Why Direct Mail? Here is why ...
(Originally published in BusinessWise, 2005 as part of an article, 'How effective is your marketing?' by Ven Kurvari)

Direct Mail can be targeted to anyone anywhere in the country. Accurately.

Direct Mail is personal but not intrusive. You can reach someone without annoying them, or imposing on your prospects’ time or resources. Do you think I will buy from a stranger that interrupts my busy schedule with a telephone call, or uses my fax paper and toner, and fills up my Inbox with junk without my permission? Not likely.

Direct Mail is tangible and tactile. You can see it, touch it, feel it, save it or pass it on. You can even smell it, sometimes!

Direct Mail earns certain regard among your prospects, since it shows an interest - an investment on your part to reach your prospects - it costs time and resources; less expensive than a face-to-face visit or a telephone call, but more involving than emailing or faxing.

Direct Mail presents your company, products and services in ‘proper’ light, helping you to differentiate your offerings from the ‘riff-raffs in basement’ or ‘offshore sweatshops’! After all, anyone can present themselves with an IBM-look on a monitor, but not everyone can stand up like the Big Blue!

Direct mail has US Government’s blessings. US Postal Service is a quasi-governmental corporation. It is not likely to be regulated away, or restricted; unlike telemarketing, email and fax marketing methods. Once it’s developed as an effective part of an ‘integrated marketing plan’ for your business, you can repeatedly execute it to provide desirable results for your business on an ongoing basis.

Best of all, it’s less expensive, more effective, and can be tried incrementally at budgets normally available to a small business owner! (If you are a big business, you wouldn’t need any convincing; check you mail later today – you will probably see half a dozen Fortune 500 companies in your mailbox)

Here are a few simple steps to make Direct Mail Marketing work for you.

1. Develop a Strategy

2. Get a Target Database

3. Make an Offer

4. Choose a Format

5. Create the Artwork

6. Print the Mailpiece

7. Send the Mail

8. Measure the Results

9. Repeat and Follow up

10. Test and Integrate