Principle Number 5: Use Direct Mail

Direct mail is a very powerful medium. Almost every business would benefit from having a direct mail department. With direct marketing, you can target the prospects most likely to purchase from you. It’s like playing darts and getting a bullseye, instead of the circles around it!

To focus specifically on the people most likely to buy from you, it’s possible to rent mailing lists with your specific target market, rent subscription bases to trade journals, magazines and newsletters and do host/beneficiary relationships.

Direct mail is also cost effective. You can use direct mail to generate leads, follow up on an enquiry, run customer surveys and sell extra goods and services to your existing database.

In return, your customers can order products through the mail from you. Even if you are a traditionally face-to-face type of business e.g. attorneys and restaurants, with a little creativity you can expand into complementary product lines and build a profit centre. Here are some examples:

• A mechanic could diversify into car wash products, performance products for the engine, car accessories or even home study courses in car management.
• A female’s clothing boutique can offer shoes, jewellery and fragrances.
• A gymnasium can offer nutritional supplements, vitamins, books and courses.

Again, the list is endless. Think about it yourself. It is possible to sell conceivably anything by mail. With a bit of effort you could build yourself a very profitable area.

In addition, the beauty of direct mail is you can outsource almost all of the work. You can contract a mail order fulfilment house to send out all your mail, process the order and send you payment. All you need to do is supply them with names and product. They do the rest!
 

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Tags: direct mail, direct response marketing, marketing, Use direct mail