“Direct mail? We tried it once, and it didn’t work.” That’s what many business people say after simply mailing a product brochure and waiting for the orders to roll in.
Of course it didn’t work. That’s not direct mail, it’s advertising. People often confuse direct mail marketing with advertising, making strategic and tactical errors that waste money and prevent them from enjoying the increased sales and profits that direct mail can generate.
General advertising’s primary goal is to create image and product awareness so that when customers eventually go shopping they will be receptive to buying the product. The distance between the ad and the actual purchase can be great and involve many elements, including timely distribution, attractive store displays, promotions and pricing.
In direct mail marketing, the bottom line is to turn recipient/prospects into customers instantly by eliciting an immediate response; awareness of the product that may one day turn into a sale is not enough.
Before deciding on how to promote your business or product, review the differences between general advertising and direct mail marketing:
Throughout the history of direct marketing, many companies thought they were doing direct mail marketing when they were really advertising. They were the ones that said, “We tried it once and it didn’t work.” Conversely, thousands of companies have prospered because they knew the difference between the two marketing approaches. They used direct mail regularly, identifying prospects, determining what they wanted, making them offers they couldn’t refuse and watching the responses roll in.
— By Gregory P. Demetriou, President of American Mail Communications in Farmingdale. In the direct mail marketing business for more than 30 years, he manages direct mail programs for clients and is a resource for organizations planning mailing campaigns. He can be reached at greg@americanmail.com.
