You could handle most of your direct mail project yourself — everything except the actual printing of your postcards or brochures. And you might get pretty good results. With a direct mail service, you don’t have to settle for pretty good, you can get the utmost response from your direct mail marketing and, in turn, enjoy the highest return on your investment.
In a nutshell, here’s what your direct mail project will entail:
- Designing your mail piece – usually a postcard. This requires graphic design talent and knowing what content to include. You can find ready-made templates online, but that means your postcard will look just like the next guy’s, with your name on it.
- Deciding what mailing list to use. To attract new business, you need to reach new prospects. How will you target them?
- Printing your postcards. There are plenty of printers out there, the key is ensuring you get top quality.
- Preparing your postcards for mailing and getting them to the post office.
So why should you use a direct mail service?
They know more than you do.
A well-established, full-service company has years of successful experience under their belt. They know what works to promote local business and what doesn’t. They know what works for your type of business. You’ll get design that takes your results from pretty good to wow.
They know which selection criteria will generate a mailing list of your best prospects and how to ensure the information is accurate and up-to-date. And they know how to measure results, so you can clearly see your ROI, not just count responses.
They can do it faster than you can.
It’s their business, so they’re set up for it. Here’s what can happen if you do it yourself:
- You’ll pay extra and wait while your postcards are shipped from the printer.
- You’ll have to hold a sorting and addressing party to prepare your mailing, eating up more precious time.
- Then there’s the paperwork. You could end up paying unnecessarily high postage rates and if your mailing isn’t sorted and prepped correctly, the post office will make you take it back and start over.
Is this a good use of your time? A direct mail service uses automated machinery to do this work.
Choose all or just some of their services.
If you’ve been doing much of your own work up till now, the experts at a direct mail service can give you some recommendations for improvement. You can keep doing the work yourself, but you’ll be doing it better.
They can review your graphic design. The colors you use, where you place elements and which images you choose, all contribute to your mailer’s ability to grab attention and make your prospect want to read more.
They can review your content. Once your graphic design has piqued your prospect’s interest, are you making them an offer that’s meaningful enough to make them respond? Does your call to action instill a sense of urgency? Are you telling people what differentiates your business from others? Why should your prospects pick you instead of the competition?
They can review your mailing list targeting. You may get better results by using more or different selection criteria.
Better yet, they can manage the entire process on your behalf. You let the experts do their job, while you continue to do yours. That’s delegation the way it’s meant to be, with results you can take to the bank.