B2B Direct Marketing

Direct Mail Response Rates - Pop Up Mailers Prove to Be Cost Effective For B2B Direct Marketing

After sending out samples of their automatic pop-up mailers to ad agencies and making a courtesy follow-up call, one UK manufacturer of B2B direct marketing pieces discovered a common misconception. Smaller agencies were commenting "I love your products but they are too expensive for our client base." Fair comment - automatic pop-up products are more expensive than A4 leaflets - but just how cost effective are they?
The company's promotional pop-up products are commissioned by agencies on behalf of clients with the intention of using them as a direct mail piece. The idea of a mailing piece is to create interest and generate response and in most instances it is the rate of response which is quantifiable and which is the initial gauge of the success of the promotion.
There are no definitive figures detailing exact response rates to direct mail but there are examples to be found via web searches for "direct mail response rates" and I will use those sources as a guide. A plain A4 leaflet, folded down to 1/3 A4 and sent out in a plain white envelope to a blanket coverage might generate between 0.2% response. A mailer with slightly better content and better targeting might generate a rate of 0.5% to 1% response. In general, a response rate of 2% to 3% seems to be acknowledged as pretty good. These figures come from Marketingprofs.com, an information site with a membership of over 300,000 marketing professionals and from Gaebler Ventures whose site features an information resource centre.
Automatic pop-up mailers come under the US description of "dimensional marketing" and in the States dimensional marketing is known to perform much better than unimaginative blanket direct mail. Kristian Industries website states that response rates of 8% - 14% are common for dimensionals whilst extremely successful campaigns have reported over 20% response rates. US direct marketing company, Immedia, publishes a white paper which quotes DMA figures for dimensional marketing response rates to be as high as 8.3% whilst it goes on to cite several other cases where rates of 7% to 30% have been reported.
Testimonials on the company's own websites quote figures of 9.6% success - not just response, but actual new accounts being opened!
Let's look at a pound-for-pound example
The cost of a mail shot should be measured against its success and not against the initial cost. Let's take a simple mailshot of 5000 leaflets sent out to 5000 businesses via Mailsort 3. Excluding the cost of design work this might cost £1700 at today's prices for the print, folding, envelopes, postage etc. If the response rate is just 0.5% to 1% as has been suggested is likely then that means that the 25 - 50 enquiries will have cost £34 to £68 each.
If a pop up cube shaped pen holder was sent via Mailsort 2 to a well targeted audience of just 1000 businesses the cost of that promotion, excluding design costs, would work out at approximately £1850 - that £150 more than the cost as 5000 leaflets! However, if we take the lowest of the figures reported for dimensional mail - 7% - then the 70 generated enquiries will have cost just over £26 each. And there are at least 40% more of them than the 5000 leaflets managed to generate.
If we took the example of sending out equal numbers, that is, just 1000 of each type of mailer then the cost of mailing the leaflet would be around £700. That works out at a whacking £70 per enquiry!
At the end of the exercise, where is the leaflet? More than likely it is in the customer's bin along with several other examples received in the morning's mail. And the pop-up cube? Well, the cube was passed all around the office and now it is on your customer's desk where it is likely to stay for the next 12 months or so. Now that's cost effective!

How Do Telemarketers Get My Phone Number?

How Do Telemarketers Get My Phone Number?

Of all the ways that telemarketers can get information about you, these resources are largely broken up into two different branches: public directories and business relationships. Chances are, if you have a landline number, you receive a lot of telemarketing calls. Though customers can request that landline numbers remain unpublished, and there is always the Do-Not-Call registry, one of the major sources of corporate call lists are public directories like the white pages. If you have a published landline number, you can pretty much guarantee that your name and number appears on corporate call lists across the nation.
Of course, just getting your number off public directories does not mean that telemarketers will necessarily become a thing of the past. After all, there are other ways that telemarketers can get your number, largely through existing business relationships. Any time you have a legitimate business relationship with a company, they get your name and address. Not only is this information added to their corporate call list and used to contact you in the future, corporate call lists can also be sold. One telemarketing company can buy another's corporate call list, and with it, your name and number.
While the availability of public directories and corporate call lists make it easy for telemarketers to get your number, there are some things you can do to protect yourself. First, reverse phone lookups allow you to confirm that a suspect unknown number is a telemarketer or to find out more information about a telemarketing company. The more you know about telemarketers, the easier it will be to determine how they got your number, and the overall legitimacy of the call and company.

