One of the greatest rules for writing ad copy that works is to recognize that people buy benefits, not features. They don’t buy a slice of cooked beef. They buy a sizzling steak that smells and looks delicious. The heart of any successful direct mail campaign is the sales piece. That’s where it all starts. […]
When tracking the profit of your direct mail campaigns, you basically look at your overall income from the campaign, minus the cost of printing and mailing your sales piece. It wouldn’t make sense to track how much you sold without how much it cost you. However, you do not need to include any kind of […]
To get the most bang from your advertising buck, and find new customers who will stick with you, you need to send out very targeted mailings. You don’t want to send your mailings haphazardly to people in general. That would be a waste of money. You want to invest your money and efforts into your […]
Even if your business never extends across US borders, you can learn something from the sales techniques in China. I’m fascinated by China’s role in the world. They have a love/hate relationship with a lot of countries – especially ours. The US Trade Deficit reaches over $250 BILLION with China. We are constantly importing lower-priced […]
If you are better organized, you have a better chance of managing your time effectively. When I talk about getting organized people generally think I’m referring to a spick-and-span office with not a paper out of place. But my experience has taught me that a neat office is not necessarily a very organized office. If […]
As direct mail marketers, we are always looking for ways to get prospects to open the envelope – and then actually read the sales piece. Sometimes our approach requires us to be a little more creative to grab the prospect’s attention. I want to share with you one method that I’ve used many times with […]
It’s still hard to believe that the cost to mail a first class letter is 49¢. First Class mail sent in batches of 500 pieces costs 46¢ a piece. And the cost to mail a letter bulk rate has gone up to more than 30¢. Postage is one of the largest budget items for direct […]
One of the biggest complaints I hear from small business owners and entrepreneurs is … there isn’t enough time in the day to do everything that needs to be done! This is something I struggle with as well. There never seems to be enough hours in the day! Time is valuable. And it is something […]
With growing awareness of environmental issues, and so much interest in businesses “going green” these days, the mailing industry has responded with a number of interesting alternatives and guidelines that cover every aspect of your mailing activities. I’m often asked the following question: “My retail business is very focused on being environmentally friendly. I successfully […]
When I started working for myself, I soon realized I would have to put some limits on how much time I’d devote to my business. Without “regular hours” or a boss telling me exactly what was required of me, I was in danger of working 24 hours a day in an effort to meet all […]
