One of the reasons why direct mail is the best form of marketing is that it is targeted marketing. You are using a rifle, not a shotgun. When you advertise in newspapers, magazines, or on television or radio, you are “shooting” your offer to all kinds of people, most of whom will have no interest in your service or products. Direct mail allows you to focus on exactly the type of people you want to reach.
That customization makes all the difference. You can spend your money to reach the people who are most likely to do business with you, not waste it on the general public. Learn what worked best and where they heard about your offer, as opposed to TV, radio, magazine or newspaper ads, so you save money. Your sales message can be confidential, personal, and one-on-one, and that’s very powerful.
With direct mail, there are no limitations. You have complete flexibility and control over the length and format of your sales message. Other forms of advertising make you conform to their rules; not direct mail. You have the power to make your sales message say what you want and ask for the offer directly. When you send out 10,000 pieces of mail, it’s like having 10,000 salespeople in one envelope. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that if you had a sales force making calls, they would probably have a better ratio of orders to person called than direct mail. In fact, it would be highly unusual if they didn’t.
But how many people can a salesperson reach in one day? Ten? Twenty? They are limited by the number of businesses or consumers they can call or call. With direct mail you can send as many pieces as you want. They may not have the impact of the face-to-face salesperson, but they will do a better job because you’ll get more orders. Salesmanship is great, but few of us can afford to send a huge sales team out to visit our prospects.
Direct mail is also the best marketing research tool. It’s the ultimate way to reach new customers, and it’s relatively cheap, because you can test mail. You can make small shipments to start; and then when you see results, you can double, triple or quadruple the number of shipments you make.
I believe that direct mail has proven to be a powerful communication tool, even in this age of electronic marketing. It is tailor-made for two-step marketing and you can use it for any business. Some people think that if they have a store, they can’t really use direct mail because all their sales are done in the store, but that’s not true, because it can attract people who might never have come in otherwise. It can make you a lot of money, and you should get involved as soon as you can.
You know how a shotgun works; sends out a flurry of shots that hits everything within a certain distance. If you’re using a shotgun approach to marketing, your message scatters in all directions. It mostly hits the wrong targets. Radio ads, TV ads, billboards, newspaper and magazine ads – those are all shotgun approaches. Your message is wasted on most people. That is the nature of a shotgun.
On the other hand, you have probably heard about sniper rifles and how a good sniper can hit a target hundreds or thousands of meters away. Rifles offer extreme accuracy. When you extend this analogy to your marketing, you are talking about precision and control, putting your sales message exactly where you want it for maximum impact. There is very little in the way of wasted resources. While it won’t reach everyone, at least your email will reach only the people you already know are interested in the types of products and services you sell, whether you’re a local reaching out to specific people in the community or an email national. firm request. Your list can consist of your own customers (people you’ve sold similar things to before) or a rented list of those who have bought similar things from other people.
The fact that a direct mail package is basically a sales rep in an envelope is particularly effective. You can present your entire sales presentation in an envelope thousands or millions of times, and you’ll never have to worry about your sales reps getting moody, tired, or depressed, and they’ll never ask for a raise. When people open your envelope, it gives them a big promise and a guarantee of what they will receive when they do business with you. If you use two-step marketing, you invite them to request more information. If you have a local business, you can invite them to visit your store for a sale or special event.
direct mail is salesmanship. It’s all about taking the best qualities you see in a complete sales presentation and boiling them down to a single package. It answers all the major objections a potential buyer will have. It brings all the benefits to life and creates a great sense of urgency for them to respond. now. Your strategy can and should include a lot of follow up. I recently managed a two-step campaign that we followed up with a 44-page sales letter. During those 44 pages, we reveal everything. It gets people excited, fired up, and ready to go.
You can start small with direct mail and grow as your business expands. That is another aspect of total control; the scale is up to you. You can go as far as you can afford or go slowly. I love this aspect of control, as I think any entrepreneur would. Control feels good. You are not giving your money to some magazine, newspaper, radio station or television station. You don’t even have to give your money to a mail house. You can do it all yourself if you want.