Use Direct Mail To Reach A Well-Defined Market With A Compelling Offer

Direct mail is salesmanship in print. It affords you the opportunity to take your most powerful sales presentations and turn them into printed messages you can deliver into the hands – and into the minds – of all the prospects you ever want to reach. Direct mail gives you enormous flexibility, enormous possibilities. It allows you to contact people and practices your normal selling methods don’t allow you to reach.

Some key points about direct mail:

• Direct mail is the second largest advertising medium. More money is spent on direct mail (approximately $25.6 billion) than on television, or magazine space or radio. Only local newspapers received a larger share of the advertising (approximately $27.9 billion).
• The benefits of direct mail: Unlike television and space advertising and radio—which are "shotgun" media—direct mailers tote a rifle. If you wanted to you could go directly to suburban Asian families who have 3.7 children, have incomes of $50,000 or more and drive Infinity Q45’s…or any of hundreds of demographic, psychographic, geographic or financial parameters. What’s more is that it is a highly measurable media. Because direct mail requires action—an order, an inquiry, a donation to be returned by mail, phone, or fax—you can precisely determine which of your advertising dollars are effective and which are not.
• People LIKE direct mail! Many people mutter about "junk mail." Yet they basically like it. People are lonely. Nobody likes to come home to an empty mailbox.
• Studies have shown that one-page flyers rarely work for professional practices. Unfortunately, they tend to give the impression that you are not a professional practice.
• The "ideal" direct mail package:

• The envelope—Lots of "tests" suggest that an envelope with a white background is hard to beat. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to beat it, because if it doesn’t get opened, your package doesn’t get read…or responded to…and we all know what that means! Envelope copy can help, but it’s got to be a bull’s-eye. There is great debate of whether to have teaser copy on the outside or not. Direct marketing expert Gary Halbert suggests that the most important function of a direct mail piece is to get them to open the envelope. If your direct mail looks like "junk mail" then it won’t get opened.
• The main letter—The letter itself is the pen-and-ink embodiment of you who is speaking personally and directly to the prospect on a one-to-one basis. It is the most powerful and persuasive selling force in direct marketing once the product, price, and offer are set. The letter acts as the "salesman or sales woman." The "salesman" in the letter is doing the job he obviously loves and is good at. He knows the product or service inside and out, knows the values and benefits to the recipient, even knows the inconsequential shortcomings that the product or service might provide them at times. You persuade someone in your letter like you would persuade them in person. You speak to them in the letter just as you would speak them in person. This personal technique is commonly found in long letters. How long should your letter be? "As long as it has to be!"
• The lift letter—If your prospect is sitting on the fence, a quick little shove could get him/her on your side. But be careful—because those already on your side will read it too! It should be another voice, for example, not the person who signed the main letter—like a testimonial or endorsement from someone who has benefited from your services or someone with perceived credibility. Basically, the lift letter is another form of persuasion separate from the letter. It should always come from another reliable source.
• A brochure—The folder or brochure is "show-and-tell time." It should illustrate what the letter describes. Because it is impersonal, the voice should differ in tone and color from the letter: it is the practice—not the chiropractor—talking to the prospect. It shows and demonstrates—it proves that everything that the enthusiastic "salesman" said in the letter is true. Its job is to add visual dimension, and amplify certain points touched on lightly in the letter, thereby gaining further credibility for the offer. It should be more colorful and glossy than the letter.
• The response device—Keep it simple. Standard size, with easy-to-understand, clear, and concise wording on how they can take advantage of your offer right now. The response device should also sell. But basically it has a particular job to do: it should reprise the essence of the letter in the readers voice. That is, the writer (salesperson) has had his say, and now the prospect (patient) responds. The order form should contain nothing new; it should stand on it’s own feet and crystallize everything that has gone before it. Its purpose is to speed the action. If your looking for a maximum response, it’s better to check off or call toll-free than fill in; better to tear off (no pencil required) than check off. Make it easy for them to respond.

STEPS ON MAKING DIRECT MAIL WORK FOR YOU:

1. Decide on your target market and purchase a highly targeted list of names. Be as specific as possible, right down to the type of coffee they drink (if you need that information, of course!).
2. Know the goals of your direct mail package before you design it. Create a compelling offer and make sure that your arguments for taking advantage of it now are clear throughout the package.
3. Remember to write your direct mail piece as if you were speaking to only one person. People don’t want to feel like one "in the crowd."
4. Test small. See if your direct mail package is working. If you get a small response, then test different variables until you find your "control." Remember to only test one variable at a time.

Make direct mail work for you. Good luck!

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Last modified: November 08, 2002