Direct Mail Responsiveness - Do You Know the Triggers?

by Brandon Cornett

What timing considerations do you factor into your direct mail marketing? Do you even consider timing? Do you know the biggest "triggers" that influence reader response?

An article about direct mail responsiveness
Multichannel Merchant ran an interesting article recently about various triggers that influence responsiveness. For instance, a quote:

"There are events that occur in a person's life that trigger responsiveness. Two obvious triggers are having a baby and moving to a new home. Each of these life events creates a need for a wide variety of new products and services, from a crib to a doormat."

Read the full article

Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com

Direct Mail Guide - Free Download!

Free report shows you how to combine direct mail marketing with online strategies.

Available in PDF format from our main website: www.PostcardSmart.com

Or download directly by clicking here (PDF document).

Background
Direct mail marketing is often part of a bigger picture and a longer sales cycle. In such cases, your postcards will serve a "learn more" function. This is where direct mail and websites become perfect marketing partners.

Postcards in particular make excellent website promoters. With their easy readability and "at-a-glance" impact, direct mail postcards can help you entice people to your website.

But to capitalize on such an approach, you must have a way to capture leads through your website. This guide will show you how.

Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com

Mortgage Marketing with Direct Mail - Part 2 of 2

by Brandon Cornett

In the previous post, we looked at how to use direct mail in conjunction with a training seminar. Continuing in our two-part mortgage marketing series, here's another way for mortgage professionals to use direct mail:

Technique #2 – The Free Report

Direct mail can also support your mortgage marketing efforts through the use of free reports. In recent years, the free report – a.k.a. the "white paper" – has become an increasingly popular marketing strategy. Today, many companies use reports and white papers to educate prospects about their products and services (or about topics related to those products or services).

Make Your Report a Standout
For this to work, you have to create a "must read" that your average prospect would really want to get their hands on. Maybe it's information about a new and popular type of loan. Maybe it's "insider" mortgage information they can't get from anywhere else.

Whatever approach you take, just make sure the report is strong enough to stand on its own. Here's a technique to help with this: Imagine that the only way you can market the report is by showing the cover (with title) and a two-sentence summary of the content. Based on that glimpse, does your report stand strong? Or will it rely to heavily on your direct mail piece for support?

In other words, start with a great product before you even think of promoting it. This will directly influence your direct mail response rates. Then all you have to do is feature the report in your direct mail letter or postcard.

Best Practices

• Convey the primary benefit of your report through a strong headline: "Free Report Shows How to Review Your Credit for Costly Errors."



• Point to a website where people can learn more about the report and obtain it.



• Have a lead-capturing system in place. One easy way to do this is to use a newsletter sign-up box on the web page, and then send a link to the document via auto-responder confirmation message. The postcard points to the web page, the web page captures the lead, and the auto-responder delivers the goods!

Conclusion
Direct mail is like any other form of marketing in that you get out of it what you put in. So for the best possible return on your investment, have a clearly defined goal and strategy. The strategies listed above will get you off to a great start, but don't stop there. Try and improve on these strategies. Modify them to suit your needs. And of course, be sure to track everything so you can see what works the best.


Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com

Publishing Instructions: You may republish this article (unaltered) on your blog or website as long as you include the author's byline beneath the title and the following hyperlink at the end: "Courtesy of www.directmailtips.blogspot.com"

Mortgage Marketing with Direct Mail - Part 1 of 2

by Brandon Cornett

In recent years, an increasing number of mortgage professionals have been incorporating direct mail into their mortgage marketing programs.

So this two-part series will show two ways to enhance a mortgage marketing program with direct mail. We will look at the seminar and the free report.

Technique #1 – The Seminar

Type "home buying seminar" into a major search engine and analyze the results. After a while, you'll notice a trend as far as who is offering the seminars. Many of them will be mortgage companies, or mortgage professionals in concert with real estate agents.

Why So Effective?
The reason why so many mortgage companies (and individuals) put on home buying seminars is simple. Homeowners and home buyers are hungry for information and will seek it from any source made available to them.

