There are the obvious direct mail mistakes like no offer or call to action, the wrong phone number or web address, or misspelled words. Most marketers don’t need to read an article to figure those out. This article focuses on lesser-known mistakes that can make the difference between success and failure. Here are 10:

1. Cheap Offers. There is a tendency for marketers and business owners to worry about “giving away the house.” Offers like “10% off your next purchase” or “Free Shipping with you next order of $100 or more” are ok if you’re targeting current customers that need a small nudge to make an incremental purchase. But if you’re going after new customers, “Free” is always the most powerful word in direct mail. A new customer may cost you $200 or more (do the math!), so giving away something free at a cost to you of $50 or so, may be a no-brainer.
2. Short Copy. There is yet another tendency for marketers to think “we need to keep it short and sweet.” They use clean graphics with few words. The thought is that interested prospects will call or go to the website. In direct mail, long copy (more words) usually outperforms short copy. Write as much as you need to fully explain your product and it’s functions/benefits. Don’t assume too much knowledge on the part of your prospect. Finally, get someone’s opinion that’s not an industry “insider.”
3. Small Card. Small cards (regular postcards) are useful. They’re cheap and mail First Class for the same cost as Standard Class. If your product is simple, like a local coffee shop, or if your mailing to current customers that already know your brand and product, small cards are great. If your product is more complicated or relies heavily on branding (like photos of past work, or product photos), use a larger card. Larger cards get noticed more and can be chock-full of information.
4. No Frequency. It’s rare that your mailing coincides with a prospect’s need to buy. Especially if you’re doing business-to-business sales. In most cases, you’re mailing simply places a “seed” of awareness so that when your prospect does need your product or service, they think of you. Those “seeds” need to be planted continuously or the awareness dies. There’s also research that shows that the more a person is exposed to your brand, the more that person has a “favorable” impression of your brand.
5. Bad Timing. It’s very obvious that you don’t market snowmobiles in July. But on the other hand, we see home improvement businesses like landscapers marketing their product late in the summer and avoiding the prime marketing season in the spring. The rational is that, “I’m busy in the spring and I need business for late in the summer.” The better strategy is to market when prospects are buying. If you don’t have the capacity to do the work, offer an incentive to put the work off until you do have the capacity.
6. Small Mailing Quantities. Direct Mail, like just about all advertising medias, relies on small percentages of respondents. You mail out 100 cards and hope to have one call. On the other hand, if your testing a direct mail piece and expect the one call on mailing 100 cards to be your proof of success, you are sadly mistaken. The reality is that you may not get that call. Then, do you know if the mailing is a failure? Not really. You haven’t mailed enough cards to statistically be confident that the results are correct. To be statistically confident, you will need to mail anywhere from 3,000 (acceptable confidence) to 10,000 (higher confidence).
7. The Wrong Offer. Some offers are easy: “Bring this coupon in and get a free cup of coffee.” But others get to be more complicated. It’s difficult to sell certain software’s, products or services by simply saying, “this is what it does,” and “you get $100 off.” The more costly the service or product, the more a prospect wants lots of information. They need samples, or trials, or white papers, or webinars, or booklets. Instead of asking for the sale, offer free information to simply get the lead.
8. Standard Class Postage with Time-Sensitive Mailings. Standard Class can save you a substantial amount on your mailings. But if the “sale” announcement comes 2 days after your sale ends, the savings are moot. Standard Class takes on average 7 to 10 days for delivery, but you can’t even count on that. You cards will get delivered, but just never count on timing.
9. Standard Class Postage with Business Addresses. We’ve just had bad experiences with using Standard Class to mail cards to businesses. The feedback we get is, “many of my customers didn’t received the mailing.” If the address and contact information isn’t exact, they might not get delivered. Also, Standard Class mailings sometimes tend to get tossed out by mailroom clerks or other “gatekeepers.” The great thing about First Class is that if the mailing doesn’t get delivered, it gets returned to you.
10. No Contact Information. Ok, this is obvious. No phone number, no address, no directions, no web address, no e-mail address, etc. It happens all the time.

Good luck with your mailing!