5 Tips For Effective Brochure Design

5 Tips For Effective Brochure Design

Know your goals. Before producing a brochure, you have to clearly understand the purpose of it. Will it be used to generate leads, educate your audience or recruit new employees? Will it be sent in the mail or distributed by your sales force? Will it be presented as part of sales package? Once you nail down your primary goals, nothing in the brochure should detract from this message.
Organize and limit your information. Keeping in mind your primary goals, write down everything you'd like to cover in your brochure. Now, cut that by half. After all, you don't want to give too much information. The goal is to entice your reader to contact your company for more. You also need to provide a clear and organized path for the reader to gather content, view images, and take action.
Hire a professional copywriter. You may think you are a great writer, but writing marketing materials takes years of skill. A brochure with poorly-written copy, bad grammar or typos will quickly create a terrible perception of your company. And remember to proofread, and have others proofread the final content.
Hire a professional graphic designer. Homegrown marketing materials do nothing for your company's image. In fact, it does more harm than good. Distributing materials created in a word processing software (or other software not designed for page layout) that does not follow the basic principals of design, communicates to your audience that you are not serious about your business and don't meet the high standards of savvy buyers today. Hiring a designer with experience in creating printed marketing materials will guarantee you results.
Brochures are powerful marketing tools. The design plays a big role in it's success. When you follow the guidelines outlined here, the performance of your company brochure is sure to be a hit.
Danielle Mai, Senior Designer and Top Banana of Banana Creative, brings over 17 years of industry experience to the table. Her work experience includes design for publications, advertising agencies and large corporations. In 2000, after managing a corporate marketing communications team for over 5 years, she decided to venture out on her own to create Banana Creative-a company passionate about providing smart and affordable print and web marketing tools for startups, growing and established businesses.
As a Graphic Designer, Danielle offers a strong combination of marketing and design expertise which is unique in the industry. Through the use of print and online communication vehicles, such as logo/identity programs, advertising, direct mail, collateral and web marketing, she helps company's grow and realize the power of successful marketing. Glowing reviews from clients highlight her creativity, professionalism, attention to detail and marketing savvy.

Creative Ways

Creative Ways to Attract More Visitors to Your Trade Show Booth

When you own a business, it can be a great idea to set up a trade show booth at a convention as a way to showcase and sell your products. Trade show booths allow you to be able to gain new customers and make individuals aware of your business and what it has to offer. However, you have to do something memorable at the convention so that potential customers will think of you when they need what you have. You don't want to get lost amongst the other trade show booths because you have nothing unique that stands out. Just keep in mind that creative ideas sometimes consist of spending money, hence the saying, "it costs money to make money." But what you will find is that your creative ideas will garner you the attention that you need to make your booth successful.
Unique Ideas
Some ideas may seem a bit off of the wall, but off the wall is what gets attention. Here are some ways that you can really get people to pay attention to your trade show booth:
- Try a money blowing machine. Many businesses use these machines to attract people to their locations. What happens is that people are standing in line to use the money blowing machine and they then see things that you have to offer. They will never forget you for giving them the chance to win some money. All the contestant does is step inside and grab at money or coupons. One or both can be placed inside. It makes for a rewarding experience and is also quite hilarious for the contestant and those watching.
- You can also go the route of offering promotional items. This isn't saying that you should offer ink pens and magnifying glasses. Yes, a person will use an ink pen, but they tend to be boring. You want to give them something functional such as a canvas bag that has your logo on it. They can carry this around and use it for a lot of things. You can even get water bottles with a private label for your business and offer the thirsty people at the convention a bottle of water. That is another one of those things you can do that they will never forget you for.
- Scratch cards are something people really enjoy. You can have scratch cards made up that reveals that they have won something free or they get a special deal from your booth or your store. People love mystery, so you can use the scratch card for this very reason.
- Prize wheels make for a great tool because you can place the name of certain prizes on the wheel and your visitors can spin for a chance to win one of the prizes listed. This is a great go getter at a trade show and will really bring attention. Next to the money blowing machine, this is something that people will definitely want to participate in.
Don't be afraid
Don't be afraid to spend the money and use these ideas because they will definitely pay off. Even if you get a small percentage of customers out of a large percentage of visitors, your endeavors are still going to pay for themselves and then some. These creative ideas are also the way you are going to become the booth to see at any trade show event or convention you attend. You don't just want to blend in with the crowd. You want to be so much more and that is what is going to happen here.

