are not to be treated like idiots and doing so this won’t enforce your message it will only antagonise them, which will have the likely result of your promotion heading straight for the shredder. It should be taken into consideration that readers mostly scan across information and most of which is not processed by their brains, only when content is truly remarkable, such as a great headline written properly do they actually absorb the message as it resonates in their conscious mind.

To make sure that emails or printed mail-shots that are sent out to consumers would not lead directly to the trash, you have to check out this process.

If you are not interested to the products and services being offered then any direct mail is discarded with almost disgust. So that’s why audience targeting is very important. If you are a local window cleaner then every household or business premises with windows is a potential customer. But if are offering more tailored services such as wedding photography or motorbike repairs then its not advisable to ‘blanket door drop’ to all the houses in your area, as the response you receive will be limited. You are hoping that your audience are looking for your products or services at the exact time that they receive your promotion. It’s a gamble. At this point you may decide to purchase mailing lists from professional company who keep accurate details of potential customers who would be interested in your goods or services.

The first thing to do is to check out your competitors. If you have not received any email promotions from them, or your not on their mailing list then set up a new Gmail account that does not have to indicate your name and request that they send you information regarding their products. This is a great starting point to judging what they are up to and deciding on a campaign for you, but one, which you obviously will endeavour to improve upon.
Once they have replied to you, either via email or direct mail then check out how it’s worded. Would you be interested in purchasing any of their products after you have read the information? If you answered “Yes”, then they have a very efficient direct marketing strategy. But if you are not interested, you should strive to write a better advertisement than theirs; otherwise, your emails would be sent to the Trash bin and your business will never be giving you any positive returns.

While you are contemplating on how to effectively create a direct marketing plan that would surely give you the success you need, break them down and ponder on these questions:

1. Did their headline grab my attention? If it’s good – how can I improve on it?

2. If I were a genuine customer would I have brought from them or at least looked into their offer further?

3. Do I use an open-ended question and answer it in the sub heading?  Is an open-ended question good enough to sell my products?

4. Do I include the advantages of buying the product?

5. Should I offer a lower cost to the competitor?

6. Or should I just appeal to the consumers’ emotion and be funny or dramatic?

7. Do I advertise for a single person?.. All direct marketing is read by one person at a time so you certainly should be appealing to the individual.

8. What should the recipient do next after they have read the email? You need a call to action here, this is as simple as the last words signing off by saying “visit our website for details…” or ‘give us a call now on…” this is a subtle prompt which is used to trigger a potential customer in the required direction.

Once you have followed these few points, what are you waiting for? Get, the right message in  front of the right people and get your message out there!

Dean Williams

Dean Williams is a design and marketing blogger working for Print-Print Limited, promoting business and building brands through quality print marketing. If you’re interested in small business promotion then please get in touch hello@print-print.co.uk