Direct Mail and postcard mailings have been a tried and true marketing strategy for retailers. Here are 8 tips to make your mailings more cost-effective and profitable.

Tip #1: Create an E-mail and Mailing List. Current customers are your best source for new incremental business. In other words, a marketing dollar spent on a current customer will yield a better return on investment than a dollar spent on attracting a new customers. Current customers know your brand and products already and many times they just need a marketing “push” to get them back in the store. In past marketing research I have typically seen an annual increase of over 15% in current customer spending as a result of ongoing communications.

Tip #2: Promote the List. You will find that most of your customers want to hear about upcoming events and sales. In fact, you may find that you will have upset regular customers that aren’t notified, “Do you have a mailing list? Why aren’t I on it?” Make sure your staff is asking for mailing and e-mail information. If you can’t enter the information directly into your POS system, then have a card that the customer can fill out.

Tip #3: E-Mail and Mail Your List. E-mail is cheaper and more convenient; that’s a fact. The other fact is that the open rate on e-mails is typically less than 20%. Most e-mail systems have a way to track who opens your e-mails. Typically you should attempt to e-mail a second time to non-openers, then direct mail those that don’t open your e-mails. Just about all flat mailers like postcards will get read. With the e-mail / direct mail strategy, you’ll reach at least 90% of your customer base. Few will fall through the cracks.

Tip #4: New Customers Won’t Come In Unless They Know You Exist. This is so obvious it barely needs mentioning. That said, even if you’re in a shopping mall with lots of foot traffic, there are still people in your trade area that may not know you exist. Furthermore, you may need that extra marketing “push” to get them to walk in: a featured product, a sale, a gift certificate, an event, or other special offer. You should assume that many potential customers in your trade area simply don’t know you exist.

Tip #5: Define Your Trade Area and Targeted Customers. Most trade area research is common sense. Geographically, you can map where customers will or are coming from. You know most won’t cross a river, or highway, or train tracks, or drive more than 10 minutes. Furthermore, your instinct is usually good enough for understanding demographics – young, old, wealthy, families, young kids, gender, and interests. From there, you can go to www.postcardbuilder.com or www.directmailtools.com and do an easy online search. Plug in your geography and demographics, then instantly get a report that shows the potential number of customers. If you know how many current customer you have, you can then also figure out your market share: 10% is good, 20% is great, and 30% is phenomenal!

Tip #6: The More Targeted Your List, the More Direct Mail is The Right Solution. Typically, if the combination of your trade area and demographics shows that you have less than 10,000 prospective customers, direct mail is a good solution. Direct Mail is great for a variety of more specialty retailers: pet stores, shoe store, picture framers, optometrists, dry cleaners, toy stores, sporting goods, bakeries, specialty apparel (women’s, men’s, kids), etc. Direct mail is typically not a good fit for convenience stores, grocery stores, big-box retailers and others. Typically, when you go over 10,000 prospective customers, other forms of mass media may be more effective: radio, cable TV, print, bill boards, and magazines. Mass media reaches more people at a lower cost per impression.

Tip #7: List, Offer and Graphics. The List is the #1 driver of response; the Offer is #2; and Graphics is #3. A current customer list will drive the best response rate, anywhere from 1% to 15%. A targeted purchased list should have a response rate of .5% to 5%. You won’t get any of these response rates unless you have a great offer, and “Free” is still the most powerful word in direct marketing, or e-mail marketing. The graphics are least important, but they represent your quality and brand. They should look professional, have all of the text needed to explain your product or service, be recognizable (make sure they know it’s you from a glance), possibly have a “wow” factor, and clearly showcase your offer.

Tip #8: Frequency, Frequency, Frequency. There’s marketing research that shows that the more a person sees your brand, the more that person feels more favorable toward your brand. Also, the more a person sees a brand, the more they remember the brand when making a purchase decision. Frequency matters. To maintain awareness in your trade area, we recommend mailing at least 4 times per year. Remember Tip #4: if they don’t know you exist, they won’t come in.

Be Memorable. Kurt

In this article we address: Identifying Prospects, Creating a Budget, Sustaining Awareness, and Reaching Current Customers. B to B marketing is used to get new leads; there is also the issue of sales, building relationships and closing deals, that is not discussed here and may take more than the allotted 1,000 words.

