Direct Mail Marketing

Why use Direct Mail ?

Direct mail remains an integral element within the marketing mix despite the alternatives. Here's 6 reasons why your business should consider using it:

Why Not Just Use Email Marketing Instead ?

Nowadays many businesses directly communicate with their customers exclusively by email. After all, a campaign can be set up in a couple of hours & delivered in minutes. All done for negligible cost & little business risk.

But there's a few shortcomings. The really big stumbling block is `open rates'. If 25% of recipients open your promotional email, you're doing really well. Alas, that means 75% of your audience cannot respond nor buy from you.

Then, even if opened, it probably lacks the impact of well-crafted direct mail so you'll get much lower response rates too.

Intelligently Integrate Direct Mail & Email Marketing

Alternatively, I can help you synergize the use of direct mail & email marketing within your direct marketing strategy. With intelligent integration you can fully utilise the benefits of both.  You'll then be able to contact some of your customers by a single channel that is proven to work.

As a result, you could considerably reduce your costs without diminishing sales nor the audience you reach.

The Importance Of High Quality Contact Data

Your mailer may be beautifully designed. The copy is seductive and your offer is enticing too.

But you'll only get the best results if you send the ` right message to the right person at the right time'.

That's more likely if you've cleansed your database beforehand. Your contact data will be more accurate & complete so you can more precisely identify those who will be responsive.

Better still, you'll probably be eligible for substantial postage discounts.

Consequently, high quality contact data drives data-driven marketing by improving your targeting & reducing costs

Preparing Your Contact Data

No time to deep clean your contact database before your mailing? No problem. Just let me me carry out the cleansing essentials for you:

Select Your Target Audience

The audience chosen to receive your direct marketing mailshot should be those who will perceive your offer to be personally relevant to them.

I can profile the data on your own contact database or PMS so you target people with accuracy & precision on every promotion.

Alternatively, if you want to acquire some new customers, I can help you source the most suitable Consumer Data Prospecting lists.

Using established List Brokers, these lists will consist of prospects with similar profiles to your most relevant customers.

Appearance & Presentation

How you present your contacts details on your personalised materials really does matter.

That's because people can be picky about the accurate presentation of their name & residential details and how you address them in writing.

I can precisely format this information so that you print their personal details & your introduction correctly. Do so & you'll create a better first impression, more likely to get a response.

Mailing Houses & Printers

You may already have preferred suppliers to print, personalise & enclose your direct mailshot.

If you don't, I can put you in touch with trusted mailing houses & printers who provide a high quality service.

I can even help you manage them if you don't have the time or experience to do so.

Postage Discounts

Postage will probably be the most expensive component in your direct mail campaign. It's often more than 50% of your total cost.

However, I can validate & correct the postal address of your contacts to meet Royal Mail quality standards. Then, if you are mailing in bulk, you'll quality for discounts of up 65% of the cost of 1st class mail.

Output Formats

Your mailing lists can be prepared for your mailing house or printers in a format of your choice. This could be a `ready to print' mail merge or a just a name & address data file for the personalised production of :

If you wish to add further personalisation, I can append more detailed additional variable content (dates, purchase details etc) to each record on your mailing list.

The recipient may then conclude that your communication is especially relevant to them, potentially improving your response rates.

Benefits Of Digital Printing

Direct mail might be the perfect way for you to communicate with your customers. But traditional production methods can sometimes be cumbersome & expensive, especially for lower print volumes.

Digital printing could provide the flexibility you need to make direct mail a more feasible solution. It can help you make a strong impression on your customers because you can effortlessly personalise graphics, images & logos, not just your written text.

By making smaller print runs more cost-effective, you can target specific niches using really relevant content without incurring multiple set-up fees. In other words, more responses at lower costs.

Monitor The Delivery Of Your Mailing

It's important to check that your mailing is delivered on schedule, especially if your promotion is time-sensitive.

I can help you monitor delivery dates by adding `Seeds' to your mailing list. These are usually the names & addresses of a few work colleagues, friends or family. You can then ask them to inform you when their copy of the mailing is delivered.

Post Campaign Analysis

When your direct mail campaign has concluded, you'll want to measure your results.

I can help you do just that with a detailed Post Campaign Analysis. It will calculate sales & revenue, not just overall but by each segment too.

You can then fine-tune your next campaign so you target your audience with even more precision.

Mailing Returns

Some of your mailing will be returned to you as non-deliverable. It's usually because the recipient has recently moved house or passed away.

You don't want to mail them again. Not only will this save you money & reduce waste, it also prevents further distress to the bereaved.

I can manage this time-consuming process for you. Just send me all your mailing returns `en-masse' & I'll create or update your Mailing Suppression File.