Saturday, May 22  

3 direct mail examples

How not to do Direct Mail

Howdy. Hope you are well and behaving. It's 6.30 on Saturday morning here and I'm in the office writing this.

Dedicated, huh??!

Many people I talk marketing with tell me direct mail is dead. It is certainly tougher than it used to be, but dead? Nope.

But some people make it tougher than it should be. Here's an example.

I have a letter on my desk addressed to:

General Manager
Tailored Consulting
1136 Gold Coast Highway
Palm Beach QLD 4221

That's not bad so far. Not personally addressed, but it's on my desk, opened and I've read it (you'll get a better response with personally addressed mail, but it is not always possible to get names).

Anyway, the letter is asking me to subscribe to an Advertising industry magazine.

Great incentive to subscribe

It's a well written letter with a strong call to action. There is a great incentive to subscribe.

There is also a brochure that details the offer and demonstrates the product via testimonials.

The mailing included a Reply Paid envelope.

Pretty good so far. Except for this point.

I'm already subscribed to this magazine and have been for 2 years.

Direct mail can be expensive. I'd estimate about $3.50 per letter for that mailing at a minimum. And like all marketing you have to try and get rid of as much waste as possible.

It's a solid reminder of another aspect of direct mail that we need to be aware of. Check your existing client list against your mailing database to see if you can weed out the duplicates.

That'll save you a couple of dollars - better in your pocket than the post office.

Have a good weekend. It's a great looking day here. The sun is up, the sky is clear. I'm off for a bike ride now, soccer with the kids at 8.30 am and then we're going camping out in the bush overnight.

Cheers

Brendon