Identifying Prospects

You could be lucky enough to know exactly who your customers are, for example, electrical contractors in the US, real estate agents in Atlanta, or corporations with over 1,000 employees. In each example you can usually find a list of those prospects through either state licensing agencies, trade associations, or a list broker.

Identifying your customer base will drive all your marketing decisions. If there are fewer than 2,000 or so prospects, you can easily call them all, then follow up with mailings and meetings. If you’re over 2,000, you may want to use direct mail to get their attention. If you’re over 50,000, you’re then in the business of trolling for qualified new leads through direct mail, trade magazines, trade shows, telemarketing, e-mails, internet search engines, or print, radio, TV medias.

But you need to always start with identifying your customers. A great research tool is www.infousa.com. Go to their web site and start your search – you may find that you can not only identify your prospects, but also purchase a list that includes key decision makers.

Creating a Budget

The easy answer to creating a budget is to base it on a percentage of sales. Businesses spend between 3% and 30% on marketing, with most in the 5% to 15% range. At PostcardBuilder, we spend about 8% on marketing, but we think our competitors outspend us. The easy answer is probably the best answer – create a budget based on a percentage of sales that you can live with.

You’ll be in this game for the long haul, so avoid a budget you can’t sustain on a monthly or quarterly basis. The big mistake is to gamble a big chunk of money on a marketing project in the hopes of getting a boost in new leads – new businesses do this all the time until their money runs out. Try to avoid the big “blitzes” that leave you broke afterwards. In other words, don’t gamble with your marketing budget (though it will often seem like that.)

Sustaining Awareness

There are some situations where a business can sell another business on a product with a simple direct mail solicitation. We’ve seen one where a manufacturer sold a break-through new tool to electrical contractors – they simply showed the product and it sold. With most of us, though, not everyone will need our product now.

So, if it’s a matter of being in the right place at the right time with the right idea, then you need to sustain awareness. Sustaining awareness means that you need to have your name and contact information at the top of your prospect’s mind when they see the need to research new vendors or purchase a new product. And we all know that being “in their file” is not good enough.

To maintain awareness you should “touch” each prospect 4 to 12 times per year: a call, an e-mail, a postcard, a print ad, a news article, a trade show. The medium and message should vary, but the core product and brand should be consistent.

Media Rundown

Calls. Tough usually in the realm of “sales” and not “marketing,” outbound telemarketing can be your best way to make a quick connection and sell a widget. Calls are your most expensive media for touching a customer and it can be painful to sustain awareness with calls (would you stop calling me!!).

Direct Mail. Postcards and other mailers are a cost-effective way to “touch” a prospect on a quarterly basis. They can be unobtrusive and sometimes fun and interesting. We like postcards.

E-Mails. E-mails are almost impossible to sustain on an ongoing basis with prospects – it’s too easy to irritate the prospect or be deleted. If you have a large prospect base, you can troll for new leads with e-mail blasters, but some consider that unethical. E-mail newsletters are great for current customers or when prospects “opt-in.”

Internet Search Engines. This media is exploding. This is a place where a prospect that is searching for a specific product or service can fine you. And with all search engines, you only pay for the “click” or lead that is generated. The free leads through “search engine optimization” are tougher. This stuff can get complicated and there are plenty out there that want to take your money – buyer beware.

Trade Shows. You usually know if trade shows work for you and sometimes you just need to be seen at those things.

Trade Magazines. Look at the cost of trade magazines vs. the cost of direct mail and do a simple “cost per impression” analysis. What’s cheaper? That’s the answer. If they’re close, you may want to do both.

Print, Radio, TV. Expensive. Again, do the “cost per impression” analysis and realize that 99% of print, radio and TV is directed at non-prospects. And if you can’t afford to sustain, distain.

Reaching Current Customers

Marketing to current customers can vary widely with B to B marketers. If you have a small group of current customers that spend big dollars, then they should probably be handled by sales professionals whose job it is to create personal relationships. But if you have hundreds or thousands of customers that spend in smaller, less frequent amounts, you will need to market. Most of us will have a combination of sales and marketing.

