Direct Mail Advertising: Big Business, Big Bucks

Advertising by direct mail is big business in the United States (with more than 110 billion admail pieces processed annually), proving over generations to still be highly effective in obtaining new customers. In fact, neither the delivery method nor the sale presentation has really changed much.

The same "tell a story" technique to sell products is frequently used, along with imposing deadlines to create a sense of urgency. Good marketers know how to make their product become suddenly quite necessary to the consumer, and everyone knows that a targeted mailing list is gold.

In fact, regional differences matter very little in this form of sales copy. Whether you're working on a Los Angeles direct mail advertising campaign or one based on a New York clientele, it's human nature that the best copy is written for.

Everyone wants their problems solved or find a way to get rich quick or learn how to meet their soul mate or maybe lose a few pounds: and any product can be made to be a promise of a better life. How many perfumes intimate that the wearer will be suddenly just like the spokesperson -- gorgeous, successful, famous, wealthy?

Direct mail needs to be opened in order to have a chance of getting the sale it has been created for. Again, everyone likes a freebie, a little surprise. It's simply human nature to like getting something for nothing.

This is why you'll so often find teasers on the envelopes, like "Surprise Inside!" or "Free Gift Inside!" -- marketers (whether working on a Washington, D.C. consumer mail-out or a Los Angeles direct mail advertising drive) have discovered this little fact and use it across socio-economic and geographic lines, literally, to get their messages into the hands of potential buyers.

Once your copywriter has honed the message, direct mail marketing specialists can help you with a myriad of details that you might otherwise overlook. For instance, will you use bulk mail or first class postage? Immediate budget concerns might indicate bulk mail is the only affordable option; however, you should realize two things about first class mail. It's much faster than bulk, and the recipient perceives "first class" mail as more important than "bulk".

Similarly, the fact that there's a stamp on an envelope, instead of a machine-affixed mark from a postage meter, personalizes the piece of mail. This may in turn increase the response rate. Small differences, perhaps, but it's the perfecting and fine-tuning of these aspects of each direct mail advertising blitz that can sometimes make or break a campaign.