by Hal Lewis
http://directmail-mbi.com
©
2009
Are you looking for a way to spice up your marketing
campaign and bring in more business, but you can't figure out what it is? Have
you spent hours upon hours working on AdWords and optimizing your website, but
you just don't have the clientele you were hoping for? Maybe it's time to take
your advertising efforts offline and step out into the wide world of direct mail
marketing.
What is direct mail marketing? Do you remember
the last time that you walked down to your mailbox and pulled out a cute little
postcard from some business or another? That company was taking part in a direct
mail marketing campaign by sending postcards advertising their business and services
to their clientèle.
Why should you take part in
a direct mail marketing campaign? Direct mail marketing is fresh. It's fun. It's
different (which, after months upon months of agonizing over keywords and landing
pages you should be more than ready for). Most importantly, it's advertising that
gets noticed.
Of course, direct mail marketing only works
when you know the secrets of the game. Ineffective direct mailing can cost you
precious marketing dollars and not yield any results. Effective mail marketing,
on the other hand, opens up a new set of clientele. It allows you to focus your
marketing efforts on your particular demographic area if your business has an
office or other physical location that customers and clientèle could visit.
Most importantly, it brings your business out into the public eye!
The
most important thing you need to know before you launch a direct mail marketing
campaign is that in this case more is definitely not less. The longer you run
your marketing campaign the more effective it is going to be. Repetition, the
continued presence of your mailings in your customers' mailboxes, is what is going
to capture their attention.
The first month of your campaign
your customers are probably going to glance at your mailing, then toss it in the
trash. After seeing your mailings month after month, on the other hand, they're
going to remember your name (even if they forget everything else). A good direct
mail marketing campaign should run for at least twelve months; most advisors will
encourage you to go eighteen or twenty-four.
Don't miss
an opportunity to plug your business, but don't go overboard either. You want
your direct mail marketing campaign to put a fresh face on your business, not
send it into the ground. Make sure your mailings clearly explain the services
you offer, and include information about any sales or promotional activities that
you are sponsoring. Direct mailings are a great way to send out coupons as well-and
there's no better way to drum up business than to save your customers money!
The
ability to track the success of your direct mail marketing campaign is another
benefit of offering coupons in your mailings. Direct mail marketing will always
help to advance your business, but that doesn't mean that you're going to get
it right the first time. Continued tweaking of your mailings and continuously
updating both your mailing list and the information you send out are necessary
evils associated with direct mail marketing; however, if you are willing to invest
the time and effort to make your marketing campaign top-of-the-line you'll be
enjoying a boost in profit and clientele in no time.