Marketing to current customers is much like marketing to prospects and the two can overlap. You will need to touch them at least quarterly, if not monthly, and you can’t e-mail them or call them to the point of irritation. Mix it up: Postcards, newsletters, e-newsletters, occasional calls or e-mails, seasonal greetings, and maybe a free mug or cap.

The rule of thumb with current customers is that it takes less marketing dollars to get an incremental sale from a current customer than from a new prospect. Current customers are “low hanging fruit” so always start your marketing efforts there.

The goal with Stopping Power is to get a prospect to Stop. The goal with a Relevant Message is to get a prospect to Listen. The goal with Information is to get them to Learn. And the goal of an Offer is to get the prospect to Ask – ask for more information or ask for the product or service.

Stopping Power

Your postcard is stuffed in the mailbox along with magazines, credit card offers, bills, and other postcards. You’ve got a split second to convince your prospect to take a further look before it gets tossed into the recycling. How do you earn a further look?

You need to Stop the subconscious impulse of the prospect to recycle. Budweiser Frogs, the Taco Bell Chihuahua, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Brittany Spears all have stopping power and that’s why they’re used in commercials.

In postcards, you should use the front of the postcard as a billboard to Stop the recycle impulse. Cute is always safe – puppies, small children, grandparents, loving couples, but use your imagination. Headlines can also have Stopping Power: “Lose 50 Pounds In 5 Days – Guaranteed!”

Relevant Message

The trick in finding an image or headline with Stopping Power, is to find one with relevance. What does a cute puppy have to do with your product? If there isn’t relevance after you’ve Stopped the recycling impulse, there is a disconnect, and once again you’re headed for recycling.

A stunning model works for hair and tanning salons, a beautiful home can work for home improvement and real estate agents, bright smiles from cute kids can work for dentists.

Others may have to work on compelling headlines. The trick with headlines is to be as specific as possible. For mortgage brokers, “Our Clients Save $317 Per Month.” For real estate agents it’s as easy as “Just Sold in Your Neighborhood” with a photo of a neighborhood home.

Product Information

With product information, you want to explain and differentiate. With a haircut, there’s not much to explain so your text can focus on how your service is different from others. Other products, such as software, need lengthy explanations.

When writing about complicated products you need to assume the lowest level of comprehension. Write simply about what the product is and does. The goal is to focus on product benefits like “works twice as fast” and “reduces time to market,” but if the prospect doesn’t clearly understand the product and product features, the benefits will be lost.

Also don’t be afraid to use as much copy as possible to get your information across. In many direct mail tests, long copy has out-performed short copy. With a complicated product, prospects want lots of information before taking a next step.

Compelling Offer

At PostcardBuilder we almost always recommend some kind of compelling offer. The intuitive reason is that prospects want and expect some kind of deal for responding to your postcard. The in-your-face reason is that postcards with offers get higher response rates.

The exception to the offer rule is where the goal if simply awareness. You know that sooner or later the prospect is going to need your service and you want to be at the top of their mind when that need arises. For example, people are probably not going to choose a real estate agent based on an offer – they’ll choose someone that is known in their community, understands the market and sells lots of homes.

Offer Notes: Dollars Off tends to reduce the perceived value of your product and lock you into continually discounting to retain business. Unfortunately, Dollars Off typically works the best. Gift with Purchase adds value to your product and creates excitement – look at the Happy Meal; McDonalds is the single largest purveyor of toys. Finally, FREE is the most important work in direct marketing – offer anything FREE: gifts, information, product, and services.

“Should I do direct mail or e-mail?”
“Facebook is hot; do I need to do Facebook? How about LinkedIn?”
“Everybody watches TV; should I do cable TV?”

