Direct Mail
Discount Professional Mailers specializes in direct mail
including design, printing, address verification, address correction,
standard USPS presort, bar-coding, and mailing.
Our company does all the work while you reap the benefits.
Here is our program:
STEP ONE: Design and print your promotion
Our staff will help you design your postcard, letter, or brochure. This is a good opportunity to add coupons or specials to attract customer attention.
STEP TWO: Tailor your Mailing List to your customer specifications
Your mailing list can be ordered based on city, zip code, household income, age, credit, etc. We work with you to establish your target area and compile a mailing list to get you a better than average return.
STEP THREE: Presort and bar-code your mail for best mailing prices
The United States Post Office offers discounted prices for mailing presorted and bar-coded promotion. We have USPS approved software that works with the post office system, bringing the lowest mailing costs to you. We print the bar-codes right onto your postcards, envelopes, or brochures.Your mail arrives at the post office already sorted and ready to to enter the United States Postal System.
STEP FOUR: We mail your promotion on the schedule you desire
Sending your mail all at once can be expensive. We can stagger your mailing on a schedule that is affordable to you. We also suggest multiple mailings to the same list. This gets your company name and services well known again and again, giving many the opportunities for new customers to contact you. Repetitive mailing on a schedule is one of the biggest reasons for the effectiveness of the mailing campaign.
STEP ONE: Design and print your promotion
Our staff will help you design your postcard, letter, or brochure. This is a good opportunity to add coupons or specials to attract customer attention.
STEP TWO: Tailor your Mailing List to your customer specifications
Your mailing list can be ordered based on city, zip code, household income, age, credit, etc. We work with you to establish your target area and compile a mailing list to get you a better than average return.
STEP THREE: Presort and bar-code your mail for best mailing prices
The United States Post Office offers discounted prices for mailing presorted and bar-coded promotion. We have USPS approved software that works with the post office system, bringing the lowest mailing costs to you. We print the bar-codes right onto your postcards, envelopes, or brochures.Your mail arrives at the post office already sorted and ready to to enter the United States Postal System.
STEP FOUR: We mail your promotion on the schedule you desire
Sending your mail all at once can be expensive. We can stagger your mailing on a schedule that is affordable to you. We also suggest multiple mailings to the same list. This gets your company name and services well known again and again, giving many the opportunities for new customers to contact you. Repetitive mailing on a schedule is one of the biggest reasons for the effectiveness of the mailing campaign.
Reasons To Use Direct Mail
There are compelling reasons to use direct mail. Here are some reasons to use direct mail.
- Drive foot traffic into a retail shop
- Generate traffic for a website
- Target customers who distrust the Web or aren't online
- Promote to a specific location
- Showcase products and services in ways e-mail cannot, such as via a catalog
- Improve customer service
- Send content or news, such as an informational brochure
- Shift consumer perception of your brand
- Hard copy promotional items are retained by the consumer longer than any other promotion
- Direct mail has longevity and credibility with consumers
There are compelling reasons to use direct mail. Here are some reasons to use direct mail.
- Drive foot traffic into a retail shop
- Generate traffic for a website
- Target customers who distrust the Web or aren't online
- Promote to a specific location
- Showcase products and services in ways e-mail cannot, such as via a catalog
- Improve customer service
- Send content or news, such as an informational brochure
- Shift consumer perception of your brand
- Hard copy promotional items are retained by the consumer longer than any other promotion
- Direct mail has longevity and credibility with consumers
Tips for Direct Mail
- Direct mail can be expensive. For the small business any opportunity to do co-op mailings is very financially sound. To send a postcard would average 39 cents, or $3,900 for 10,000. The Strip Mall Mailer co-op is 4.75 cents each piece, or $475 for 10,000.
- Provide real incentives. Direct mail works by getting your prospect to respond to an offer. That could mean a sale coupon, a free trial or sample, a guarantee of service or money refunded, a special deal for a certain time period, or some other reward for taking action. When you go cheap on your offer, you waste marketing dollars. Nevertheless, incentives don't always require a hefty expenditure of profit or inventory. Time truly is money nowadays. You can offer time-savers or head-of-the-line luxuries or special shopping experiences as incentives.
- Make sure your mailing fully identifies your product. This is especially important when the name of your business does not identify the product. Example, Bob's House. The ad must list the products of the shop, such as "the finest homestyle brunch in Chicago." Then proceed to list the type of food, hours of operation, phone number, coupon information and anything else the consumer should know. The more information the consumer has about your product the greater the chance your targeted consumer will answer your shop.
- Understand and watch response. Direct mail, as is any advertising, is interesting in that all response is not necessarily obvious. Here is an example. One shop sends out direct mail. They have very few customers come in with their coupon. They discontinue their direct mailings. Starting 6 weeks after the mailings started (which is a typical financial response time) and ending 6 weeks after the mailings ended, their gross sales were 20% higher. Shortly after the mailings stopped the gross sales headed back down. This has happened time and time again. The explanations could be many. Consumers see your promotion and forget the coupon, don't save the coupon but are more aware that your shop is there later, find out from a friend that got your coupon, etc. So when watching for a response, always give time for the mailings to arrive and be noticed and gauge with overall increase, not just on the specific offer being brought in by the consumer.
- Direct mail works on multiple mailings. Experts say that direct mail responses really begin after the 3rd or 4th mailing to the same consumer list. As the mailings continue gross sales response will continue to increase. Once you have it going you can start experimenting with new offers and different ideas in your mailings to increase your response rate.
- Provide real incentives. Direct mail works by getting your prospect to respond to an offer. That could mean a sale coupon, a free trial or sample, a guarantee of service or money refunded, a special deal for a certain time period, or some other reward for taking action. When you go cheap on your offer, you waste marketing dollars. Nevertheless, incentives don't always require a hefty expenditure of profit or inventory. Time truly is money nowadays. You can offer time-savers or head-of-the-line luxuries or special shopping experiences as incentives.
- Make sure your mailing fully identifies your product. This is especially important when the name of your business does not identify the product. Example, Bob's House. The ad must list the products of the shop, such as "the finest homestyle brunch in Chicago." Then proceed to list the type of food, hours of operation, phone number, coupon information and anything else the consumer should know. The more information the consumer has about your product the greater the chance your targeted consumer will answer your shop.
- Understand and watch response. Direct mail, as is any advertising, is interesting in that all response is not necessarily obvious. Here is an example. One shop sends out direct mail. They have very few customers come in with their coupon. They discontinue their direct mailings. Starting 6 weeks after the mailings started (which is a typical financial response time) and ending 6 weeks after the mailings ended, their gross sales were 20% higher. Shortly after the mailings stopped the gross sales headed back down. This has happened time and time again. The explanations could be many. Consumers see your promotion and forget the coupon, don't save the coupon but are more aware that your shop is there later, find out from a friend that got your coupon, etc. So when watching for a response, always give time for the mailings to arrive and be noticed and gauge with overall increase, not just on the specific offer being brought in by the consumer.
- Direct mail works on multiple mailings. Experts say that direct mail responses really begin after the 3rd or 4th mailing to the same consumer list. As the mailings continue gross sales response will continue to increase. Once you have it going you can start experimenting with new offers and different ideas in your mailings to increase your response rate.