So if a free seminar were offered to them, most would jump at the chance. If the presenter does a good job and truly helps the audience, he or she has a good chance of gaining one or more clients.

Direct mail comes into play as a promotional device. With their "at a glance" impact, postcards in particular make excellent seminar announcements.

Best Practices

• Convey the primary benefit of your seminar through a strong headline: "Free Seminar: All Your Mortgage Questions Answered!"


• Point to a website where people can learn more about the seminar (and sign up for it).


• Create a sense of urgency: "Seats are limited, so reserve yours today."


• If possible, include a map showing the location.


• Mention a free "take away," like a printout of the presentation or a special report.

Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com

Publishing Instructions: You may republish this article (unaltered) on your blog or website as long as you include the author's byline beneath the title and the following hyperlink at the end: "Courtesy of www.directmailtips.blogspot.com"

Direct Mail Postcards - 10 Ideas to Spark Your Imagination

by Brandon Cornett

Without further ado, here are 10 things you can do with direct mail postcards:

1. Send follow-up discounts to customers.

2. Create customer-oriented press releases. More on this.

3. Drive traffic to a web-based report or white paper. More on this.

4. Announce seminars and drive registration. More on this.

5. Announce new products or services.

6. Announce enhancements to existing products or services.

7. Offer a free trial or free sample.

8. Holiday or seasonal promotions.

9. Announce a contest and provide sign-up instructions.

10. Tradeshow promotion -- give a peek at what you'll have on display.

How many ideas can you come up with?

Happy Direct Mailing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com

Direct Mail Education - Tell Your Readers What They Need to Know

by Brandon Cornett

I might not know much about your product or service. But I still might be inclined to purchase your product or hire your services ... if I understand their value.

My point is that you shouldn't assume people understand what you're selling. Even if you do all your direct mail research and have the perfect niche audience in mind, there will still be those who don't "get" what you're selling.

Maybe they don't understand how your offer is different from the competition's. Or maybe they don't recognize the value behind your offer. Or maybe they simply don't understand your product or service.

Educate Your Prospects Forward
Instead of making assumptions about your audience's level of understanding, take steps to build their level of understanding. Explain your product or service completely. Point to a free download that explains it in greater detail, or a web page that offers more information. Feature a toll-free number with a recorded message.

An educated consumer is more inclined to accept your ideas ... and want what you're selling.


Happy Direct Mailing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com

Publishing Instructions: You may republish this article (unaltered) on your blog or website as long as you include the author's byline beneath the title and the following hyperlink at the end: "Courtesy of www.directmailtips.blogspot.com"

Daily Direct Mail Tips - Direct to Your Computer!

by Brandon Cornett

Now you can have our daily direct mail tips sent directly to your computer. It's safe. It's convenient. It's simple. It's RSS.

How to Subscribe:
Start by clicking on the orange "RSS" button in the right-hand column of this page (or just click here.) You'll then have a number of subscription options (My Yahoo, Google Reader, NewsGator, regular RSS, etc.). Our feed will be added to your personal page, instantly and automatically!

It's safe.
RSS does not go through normal email channels. It is published in a special format and rebuilt on the reader’s end. This delivery method makes RSS impervious to email-based computer viruses.

It's convenient.
We published “snippets” of each marketing tip, giving you the option of clicking through to read the rest. This puts you in control.

It's private.
You can subscribe anonymously. You don't have to give up your name or email address, if that's a concern for you.

It's instant.
You will receive instant updates as soon as we publish them!

Using Direct Mail to Drive Web Traffic - 5 Strategies

by Brandon Cornett

Direct mail postcards make excellent website promoters. With their easy readability and "at-a-glance" impact, postcards can entice customers or prospects to visit your website.

So if your website is a key part of your marketing strategy (and it's primed and ready to capture leads), give one of the following strategies a try.

Five ways to drive web traffic with direct mail postcards:

1. Free reports and white papers.
Create a valuable report and make it available for download via your website. Feature the report (with graphics, excerpts, and other teasers) on a postcard. To get more out of this strategy, read this blog post about using postcards for online marketing.

