7 Keys To Getting Better Responses From Your Direct Mail

Utilizing direct mail marketing is an important part of getting you company out there and seen by potential clients.  In order to get the best responses from your marketing plan it’s essential that you consider utilizing some of the most important tools of success such as the following:

      1.       Problem Solutions Vs. Products

Regardless of whether or not you are selling a product, people want a solution to their problem.  Make sure to talk about what you’re offering in a manner that illustrates the problems it can solve.  Once a person sees a product or service as capable of solving problems they will be more likely to want it.  

      2.       Give ‘em What They Want

Making sure you’re marketing to a group of people that have a need for what you offer will certainly help your efforts.  

      3.       Emotionally Appealing First & Then Reasonable

Sending out logical info that involves numbers and statistics won’t excite your clients.  Set it up by appealing to them emotionally then speak to their logic.  

      4.       Use What Works

Don’t try to break the mold.  When it comes to direct marketing find the forms that work and use these.  

      5.       Content Is Critical

Don’t worry so much about formatting and the looks of everything-worry about what you will give your clients by way of content.  

      6.       Make It Direct

There are basically three elements to all direct marketing messages- offers, acceptance of offer immediately and a way to respond to the offer.  

      7.       Sales In One Of Two Steps

The first step of a sale is when you get an order without extra communication and effort.  This is ideal as it provides the best potential for highest profit.  The second step is generating inquiries and then converting sales from these responses.  This can be a little harder but with the communication can work very well. 

Postcard Marketing Is Still Profitable To Any Business

Once, postcards were used as a cost-effective business promotion, with a little personal touch to reach the heart of customers.  Internet marketers have so many venues in the modern age, but this can be a difficult thing to manage.  The internet provides a quick statistic tracking method.  However, with so many methods of marketing, your advertising may become diluted or lost.  The important thing here is to pinpoint your market.  With digital marketing methods, are postcards effective?

The initial investment can be off putting, as postage prices have increased to thirty-three cents in 2013.  Despite that there are plenty of statistics pointing to the effectiveness of a well-crafted postcard campaign. 

• Despite what you think a postcard campaign is still relevant.
• Studies show new customer support is as much as 34 percent more with direct mail.
• 54 percent of postcards are read when received.
• Response can be up to 39 percent. 

There are large amounts of recorded evidence that direct mail is the most successful, in fact.  How can you translate this to your business?

For example you have a web-based market service that costs $240 per year, and 70 percent of recent members stay with you for 12 months.  Your single sale profit is $180 dollars.  Printing 10,000 postcards, receiving 39 percent return yields 399 new customers.  Your gross profit for the campaign is $71,821.

Now remove the costs of postage and printing, approximated at $4,000, your total net profit is a little over $67,000.  Any added fees for rentals must also be calculated.  Delivered directly to your market and customers must having to at least glance at your advertisement, are fantastic examples that postcard marketing is still relevant and effective, even in our digital age.

If you’re looking for fantastic information on postcard marketing, call Guest Contact today for guidance.

Use Direct Mailing To Keep Your Restaurant Full

Do you have an early bird crowd or lunch crowd that regularly fills the tables in your restaurant?  If you don’t then you are missing out on a lot of potential business.  There are many reasons keeping diners coming for all meals of the day are important and not the least of which is increased revenue.  If you’re unsure of how to get them in at different times other than dinner consider some of the following.  

Direct Mailing Them

Directly mailing clients is a great way to start to fill your seats at other times of the day besides just for the dinner rush.  One excellent way to get more people informed is to get a list of local businesses.  Send out postcards or menus that highlight lunch specials.  This is a great way to get those working nearby thinking of you and through your doors to try your food.  When going this route it’s a good idea to not consider marketing for dinner specials as often the same business class will commute in for work and leave by the dinner hour.  

You can also use direct mail to get in touch with the senior crowd.  If you don’t already offer a senior discount now is the time to start.  Most seniors enjoy eating out and they like to get their dinner in much earlier than the traditional dinner crowd.  This can be a great way to reach out to the community and capture some of the clients you have previously been missing and also get your tables filled during normal down times.  