Creative Ways

Creative Ways to Attract More Visitors to Your Trade Show Booth

When you own a business, it can be a great idea to set up a trade show booth at a convention as a way to showcase and sell your products. Trade show booths allow you to be able to gain new customers and make individuals aware of your business and what it has to offer. However, you have to do something memorable at the convention so that potential customers will think of you when they need what you have. You don't want to get lost amongst the other trade show booths because you have nothing unique that stands out. Just keep in mind that creative ideas sometimes consist of spending money, hence the saying, "it costs money to make money." But what you will find is that your creative ideas will garner you the attention that you need to make your booth successful.
Unique Ideas
Some ideas may seem a bit off of the wall, but off the wall is what gets attention. Here are some ways that you can really get people to pay attention to your trade show booth:
- Try a money blowing machine. Many businesses use these machines to attract people to their locations. What happens is that people are standing in line to use the money blowing machine and they then see things that you have to offer. They will never forget you for giving them the chance to win some money. All the contestant does is step inside and grab at money or coupons. One or both can be placed inside. It makes for a rewarding experience and is also quite hilarious for the contestant and those watching.
- You can also go the route of offering promotional items. This isn't saying that you should offer ink pens and magnifying glasses. Yes, a person will use an ink pen, but they tend to be boring. You want to give them something functional such as a canvas bag that has your logo on it. They can carry this around and use it for a lot of things. You can even get water bottles with a private label for your business and offer the thirsty people at the convention a bottle of water. That is another one of those things you can do that they will never forget you for.
- Scratch cards are something people really enjoy. You can have scratch cards made up that reveals that they have won something free or they get a special deal from your booth or your store. People love mystery, so you can use the scratch card for this very reason.
- Prize wheels make for a great tool because you can place the name of certain prizes on the wheel and your visitors can spin for a chance to win one of the prizes listed. This is a great go getter at a trade show and will really bring attention. Next to the money blowing machine, this is something that people will definitely want to participate in.
Don't be afraid
Don't be afraid to spend the money and use these ideas because they will definitely pay off. Even if you get a small percentage of customers out of a large percentage of visitors, your endeavors are still going to pay for themselves and then some. These creative ideas are also the way you are going to become the booth to see at any trade show event or convention you attend. You don't just want to blend in with the crowd. You want to be so much more and that is what is going to happen here.

Postcard Marketing

Postcard Marketing - Will They Open the Envelope?

As with any marketing initiative, the most important achievement is gaining your customer's attention. Even something as simple as a postcard must overcome the natural tendency to "ignore the message". Experts estimate that the average American is blasted with 3000 new market messages every day.
This means even your postcard must be taken out of the envelope.
In order to create a genuinely effective direct mail marketing campaign using postcards you need to consider the following factors:
Make sure each card only transmits one message. This message must connect directly to the customer's interests hopefully appealing to his emotional and instinctive needs. A postcard can't explain a doctoral thesis. Use a short poignant phrase that reaches out and grabs the reader by the throat.
Keep it extremely simple. The objective of the postcard is to move the receiver to commit one specific measurable action. You're trying to shoot a poisonous dart straight to the heart. Remember a postcard isn't a machine gun!
Don't scrimp on your list. You're trying to keep the highest number of cards out of the trash can. This means that the more adequate the mailing list the higher the probability of success
The power of three. The human brain is able to easily assimilate three elements at a time. For this reason, you should limit the presentation to this number. Keep them balanced on the card and don't forget to use plenty of whitespace.
You have to give if you expect to receive. If you want to motivate your customer to take action, you need to make it worth his while. What are you going to give in return? Is it a fair offer?
Measure your results. You can't achieve success if you don't use a scientific method. Start small, compare different cards to identify the most effective and scale up the one's that generate the maximum results.

