Dos and Donts of a Direct Mailer

Don’t neglect direct mailing just because you’re heavily invested in the online marketing world. Direct mailers are a viable marketing method, particularly if you want to build up your business locally. However, there are right and wrong ways to go about a direct mail piece.

Do:

• Make it clear what the offer is.
• Provide a call to action.
• Consider using QR codes on your mailer to send the recipient to a website for additional information.
• Send out a targeted mailing about specials and seasonal sales.
• Provide as much information as possible on your products or services to help increase the response rate.
• Incorporate direct mailing in an on-going campaign instead of a one off, as repeated exposure is necessary to build up brand trust and recognition.

Don’t:

• Purchase untargeted address lists and waste the time and expense sending out mailers to people who won’t be interested in your offer.
• Work with designers who have only worked in the online space, and do not understand the advantages and limitations that direct mailer formats have to offer.
• Send out a single, unsuccessful mailer and decide that direct mailing doesn’t work for you. Direct mail response rates take some time to build up, and you have to send out repeated mailers to see the impact.
• Check work sent from outsourced printers. If you’re going to save money on your direct mailing costs by outsourcing it to a cheap bulk printer, get some proofs before you send it out.