One of the most challenging parts of a good direct mail campaign is developing the right list. If done poorly, it can mean thousands of dollars wasted. If done correctly it can mean that a business connects with their target customers increasing sales and business!
In the past it was harder to target our list, and we used the "shotgun" approach, we sent out huge numbers of direct mail pieces in the hopes of hitting the few with interest in what we sold. Today we are discussing a new type of direct mail, or direct marketing that is often called one-to-one marketing.
One-to-one marketing is focusing our message on recipients who are the most likely to buy, it can take several forms, (and I will blog about them in more detail later). The first level of one-to-one marketing, is marketing to people who are interested in your product. If done correctly you can target your ideal customer, increase your response and save money in postage and printing by not mailing to people who are not prospects.
These days, as we know, there is a LOT of data on businesses and consumers. There are national companies that compile this data and make it available for a fee. It is literally incredible the lists that you can order. We can sort individuals by income, age, children in the household, age of children in the household, homeowners, renters...and on and on. We can sort businesses by gross income, number of employees, business type or industry.
We also have many options available to us to search by area. We can search by zip code, city, state, radius around a single address, we can search for the first thousand, two thousand or more around and address, even by the first number of prospects that hit a certain demographic. To really zero in on neighborhoods we can specify carrier routes, which is literally taking the specific route that a single mail carrier delivers to. Searching by carrier routes enables us to target specific neighborhoods or subdivisions.
The next question is: do you do it yourself, or hire an experienced mail provider to do it for you. Of course you can save some money doing it yourself, there are several mailing list providers that will sell directly to anyone. Some of the good ones are http://www.accudata.com/ and http://www.infousa.com/, and there are many others, just try a Google search for mailing list.
I would recommend that you use an experienced mail provider. When I do searches for my clients I make sure the list is correct when I order it. Once you hit the "order" button, there are no refunds (If I make a mistake when buying a list for a customer though, I eat it, I'm the professional and when hired it is my job to make sure it's right!). An experienced provider should ask you questions about what you do and help you identify the demographics to target your ideal customers.
Some tips I would give when you start are:
1- Think about your ideal customer, maybe even write down a description of him or her and everything you may know about them. Buying habits, income range, children...etc.
2- Compile those thoughts into a list and identify the ones you think you could use to create a list from.
3- Talk to your mail provider or go online and search to find the ideal list.
I'll give you an example about how this can work. I had a customer with 29 locations, that wanted to target people around their store. We determined that their ideal customer was a family with an income over $40,000 per year and with children at home. We were able to take the first thousand consumers that fit that target around each store. We then combined all the databases to make one large mailing that targeted each store individually. We even set up the job so that each consumer had a map of the store closest to them on the post card that they received. That is one-to-one direct marketing that gets results!
Direct mail can be a great tool. Just remember that it starts with the right mailing list.
http://www.pipmarketinggroup.com/
In the past it was harder to target our list, and we used the "shotgun" approach, we sent out huge numbers of direct mail pieces in the hopes of hitting the few with interest in what we sold. Today we are discussing a new type of direct mail, or direct marketing that is often called one-to-one marketing.
One-to-one marketing is focusing our message on recipients who are the most likely to buy, it can take several forms, (and I will blog about them in more detail later). The first level of one-to-one marketing, is marketing to people who are interested in your product. If done correctly you can target your ideal customer, increase your response and save money in postage and printing by not mailing to people who are not prospects.
These days, as we know, there is a LOT of data on businesses and consumers. There are national companies that compile this data and make it available for a fee. It is literally incredible the lists that you can order. We can sort individuals by income, age, children in the household, age of children in the household, homeowners, renters...and on and on. We can sort businesses by gross income, number of employees, business type or industry.
We also have many options available to us to search by area. We can search by zip code, city, state, radius around a single address, we can search for the first thousand, two thousand or more around and address, even by the first number of prospects that hit a certain demographic. To really zero in on neighborhoods we can specify carrier routes, which is literally taking the specific route that a single mail carrier delivers to. Searching by carrier routes enables us to target specific neighborhoods or subdivisions.
The next question is: do you do it yourself, or hire an experienced mail provider to do it for you. Of course you can save some money doing it yourself, there are several mailing list providers that will sell directly to anyone. Some of the good ones are http://www.accudata.com/ and http://www.infousa.com/, and there are many others, just try a Google search for mailing list.
I would recommend that you use an experienced mail provider. When I do searches for my clients I make sure the list is correct when I order it. Once you hit the "order" button, there are no refunds (If I make a mistake when buying a list for a customer though, I eat it, I'm the professional and when hired it is my job to make sure it's right!). An experienced provider should ask you questions about what you do and help you identify the demographics to target your ideal customers.
Some tips I would give when you start are:
1- Think about your ideal customer, maybe even write down a description of him or her and everything you may know about them. Buying habits, income range, children...etc.
2- Compile those thoughts into a list and identify the ones you think you could use to create a list from.
3- Talk to your mail provider or go online and search to find the ideal list.
I'll give you an example about how this can work. I had a customer with 29 locations, that wanted to target people around their store. We determined that their ideal customer was a family with an income over $40,000 per year and with children at home. We were able to take the first thousand consumers that fit that target around each store. We then combined all the databases to make one large mailing that targeted each store individually. We even set up the job so that each consumer had a map of the store closest to them on the post card that they received. That is one-to-one direct marketing that gets results!
Direct mail can be a great tool. Just remember that it starts with the right mailing list.
http://www.pipmarketinggroup.com/
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