Some people dread cutting the grass. As a kid, however, I always thought there was something very satisfying about it. One of the things I liked about cutting the grass is that you could tell where you’d been. The grass was either mowed—or it wasn’t. That meant that you knew when you were done. You could look back over the yard and see if there were any spots you missed. If it all looked good, you were finished!
Doing direct mail, unfortunately, isn’t quite the same. As a matter of fact, it seems like you’re never quite done. You identify your audience and select your list—but you’re always tweaking that list and redefining your audience. Then you work on your message, and your call to action so that you can get people to respond to you. That’s always changing, too. You’re constantly looking to make your message, your package, and your call to action better.
Even when you write your mailer, design it, print it, and deliver it to the Post Office—you’re still not done! Just because your mailing lands in the proper mailbox of your intended prospect, you’re not finished.
- You need to track your mailing. How many bad addresses did your have? How many pieces didn’t deliver? You need to update your database so that you don’t continue to mail to wrong addresses.
- You need to measure your response. Just getting the envelope into the right mailbox doesn’t do you a lot of good. How many people responded? How did they respond? Did your mailing make people go to your website? What did they do when they got there? Did you mailing result in other specific action such as a purchase or a donation or a request for more information?
- You need to follow-up. What kind of plan do you have in place to get back to the people who responded? Will you email them? Will you call them? How will you follow up with the people who didn’t respond?
Sometimes businesses and organizations make the mistake of thinking that if a direct mailing reaches its destination, it’s accomplished its purpose. It hasn’t. What happens after a mailing arrives is every bit as important as getting the mailing to the right address.
All of that work makes cutting the grass seem pretty attractive. It’s a lot more straightforward. We can’t help you with your lawn, but we’d be delighted to take some of the burden off your shoulders when it comes to direct mail. Here are a few of the direct marketing services we can bring to the table.
You’re on your own for gas for your mower!
