The Power of Handwritten Notes in Marketing

  • Author: admin
  • Posted on: April 17, 2014
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Unlike email or other digital marketing campaigns, only direct mail can offer a handwritten note. A personalized note can increase response to a marketing campaign by 30-50%. For those looking for something new in their marketing strategy, personalization may be an answer. Why Personalization Works If you pick up the phone and the caller mispronounces your name, how likely are you to hang up? The reason for such a negative response is that it's evident that the caller isn’t making a personal call; you were simply the next name on a long list. There is a similar response when people receive a piece of mail that is addressed to "current resident" or a letter that opens with, "Dear Friend." Even with a mass mailing, simply having a name on each letter makes recipients more likely to read it, because people will feel the mailing was intended solely for them. Addressing the reader by name is the first step to increasing the response rate in a direct mail marketing campaign. Read More

Welcome-to-the-Neighborhood Marketing

  • Author: admin
  • Posted on: April 15, 2014
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  Moving to a new city can be challenging when it comes to discovering the best places to go to complete everyday tasks. Where is the closest grocery store? Where do I get my hair cut? How far is it to make a run for pizza? Every new resident in an area has similar questions and concerns. This makes for a wonderful direct mail marketing niche. Read More

Using Cartoons in Direct Mail Marketing

  • Author: admin
  • Posted on: April 10, 2014
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  If you’re looking to try something new with your direct mail marketing, try a touch of humor. Everyone welcomes the opportunity to laugh, especially after a long, stressful day. The last thing people are looking for when sifting through a mound of bills is a serious or exaggerated advertisement. Instead, try a humorous cartoon for something more lighthearted. Humor for Business There’s no doubt humor can be very good for business. Associating your company with good humor and a smile can help build relationships and create a positive image for your organization. Cartoons can be a useful tool to employ in marketing. They can offer potential customers a taste of what the company is like. If the message being sent is, "We are fun and don't take ourselves too seriously," most people will respond in a positive way. A cartoon can pique a potential customer’s interest and encourage them to want to learn more about you and the services or goods you offer. Read More

How Big Does My Direct Mailing Have to Be to Be Effective?

  • Author: admin
  • Posted on: April 9, 2014
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  For many businesses the days of massive direct mailings are over. The increased costs of printing and postage for large direct mail efforts are simply prohibitive. But does the size of a mailing really matter—or can direct mail be effective on a smaller scale? Let’s be clear about something: When you reduce a mailing from 100,000 pieces down to 5,000 pieces you lose economies of scale. Your per-piece costs for services such as creative, design, printing, and mailing can go up pretty dramatically. Read More

4 Methods Direct Mail Can Integrate with Other Forms of Marketing

  • Author: admin
  • Posted on: April 8, 2014
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The role of direct mail in a multichannel marketing strategy is something like the role of grass in a bird’s nest. It has to be woven in so well you don’t see  individual strands. It strengthens strategy and adds color without being the hub around which the process hinges. Below are four methods of integrating direct mail with other marketing to create a multichannel strategy. Read More

5 Ways of Mixing Direct Mail with Mobile for Marketing Purposes

  • Author: admin
  • Posted on: April 4, 2014
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  Ok, so direct mail is the way to go and yet you keep hearing how mobile is taking over the world! You couldn’t get two marketing methods more opposite than those, right? Just because you’ve identified mailing as a good way to reach your target audience doesn’t mean you can’t use inbound marketing methods like mobile. According to research by the USPS, here are 5 ways to use them together so the one supports the other—and vice versa. More Online Sales 64% of people with smartphones now use them to shop online, and three quarters of those would switch brands if they received a mobile coupon while shopping. So one way to increase the results of a direct mail campaign is to include a special promotion or offer that can be used when buying online or via mobile for a limited time. Read More

How To Maximize the Leads from Your Direct Mail Campaign

  • Author: admin
  • Posted on: April 3, 2014
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  Direct mail is making a comeback as a powerful method of generating leads when it’s used correctly, for several reasons: 1. People actually still read their mail, as opposed to hitting the proverbial delete button; and Read More

Are You Rolling the Dice on Marketing Success?

  • Author: admin
  • Posted on: March 28, 2014
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  Every day you roll the dice a bit with your marketing efforts. Let’s face it; even though there is a definite science to online, inbound marketing, you still take a chance every time you roll out a new marketing attempt. That doesn’t make you irresponsible as a marketer. It’s simply the reality of doing marketing in an every-changing world.  What worked yesterday may not work today—and almost certainly won’t work tomorrow. As marketing has moved online, there has been a huge amount of emphasis placed on search engine optimization (SEO). It’s certainly understandable. If more and more of your business comes to you through the Web, you want to get found by the search engines. Getting found is essential. But a lot of attempts to optimize websites in order to get found have been unfruitful—at least those attempts to outsmart the search engines. Marketers who try to “game Google” end up paying a price. They can actually find their rankings get pushed lower because Google knows exactly what they’re trying to do. Read More

5 Lessons from the Greatest Direct Mail Campaigns Ever

  • Author: admin
  • Posted on: March 24, 2014
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They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? If Apple and Google have experienced overwhelming success with direct mail campaigns, why can’t your business? By understanding the strategies used by the most effective direct mail campaigns, your business can create a strategy to generate leads and grow your brand awareness. Keys to a successful direct mail marketing strategy include: Read More

When It’s OK to Point Your Customers to Someone Else

  • Author: admin
  • Posted on: March 21, 2014
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  Why does your company engage in marketing activities? It’s not to show off your creative talents. It’s not because you have extra money lying around that you need to spend. It’s to attract the right people to your business. It’s to generate leads and to turn those leads into customers. It’s to point people to you, right? Still, there are two times when it’s OK to point potential customers to someone else. And not only is it OK—it can actually work in your favor. Read More