But these complicated questions have more to do with the media used to deliver a message. The goal of this series is to make media decisions more simple by first recognizing the fundamental laws that should drive those decisions. This note is about making those decisions clear and simple. I’ve come up with 7 Immutable Laws of Marketing. They are immutable because they are so obvious, they can’t really be argued or changed. Here they are:

1. People won’t buy what they don’t know.

2. People forget.

3. People like to shop.

4. People want a deal.

5. People want quality.

6. People warm up to a familiar face.

7. People are creatures of habit.

#1 People won’t buy what they don’t know. This is the #1 basic law of marketing. In fact, it is so obvious that it is usually overlooked. But if people don’t know you exist, they won’t go into your store, they won’t go onto your website, and they won’t call you and they won’t buy from you. Think for a moment about any business in your community that you just discovered in the last month. I just discovered a dentist just 4 blocks from where I live. I just noticed a drum store, and I hope my 11 year old doesn’t find it. I passed a store that just sells tea that my wife says has been there for years.

So you can see my point. There are many businesses in your local community that you don’t know exist. These are businesses that have not considered law #1. These businesses have made the assumption that most people in their community know who they are. In reality, only their immediate current customers know them. And the people that may know about them, the non-customers, don’t really know the inside of the business and what they really offer. The same is true for an Internet-based business, a manufacturer, a home builder, a lawyer, anyone.

Once you understand Law #1, the next step is very clear: identify your potential customers, and how best to let them know you exist. For the dentist, your potential customers are just about every household in your immediate community. Do the research to figure out the most cost effective way to get your message into each of those households. I think that its postcards, but it could also be the local community newspaper. If you’re an Internet retailer, your potential customers are probably anyone surfing the web looking for your particular product. The most cost effective way to reach them is probably search term optimization or pay-per-click advertising. Some retailers will continue to use their store front presence or rely on word-of-mouth for their marketing. Those businesses should remember that not all people in the community drive by their location and that word-of-mouth works slowly, and only if you continue to offer something conversation worthy.

#2 People Forget. About every 3^rd Christmas I buy my wife jewelry. I go to the same guy every time. He works out of a small loft space in a warehouse with no storefront. The only way I can remember how to get his contact information is that I know that he is the brother of my mother-in-law’s best friend. So I have to call my mother-in-law to get his name. I’m sure you get my point. People Forget. They not only forget where they might have bought an item last, they also forget that they might need to get a haircut, get their teeth cleaned, workout, clean their gutters, wash their windows, service their car, or book their summer vacation.

There is one basic rule-of-thumb in the direct marketing world that is helpful: RFM or Recentcy, Frequency and Monetary Value. It says that recentcy, frequency and monetary value are the 3 leading drivers of response – in that order. So, if you do a mailing to your current customers, the ones that had most recently purchased from you are the ones that will most likely respond to your offer. Frequency is second, so the customers that purchase more often will be the second most likely to respond. Monetary value is last, so the customers that had made one big purchase a long time ago are least likely to respond. People forget. If you don’t make an immediate and ongoing effort to stay in front of your customers, then you run the risk of losing them forever.

Of course you can’t mail to your customer, or e-mail, unless you keep a database of customers. For some businesses like dentists, home improvement businesses or e-tailers it’s easy. They always need to have a customer’s contact information to complete a purchase. Also, many of the cash register or point of sale systems are set up to not only keep track of customer purchases, but also segment your database for marketing purposes. They can export a list for a first-time “Thank You” mailing, or a “We Miss You” mailing to those who haven’t purchased in a while, or “Happy Birthday” mailings if you have that information also. These marketing or “retention” programs should increase you customer retention by 10% to 20%. So if you’re loosing 100 customers per year, you should be able to save 10 to 20 of those customers though marketing alone. If you’re my jeweler, that could mean an increase in revenue of $15,000 to $30,000.

#3 People Like to Shop. Like Rule #2, this rule applies to current customers. Though I always go back to the same jeweler because I like his work and I still know his sister, there are other purchase categories I like to shop. I’m an avid bicycler and I shop at least 4 of the local bike shops and two online shops. I’m usually looking for a neat new gadget, new clothing, repair or a great deal on a new bike or accessory. Erik’s bike is the only one who mails me regularly and I look forward to their fall warehouse sale. Personally, I think Tom, who owns Boehm’s Bike, thinks I’m his loyal customer and I don’t dissuade him of that. But the reality is I love to shop around for bike stuff and I spend my bike money in 6 or more different places. I’m not as loyal as he thinks.

