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Archive for July, 2019

The Backbone of Your Marketing Campaign: Creating Direct Mail Lists

Your direct mailing campaign is only as good as the list you’re sending it to.

You could build your own direct mail lists. Or, you could use brokers, compilers, and expert services. Either way, you’ll want a list that’s hot, hot, hot and responsive to your campaigns.

How do you go about getting and/or building a list for your direct mail campaigns? Try some of these strategies!

Use the Data You Have

Look no further than your customer list when building your direct mailing list.

Your customer list would include:

  • Names
  • Addresses
  • Purchases

These three data points provide enough to launch a campaign. You know they’re acquainted with your brand. Plus, they’ve bought from you before. You’re nudging them to repeat business versus going after them cold! In addition, studies have shown the highest response rates from direct mail come from your current and past customer lists. They know your business best and welcome receiving new offers and information.

Set Up Lead Funnels

Funnels attract and collect visitor information — build them using forms like:

  • Website contact
  • Service request
  • Live Chat
  • Click-to-call
  • Directory listings
  • Contests

Use a two-stage confirmation when people sign up or exchange information. It involves sending a follow-up to confirm their info and agree to the mailing terms. This ensures they are open to you mailing them and makes the leads “hot” since they’re responsive.

Use Lead Magnets

You can improve the effectiveness and reach of list building efforts by using a lead magnet. A lead magnet is a freebie or resource enticing info exchange. It may also include tangible or non-tangible items.

Lead magnets could include items like:

  • eBook or online course
  • Stickers, t-shirts, or cups
  • Coupons or freebies

You get the idea, right? Give away something of value in exchange for their information. Then, validate the information by sending a test campaign. Those who respond goes into the final direct mailing list.

Seek List Brokers or Compilers

Buying or renting a list is a quick and efficient solution to assist in finding new prospects.  The best prospecting list is one that looks like your current customers.  You want to find like people, so profile your client base first and try to find like people.   You have the ability to target a specific type of prospect by…

  • Demographic Information
  • Geographic location
  • Lifestyle Interest
  • Business type
  • New Homeowner

The lists are compiled from all sorts of data bases but mainly credit bureaus, warranty responses and public records.  It’s important to inquire about what type of guarantee the list vendor has on the accuracy of their data and how frequently they clean and update their files with the National Change Of Address.  You want to make sure any list you purchase is cleaned within 30 days of your purchase.

Mailing lists are never 100% accurate from any source but do your due diligence before investing tons of money into a list source.

Clean your List

Keep your list Clean.

It is important to keep up with your mailing list and prune those that are unresponsive.  When doing a direct mailing, your mail house should be NCOAing and CASS Certifying your data file every time you do a mailing to help you in this process but you need to be sure to get those moves that were updated in your mailing so you can update your database.  If you don’t, after a certain period of time those records will not get flagged and you will be mailing to the wrong prospect.  You should also be removing any undeliverable pieces you receive back, along with outdated users.

You could also include a call-to-action with a campaign to help your manage your data base.  Those who respond go into a new hitter list for a specific type of follow up mailing and those that don’t respond, get into a cold file that receive a different type of offer in the next mailing.  Having your offers match your mailing list is key to generating a higher response rate.

We Can Help Build Your Direct Mail Lists

Over 45 years of experience in print and direct mailing makes us experts. We’ve helped countless businesses build and launch successful campaigns.

Above all, we’d love to work hand-in-hand building your direct mail lists. In addition,, help you see success through this powerful form of advertising and marketing.

Browse our mailing services. Then, call us at 888-430-6245 for a quote.

Posted in: Campaigning Help, Community

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Fonts and Feelings: Choosing the Best Font for Marketing

Imagine the dread of having spent thousands on a marketing campaign to later notice a typo. What if it wasn’t a typo but something worse… bungled-up font! You’d make it onto a list of marketing fails — but you’re not laughing.

What is the best font for marketing? That’s a bit tricky.

The typography of your marketing wholly depends on your brand and its image. There are factors such as the history of said font and typeface, too. And, what people think of these fonts are bundled into the experience.

Let’s give it a shot and try…

Finding the Best Font for Marketing Materials

Fonts convey emotions. They leave an impact.

Script fonts tend to convey elegance. Blocky fonts have you expecting some big, impactful news. Stylized type may feel cartoonish or eclectic.

The point being that fonts have a long history and influence. You’ll want to keep this in mind while experimenting with fonts for your materials.

