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5 Ways Direct Mail Can Attract Customers
Direct mail can be an effective way to attract new customers. [1] Target a small trade area and use direct mail as part of a long-term marketing system. [2] It typically takes 7 impressions before a customer makes a purchase, so consistent contact is important. [3] Consider the USPS Every Door Direct Mail program which offers lower postage rates but has limitations.
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5 Ways Direct Mail Can Attract Customers
- 1. 5 tips toAttract Customers Using Direct Mail 1
- 2. Session Framework Kurt Johnson Lora Ullerich kurt@postcardbuilder.com Lora.Ullerich@coleinformation.com www.postcardbuilder.com www.coleinformation.com
- 3. Session Framework Session Framework •Tips to define your area and target tools. •Step-by-step postcard design to drive results. • Close with five action points to start on today.
- 4. Background •Cole Directory publishedin 1947. •Crisscross directory of addresses & phone numbers. •Invaluable information for: •Telemarketing Jack Cole, Cole Information founder •Debt collection •Law enforcement •Today, web-based lead generation for businesses.
- 6. Features: • Webinars • Articles • Buddy’s Blog • Resources
- 7. Connect with us: • Facebook • Linkedin • YouTube • Twitter
- 8. You’ve got mail! •Despite: •Social media popularity •Cell phone explosion •Email marketing campaigns •Mail is big business: •171 billion pieces of mail processed by USPS in 2010 •80% scan direct mail •4.7% growth in 2012
- 9. 5 Direct MailTips to Session Framework Attract New Customers •Direct Mail is more effective with smaller trade areas. •It takes 7 impressions on average before a customer makes a purchase decision. •Develop long-term marketing systems. •Consider the new USPS Every Door Direct Mail program. •Perfect postcard design.
- 10. Define your Community •Listbuilders are free •Accurate information •Easy to use
- 11. Rule of 7 ResearchProves 7 impressions Make a Sale: •More brand impressions=higher response. •The more a prospect sees your brand, the move favorable the impression. •Need to be “top of mind” at the time a purchase decision is being made.
- 12. Sustainable Marketing •Create marketingsystems that work. •Test & measure. •Rule of thumb: •Mail 5,000 pieces •Expect 1% response rate (50 prospects) •Close 20% responses (10 new customers) •Repeat!
- 13. Ever Door DirectMail New Product from the Postal Service: •Good: 14.5 cent postage, no permit needed, no address needed. •Bad: Must be larger than 6 x 11.5, extensive reporting and sorting, limit of 5,000, can’t target just homes. •Look for other vendors to facilitate service and drive down costs – www.EveryDoorDirect.com
- 14. Perfect Postcard Design •Stoppingpower •Product information •Compelling offer •Relevant message
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- 23. m Letter •Quote Letter •Pre-Planning Letter •I’min your area •Just Listed/Just Sold
- 24. Five Action Points •Define trade area • Crunch the numbers • Design a campaign • Create harmony in your approach • Commit & track
- 25. Resources Colecommunity.com Resourcefilled with webinars, videos, a blog and articles dedicated to small business owners grow their business. Postcardbuilder.com Resource based in Minnesota who specializes in direct mail for small business owners.
Editor's Notes
- #2 Good afternoon. Thanks for joining us for Cole Information’s Small Business Marketing 101 Webinar 4 ways to attract customers using the power of Direct Mail. It was originally just 4—but we have a bonus tip for you today!
- #3 My name is Lora, I’m the digital media specialist for Cole Information. Today I’m joined with Kurt Johnson with Postcardbuilder.com. Kurt is the owner of postcardbuilder.com. Kurt, tell me a little about yourself & your company. Expert in the field How long have you been in business?
- #4 Discuss today's session. Today we’re going to go over the power of direct mail and 4 tips to help you find new customers using it. We’ll cover how to define your target area & free—including the geography demographics of your area & low-cost tools that can help you figure this out. We’ll also give you some tips on how to incentivize your direct mail piece to get customers to respond—and it’s not necessarily through coupons and discounts but rather actual events. Also how the postal service is helping out small business owners. We’ll also Then we’ll follow
- #5 Before we get started, just a little background on Cole Information. In 1947, Jack Cole created Cole Directory, a directory of people by their address and phone number. Jack’s considered the father of direct mail. While companies had dabbled in this type of directory in the past, what made Cole Directory revolutionary was that he used IBM punch cards to streamline the process and thus created a searchable database. This type of crisscross directory was groundbreaking & invaluable to a number of industries including telemarketing, debt collection and law enforcement. Today, through a number of our products, including Cole X-Dates & Cole Lists, we have continued to provide small business owners this searchable database of addresses and phone numbers that allows them to target consumers and businesses in their own neighborhood. We also want to provide small businesses with the necessary tools and information they need to grow their business. We do that through Cole community.com and also these small business 101 webinars.
- #6 We also have a an online community called Cole Community, where with articles, a blog & other content including past webinars we think is interesting & is beneficial to small business owners like yourself. We invite you to take a look around, check out the site & use it as a resource for your needs.
- #7 Cole Community features articles, a blog & other content including past webinars we think is interesting & is beneficial to small business owners like yourself. Best of all, it’s FREE! Also check out our Facebook page & join us on the conversation there. We updated to the new timeline which goes live on March 30—so please use our online communities for We invite you to take a look around, check out the site & use it as a resource for your needs.
- #8 Don’t forget about our other social media arenas. From FB to LinkedIn, Youtube & twitter, we’d love to connect with you and want to hear what you’re saying. If you like our blog/articles, status update/video or tweet—tell us about it! We updated to the new timeline which goes live on March 30—so please use our online communities for We invite you to take a look around, check out the site & use it as a resource for your needs.
