Should I send out mailers for my business?

With email, text and in-store specials reigning in terms of direct customer advertisements, we sometimes overlook tried and true snail mail as a way to get a message to a repeat or potential customer.

However, research shows that mailers really work. One study by the USPS showed that 79% of people at least glance over advertisements sent directly to them. This is in contrast to web banners and emails which most people ignore completely. Effective businesses already know the effectiveness of mailers, spending a collective amount of over 10 billion dollars on direct mail marketing strategies.

Surprisingly, even Google – it goes without saying, an internet based company – uses direct mailers when soliciting advertisers. When a billion-dollar online business uses direct mailers, you can bet that they’ll be effective for your small business as well.

IF you decide to use mailers, you can’t send out just anything. Your mailer has to first be interesting enough to get the receiver’s attention and convince them to take action. A boring mailer will get tossed quickly. Take notes on what you like about other mailers you see so you can incorporate those things into your own.

Then, it also has to create enough revenue to pay for itself, plus extra income. You don’t actually have to pay for the mailer with the first mail out. If you feel that you will generate enough income through repeat business, then one expensive mailer could be worth the cost in the long run.

Here are some tips for the best possible mailer you can put out:

  1. Know what your customers want. Know what products they are interested in and what deals are going to get their attention. Certain professions or age demographics will be more interested in certain products and services than others might be. You would be better off sending out your mailers to specific clientele versus blanket mail outs over a whole town or neighborhood.
  1. Plan to send more than one mailer. If you send out 500 mailers and don’t get much business from them, don’t give up hope! Experts recommend sending a minimum of three different mailers spaced a week or two apart in order to make them most effective. Each one should reference the previous mailer, but it should not be a carbon copy of the previous one. Show prospective clients that you aren’t willing to give up on their business easily.
  1. Make sure your mailers’ headlines are eye catching. The headline, after all, may be the only sentence they read before tossing that mailer in the trash. Keep a journal or notepad with you at all times so you can write down possible headlines. Keep thinking until you find the perfect one.

Personalize your mailer. If possible, hire a service that hand addresses envelopes and adds stamps rather than printed postage. Use the recipient’s name if you can so that the mailer grabs their attention by looking like a personal letter or postcard.