There’s a little known marketing theory called the Polygamy Theory. It says that your best customer is also your competitor’s best customer. A customer that has high spending in a specific category (like biking) tends to shop that category more and spread their spending around. Just to confuse things, there is another theory, called the 80/20 rule that is applicable. The 80/20 rule says that 80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers. It’s certainly true in my printing and mailing business and I’ve found it to be true in most businesses. Now combine those 2 theories. It’s very possible that your most profitable customers, the ones that are driving 80% of what you take home in your pocket, might leave you at any moment because they have relationships with the guy down the street.

This is why some businesses create points or “loyalty” programs. We know what they are and know that they can work. They can also be a pain to manage. My personal feeling on the matter is that, overall, customers want a relationship, they want to be acknowledged, and they want to feel that they are getting a reasonably good deal. Loyalty programs may work well with a certain business and with a certain type of customer that likes points. But overall you should be able to reach the same goal, getting a current customer to spend more, through communication and customer service. Through direct mail you can send personalize cards from specific sales people, you can send “surprise and delight” gift such as a Starbucks gift certificate, popcorn or an invitation to a special preferred customer event. With a loyalty program or simple acknowledgment program you should be able to increase spending from current high value customers by 10% to 15%.

#4 People Want a Deal. If I think back to my last purchase decisions, I was always looking for the deal. When I bought a flat screen TV for the kitchen, I first looked in the newspaper circulars for a deal. When I had my deck stained, I got 3 quotes. When we purchased our last new car, I was responding to a year-end sale. And in my business, I am speaking daily with customers about discounts and deals. And in most cases, I try to give the customer the “win” that they are looking for. But, I can honestly say, it’s no fun. As a businessman I have targeted profit margin, and what I feel are reasonable and competitive pricing. Isn’t that good enough?

It’s a tricky question. I have tried in past businesses to feel out the relationship between price and volume. I have tried lowering prices, sometimes below cost, to see if I can drive up volume. My experience is the relationship is very elastic; lowering price does not result in a huge increase in volume. There is another marketing rule-of-thumb that says that a 10% price reduction on a product with a 30% profit margin requires a 50% volume increase to make up for the lost profit (ok, read that again). “Price Leader” is not a winning strategy for most of us.

The key point is that people want a “win” and they want the perception of value. Providing an offer does that. It subconsciously tells people that you’re cost competitive and a “good deal” regardless of weather you are or not. Providing an offer also gives people the kick-in-the-butt or sense of urgency needed to make a purchase decision now. The deal should always have an expiration date when the deal is not good. But then, of course, another deal is provided. Stop making deals and the antenna goes up, “Are their prices reasonable? How come they never have a deal?”

#5 People Want Quality. One definition of quality is simply a lack of defects. People want things that are well made and lack defects. It seems like an easy enough concept until you get into the “perception of quality.” The reality is, quality is usually perceived, not experienced. With a Mercedes, people perceived the quality of the German engineering, but do they really experience a lack of defects? No, Check JD Powers, a Toyota Camry and others have higher ratings and less defects. There was a Caltech study in 2008 that showed the relationship between price and the perception of quality in wine. The study showed that regardless of actual quality, the perception of quality was always higher with a higher price tag. The “subject” always thought the $90 bottle tasted better.

People will always want both quality and price. They want the best that they get for the cheapest price. But the catch22 is that if you lower you price or discount your product too much, people will automatically perceive a lack of quality. So, what to do? First, unless you are selling a total commodity like corn syrup or dirt, always emphasis and talk about the features and benefits of your product or service. Even if you’re selling a stripped down product, like a blender with only one speed, at the lowest imaginable price, always talk about the benefits, “Takes the Guess Work out of blending…” Next, you will need to make the brand positioning decisions that decide your place in the continuum of price and quality. On one end of the continuum, you lead with low pricing sacrificing quality perceptions. On the other end of the continuum you lead with quality and a higher price and never discount your core product. Chances are you will be somewhere in between. You have a blender that is well made with 5 speeds. You’re price is reasonable, not too cheap and not too expensive, and you’re loath to discount it any further. But you outsell your competitors with great promotions and deals. You offer a cookbook with each purchase. You have a how-to DVD hosted by a top chef. You do anything to create excitement and keep the customer’s mind off of the dreaded “price.”

