How Small Businesses Should Be Using Direct Mail Marketing ...

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By Johann Williamson

Direct mail marketing is still a very powerful engine of small business growth. Even the rise of the internet has not displaced it, a fact which may be surprising to many, as it has been predicted time and again that the various electronic media would supplant traditional forms of communication, most particularly print.

The only place where this has proven to be true is in the music industry, where digital downloads have taken the place of older media. But of course music is exceptional, because it is an end in itself. Nobody is going to download hundreds of ads and listen to them or watch them for enjoyment.

And this brings us to a fact of life which all marketers, particularly in the broadcast media, must understand and accept: people avoid ads and marketing messages whenever they can, and they must be tempted in some manner in order to get them to pay attention.

Getting people to pay attention to broadcast or print media ads is several orders of magnitude more difficult than getting them to listen to music they enjoy. This is because obstacles have to be overcome. Some ways that these obstacles are overcome are

by placing the ads in the middle of shows or sporting events which people want to watch, or

in newspapers or magazines they like to read, or

by making the ads entertaining in and of themselves.

In other words, using entertainment to sell products through advertising is like the song, ?A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.?

And so why use direct mail? Direct mail is very different from broadcast media.

Here are some ways to look at the difference:

Whereas broadcast media hopes to draw people in by the use of entertainment, direct mail goes after the people who are believed to be good potential customers.

Broadcast media constantly strives to find new ways to entertain.
Direct mail constantly strives to identify real customers.

Broadcast media strives to be as broad in its message as possible.
Direct mail campaigns try to be as targeted as possible.

Broadcast media is, in a sense, blind. It throws out its message and hopes that someone will be moved to act. Direct mail campaigns try to be as clear-eyed as possible.

Broadcast media ads cost the same amount of money whether one thousand people see the ad or one hundred thousand people see it. With direct mail, each person you mail to costs you a set amount of money.

Direct mail has sharp vision: it uses such tools as analysis of customer buying habits in order to narrow down its focus to the best possible customers and to speak directly to them. Broadcast media targets everybody the same way and hopes for the best.

And so when you think in terms of direct mail, you have to take a different approach than the broadcast advertisers do. Obviously you have to have printed marketing materials which are well-designed and they can be enjoyable to read. However, the focus of a direct mail campaign needs always to be figuring out who your real customers are. If you are willing and able to do the homework, direct mail marketing can be the most cost-effective form of advertising there is.

The author, who is associated with Conquest Graphics, is a nationally recognized expert on all aspects of printing, print marketing, the internet and social media. Contact Conquest today for a discussion about how a direct mail campaign can help you grow your business.

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