Marketing Information

/ Articles / Direct Mail and Telemarketing / The 8 Do's and Don'ts of Direc...

---

The 8 Do's and Don'ts of Direct Mail by Accutips.com

Here's a collection of easy steps to follow—and ensure success for your next direct mail campaign.

1. Don't run a direct mail campaign without a clear plan. Make sure you have set measurable objectives, brainstormed a strong creative strategy and run through the P&L and Breakeven Analysis exercises. Don't drop the ball! Lead follow-up and record keeping is critical.

2. Do make sure to prove your list's effectiveness in a properly managed test. Otherwise, you could be throwing good money down the drain.

3. Don't run your tests casually. They must be thoroughly reviewed, designed and carefully implemented, from strategy formulation to final results. Ultimately, your testing strategy will have a huge influence on your direct marketing success.

4. Do make sure to use direct mail in conjunction with other media. These days, a multi-channel marketing strategy is the most profitable way to go. Explore every avenue, including telemarketing, web marketing, print advertising, trade shows and more.

5. Don't assume that a single creative approach works for every medium. From print to web to direct mail, every campaign deserves its own specific creative approach. In direct mail, you need to focus on a great offer and the benefits of your product or service.

6. Do include an urgent, compelling call to action in your direct mail piece. "CTA"s drive customers to respond (or order) more promptly and result in more orders (or higher responses). These devices are best used with a time-sensitive mechanism, such as countdown, to create a stronger sense of urgency for the customer to respond more quickly.

7. Don't neglect your own data collection. With every campaign, your marketing department should develop procedures and systems to capture as many behavioral characteristics of your prospects and customers as possible. These traits are essential for better understanding your customers and knowing how to anticipate and match their needs, in order to make your business more successful.

8. Do plan for an analysis phase after every campaign. Examine every aspect of your process: what went wrong, and what successes can you build on? Be sure to connect with all your partners, internally and externally, to gain valuable insights for improving your next steps, both in the next campaign and in your overall marketing strategy.

AccuTips is a free monthly e-newsletter full of direct marketing news and legislation, strategies, how-to information, case studies, resources and more. For more information, visit www.accutips.com.