Business, Communication.
Basics prevail when it comes to direct mail (part 1) - despite postal increases, regulations tightening for, paper price increases security and machineability reasons, direct mail is still the most effective way to reach a defined large scale audience, build sales and brand awareness, and move units. For those just entering the arena of marketing, and for some seasoned professionals who are stuck in a rut or have been cornered by their corporate circumstances, sometimes it' s best to return to basics to boost response, for the keys to success are often there in plain sight. It is direct, it' s accountable, it' s relatively predictable and efficient, and it can be tested and refined to maximize results.
The tenets set forth here are merely guidelines - there are no" rules" in direct mail, except those imposed by the postal system. - direct mail is a game of dollars and details - execution details can spell the difference between success and failure. Some of the greatest successes occurred because someone broke the" rules, " and approached something from a different angle. An increase of$ 200 in expense can also yield many thousands of yield dollars, if spent in the right place. If you stick to the basics and grow from there, you' ll rarely go wrong. 1) Keep It Simple - a highly complex integrated multi - media offer may work, but there is far more that can go wrong. But you don' t need years of experience or thousands of campaigns under your belt to put together an effective basic campaign that gets results. The more elements you integrate, the greater the chance that something will not perform up to expectation.
Stick to a simple offer, a straightforward response device, and a good simple tracking system. - if the chance exists for you or your vendor to get confused, think about how easily the recipient will be. Use as many" standard" components as you can, including standard - size# 9 return envelopes. Number 10 envelopes are the most widely machineable size, but you can make them stand out in the mailbox with over prints, unusual colors, teaser lines, kraft and other mock - immediate envelopes that don' t affect machinability. For letter packages, standard size pages are very comfortable for most people, and with some careful design decisions will be the least expensive, compared to off - size, out - size of unusual shape pages. With regard to sizes, be sure in the design phase that your mailing follows the" Gosinta" rule( I said there are no rules, but this is a pretty easy guideline to meet) , that the response device" Goes In To" the reply envelope cleanly, without a lot of folding or manipulation - you don' t want your recipients to have to be expert origami craftsmen to send you back your reply device! Be sure the designer checks carefully.
I don' t know how many packages I' ve tried to reply to that the reply coupon was too long for the# 9 response carrier, or just a shade too tall to let it close cleanly. - all this is an effort to keep it simple for you to produce and track, and easy to respond to for the recipient. 2) keep your priorities straight - focus on what will provide the greatest gains, in order. The most spectacular offer, with copy that is pure poetry, designed by Michelangelo won' t pull if it goes to the wrong audience. First priority is the list. The List - Spend your time and money on getting the best list, in the cleanest form possible. Clean the list, standardize and update the addresses, merge/ purge gang or compiled lists and get your final outgoing data in its purest form, and the battle is half won.
A good clean list saves waste, it reduces production costs, it boosts response all by itself as a percentage of outgoing mail, and can make or break your mailing. - even the cleanest list of the wrong names won' t help, so do your homework and take careful stock of your selects. If you' re using rented lists, merge/ purge priorities are extremely important, and your list processor can work you through the options to get you exactly what you need. If you' re using exclusively in - house lists, take your cut of the database carefully with logical query selects to target the audience most closely, based on your profile of the ideal customer. If you' re using compiled lists, until it hurts, select excessively - when it doubt, throw it out. The Offer - The next priority is putting together a price, a process and a product that will instantly and compellingly appeal to the target audience. Compiled lists are the least reliable, the lowest mailability level, simply because of the nature of the process.
What that means is that when the recipients read your offer, it should seem almost too good to be true, certainly too good to ignore. - the offer should be clear, straightforward and logical, concise. Your design and copy can set this up by creating expectation for the value of your product, but the offer in black and white, the" What You Get, for What It Costs" is the kernel of your mailing, and will help crystallize all the other elements for the reader - it' s the bottom line for the mailing. Copy can come from other angles and other motivators, but the offer should at least make sense and pass the" sniff" test. "A" should yield" B" in a very recognizable form, or the recipient will get confused. They should only face one choice, to buy! It should also be unequivocal - if you ask the reader to make a choice, they will - none. Make it easy to respond, and they will - if the reader has to jump through a lot of hoops to return the response device, you' ll lose a great percentage of them.
In an era of" To respond, visit our website, " making it easy has never been more relevant. - that' s not to say that the response device shouldn' t be engaging - generations of sticker mailings and scratch - off tickets have taught readers that there' s some mystery to the offer and the action engages the reader, then response will increase, for certain audiences. The Copy - Tell the story you need to tell to be compelling and to engage the audience. The most valid one seems to be, "copy should be as long as you need to tell the story. " That holds pretty well as long as it' s used within reason. In letter packages particularly, there are lots of accepted truths about copy, its length and, its focus other parameters, that may or may not be valid. The copy length must also be appropriate for the audience demographic - a three - page letter is unlikely to engage teens or time - starved college students, with short attention spans and MTV instant reward mentality. Copy should be persuasive, and lead the reader down the path to the purchase.
It might work extremely well with seniors, who have the time, attention spans and language skills to understand, appreciate and be engaged with long stories leading to a conclusion. - that doesn' t mean it can' t appeal to the reader' s various emotions, envy, including greed, loneliness, self - esteem, lust or others. A Word About Copy - Copy should contain Benefits, not just Features. Emotional motivators rule the day, but the format and the pathway for the reader should be logical and discernable, and keep the audience' s attention long enough to get to the pot of gold at the end. Copy that is benefit - laden puts the reader in the position you want them in - one where their problem, real or perceived thanks to you, is solved. Features describe the product, benefits show what the product does for them. Benefits show them how the product or service will solve the problem, through example - features leave the problem - solving to the reader' s imagination - if they don' t connect the dots from your feature description to the benefit to them, you lose them.
Do for you is better. - all these guidelines( and there are many more not represented here) are intended to help you produce and mail to your intended audience successfully and profitably. Benefit laden copy sells, and that' s the object of the game. The less you spend on postage, rejected mail, wasted list names, producing unnecessary components that don' t boost response, the more money you can spend on mailing package that pull, building revenue and enhancing sales volume. Get it wrong, and you' re throwing money down a hole. Mail is a game of efficiency/ return trade - offs - make the right decisions, and you' ll get back more than you could have imagined.
Nobody gets raises and bonuses for that, do they?