How to Make Leaflets Work For You

How to Make Leaflets Work For You

I meet several small business owners who use leaflets as a way of promoting their business. But, one of the biggest complaints with this method is that it hasn't worked. Whenever, someone tells me this though, my question back to them is "how do you know?"
Think about what happens to leaflets once they come through your door or into your office. Probably one of two things - if they're of no interest and never likely to be, they'll end up in the bin. But, if they are of interest, it's likely that you'll keep them for some point in the future when you'd like to use the product or service being advertised.
If you're anything like me, the leaflets I'm interested in go in a drawer or on a notice board. The problem is that I'm only likely to look at them again if I either tidy out my drawer or notice board or something makes me remember them i.e. I receive something else from the same company like another leaflet or a newsletter for instance.
The point I'm trying to make here is that if you just send one leaflet out, even if the person is interested in your products or services, they're unlikely to do something about it unless they keep hearing from you and you make an effort to build a relationship.
There's two ways you can start to build a relationship with someone. The expensive way is to keep putting leaflets through their door; send them mail or give them a call. But, you may well be continuing to contact them when they're not interested and the danger then is that you start to annoy them.
The cost-effective way is to plan this right from the start - before you design your leaflet. You need to get the person to contact you and give you their details in return for something useful. This can be a free report; free brochure; a sample; entering a competition etc, but shouldn't be anything too big. In other words, if you offer a free consultation, you're likely to scare people who may not be ready to buy from you just yet - so start with something small.
If, when you send the leaflet out, a person then requests your free gift, what they are telling you is that they're interested (to some degree) in what you do. It's then up to you to build that relationship with them and find out how interested they actually are - did they just want the free gift and nothing else or are they a hot buyer and want to be sold to right now?
Either way, if someone requests the free gift, you know immediately that your leaflets have worked and you will have a whole bunch of people who are interested in what you do to build a relationship with and ultimately sell to.

How to Design Quality Leaflets

How to Design Quality Leaflets

Leaflets are a form of direct advertising to get information or a message across to consumers and customers. The message and information you print on your leaflets has to be convincing and appealing for people to get hooked onto the information you're providing. It is usually handed out in public areas or posted on bulletin boards in places where many people will be likely to see it. There are many ways to attract people's attention but on a leaflet you have to achieve it in a clear effective manner and be able to draw the reader's attention instantly.

The first step to leaflet printing is to decide what type of consumer to target. If you're selling perfumes, targeting females from the ages 18 and older might be a good start to your leaflet. Think about what designs and style would appeal to them and accordingly design your leaflet. Think about weaving in a feminine soft style to the images, fonts, vocabulary and layout of your leaflets. Also plan out what offer or discount information you would want to include into your leaflet printing design to attract consumers to your product or service. Sales, discounts, one time offers or unique features that your company provides as compared to competitors, would be a good thing to highlight in your leaflet. Just keep in mind not to clutter or crowd your leaflet with too much information which will confuse or cause a consumer to lose interest.

Images are just as important in any leaflet as the words you choose. Images not related to your product or service can be very distracting and can lead to disinterest. Make sure images are good quality images which are not blurry or pixelated. Shabby layout designs lead a person to assume your product or service is just as poor. Try sticking to images that have something relevant to your product or service. Use ideal leaflet sizes so it will be easy for people to keep them in their purses or pocket. If it is an awkward sized leaflet most likely it will just end up in the trash. Standard leaflet printing sizes include 8.5 X 11, 8.5 X 14, and 11 X 17 inches. Even the simple time taken to check for any spelling and grammar mistakes can make the difference between someone overlooking your leaflet and coming to take a look at your store. It is essential that the leaflet has the information to get in touch with you or your business. Choosing the right quality and colour of paper needs to be considered when printing your leaflet. Test out one leaflet first before printing all of them at once.

