When developing or managing a direct mail program, there are practical strategies you can implement to streamline the process. Incorporate a D.I.R.E.C.T. approach to your direct mail program by following these steps:
Develop Your Tools
Take time to lay the foundation of your direct mail program by developing planning tools. Examples of useful tools include:
* Campaign Summary Form: Design a form that summarizes the campaign goals and includes information such as: the target geographic market, target industries, titles of decision makers, timing, and possible mailings to present to the audience.
* Campaign Folder: Each time a new project is undertaken, create a project folder that contains everything relevant to the project. Include all documentation, such as the creative brief, text, graphics, printing and mailing information.
* Routing Checklist: You should attach a routing checklist to the outside of the folder. Use it to track each element of the campaign as it works its way through the entire process. If you cannot check something on schedule, you have identified a bottle-neck in your campaign and know where to take action.
Initiate The Right Piece
Figure out what type of direct mail piece will deliver the right message to the right prospects at the right time. Start by asking yourself what your objective is.
Is your goal to announce a new service offering? Send a brochure that shows your firm has a tradition of successful new service launches.
Or, do you want to communicate industry competence? Send a quarterly newsletter or industry trend alert. These build trust and establish your firm as an industry leader with your targets.
Whatever you choose, keep in mind that direct mail works better as part of an integrated marketing strategy. Consider how you might compliment your direct mail efforts with other elements, such as PR, e-mail blasts, online events, etc.
Realistic Expectations
Misguided expectations can break any direct mail campaign. Set expectation too high and you and/or your stakeholders will be disappointed, regardless of the campaign's result.
Avoid this and set realistic expectations from the start. Have a campaign planning session with your stakeholders to discuss expectation for such things as timing, costs, partner involvement, end results and response rate.
Also, make sure everyone in the process understands the impact of meeting their individual deadlines. By establishing these expectations early, you can leave your initial planning meeting with everyone on the same page. You can then use your routing checklist to monitor the process.
Energize Yourself And Keep Momentum
Always update your routing checklist. It tracks your project's success and marks each small victory. That will keep you energized and the project's momentum going.
It also helps to know you are effectively managing the various parts of your campaign.
Champion Your Project
Be your own cheerleader! One of the most important yet overlooked steps is promoting direct mail pieces within the company.
Informing everyone in the company of marketing efforts, direct mail or any other, has the benefit of marketing the marketing department's efforts. Ultimately, everyone from the CEO to the front desk should know what was delivered and when.
Direct mail also reaches your partners' clients and prospects, which makes it especially important for them to know what is being sent.
You can do all this by making the information available on the firm's intranet. Include the piece, mail date and description of the mail list.
Track Your ROI
One of the biggest challenges in marketing is the age old issue of measuring and tracking results.
A one-to-two percent response rate for a mass mailing is considered successful. Two-to-three percent is excellent, and anything above that is exceptional.
Besides receiving phone calls in response to a direct mail campaign, there are other means of measuring the success. For instance, add a Web site address specific to each campaign so that they can go directly to that dedicated landing page. Utilize Web services such as Google Analytics and you can quantify the number of hits your Web site received through the duration of the campaign.
Other ROI measurements include the costs of the campaign and total number of active leads and fees (both year one and annuity) of new engagements. You may have a harder time measuring other important things such as brand awareness and name recognition.
It is also important to review the process for each campaign at the end. Determine what worked well and what improvements could be made.
Jill Eastman is a Marketing Communications Manager with Weaver and Tidwell, L.L.P. Her background is in integrated marketing communications, including direct marketing, niche building, design, electronic media and research. Jill is also a member of the Association for Accounting Marketing ("AAM") and a contributor to the AAM's bi-monthly newsletter MarkeTrends. You can reach Jill at jaeastman@weaverandtidwell.com.
This article courtesy of www.raintoday.com
