Seven
reasons to use direct mail for sales lead generation!
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| by Alan Sharpe |
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 1. Personal
Unlike an advertisement in a trade publication, which can
be read by anyone, your sales letter arrives at your
prospect’s place of business as a piece of personal
communication from your mind to his. Also, unlike any
other medium, direct mail can be personalized (Dear Mr.
Smith) and customized to each reader (“As an IT manager,
you know that . . .”), showing your prospect that you
know about him by name and understand his business in
particular.
2. Cost effective
Advertising by its very nature is expensive. To reach a
lot of people, you need to spend a lot of money. Direct
mail, on the other hand, only targets the prospects you
want to reach. Instead of pitching your product to a huge
audience of potential buyers, you aim your sales message
only at prospects most likely to buy.
3. Breaks through the clutter
Your ad can easily get lost among dozens of competing ads
in a trade newspaper. Your sales message is also easily
forgotten on radio or television unless you repeat it many
times, which is expensive. But a simple letter, addressed
to your prospect by name and arriving on her desk in the
morning mail (which she must open), cuts through the media
clutter and gets her attention.
4. Measurable ROI
Direct mail is one of the best mediums for measuring the
return on your marketing dollar (or pound or yen). Simply
code your business reply cards, and count how many return
to you in the mail. Then calculate how many of those
replies generate a sales meeting or a sale. Now you know
immediately--and exactly--how effective your mailing has
been. Direct mail numbers never lie.
5. Predictable
One advantage of knowing the success rates of your past
mailings is that you can predict the success of future
mailing. If you mail the same package with the same offer
to a similar group of prospects at the same time of year,
you can predict how many responses you will receive, and
how many of those will translate into sales.
6. Can be improved through testing
Because you can measure your direct mail results, you can
also test your mailings. Test one package against another,
one list against another, one offer against another, and
you’ll discover what works and what fails. That way
you’ll spend your marketing dollars where they are most
effective (without relying on guess work or hunches).
7. Immediate
General advertising builds brand awareness. Sales
brochures inform. But a direct mail letter asks for action
now. So if you need to generate sales leads, and don’t
have time to wait for your ad to appear in “IT Buyers
Quarterly,” send a direct mail letter and wait a week or
so for a response.
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| About
the Author: Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business direct
mail copywriter, sales lead consultant and owner of www.sharpecopy.com.
Alan helps businesses attract qualified prospects using
creative, compelling, cost-effective direct mail
marketing. |
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