วันเสาร์ที่ 18 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2555

successful Direct Mail Campaigns - Postcards

If you get away from hi-tech, direct mail is still one of the most effective forms of advertising. It's a low-cost occasion to send a message to your targeted audience. Postcards, specifically, have the quality to speedily capture the attention of someone you want as a customer, or supply an uncostly way to stay in touch with existing clients. Like any marketing campaign, you need to think several factors before starting.

The Design

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The post office has definite guidelines for postcard compose and delivery. If you are producing this material in-house, meeting the criteria will allow the use of the less high-priced postage rate. Below are the qualifications (as of this writing) by the Us Postal Service:


A larger or folded postcard does have advantages. For instance, a real estate enterprise might want to show a panoramic view of ready asset or a car dealer could feature a fleet of the newest automobiles. One of the more popular oversized postcards measures 9-by-6-inches. It is for real bigger than a #10 envelope and will garner more attention when mixed in a stack of mail. Naturally, the mailing cost will growth with the dimensions growth in size, and folded cards are thought about first-class mail. If you have any doubts about your piece, the Us Post assistance has a enterprise division to respond your questions. A printing assistance or other third-party expert creating the piece should know the post office's rules.

Now, to respond the interrogate that burns in everyone's head: Horizontal or Vertical positioning? Think over the years to whenever someone handed you his/her enterprise card and it was vertically aligned. Unless it was presented to you so the words could be read immediately, you had to shift the card to look at it. Did it feel a diminutive odd having to switch the direction? The natural habit is for a enterprise card to be horizontal; same applies to a postcard. There is nothing wrong with a vertical postcard, but people are accustomed to reading horizontal ones. A vertical postcard is frightful for putting coupons at the bottom while allowing your message to remain intact at the top, such as for a pizza delivery company.

Next, you will need to rule your headline and message. Actually, you'll need two headlines: One on the address side and someone else on the message side. The headline on the address side should elicit some sort of reaction that will be a prompt for the card to be turned over to the message side. The address-side headline would appear on the left side of the postcard and below your return address. Certainly have your return address on the postcard. This will help to filter bad feel data. Your enterprise logo, stylized fonts, or whatever else is used to brand your enterprise can be used, as well. It is recommend to include your phone whole and web site, too. There is a 50% occasion the address side will face up when on a stack of mail. Might as well use that to your advantage and there isn't any additional printing cost. Be aware of the positioning of any copy or images so as not to interfere with the post office's compose requirements.

On the message side, the headline will narrate 90% of your message, like the tabloids at your local grocery store. This attention-grabber will give the recipient a compelling hypothesize to continue reading. The article of the copy should be to the point and supply a hypothesize to take activity or feel you by phone, email, or viewing a definite web page (more about this later). Squinting is not a comfortable thing to do. The postcard will end up in the trash speedily if the font is too small to read. Graphics and images typically have a greater transportation function due to the diminutive space for copy; photo of a car for car sales, house for real estate, giant tooth for a dentist...you get the idea. Remember a picture is worth a thousand Dollars (that's a paraphrase).

Here is a indispensable aspect of the process: Proof Your Material several Times! Did you understand that? There are many tales about someone looking grammatical errors, missing or wrong telephone number, incorrect graphic, or using dot-net instead of dot-com After the material was mailed. Some mistakes could cost more than others. What happens if you're advertising a "Buy One, Get One 50%-Off" and nobody noticed the "Buy One" quantum was missing? Okay, that example was over the top, but you get the idea. Conditions, restrictions, copyright marks, and other "read the small print" objects will need to be checked for errors and to make sure it's for real on the piece. Try to have several people check the material for accuracy before sending it to the printer, and check it again when the printer sends a sample proof. You might find a previously missed gaffe or the colors didn't turn out the way you intended.

There are probably several printing services in your immediate area. Take advantage of the Internet and research printers in other areas as well as some of the online print companies.

Contact Data

Let's assume your client feel database is up to date and used on a quarterly basis. Yay for you! If that is not the situation, Now is the time to get it organized and remind your clients that they are still leading to you. Yes, that's right: Your current clients will feel slighted when non-customers (prospects) receive some promotional price on your goods or services. If your enterprise isn't structured that way, then think of mailing a postcard to your clients as providing good buyer relations.

Your company's web site is the next uncostly and easy method for collecting feel data. Give the web visitor a hypothesize to narrate their all-secret identity by offering something you have that has intrinsic or real value, such as joining a list for discounts, a free newsletter, or way to an informative article. Just be pushy about it. Asking too for too much personal information too speedily is a turn-off and will chase away possible customers. A "Contact Us" page with a proper form is adequate for most enterprise models.

Some lists are ready for free. Government records, apartment complexes by unit number, or cooperate with someone else enterprise on a joint mailing. Ask your current clients for the names of people they know who might be interested in your product or service. By the way, the easier it is to get a list the more other groups/businesses will be using it too.