Leaflet printing has started an increased popularity in desktop publishing due to the convenience of designing and printing leaflets at your own convenience. It is a cheap form of advertising and an easy way to reach out to the public. Most desktop publishing programs also provide templates to make it easy to design a leaflet with an attractive layout. So take the time to design the perfect layout for your leaflet so you can effectively advertise your product or service and attract consumers for a successful business

Christmas Marketing Idea

Christmas Marketing Idea - Promotional Christmas Cracker

There is a rubber band powered promotional product known in the UK as an auto extender and it is most often used as an everyday promotional mailer where the message is growth or speed. But what about its potential as a seasonal mailer - or even a fun Christmas greetings card
Each year companies spend a great deal of time and effort trying to come up with an idea for a company card. Invariably, other projects take priority and the choice of a top notch company greeting is left as a last minute decision and the opportunity to create a lasting impression is lost. If you are reading this as a brand new article you might well be thinking that I've gone mad as it's still only August and I'm already talking about Christmas. Well that's because I know that things are left to the last minute every single year. It's almost as if Christmas takes the corporate marketing world by surprise - as if it were a floating date. What I am trying to say here is that if you don't chose your company greeting or Christmas card with care and thought then your last minute afterthought of a 4-page A5 card will be money and opportunity wasted. The card will be hung up on a line of ribbon on your customer's office wall with scores of others who have done exactly the same thing and got hung up with the smalls!

I urge you to start thinking right now and here's one neat idea to get the grey matter working. In a word, it's - "crackers".
As a symbol of Christmas the humble Christmas cracker is quite possibly the most physical and noisy! It is a highly interactive product and contains the promise of a small gift, a party hat and a party joke. If you want to create a similar festive feeling to the Christmas cracker with your Christmas promotion then the auto extender might just fit the bill.
The auto extender is the ideal product to take on the guise of a Christmas cracker. The product is delivered compressed in a custom-designed envelope. When the extender is taken out of the envelope the sides shoot out with a whoosh and a crack giving your Christmas promotion the impact that you are looking for and making sure that your customer remembers you. The auto extender is also a very interactive product and it will be passed around your customer's office for everyone to have a play with, making it a very effective marketing product for Christmas promotions. Comparison of auto extenders to Christmas crackers is very apt and one that hasn't gone unnoticed by advertisers for Christmas ad campaigns. One version of the product is made in the UK by Whitney Woods and they call it a Side Shooter which can be seen at

Article by Paul Whitney.

Whitney Woods Ltd is a manufacturer of promotional marketing products designed using sophisticated cardboard engineering techniques. The company is a market leader in this field in the UK and publishes a range of over 50 products covering the areas of promotional pocket media, interactive marketing products, information discs, promotional pop up cards, creative folding and automatic pop up mailers. Whitney Woods also publishes a range of products which are particularly suited to Christmas promotions and for use as company Christmas cards. In addition, the company incorporates a direct marketing division incorporating a full service mailing house and also supplies eyeletting and hand finishing services to the UK's print industry.

Direct Selling Games

Direct Selling Games

Purpose Of Home Party Plan Games

FUN is the single most important thing for the success of your shows. If you are having a hard time scheduling more shows that is a sign that you are not providing enough FUN at your shows. When people have FUN you will have a full calendar. Making sure that you are organized enough to relax at he show is essential to you having FUN. When you have FUN then your guests will have FUN and they will invite you to their house. Games can be the answer to FUN, or they can be considered a bore by the guests. Do not assume that a game is always the answer to FUN. People will tolerate a lot and there is one thing they will not accept it is being bored. If you are playing show games, and having a hard time scheduling shows, then maybe you have to reconsider the effectiveness of the game, or whether your hosts and guests are enjoying the games. There are many games to play at direct selling parties and the important thing is to be sure that they are serving four purposes:

Sell product

Schedule shows

Share the opportunity

Provide value to the participants

I say that FUN is the key to show success because FUN is a commodity that people put value on. When you establish value at your shows then your business will roll along forever. Fun has huge value! If your guests are enjoying the games you are playing at your home party plan business show, you will know it because the other 3 purposes will be benefiting as well. For home party games that provide value and also give you more sales, the ability to schedule more shows and also create more interested leads to sign up as sales consultants go to Direct Sales Games

Direct Selling Games

Games To Play At Home Party Plan Shows
The game of bingo for your home show party is a great way for the audience to get involved and also to increase your show average. When playing games at your shows, be sure that the game has a purpose for you…. more sales or create desire for shows or the opportunity to start a business… and also a purpose for the guest… fun!

This game gets people to start a list of the products that they would like to have someday. Any time you can start your customers on an action, it will most likely increase sales. This is because one action creates momentum and leads to another action. It is similar to when you get the host, during host coaching, to start a list of who to invite — then you will not have as many cancellations because the action of creating a list of guests will lead to a call to invite them, and that will lead to the invitations going out. The act of creating a list of people to invite will generate action or start the ball rolling. The act of creating a list of what he or she wants to get may create momentum to start a list of who to invite. So at your show when you get your customers to start a list of what they want, you are putting the ball in motion for them to make purchases, become hosts, or even sign up to be a rep. The bingo game is designed to get the guests writing their wish list down.

Deb Bixler retired from the corporate world in 1999 to enjoy life as an entrepreneur. In the first 9 months as a direct seller she replaced her corporate business salary of $80,000 per year. Deb achieved the top honors offered in her company in personal sales every year for 7 years in a row and earned the President's Club 5 of those 7 years.

Marketing to the Affluent - 3 Tips For Success

Marketing to the Affluent - 3 Tips For Success

Marketing to the affluent can be the best investment your business will ever make. Once you count the affluent among your customers, you rarely need to worry about having to compete based on price. However, there are some pitfalls you must avoid or you'll spend a lot of money and get no tangible results.

Who Is Your Buyer?

First, and foremost, you need to understand who you're targeting as your best potential customer. The affluent can not be grouped together as one large group of people who 'have money'. Yes, they have money, but they have varying degrees of wealth and different groups, like the mass affluent, for example, pull back on spending when the economy worsens. The mass affluent spend when times are good, not when the economy looks uncertain. If you're targeting the affluent, you need to decide which demographic among the affluent groups will be most receptive to your message.

Once you determine which group is best to target (mass affluent, super affluent, ultra affluent), then you need to familiarize yourself with who these buyers are and what's important to them? Are they aspirational affluents? If so, they'll most likely respond to the 'you've made it' type of marketing message. For someone who has accumulated wealth over several decades, this is hardly the marketing message you want to use.
That's why it's so important for you, as a marketer, to understand the mindset of the buyer you're trying to reach. If you understand who they are and what's important to them, it's much easier to develop the appropriate marketing campaign.

How Do You Find the Right Marketing Message

There are a few universal themes, we know to be true about the affluent buyer:

1) They are in search of life experiences. Can you craft a marketing message that relates to your product or service in the context of life experiences?

2) They don't buy on price, but do buy on value. How do you determine what 'value' your product or service holds for an affluent individual? Again, it goes back to knowing what's important to your target market

3) They want to establish a relationship of trust with people, and companies, they do business with.

Your marketing message and sales approaches need to focus on this need. If you know what's important to the affluent, you should be able to craft a marketing message that resonates.

For example...

If you sell Porches, why not focus on the experience of driving the car rather than things about the car-0-60 in xyz seconds, the luxury interior or the high performance tires. These things contribute to the overall experience, but no one is really that interested in all the nuts and bolts.
If you own a dry cleaners, how can you become the Clothes Concierge to upscale clients? You're not starching shirts, you're providing a high level of service.