2. Seminars.
Seminars are a great business-building tool for certain industries. Real estate, financial services, investing, technology ... each of these sectors can use seminars to increase their exposure and gain clients. And direct mail makes it easy for you to promote your seminars. Put the primary benefit of your seminar in the headline, and offer multiple incentives for attending. Offer a web-based form to simplify the signup process.

3. Free trial.
If you're selling software, e-books, or anything digital, you can offer a free trial or sample download through your website. Then use the direct mail piece to build interest and point readers in the right direction.

4. Newsletter subscription.
Want to increase the size of your subscriber base? Send a postcard that conveys the value of the newsletter, along with a strong bonus incentive for signing up. Create a landing page with a short URL / web address so it's easy for people to type.

5. RSS feeds.
RSS feeds are becoming a popular web-marketing tool ... and for good reason. They're easy to create and manage, and they offer another way to stay connected with your audience. Send a postcard to your customer base, showing them the value of your RSS feed, and how and where to sign up for it. (See how we promote our direct mail feed.)

Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com

Direct Mail and Personalized Wine Labels - What's Your Big Idea?

by Brandon Cornett

I saw in the news yesterday that Rodney Strong, a well-known California winemaker, has died. While recounting his professional career, the article cited Strong's innovative direct mail marketing campaigns.

Here's an excerpt:

Strong developed a marketing strategy that involved direct mail in which he offered to sell wine with a buyer's individual information on the label -- "From the wine cellar of so-and-so," or "A gift from such-and-such corporation."


The program continues to this day, a testament to its effectiveness.

That story got me thinking. Why do so many companies today waste time and money marketing mediocre products and services to hard-to-impress consumers? Why don't more companies follow the Rodney Strong model (remarkable product or service first; marketing second)?

How do you measure up in this department? Do you struggle when creating your marketing messages? If so, it might need a shot of "the old remarkable."

Or think of it this way:

If you stripped away all of the marketing glitz and placed your product onto a shelf by itself (or described your service on a plain piece of paper) -- would it seem remarkable? Would it impress members of your target audience? Or, are you mistakenly relying on your marketing to add the pizzazz?

Instead of struggling to promote something average, dig deep to find the above-average aspect of what you're selling. If there isn't such an aspect … go back to the drawing board and make one.

Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com

Direct Mail Marketing - What's Your Audience Statement?

by Brandon Cornett

In marketing in general -- and with direct mail in particular -- your audience awareness should be ever-present.

Here's the problem...

Many marketers (writers, designers and managers) have a tendency to lose touch with the very people they're trying to persuade. This often stems from a disconnect between frontline people who deal with customers (like sales and customer service) and the marketing team.

The result is that the marketing team -- or the individual marketer -- begins to write about the benefits from his or her perspective, not from the prospect's perspective. Here's a way for direct mail marketers to avoid such problems.

Create an audience statement:

Take everything you know about your customers and compile it into a list. What do they want? What are their top concerns or fears? What do they ask about on a regular basis?

Here's how my audience statement might go if I were selling accounting software.

"My audience is primarily made up of accounting folks within small to medium-sized companies. These people are constantly under pressure to accurately account for all financial transactions within their companies. The end of the month is especially stressful for them, because they have a lot of reports that are due, and they often have to track people down to research purchases and such."

Keep your audience statement handy at all times, and update it as needed. Put it on index cards and give it to everyone involved with your company's marketing. Be able to recite it verbatim without looking.

Now all you need to do is make a list of how your product or service can help these people ... how it can answer their questions ... solve their problems ... ease their worries ... and generally make their life better / simpler / more profitable.

Then you're ready to write your direct mail piece.

Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com

Direct Mail Marketing Tip - Analyze Your List

by Brandon Cornett

Your list connects you with your audience, and your audience determines your direct mail success. So give your list the attention it deserves.

Ask all the hard questions: Is my list up to date? Is this the best possible list for me to be using, given my objectives? Is my list too general? Should I segment it into groups?

Optimize your list(s) every chance you get. And make sure you protect it by saving it in various places — on your computer, on a disc, on the Internet somewhere. Can you imagine how devastating it would be to lose a list of past clients?

Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com

Your Direct Mail Offer Drives Your Response

by Brandon Cornett

Quick. What's the value of the offer on your latest direct mail piece?

Struggling to answer? If so, you need to examine your offer. To be effective, your direct mail marketing program needs to offer something of value to the reader.

Direct mail is an exchange. You give the reader something, and they give you something (their attention, their contact information, their direct response...). But the key to this exchange is that the prospect knows the value of what he or she is getting. They need to know why it's worth their time to pay attention or respond.

So tell them the value of your offer ... in clear, specific terms.

• If you're offering a free introduction of some kind, put a price tag on it. "Sign up today and get one month of our service for free. That's a $24.99 value..."


• If you're offering a free report or white paper, express the value of it (either in dollar amounts or some other metric). "It took us six weeks to research, gather and verify this valuable information. But you can have it right now, for free! Just visit www..."

There are plenty of ways to show the value of an offer. And the more value you convey, the greater the response you'll enjoy!

Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com

What's Your Direct Mail Objective?

by Brandon Cornett

Some key steps in postcard marketing:

1. Understand the value of what you're selling.
2. Identify your audience.
3. Determine your objectives.

This post will cover item #3 ... figuring out your objectives.

Start by asking yourself, “What do I want to happen as a result of sending my postcards?” Here's the key to this step. Don't ask your postcards to do more than they're capable of doing.

For example, don't use postcards to try and convince recipients that you offer superior service. That's a common mistake, and it's too much to ask of an 8"x5" piece of card stock.

“Superior service” cannot be conveyed through a postcard. It can only be conveyed through a working relationship.

Scale back the objective until we find something that (A) gives the postcard a more realistic task, (B) follows a more natural sales progression, and (C) capitalizes on known consumer behavior.

Realistic objectives for direct mail postcards:

* Get the reader to visit a Web page to learn more.

* Get the reader to call a toll-free number to learn more.

* Get the reader to fill out and return a business-reply form.

* Get the reader to subscribe to a newsletter.

* Get the reader to use the postcard as a coupon (store visit).

Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com

Direct Mail PR: Introducing the Postcard Release

by Brandon Cornett

Ever thought of sending a press release in postcard format? Sure, it's unconventional. But it can also be effective, provided you follow a few "rules."

The point here is not to replace your standard press release channels. Keep those! The point is to try and monetize your news, affordably, by using direct mail postcards.

If you generate a press release to announce a new product, service or other newsworthy event, you would probably go on to submit the release through one of the wire services. Great! That's an excellent way to generate awareness, interest and inquiries.

But why not get more mileage out of your press release by tailoring it for your customer base? Simply adjust the copy to be more customer-oriented, apply it to a postcard design with some relevant and eye-catching graphics, and send it to your customer list.

To get the most out of your postcard release:

1. Feature products and services, not general news.
Reserve this approach for product- or service-related news … news about the things you sell. If you send general news that's not tied to a product or service, you'll bore your audience and fail to recoup your mailing expense (much less make a profit from it).

2. Tweak your copy.
In pure form, press releases don't make good marketing copy. But within your press release beats the heart of a powerful marketing message. Editorial style marketing copy (a.k.a. "advertorial") has always been a strong performer. So don't rewrite the copy entirely -- tweak it. Retain the editorial feel, just liven it up a bit.

3. Put customers before prospects.
Try this approach on customers, not prospects. Your customers are more likely to be interested in your new product or service, and they're more likely to respond to it. This means a better ROI for your mailing. Remember the 80/20 rule?

4. Point to a landing page.
Postcard messages are best kept brief. So pull the most captivating points out of the release, shape them into a postcard message, and point to a website landing page where customers can learn more. And do them a favor … make the landinge page URL easy to type (i.e., ww.fakecompany.com/word). Your readers won't have the luxury of clicking the URL like they would in an email. Keep their typing to a minimum.

5. Test and experiment.
Every direct mailing should be tracked and measured. But when you try something new, like a postcard release, you really need to watch the numbers. That's the only way you'll know if your experiment is worth repeating. In addition to the usual direct mail testing points, you might even put a postcard release up against a regular marketing postcard.


Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com