1. Data is king
The quality of your list will directly correlate to the results of your campaign.  First, it is important to make sure the data is “clean”, ensuring that your pieces are able to be delivered through the postal stream.  Secondly, the audience you choose can make or break the campaign.  The people who are most likely to respond to your campaign are those who have already purchased from you. Therefore, it is important to make sure they are included in your campaign with as much relevant data as possible.  Additionally, it is worth a look at those previous customers to see if you can identify any trends so you can better determine who your next customer will be.

2. It's not easy
If it was easy then everyone would do it well. Truth is, although many people do utilize direct marketing campaigns, few do it well. Direct marketing takes some experimenting in order to understand your particular market and the best way to market to them. Plus, understanding all of the postal regulations and discounts available can be extremely confusing. Find an experienced partner that you trust to help guide you through the process — like us!

3. Have a call to action
To assume your clients/prospects know how to contact you is a mistake. Be direct, give them a good reason for contacting you, and provide options to do so. Many people prefer to call while others would rather email you. Give them the power to choose. Also, when you give people a reason to act now, they are more likely to respond than if they think they can get that same offer at any time.

4. Consider the medium
Direct marketing uses a variety of mediums, including postcards, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional letters, card decks, and mobile marketing tools like QR codes. This flexibility allows direct marketers to provide interactivity, measurability and still be able to take advantage of new technologies. However, it is critical to consider the medium you are using before building your campaign. Letters sent to a home or business should be personalized and relevant for the consumer, whereas a flyer put in a door is understandably generic. Additionally, by only utilizing one medium you could be missing a large number of potential customers who will never see your message. An integrated approach, utilizing multiple media, will be more effective.

5. Think benefits, not features
Your customer is more interested in knowing how your product or service is going to benefit them, rather than what it is made of. This does not mean leaving out descriptive features altogether, just focusing your message to be about the benefits your customers will enjoy. Appeal to their emotions. Think about sausage. We don't want to know how or what it is made out of, rather we want to know how it tastes.