What is direct mail lead generation and how can you use it for your business?
Direct mail lead generation uses mailers to contact prospects and start the sales process. As part of your direct mail campaign, you’ll need to consider a few things including:
With these simple points in mind, direct mail can be a cost effective and immediate way to generate more leads.
The first question is to define your target market. The more you know about them the better. Try to narrow your market down to the most likely candidates and design your direct mail lead generation campaign around them. The more specific it is, the better. For example, if you sell to caterers, you might want to create different campaigns to target restaurant owners, café owners and take away owners individually.
Once you’ve decided whom you will target, you can purchase or rent a database of contacts from a reputable company. Make sure that this database has been checked against any ‘do no contact’ lists in your market. With most services, you will be able to select just the contacts you want based on criteria like location, business type, business size or any number of other factors.
Deciding what to say in your direct mail campaign is a combination of two things:
The content of your direct mail should identify a problem that your prospect faces, then show how your business has the solution. It should be simple to read and have a clear ‘call to action’ i.e. a clear statement of what you want the reader to do next.
If you use a letter format, a simple structure might include:
Of course you don’t have to use a letter format. You could decide to send a postcard, use brochures or get creative with inserts or special packaging. The decision should be based on what effect you want to create and what information you want to put across. (And, of course, cost.) Using a postcard is great for getting people to visit your website because it never needs to be opened. It wouldn’t be a good bet for something more complicated or detailed. If you do use letters, try handwriting the address on the envelope to increase the numbers that get opened. Use good quality paper and make sure you have someone proofread it before it goes out.
Even if you set up an automated lead generation system through your website, you’ll still want to do some follow up. A simple phone call normally increases the response rate. In fact, even sending the same direct mail to the same list of people improves the response rate the second time around. Plan to follow up your direct mail within a week of sending it – or find someone to do this for you.
Direct mail lead generation can be expensive. You’ll be spending money on your list, the paper, envelopes and inserts, postage and the follow up. Even without the follow up, you should consider the minimum cost to be at least $1 per person on your list. The great thing about direct mail is that if you track the results carefully, you can find out exactly how much it costs you to attract one new customer. For example, if you send out 1000 letters and get 10 customers, each one cost you $100. If that makes sense for your business, then you’re onto a winner.
Either way, you can use this information to go back and try to make improvements. For your next direct mail lead generation campaign, try changing one thing – the call to action, the headline or the day you do the follow ups. Track the results and see how they compare. Each thing that you improve will help lower the cost of attracting new customers.
Once you find a combination that works for you, you’ll have a predictable cost of attracting a new customer. So when you need more business, you simply send out another direct mail lead generation campaign.
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Using a direct mail campaign can be a great way to grow your business and generate leads. But direct mail is not just a leaflet in an envelope, and you don’t want yours to be seen as junk.
Spend a little time…
Understand the basic do’s and don’ts of direct mail, and you’ll see the results of your efforts.
Direct Mail is a process that goes something like this:
Start with your target and develop a list
Direct mail is a tried and tested method for generating sales and sales leads. Done well, it allows you to create a system with predictable results. And if you’re not a wordsmith, don’t worry. You can outsource the writing part of your direct mailing to someone with better writing skills and a persuasive tone.
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Are you considering running a direct email marketing campaign?
Well…
If you are looking to generate more leads for your business, then email marketing is certainly an attractive medium. It’s low cost, easy to do and promises great results. However, you DON’T want to be a spammer. Nobody likes spam in his or her email inbox, and you can do more harm than good if you use email in the wrong way.
The best way to do email marketing is to focus on permission based email marketing but no matter how you use email marketing, there are a few things you should consider:
Before we jump into that however, it is worth looking at the difference between bulk email marketing and individual prospecting emails.
Bulk email is where you buy or rent a list and send the same (or virtually the same) email out to everyone. The goal is simply to play a numbers game. The more emails you send, the better your chances of a small percentage actually replying. That percentage will likely be a fraction of one percent.
This is a risky tactic – your emails could be viewed as spam, which could lead to you being blocked by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) – you may even be breaking the law. We do not recommend bulk email unless you have built the list yourself, based on people who have specifically requested more information from you.
However, individual emails to specific people can be effective. If you would like to arrange a meeting with a buyer from a company, then email might be the most appropriate method for getting in touch. These emails would be personal, addressed to a known person and sent one at a time.
It is easy to buy or rent a list of email addresses to send email to. Many of these lists will be based on people who have signed up for some kind of information and have checked the box saying that they are happy to receive further information from third party companies. This is the best-case scenario. In most cases however, email lists are either gathered illegally or are based on people forgetting to opt out of further communications.
Opting out is not the same as opting in. These people will not welcome your email and will likely consider it as spam. The only list you should really consider using is one that you have built yourself or, in rare cases, one where the list owner can prove that people have specifically requested information about your kind of products or services.
In short, tread carefully.
The first thing to consider is your email subject line. It needs to be interesting enough to encourage people to open the email and not just hit the ‘junk’ button. Emails should be short and to the point. Make clear what you are offering and avoid any waffle. Do not try to hide your intent or trick people into clicking links.
For individual emails to known people the same rules should be followed. It is often useful to use a mutual contact or a reference in your email to lend weight to your message.
Be clear in what you would like the reader to do and offer them a way to get further information if needed. You should not send attachments in your email and links should be kept to a minimum. Make sure you have your address, full name, and business name and telephone number prominently displayed.
It is easy to create flashy looking HTML emails with graphics, logos and all the bells and whistles. Unfortunately some email systems will block these kinds of emails and they will often not be displayed properly anyway. It is usually safer to stick to a simple text email with your contact details and a brief line about your business in the signature.
If you are trying bulk email then you need to automate the process as best you can. A simple link to further information and, ideally, a form for them to opt in for more is all you need. For individual emails, you may suggest that you will follow up by phone. If you do mention this, make sure you do.
Sending unrequested bulk email is spam. Even if you get around the legal issues in some way, unless people have deliberately requested information from you – or about your products and services – bulk email can do more harm to your business than good.
To use email correctly, you need to build your own list, gaining permission from prospects and customers as you do.
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