You can see from the above examples how you need to expand your marketing horizons if you expect to attract wealthy consumers.
Try Different Marketing Approaches

Many marketers, regardless of the business they're in, are reluctant to keep trying different marketing methods. However, for the affluent, it's vital that you be prepared to try several different approaches. Be consistent with the themes you know resonate, as you look at writing sales letters, building websites and developing collateral materials.
Also, keep in mind the need amongst the affluent for information. They spend 15-20 hours a week online and will most likely check you out online before they ever make a telephone call. Make sure your website has detailed information (white papers are an example) that a prospect can down load and review. If they feel comfortable after reading a white paper, then they'll be more likely to contact you. If the website feels 'cheap' or lacks information, they'll click away immediately.
Don't send any direct mail marketing unless your website is ready for this type of scrutiny. If your letter is ready and your website isn't, wait until both are up to par. Otherwise, you're just wasting marketing dollars.
Here are a few ideas for different approaches:

1) Affinity marketing in publications 2) Social networking via the web 3) Joint venture marketing 4) Marketing through networking

Direct Mail Benefits

Direct Mail Benefits

It may be hard to believe nowadays, but there's a lot more to marketing than the Internet. Offline marketing techniques still work, and work well. Direct mail still especially works well, according to a survey by Universal McCann, who found that direct mail spending has kept climbing in recent years by about 8% per year.

Just check your mailbox - I bet you get at least one direct mail piece nearly every day. And you look at that piece and either put it away for later, act on it or throw it away. If you do any one of those actions, you at least read it, and that's the point of direct mail: get people to recognize your company and products. By reading who the direct mail piece was from, you've just created a memory. The next time you see that company's name, you'll reach back into your memories and remember it so it'll feel familiar to you.

That's one benefit of direct mail.

Here are some other benefits of using direct mail:

You can target people more accurately. You can buy mailing lists that will tell you about the households you can mail your brochures, postcards and direct mail pieces to. You can find out who has kids, who has pets, people's average annual income, further broken down by demographics - you get to know these people and you can tailor your message so that they'll feel compelled to take action. You can't do that with just an email address.
It can drive traffic to your Web site. According to the Direct Marketing Association, nearly 33% of people respond to direct mail online. Instead of telling people to call you for information, they can visit your Web site whenever they want to get more information. No phone sales pressure, no one trying to sell them anything in their face.

Direct mail pieces are more personal. Not only do you get to the target you really want to reach, the target feels like they get to know you a little better. Touching your postcard or feeling your shiny brochure paper makes people feel more in tune with your company and your product. They are interacting with something you've created. On the other hand, they can't touch your emails.

You have time to get into details. With direct mail pieces like brochures or letters, once you hook the consumer with a great headline and photo, they'll want to read more info and you can give them the info they want. You have ample space with many direct mail pieces to describe your product (after detailing the benefits of the product). For those consumers who need to gather as much information as possible, direct mail gives them that detailed information and the options to read it at their leisure.

Five Rules For Successful Trade Shows

Five Rules For Successful Trade Shows

1. Be There. Just sitting in your booth won't help advance your goals. You have to remember why you are at this event, and think about what would make attendees remember you. To help you Be There, try these:
Talking Points. Much like a script, everyone manning your booth will know what to say regarding your company's brand, service offerings, and new products' benefits. Have everyone practice in advance of the trade show.
"Tell Me More." Use open-ended questions to illicit an attendee's needs or desires. Again, you can practice these ahead of time, focusing on the needs of your current clients' most pressing concerns about their work, the industry, or something else of importance. Thus begins the "free consultation" that you provide rather than a hard-sell pitch.
Get Interactive. To help make your exhibit one that a prospect will tell others about, do something fun and interactive. A survey is one thing to try. A game or a special give-away work, too.
Trade-Show Buddy. Don't go alone to a trade show. At least one person on your team should walk the show, network, attend conference sessions, and gather ideas for next year's show.

2. Have an Offer. Give prospects a reason to visit your exhibit that will help you begin to build relationships. This might include a demonstration, a drawing, or a free white paper on a topic of interest. If you offer a valuable give-away item, your name and message won't end up in the trashcan outside the exhibit hall.

