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Informative Articles

Direct Mail Postcard Rules
It’s a fact that your customers are your best leads. This means that the most likely people to purchase your products and/or services are the ones who have paid for them before. It’s also a fact that it costs far less money to keep a customer than...
Direct Mail your money
I did a quick, very unscientific survey of 25 of my friends. I asked them to put the mail that they do not open or read in a specific trash bag. At the end of one week they gave it to me to be weighed. Guess how much the bag weighed? Remember, most...
Need New Direct Mail Donors? Look For These Three Qualities For Fundraising Letter Success.
New donors are a lot closer than you may think. And persuading them to make that vital first donation need not be as hard--or as expensive--as acquiring them in other ways. But before you rent a list of names or drop anything in...
The Seven Vital Steps You Must Know To Ensure Direct Mail Success
1. Your Most Valuable Asset A mailing list of valued customers is the single most important asset you have. Loyal customers will spend an average of five times more in your business than new customers. Plus it costs ten times more to acquire...
Your Direct Mail Donors Should Be Arrested (By Your Letter Opening).
The first time I was shelled by enemy artillery, I learned a vital lesson that applies to the success of your fundraising letters. I was lying in a slit trench on Mount Wall, about 35 kilometres west of the town of Stanley, in the Falkland...
 
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Get Personal: Letters vs. Direct Mail

One of the reasons direct mail works is the personal aspect. It?s ostensibly a letter from you to your prospect. Because of this, the more personal you make it, the better your response will be.

If you?re mailing to 100,000 people, putting your prospect?s name on your letter is about as personal you can get. But there are times when you can ? and should ? send out highly personal letters to individual prospects.

Say you sell gardening supplies, and driving to work one day you notice a home with a lovely garden, but dying roses. You find out who the owner is and send her a letter complimenting her on her wonderful garden, along with tips on rose care. Or, you meet a prospect at a business networking function. You get back to the office and send out a letter referencing your conversation and outlining what your business can do for his.

But unlike direct mail, you don?t ask for a response.


Instead, tell the recipient that you?ll be calling in about a week to talk about how you can help them. Then follow up with that phone call.

Now, instead of a mass mailing, you have a personal contact and the beginnings of a relationship. This kind of letter will have double or even triple the response rate of a typical mass mailing. Sure, it?s more time consuming, but that fact is what makes it work so well.

So what are you waiting for? Get personal!

About the Author

Lisa Packer, author of "How To Dramatically Increase Your Business... Without A Blockbuster Budget" and "7 Ways To Get A Pay Raise From Your Web Site" is an independent Copywriter and Marketing Consultant. Find out how to get these two reports, plus more helpful articles like the one you just read at www.dramatic-copy.com. Dramatic Copy: The Right Words Make A Dramatic Difference.