Before you even start with your direct mailing, you have to focus on two important points: who your audience will be and what your message should contain.
Who is it you wish to target? Which kind of market do you wish to promote?
You must get to know your potential clients, find out what common traits they share before you send out your advertising through the mail.
You’ll just be wasting postage and brochures or leaflets if you send out your mail to anyone. It is essential you precisely target your market and likely customers.
The way you can proceed is to find the addresses of those people who are listed with a store, which treats the same product, or others who have shown direct interest in that same product. So how do you go about finding these lists?
There are in fact Mailing List providers who can give you the names and addresses of potential customers.
These providers sell prepackaged lists and lists that have been produced for all those interested in a specific market.
It is however important to check whether this list is qualified or not before purchasing the service, for it’s no use paying for a service that will not provide you will those names and addresses that target your product.
Your next step is the content of the message you will be sending through your direct mailing. Although each message is different according to the market it needs to attract, most messages have a common denominator.
The message must be direct, get to the point, do not waste time with long descriptions, people simply will not bother reading long messages.
Keep the tone respectful of the reader, that is to say, do not use intimidation or in any way insult your potential customers.
When you’re formulating the message, try to anticipate any questions your readers may want to ask. Be informative and share your knowledge and communicate the value of your product.
If you use attractive graphics, colors, photos, and highlight the message that must get through to your audience your message will be a success.
Do not use any sophisticated typefaces, try and stick to simple and clear text and characters.
And last but not least work on targeting the right audience for the product you intend to sell. If you’re selling adventure stories for children don’t send your mail to unmarried couples!