- #9 Despite the fact that there are 800 million active users on FB and actually spend most of their online time on the site, and when they’re not doing that they’re on pintrest, tweeting or updating their linked in profile. According to comScore, as of June 2011 there were 234 million U.S. cell-phone subscribers 13 and older, and about 33% of these were smartphone owners. A number that’s only expected to grow. And over 33 Billion SPAM emails zapped world wide each and every day, direct mail may be your best option to get your message out—especially if you’re a local small business owner. Direct mail continues to be a viable tradition form of advertising. According to the United States Postal Service in 2010 they process 171 billion pieces of mail and on average 80% of Americans scan their direct mail. It continues to work because it’s intimate, active, easy to track & cost effective. Also, the direct marketing association predicts that this year, direct marketing driven sales will grow nearly 5 %. So as a small business owner, how can you clear through all the clutter & get your message read? Kurt, this is your area of expertise, so I’m going to turn it over to you.
- #10 Thanks, Lora. That’s right. The 5 tips I’m going to cover to attracting new customers in your community with direct mail include: Smaller the trade area, the more effective direct mail is Provide an offer, but also an event. The number of impressions or times a prospect/customer must see your brand to be effective Develop marketing systems that give you a good ROI
- #11 Postcardbuilder & Cole Information have tools that are designed to make it easy a certain part of town.
- #12 The Rule of Seven is an old marketing adage. It says that a prospect needs to see or hear your marketing message at least seven times before they take action and buy from you. Here’s the thing, you can’t just engage in a marketing activity and then be done. Marketing must be an on-going process in order for it to be successful.
- #13 The goal with any marketing is to develop marketing systems that you can put into your annual marketing budget and use over and over again. This marketing system has been proven to have good results & an acceptable ROI. To get there, you need to measure & test: For example, let's say you are mailing 5000 postcards. 1% response rate would be 50 people that have made contact somehow, by phone, email, landing page, etc. Let's say your sales team is good and they close 20% of these responses. That means you now have 10 new clients. So you need to repeat. And figure out what works. If you get a reasonable response the first test, subsequent mailings will only get better.
- #14 The Rule of Seven is an old marketing adage. It says that a prospect needs to see or hear your marketing message at least seven times before they take action and buy from you. Here’s the thing, you can’t just engage in a marketing activity and then be done. Marketing must be an on-going process in order for it to be successful.
- #16 First, let’s take a look at the show stopper. This is a postcard Cole Information sent out to prospects in advance of a trade show we went to in Texas. As you can see, it’s Goal: Increase qualified leads and sales Campaign: 3,500 postcards promoting VW, Porsche and Audi auto repair. Postcard Design: This bold design, provided by Rivercity Autowerks, is simple, straightforward and notifies readers right away that their dealership service can save them money. The back repeats the type of vehicles they service because the recipients have those specific vehicle makes and models. Kurt what is good about this postcard?
- #17 If you’re going to go with postcards, there are several elements to the perfect postcard. They include: Show stopper Relevant message Product information Compelling offer QR Code
- #18 If you’re going to go with postcards, there are several elements to the perfect postcard. They include: Show stopper Relevant message Product information Compelling offer QR Code
- #19 If you’re going to go with postcards, there are several elements to the perfect postcard. They include: Show stopper Relevant message Product information Compelling offer QR Code
- #20 If you’re going to go with postcards, there are several elements to the perfect postcard. They include: Show stopper Relevant message Product information Compelling offer QR Code
- #21 More information about product?
- #22 Today we’re talking about direct mail & it’s importance, but there’s no reason why DM or traditional offline marketing can’t work in concert with digital marketing. Today it’s all about creating dialogue, building relationships where your customers are at. If 80 percent of your audience sees your direct mail piece—why not use a QR code to drive them to your website, an offer, a coupon, video, etc.? That’s what this company has done in this case.
- #23 Today we’re talking about direct mail & it’s importance, but there’s no reason why DM or traditional offline marketing can’t work in concert with digital marketing. Today it’s all about creating dialogue, building relationships where your customers are at. If 80 percent of your audience sees your direct mail piece—why not use a QR code to drive them to your website, an offer, a coupon, video, etc.? That’s what this company has done in this case.
- #24 Thanks Kurt—very insiteful information. Today we’ve spent a lot of time on postcards, but letters are another form that are important and effective way to get your message out to a targeted list via direct mail. Here’s an example of a quote letter if I was an insurance agents would prepare using information from our products—in this case Cole X-Dates. I would recommend conducting a targeted drip marketing campaign—where you send out a letter 60 days in advance of that particular expiring homeowner’s policy like the one here—then maybe 30 days out, send a reminder postcard & follow up with a phone call—hey, did you get my letter/postcard—what did you think? Do you want to sit down & crunch the numbers? But funeral directors also use them to send out pre-planning letters to prospects of a certain age & income level. If you’re in the Home service industry –like painters, roofers, carpenters, etc. you could use our products including Cole Lists to define the area and send out a targeted letter or a postcard within a half-mile radius of their job site to let neighbors know their in the area working on John Smith’s house & can save his neighbors 10% or a free quote. Real estate agents also use letters/postcards to inform neighbors of a just listed/just sold home. So in addition to postcards, letters are another effective way to utilize a direct mail.
- #25 Here’s some online resources for you. Are there any questions?
- #26 Here’s some online resources for you. Are there any questions?