How to Create a Direct Mail Campaign

This is a basic Direct Mail 101 tutorial  It is aimed at all levels from the small Mom and Pop shop to the Fortune 100 Company.  It's just the basics.  I have done my best to write it for the layman so that everyone can understand and use it.

Step 1. Deciding what to market.

You probably already have somewhat of an idea on this.  But it is an important first step.  Are you just trying to increase your revenue by marketing your business in general?  Or, are you trying to get rid of all those red widgets you over-produced last month?

Marketing, at its essence, is a communication.  You are asking people to do something, you want to find as many people as you can who are interested in doing that, and then get them to do it.  It's a message:

• Buy my product
• Use our services
• Donate to our cause

Based on what you want to market, you should easily be able to work out your basic message. 

You will be fine tuning that message as you go, but as long as you have a basic idea of what that message is, you are ready for the next step.

Step 2. Who are you going to market it to?

Now that we know what you are going to market you have to decide who would want that.

Unless you are a brand new business, you already know one group that is likely to be interested in it -- your existing customers.  These are one of the most responsive groups you can promote to.  They know you and have used you in the past, so many of the basic barriers to overcome in getting a client have already been handled.  Even more important, they are also the most likely to refer you to others... and that's your best advertising of all -- "Word of Mouth!"  So it's always worthwhile to consider them in your marketing plans.

But maybe you're tired of them and would like to get some new ones.

At this point we are going to introduce some terms that you may or may not be familiar with.  These are vital to understanding what I'm going to talk about, so I will define them here.

Public - As we will be using it here, public are those people or groups of people who would be interested in hearing your message and responding to it.

Demographics - These are characteristics that can be used to break up a larger group of people into smaller groups.  Age, income, gender, where they live, are all examples of demographics.

How you determine what publics to market to depends a bit upon your budget.  Firms with large budgets will often hire a market research company to do this for them.  If you have a more moderate budget, you may want to consider obtaining demographic information by having your customer list enhanced with demographic data by various list management specialists. 

However, if those methods are out of your price range you can still do a pretty good job just using what you already know.  Does your message relate to people who own homes?  In that case Home Ownership would be a good demographic.  Is your product somewhat universally needed, like groceries?  Then everyone within a certain radius of your store might be a good choice.  Might your product appeal to a certain income range?  It is possible to logic this out and at least be in the ball park.

Here's a list of some commonly available demographics:

• Geographic Location
• Gender
• Income
• Age
• Home Ownership
• Home Value
• Length of Residence
• Type of Business
• Occupation

With your message in mind, go over the list.  Eliminate the ones that don't apply, use the ones that do.

Step 3. Deciding on a Piece Format

Now that you have a rough idea of your message and public, you need to make a decision on what type of mail piece to send out. 

It's important to remember one thing, just to be clear.  Earlier we talked about "the message".  Well, that message is more than just the words you use, it's the whole package.  For instance, a 4-color postcard sends a different message than a cheap tri-folded photo copy.  The message is the format of the piece, the imagery (art) and the words (copy) all rolled into a final package.

So here we need to ask, "What format will communicate your message best for the public you are sending it to?"

Let's quickly go over some of the most common ones.

First Class Postcard

This format is too small for most marketing uses being limited to 4-1/4" x 6", but once in a while it comes in handy.

• Inexpensive to produce
• Greatly reduced First Class postage rate
• Useful if you need to get something out fast
• Good for short, timely messages or notices
• Small, so it tends to get hidden in the rest of the mail
• Very limited amount of room for copy

Oversized Postcard

The oversized postcard is a very common format that works well for direct mail.  Its size helps it stand out from the rest of the mail and, compared to other formats, its production cost is relatively low.  The most common sizes are between 5" x 7" and 6" x 11".

• Easy for the recipient to hang onto
• Access to your message is fast and complete
• Relatively inexpensive to print and mail
• Limited amount of room for copy

Folded Self Mailer

This can be either in the form of a newsletter or a brochure.  It works well when you have more copy to present than can easily be presented on a post card.  Normal sizes range from a trifolded 8.5"x11" to an 11"x17" that is folded in half twice (8.5"x5.5" final size.)

• Can contain a decent amount of copy
• Can include photos, art and more space for the message
• Easy access to the message that you are presenting
• Can incorporate reply mail
• Moderate costs for printing and mailing

Booklet / Magazine / Catalog

If you really have a ton of copy these may be the only choice for you.

• Large amount of room for copy
• Expensive to print and mail

Letter Package

One of the staples of direct mail, this is an excellent choice for a more professional and personalized message.

• Lots of room for copy
• Easy to personalize
• Keeps personal data private
• Easy to incorporate reply mechanisms
• More expensive to produce

For your first piece in a direct mail campaign, I would balance the amount of room needed for copy against other factors, like the need for personalization and imagery.  Consider your message and how much room you need to communicate that.  Also consider what kind of piece would the public you are communicating to expect from you.

Step 4. Fine tune the message.

OK.  You now have a rough idea of what you are going to say, who you are going to say it to, and have decided on the format you are going to print it on.  It's time to fine tune that message even further by deciding on the art and copy.

As with finding publics, large firms will likely invest in market research.  Smaller firms are going to have to use bright ideas to accomplish this without a major budget.

My basic view on this step is "Know before you go!"  How do you do that?  You survey your intended public.  Your surveys can be as simple as asking around, or a formal written survey like the one we have on this website.  Read the survey; it will give you a good idea of the type of questions you want to ask.  You are trying to find out what they think is important, how would they describe what they want, etc.  What communicates to them?

Note that most of the questions on my survey are not multiple choice.  Why is that? How they say it is as important as what they say.  For instance, if you are asking about speed of service, do they say they want it Quick, Fast, Now?  Whichever way they describe it is how you should describe it in your copy.  Those are the words that are the most familiar to your public, and are the most likely to get a response.

Once you get a feel for the words you can start to play with the art.  This can also be surveyed, or you can work it out yourself.  For example, if your keyword is "Fast," you could ask "What image comes to mind when I say 'Fast'?"

As you work this out, keep these basic steps in mind:

• Draw them in.
• Keep them interested with your message.
• Call them to action.

Play your art and your copy off of one another and organize them using the steps I just gave you and soon you will have a final message.

Step 5. Get it done.

One of the last things you need to do is decide which class of mail you are going to use.  Most of the time you will use Standard Mail, but if time is of the essence, or you are trying to talk to large corporations, you may need to go First Class.

You want to do your first mailing to about 3,000 to 5,000 names.  This is large enough to be cost effective and get you a good feel for the results, but small enough to not be too horrid if you got it wrong.  The name of the game at this point is Test, Test, Test.

Play around with different formats, play around with different publics.  See what works, see what doesn't.  Do larger mailings to the pieces and publics that work, scrap the ones that don't.  Keep fine tuning it as you go.  And soon you will have a direct mail campaign to be proud of. 

If you have any questions, comments or suggestion about this guide we would greatly appreciate hearing from you.  Click on this link to go the blog post that went along with this article and submit your feedback.