The Audience

Consider the targeted audience in the business mailing list you’re building:

  • Demographics
  • Location
  • Education
  • Lifestyle

Use resources to figure out the font they enjoy:

There’s a good chance audiences appreciate familiarity. But, do consider your audience and their nuances. Then, find a font that’s appropriate for this group.

A Simple Test

Simplify the font selection by running a simple A/B test.

The process involves the following:

  1. Pick two variants (fonts) of the same word/phrase
  2. Show both to a group, asking which they like best
  3. Set the favorite from this test as the new favorite

Repeat this process using the new favorite until you’ve landed the perfect pick.

Ask not only what they thought of the font but how they felt. And, how easy the font was to read or if it resonated with them. This will get to the bottom of what leaves an emotional impact on your audience.

Using “Classics”

Truly stumped on which fonts to choose for your marketing materials? Try using the “classic” fonts we’ve come to know and love.

Classic fonts include:

  • Helvetica
  • Times
  • Futura
  • Georgia
  • Minion

Or the popular fonts making their way around the design circle as of today.

This goes back to knowing the audience and familiarity. Using a familiar font may express emotions one has with a major brand or product. You could leverage this by making your brand convey this same emotion and connection.

It’s Versatility

You have to think of all the ways you’ll use the font:

Take your font choice and play around with its design. Scale it teenie tiny, then really big, seeing if it holds up. Swap around colors to see if you can still read it.

You want a font you could replicate over and over without losing its message.

Let Us Make the Hard Decision For You

Well, at least when picking the best font for marketing!

We’ve coordinated countless direct mail campaigns. We’ve printed far too many materials than we can count! We know a thing or two about what fonts make the most sense in marketing campaigns.

Why not get in touch and see what we have in mind? Go now and inquire about our printing services for the details.

Posted in: Design Tips

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Must-Have Information to Include on Direct Mail Postcards

Direct mail postcards allow you to target the right customer, at the right time and leave a tangible offer in their hands. In addition, it allows you to set your company apart from your competitors. According to the Small Business Chronicle, the return on investment for direct mail postcards is anywhere from  ½ – 2%. So, for 1,000 postcards sent, you should expect 5-25 potential customers to respond to you and approximately half of that response could become new paying customers.

 

If you are ready to add direct mail postcards into your overall marketing strategy, read on to learn about the key information you need to be sure to include.

direct mail postcards - Vintage Postcards Of California Resting On Map Of California

Key Elements to Include in Your Direct Mail Postcards

You don’t have to be an expert at copywriting to design a great postcard.

1. Start with a Great Headline

Your goal is to grab their attention. The headline needs to be eye-catching and engaging. Then, once you have them, write a 17-19 word subheading. The subheading can include more information on your product or service.

2. Write the Content

Now that you have their attention, keep them reading. Think about your ideal customer as you are writing.

Give them information on your product or services, but keep it light, not overly technical. Focus on the benefits of your product or service, address common objections. Right and re-write this section of the postcard, great content in this area will increase your response rate.

Below is a list of Power Words you can use to increase your impact.

  • Welcome
  • Excellent
  • Superior
  • Now
  • Discover
  • Personalized
  • Special
  • Exciting

3. Offer or Call to Action

You have hooked them, kept them reading, now what do you want them to do? Contact you, follow you on social media, go online to purchase something? Your call to action should stand out visually from the rest of your copy and be clear.

Consider offering a coupon, or extra product or service for using the postcard, it allows you to track the impact of your direct mail postcard.

4. Don’t Forget These Items

A Picture — We live in a visual world. You need to have a stunning visual with the appropriate caption. This, along with the headline, will grab their attention. Don’t forget to include your logo in a prominent place on your postcard it helps increase brand awareness.

Social Media Profiles — Since it is not electronic most people forget to include these on their postcards, but it does help drive people to your online presence.

Website — Yes, believe it or not, this is often overlooked.

Contact Information — You should include all ways to contact you, phone, email, web form, and or location. Everyone has a communication preference, so you don’t want to miss out on a potential customer by not sharing theirs.

Driving Directions — Include this if your call to actions is to drive traffic to your physical storefront.

5. Other Postcard Considerations

People like guarantees. Consider adding a 100% money-back or satisfaction guarantee. There are three other considerations for your postcard copy. The first is to consider adding a guarantee. A 100 percent money-back or satisfaction guarantee can boost response rates by eliminating risk.

Don’t forget to use the back of the postcard. Yes, it has their mailing address, but there is plenty of space to put an eye-catching image or heading.

Are You Ready?

We are a family-owned company that can help with all your direct mail postcards.

Contact us, so we can help you push your company to the next level.

Posted in: Business Resources

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