Business associations, social organizations, and publications where your enterprise advertises might allow you to use their list of members or subscribers. This will supply an additional level of filtering to reach a more targeted audience. In many instances the society will ask you to supply the materials and they will coordinate the mailing in an effort to keep their list private. Some associations will permit a third-party (fulfillment house) to process your campaign under the trade the list will be kept confidential. Either or not there is a charge for acquiring the list depends on the policies of the enterprise or organization.

Purchasing data is a very effective means of acquiring quality contacts. There are many associates that specialize in conference and purifying feel data. This will save some marketing dollars as you can target a definite audience. The list can be as straightforward as name and address by geographic location or filtered by a detailed demographic search. The more detailed the information the higher the cost will be. Lists range in price from 15- to 75-cents per contact. When you interview list associates ask about the error rate for their data. At last check, 9% bad data is the manufactures average.

Use the recipient's name whenever you have it. Mail addressed to "Occupant" or "Resident" is a signal to throw it away immediately. Be a diminutive creative for when the name isn't available. "Hungry Bbq Lover" to advertise a cafeteria is a good way to get attention.

Distribution

Get your postcards, buy the stamps, print address labels, attach both, and drop in the mail. Done! That was the straightforward version. Some businesses will engage the whole family in this type of production. Many independent contractors will sit at home in front of the television and process all their material. It works and it might work for you.

Let's say you plan to mail indispensable quantities - 500 or more pieces - on a routine basis. Take into consideration the man-hours (labor cost) of using your staff and executing a timely campaign. You might want to think about having a bulk mail license to save on postage. It is recommend to assign one or two people to ensure all the bulk mail is sorted agreeing to the licensing trade with the Us Postal Service.

Fulfillment services can process your materials, get it to the post office, and most will allow the use of their bulk mailing license. Their representatives can offer ideas and suggestions for how often you should send mail, the newest trends in direct mail strategies, and help coordinate your mailings with the rest of your marketing plan. Some printing associates also offer mailing service; a one-stop shop for all your distribution needs.

Follow-up

As with any mailing, the success rate of the campaign increases considerably when it's followed up with a phone call. This "warm call" can be used to confirm the postcard was delivered to the intended recipient or find out if there are any questions about the postcard's message. When dealing with a large whole of contacts, it might be best to maintain the services of a telemarketing or enterprise development company. A personal visit (door knocking) can be equally as effective.

Earlier in this record it was recommend that one way for people to act on your message is for them to visit a definite web page. definite because it's easier to know why web traffic has increased and who is visiting. Make sure the web address (Url) is straightforward and clear, for instance 'YourWebsite.com/postcard.' people will get frustrated if they can't get to where they want to go quickly. It is not indispensable to have a unique page for the campaign; it only makes it easier to track responses. Remember to test the web address and narrate the page as part of the proofing process.

Your frontline staff should be prepared to react with any calls or responses. Create a law and teach your staff the process. If your postcard included some type of discount, make sure your computer or cash register law has been programmed accordingly. For retailers who featured a single product: Think about the in-store presentation. You could have the product prominently displayed at the front of the store. Since the buyer already knows about the item from the postcard, a recommend strategy would be to have the display in someone else section of the store to encourage shoppers to walk through to see more of your offerings. Situate a complimenting product close by to capture any impulse purchases. For example, if your featured product is kitchen knives, place within arm's reach a choice of cutting boards, blade sharpeners, and protective gloves. Grocers do this all the time. When you buy ice cream you don't have to go very far to find the chocolate and caramel sauce.

Tracking Results

You will want to have a law for tracking each mailing. The message, any offers or discounts, to whom the card was sent, when it was sent, its projected delivery date, and the cost of the campaign. Aside from your due diligence as a responsible enterprise person, you'll want to know the effectiveness of the promotion.

Tracking the response rate is vitally important. Criteria such as who responded (because it might be someone who was not on your list), promptness of the response compared to the advent of the offer, the offer that got their attention, and how they contacted you (phone, email, web hit), was the someone production a buy or an inquiry call and when do they plan to buy. record how many postcards were returned to quantify your database and modernize your mailing list for hereafter use.

With the information on the cost of materials and distribution compared to responses, you will be able to hypothesize your key numbers. This information will aid in the compose and article of hereafter mailings.

Key Numbers

Percentage of Bad Contacts =

Number of Returned divided by Total Mailed

Percentage of Responses =

Number of Responses divided by [Total Pieces Mailed minus Returned Pieces]

Cost per Response =

Total Cost of Campaign divided by Total Responses

Cost per Sale =

Total Cost of Campaign divided by Total Responders who made a Purchase

This example is a straightforward analysis. Depending how many factors were included with your primary data, it is possible to delve into the information (datamine) to find more responses from a single zip code, people in a clear age range, by gender, or any other demographic aspect. Either it's straightforward or profound, you need to know the effectiveness in order to plan the next campaign.

For some, postcards will be the best communications tool, and for others it won't fit their enterprise structure. Without a doubt, postcards are an effective way to stay associated with your target audience when incorporated into an allembracing marketing strategy. They will help to keep your message fresh and your name in front of current and possible customers. See if they will work for you!

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