How to Use Direct Mail for Marketing Your Online Business

Posted by Business
By Cathy Brown


It's easy to forget that not everyone across the globe who you'd like to market your Internet business to is going to be online throughout the day. This is easy to do when most of the customers you have already sold products to are very internet capable, and use the internet everyday to either work, communicate, or find things that entertain them. However, there are just as many if not more people in the world that rarely use the Internet at all for these types of things. So this brings up the question, how are you going to reach these people? One of the most effective ways to bring publicity to your business without using the internet is by using direct mail.

One mistake that people make is to think that direct mail pieces have to be long letters. They think of it in terms of sending out a long, handwritten letter that is begging people to buy from them. This is not the case! Direct mail postcards and letters with only a few words on them often work the best. Your target market, as well as the kind of business you have, are important factors that will determine the kind of direct mail that will serve you the best. It may be that you need a long letter to do adequate justice to your products and services. You might only need a postcard with a simple graphic and your website address on it. Don't make assumptions before you get started!

Personally write both the recipient's address and your own return address, whenever you mail a postcard or a letter. There have been extensive studies that basically show that people are much more likely to open a piece of mail if it has a handwritten address. Besides this fact, when you take the time to write the addresses on the mail, you are showing the customers that you care enough to take these little steps. It's hard to find that these days. You may be thinking that this seems a bit overwhelming, especially if you plan to send out hundreds of letters, but if you do several a day you will have it finished in no time flat. If your handwriting is hard to read, ask for the help of someone else.

If you find that you didn't bring in many sales after a while, go another route with your direct mail, perhaps a letter. You can try out different types of direct mail and then, when you find one that works, stick with it! Your sales may very well reach as high as thousands of dollars.

The more simple the direct mail piece, the better. No need to add fancy graphics or inserts. Keep it to one page. A simple letter or postcard or single paged brochure will almost always be better received than something long and fancy.

You want to let your recipients know what you are offering and then let them get back to their day. Adhere to the "single page" rule. This says that if your message can't be stated in one page, it must be simplified. There are monetary reasons for keeping the length of your direct mail to a minimum as well, as longer mail will be heavier. The post office will charge you more to mail it.

In going through all of the possible choices which are open to you, you discover the cornerstone of success for all business models. The beauty of direct mail is the ability to reach the people who would have otherwise been unreachable due to lack of Internet use or knowledge. A great number of individuals still do not work with the Internet on a frequent basis. Direct mail gives you a great opportunity to reach this untapped market.

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