3. Let Prospects and Media Know You Are Coming in Advance. Two or three weeks in advance of your next show, e-mail your existing clients and prospects that you are going to be attending a trade show in their area. Only use e-mail addresses from people who have provided permission to use them. Send snail-mail to anyone who hasn't given you permission to e-mail, or to prospects on your B-list. Consider offering a promotion to pre-registered attendees, like an early-bird special that is designed to draw people to your booth and track responses with a show-specific Web page.

4. Say Thank You. Since you're going to track visitors who stop by your booth, you have addresses (you are collecting business cards and e-mail addresses, aren't you?). Send some form of appreciation to booth visitors who showed their interest and spent time with you. Assign a priority to each visitor to remind yourself of their level of interest in your company when you get back to the office so you can invest properly in showing your appreciation. Hot leads get more money and time than casual passers-by, but everyone who stopped by your booth deserves at least a "thank-you-for-coming" e-mail or hand-written note. Extend an offer to send educational material or your e-newsletter, as well, to keep that wheel greased.

5. Assess, Measure, Success. Once you return to your office, analyze everything about the trade show you've just attended. Ask your trade-show team for feedback about the visitors who stopped by, the questions that were asked, and the responses that were given. For those attendees willing to participate, consider sending a short (five to ten items) survey, asking them about their thoughts on your current exhibit and their ideas for ways to improve the interaction.

Direct Mail Tips For Agents

Real Estate Letter Writing - Direct Mail Tips For Agents

Many real estate agents still use direct mail letters to market their services. While it may seem old-fashioned to stuff an envelope in the Internet age, there are certain advantages to using real estate letters for marketing purposes.

Benefits of Using Letters

So why should a real estate agent bother with this approach in the first place. What are the advantages of this communication medium over other marketing channels? Here are some of the key benefits.

1 Affordability -- When you send a direct mail letter (as opposed to a full-color postcard), you save money by avoiding graphic desigthe people who are going to receive your letters? Are the homeowners or potential home buyers? What type of neighborhood do they live in? What has been happening in their area lately, in terms of new development and sales activity? What do these people want? What do they fear? What do they expect from a real estate agent in this day and age? You are not ready to write your letter until you have solid answers to these questions.n work, high-gloss paper, etc.

2 Directness -- They don't call it "direct mail" for nothing. When somebody pulls your letter out of their mailbox, there's a 99 percent chance they'll open it and give it a look. The same cannot be said about other marketing techniques.

3 Simplicity -- You can purchase a mailing list online through one of the big data vendors. You can write a letter on your office computer, or pay a professional writer to do it for you. You can stuff the envelopes and place the stamps yourself, or pay a direct mail company to do it. It's a simple, low-tech strategy.

4 Results -- Letters have been used as a marketing medium for decades. The reason they are still used today (even in the Internet age) is that they still work

Of course, you have to work hard to develop a strong message before you start mailing those letters out. That's the most important step in this process. Here's where you will benefit from the time-tested techniques of professional copywriters:

1. Do the proper research.

Research and planning is 75 percent of the writing process. Shaping a message from that and putting words on paper is the other 25 percent. So if you skip the research, you're skipping a big part of the direct mail writing process.

For starters, you must know everything about your real estate services. You must identify the key benefits for people when they choose you over another agent. This must come from the consumer's point of view, not yours. So step out of your shoes and into theirs.

2. Determine your audience.

What do you know about the people who are going to receive your letters? Are the homeowners or potential home buyers? What type of neighborhood do they live in? What has been happening in their area lately, in terms of new development and sales activity? What do these people want? What do they fear? What do they expect from a real estate agent in this day and age? You are not ready to write your letter until you have solid answers to these questions.

3. Determine your objective

So now you've identified some key factors about yourself, and about your audience. The next question is -- what do you want them to do? In other words, what is the primary objective of your letter? Do you want people to visit a specific landing page on your website that was designed to support your direct mail campaign? Do you want them to request additional information in some way? You can't write your message around a particular objective if you don't have one.