Sometimes showing potential clients what your restaurant looks like is all it takes.  Think about all the potential diners that drive by and what they will think when they see what the inside of your restaurant looks like.  Sending out a postcard or an email with some professional shots of the inside of your dining room is a great way to create interest.  

Reveal a recipe to those that want to know how you make something.  Every restaurant has something that they do better than anyone else.  Most the time, clients are dying to know how you make it.  Send out a postcard or email that provides a redemption for the recipe on their next visit.  

Getting ideas for new marketing strategies that utilize direct mailing through the standard mailing path or through email can be difficult.  There are professional companies that keep up on all the different strategies and what’s working and what’s not working.  Contact us today so we can help you with a direct mailing program that works. 

How Your Restaurant can Benefit from Email and Direct Marketing

Restaurant marketing is crucial for any restaurant to grow to its fullest potential, but the sheer variety of marketing methods, tricks, tips and suggestions can leave any conscientious restaurant owner pulling his or her hair in confusion over which is the BEST way to market.  There’s a lot riding on how successfully executed your restaurant’s marketing campaign is, so how you focus your marketing is important.  And according to research, there is no better way to do this than to focus your marketing efforts (and budget) on email and direct mail marketing.  

A recent study conducted by ExactTarget shows that among online consumers in the US, email is still the most preferred way to receive marketing messages, promotional material and permission-based communication.  Out of 1,481 survey participants who answered the question concerning their most preferred method of receiving such messages, 77% of respondents chose email and coming in a distant second was 9%, who chose direct mail such as letter, catalogs, postcards, etc.  After these first two preferences, 5% of respondents chose text messaging (SMS) on a cell phone, 4% of respondents chose Facebook, and 2% of respondents chose the phone. 

The fact that email was preferred wasn’t any different among age groups, either.  While email was more popular among the 35-44 year old and 55-64 year old categories than the 15-17 year old category, all categories still preferred email to any other form of communication of marketing messages.  This means that regardless of your intended demographic, if they are internet users, they are likely to prefer email as their primary method for receiving marketing messages.  

So don’t stress over where your money should be going in marketing.  If you have an email and direct mail marketing campaign, you have covered two of the most preferred methods for marketing your business.  If you haven’t started an email and direct mail marketing campaign—what are you waiting for? Contact us, we can help you!

Why Direct Mail and Postcards Still Work

Don’t assume that direct mail and postcard marketing is dead; in fact, it’s alive and well and should be a major part of your restaurant’s marketing efforts.  With direct mail and postcards, customers have a tangible, in-hand reminder of your menu, specials, location(s) and promotions.  The battle becomes one of how to separate your advertising from the piles of other junk mail they might receive on any given day.  So how do you make sure that the money you spend on direct mail and postcard marketing isn’t wasted and is seen by more people?   

Simple.  The answer lies in the design and excitement your direct mail and postcard marketing campaigns bring to the potential customer.  Things like eye-catching wording and graphics can play a major role in assuring your direct mail advertising is seen, as well as including coupons or important “by invitation only” events in which the customer needs to keep the mail in order to receive a particular discount or promotional offer.  Even if they are not sure if they can use the coupon or attend the event, the simple fact that they have an invitation or coupon in-hand will likely encourage them to keep it “just in case.”  

A recent article in Entrepreneur Magazine gives the following tips for increasing direct mail response:

• Give a free gift to increase response
• Highlight the free-gift offer prominently
• Use short copy to tease the reader to read further or respond
• Minimize the use of buzz words
• Use graphics and color to support the message and text
• Hire a professional copywriter for your content
• Hire a professional graphic designer
• Make your offer easy to understand at a glance
• Use all the formatting available with taste
• Have your direct mail reviewed by an objective third party
• Use colored paper to make impact and save on printing costs

To read more direct mail tips, read the full article here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/193436