Mailing Lists - Part 4 of 5 - Repetition

Direct Mail is a wonderful tool to market, advertise, brand and promote your business - but just like any other tool you have to make sure you are utilizing it correctly. One of the biggest errors I see businesses make is being what I call a One Hit Wonder. A One Hit Wonder is someone who sends out a mailing one time, doesn't get the result that they expect and never mails again. This usually occurs because of:

Unrealistic Expectations
A bad offer or no offer on the mailer
No call to action on the mailer
A bad list
A poorly designed card
Poor name recognition
All of the above

Direct mail is an investment of your time and of your money. You need to make sure that you are investing wisely and making sound decisions. If you don't have a lot of experience in graphic design, don't try to save a few bucks and design your mailer yourself; hire a graphic artist whose work you like - your response will be higher and your Printer will thank you. Talk to the people you are working with - do you have a good offer? Will your list contact the target audience you are trying to reach and are you trying to reach the correct audience? Good decisions as you prepare for your mailing are important, but just as important is deciding what you are trying to accomplish. If you are throwing a going out of business sale, then being a One Hit Wonder is acceptable. However, if you are trying to build name recognition, customer loyalty, brand your company and/or product, then you have to know that mailing just once is usually a waste of time and money. There are exceptions, but for the most part your mailings must be repetitive to be affective in the long term. Just like the commercials you see on TV over and over again, repetition sells.

Go in with a plan of how your mailings will progress, if you do this you will SAVE MONEY on your printing and mailing list costs. If you decide to send out 4 mailers, have them all designed and printed at the same time. In printing, this is called a "Gang Run" and it can save you a LOT of money on your printing bill on a per piece basis. Be sure to check with your printer about the number of versions and their size since these variables can affect your price. Another thing to consider is when you purchase a list from your vendor, it is usually for a 1 time use. You are breaking the terms of your agreement if you mail a list more than once without paying for the extra uses. The good news is that list brokers usually have discounted multiple use pricing. So if you know you are mailing 4 times to a list, you can determine which way is the cheapest way to purchase your list.

I can't tell you how many times you need to mail to a list, it depends on what you are trying to accomplish. But I can tell you that you will build name recognition every time you mail. You should also send out mailers to customers who have purchased from you in the past to build customer loyalty. If you don't keep your name out in front of your customers and/or potential customers then another business will. You will have some people call or email you that they want to be taken off your mailing list after a few mailings, but that's okay, don't take it personally. Some folks just don't want to receive bulk mail, just contact your mailer to delete the name from the list.

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