Direct Mail  

To be effective with direct mail, you must get their attention, interest, desire and action. The letter is best when it starts with you and your best offer. For example, you will get 20% on all items or you can win a Notebook Computer. Find an emotional appeal and motivate the curiosity of the customer. Make the customer feel special. Greed is a big motivator.

Offers that have a time limit will out pull those that do not. It is easier to increase the average sale amount than the response in a direct mail. The P.S. is the most read part of a mailing. I would mention or restate your best value to get them to visit the small business. Use bold text sparingly or it will lose its effectiveness.

Make your letter look like it is from a friend. Address your envelope to the customer with a return address but no business name and hand address the customer’s name and with a decorative stamp. The customer is more likely to open your direct mail piece. Also using various color paper for your direct mail will make it stand out. I have found light colors such as pink, light blue and yellow easy to read. Two color letters normally out pull one color letters.

One of the keys to getting good results with direct mail is building a mailing list. It sounds simple enough, but most small businesses I have been in have done a mediocre job in getting a mailing list. Then, most of them do not take full advantage of the power of this list.

There are many ways to do so, but here are a few suggestions. You should add every customer who writes a check to your mailing list. You can manually write their address or copy it. It would be wise to ask all customers who make purchases, if they want to be on your mailing list. There are many people who will, if you just ask.

You could offer a discount to shoppers who gives you their contact info. For example, you could give a % discount, or so much off or even a free item. Make sure you tell people on your mailing list is confidential. You will not share their information with anyone. It will be used to send out letters to keep them informed about activities in the small business.

Here are some buzzwords that are good to use with direct mail copy:

You, Results, Free, Money, Save, Secrets, Fast, New, Revealed, Why, Easy, Benefits, Sale, Startling, Yes, Guarantee, How, Proven, Now