#6 People warm up to a familiar face. We would like to believe that we are analytic thinkers and make good rational decisions. But I think we all know that there is a subconscious element to our thinking that muddies the waters. There is a study that was done by a British Psychologist, Dr. Richard Weisman, that showed the relationship between message frequency and disposition. What he found was that the more a person was exposed to a brand, the more that person had a favorable impression toward that brand. It’s why we like Coke; we see it every day. People warm up to a familiar face.

In rule #1 we showed the obvious, people won’t buy what they don’t know. In this rule, we take that one step further, the more a person is aware of your brand or product, the more inclined that person is to purchase your product. So frequency becomes crucial. You need to be in front of your prospects frequently so that they are not only continually aware of you product, but also begin to feel favorably toward your product. And consistency is crucial. Your message needs to be consistent so that the marketing impressions build and create greater awareness. Another rule of thumb in marketing: when you’re tired and bored with your advertisement, your prospect is just starting to become aware of it.

#7 People Are Creatures of Habit. I watch the news every day at 6pm. I listen to the same 2 radio channels during my drive to work. I watch American Idol religiously (ok, I admit it). I read the newspaper every morning. I read my mail every day when I come home after work. I read Newsweek and Sailing Magazine. If a company wants to get my attention, they’d better reach me at those times with the media I’m tuned into. I don’t change that much. I don’t watch Dancing with Stars, I don’t read Time, I don’t listen to Talk Radio. I’m a creature of habit just like everyone else.

Based on Rule #6, you know that you need to provide a frequent and consistent message to your targeted customers. Rule #7 says that people are creatures of habit and are tuned into the same media channels on a habitual basis. So it would make sense that you should choose a media channel for your advertising and stick with it so that you build impressions and awareness over time. I think many businesses try radio for a week, cable TV for a month, a newspaper ad, a postcard mailing, with the expectation that they can see the immediate response and immediately measure their marketing return on investment. It takes time and multiple impressions to get to the desired return on investment for most media channels. That said, just make sure that the media channel(s) that you choose is an affordable way to get at the audience that you want to target and that that channel is hitting the same people each time. Beware of a cable TV purchase that runs your ads across many programs; you’ll never get the frequency needed to maintain awareness and favorable impressions.

The goal is to ultimately find a few marketing systems that work. A marketing system is where you have the right targeted customers, the right media channel, a consistent and frequent message, and the right pricing and offer. You get a consistent source of leads that turn into customers, or a consistent source of incremental business from current customers. And the marketing system provides an adequate return on investment.

Direct Mail and postcard mailings have been a tried and true marketing strategy for retailers. Here are 8 tips to make your mailings more cost-effective and profitable.

Tip #1: Create an E-mail and Mailing List. Current customers are your best source for new incremental business. In other words, a marketing dollar spent on a current customer will yield a better return on investment than a dollar spent on attracting a new customers.  Current customers know your brand and products already and many times they just need a marketing “push” to get them back in the store. In past marketing research I have typically seen an annual increase of over 15% in current customer spending as a result of ongoing communications.

Tip #2: Promote the List. You will find that most of your customers want to hear about upcoming events and sales. In fact, you may find that you will have upset regular customers that aren’t notified, “Do you have a mailing list? Why aren’t I on it?” Make sure your staff is asking for mailing and e-mail information. If you can’t enter the information directly into your POS system, then have a card that the customer can fill out.

Tip #3: E-Mail and Mail Your List. E-mail is cheaper and more convenient; that’s a fact. The other fact is that the open rate on e-mails is typically less than 20%. Most e-mail systems have a way to track who opens your e-mails. Typically you should attempt to e-mail a second time to non-openers, then direct mail those that don’t open your e-mails. Just about all flat mailers like postcards will get read. With the e-mail / direct mail strategy, you’ll reach at least 90% of your customer base. Few will fall through the cracks.

