Is Direct Mail Marketing Right for Me?
October 15, 2012 by Brian
Often asked, is direct mail right for my business promotion. The best way to answer this commonly asked question is, maybe. The simple way to determine the answer is to see if your competitors are using direct mail to promote their business. If they mail and mail repeatedly, you have evidence that it works. But the answer to this question can be found in 2 areas, namely, product or service price and “target-ability”.
Product or Service Price
Would you consider your product or service a “high ticket item”? If so, chances are, direct mail is a great advertising medium for your business. Direct mail is a great advertising medium, for several reasons, i.e., it’s very measurable, very predictable, and very easy. But, there’s a cost associated with using direct mail to promote your products and services. And the higher the price (and gross profit), the more likely direct mail will prove profitable in bringing on new customers. Likewise, the lower the cost, the more difficult it is to gain a positive return on investment.
Let’s compare two products: a book, and a new car. A book is a low cost product, purchased only once by the buy and may cost $30.00 with a gross profit of say, $20.00. A car may cost $25,000 and provide the dealership a gross profit of $2,500.00. The cost for a direct mail campaign might run $4,000.00 for either a book or auto campaign. So, in this example, you’d have to sell quite a few books in order to breakeven on your campaign costs, where as you’d only need to sell two vehicles be return a profit.
Target-ability
Once you’re satisfied that you have a product or service that meets the ‘ticket-price” test, you’ll also want to be sure you can target an audience that’s responsive to your offer. One of the best benefits to direct mail marketing is that you’re able to pinpoint exactly who might respond to your offer and become a customer. Before you consider direct mail marketing as a form of advertising for your business, be sure there’s a list that targets your best prospects.
If you’d like more information about mailing lists data and would like a count of people that might be great customers for your business, give Print Mail Direct a call at 239-333-1430.
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