Tip #4: New Customers Won’t Come In Unless They Know You Exist. This is so obvious it barely needs mentioning. That said, even if you’re in a shopping mall with lots of foot traffic, there are still people in your trade area that may not know you exist. Furthermore, you may need that extra marketing “push” to get them to walk in: a featured product, a sale, a gift certificate, an event, or other special offer. You should assume that many potential customers in your trade area simply don’t know you exist.

Tip #5: Define Your Trade Area and Targeted Customers. Most trade area research is common sense. Geographically, you can map where customers will or are coming from. You know most won’t cross a river, or highway, or train tracks, or drive more than 10 minutes. Furthermore, your instinct is usually good enough for understanding demographics – young, old, wealthy, families, young kids, gender, and interests. From there, you can go to www.postcardbuilder.com or www.directmailtools.com and do an easy online search. Plug in your geography and demographics, then instantly get a report that shows the potential number of customers. If you know how many current customer you have, you can then also figure out your market share: 10% is good, 20% is great, and 30% is phenomenal!

Tip #6: The More Targeted Your List, the More Direct Mail is The Right Solution. Typically, if the combination of your trade area and demographics shows that you have less than 10,000 prospective customers, direct mail is a good solution. Direct Mail is great for a variety of more specialty retailers: pet stores, shoe store, picture framers, optometrists, dry cleaners, toy stores, sporting goods, bakeries, specialty apparel (women’s, men’s, kids), etc. Direct mail is typically not a good fit for convenience stores, grocery stores, big-box retailers and others. Typically, when you go over 10,000 prospective customers, other forms of mass media may be more effective: radio, cable TV, print, bill boards, and magazines.  Mass media reaches more people at a lower cost per impression.

Tip #7: List, Offer and Graphics. The List is the #1 driver of response; the Offer is #2; and Graphics is #3. A current customer list will drive the best response rate, anywhere from 1% to 15%. A targeted purchased list should have a response rate of .5% to 5%. You won’t get any of these response rates unless you have a great offer, and “Free” is still the most powerful word in direct marketing, or e-mail marketing.  The graphics are least important, but they represent your quality and brand. They should look professional, have all of the text needed to explain your product or service, be recognizable (make sure they know it’s you from a glance), possibly have a “wow” factor, and clearly showcase your offer.

Tip #8: Frequency, Frequency, Frequency. There’s marketing research that shows that the more a person sees your brand, the more that person feels more favorable toward your brand.  Also, the more a person sees a brand, the more they remember the brand when making a purchase decision. Frequency matters. To maintain awareness in your trade area, we recommend mailing at least 4 times per year. Remember Tip #4: if they don’t know you exist, they won’t come in.

Be Memorable. Kurt

And while I make my living doing direct mail, I realize the importance of e-mail. It can deliver the same message and more: it’s fast, it’s very affordable (almost free!), and it’s eco-friendly. But I also realize the drawbacks. The open rate for e-mails among opt-in participants ranges from 10% to 50%. That means 50% to 90% of your customers and prospects are not seeing your marketing message. That can’t be ignored. Also, e-mail is almost solely for maintain a relationship with current customers and prospects. It’s very difficult to attract new prospects with e-mail. Good purchased e-mail lists are very difficult to come by and many are suspect.  

So how can snail mail and e-mail get along? I had a call from a marketer with a great solution. He starts with e-mails. In the first e-mail he gets an average open rate of 18%. Most e-mail providers like Constant Contact allow you to see which recipients on the list open the e-mail and which don’t.  He then resends the e-mail to those that have not opened the first e-mail. With the second e-mail he moves his average open rate up to 24%. Now he takes the remaining 76% of the list that has not opened any e-mails and creates a mailing list.

With this process the marketer reaches a few goals. 1.) He has reduced his direct mail budget by almost 24%. 2.) He’s reached his entire list with his message. Let’s face it, as marketers we’re in the awareness game and we can’t afford to ignore 76% of our customers and prospects. 3.) He’s communicated to his list in the way his customers and prospects want to be communicated to. He’s touched those who read e-mail with e-mails and he’s touched chronic e-mail deleters with snail mail.