Reach Customers For Your Business With Direct Mail

September 4, 2014Leave a comment

If you are looking for a cost effective way to directly engage potential customers near your business or across town direct mail is the answer for you.

Newspaper, television, radio and online ads can be costly and not really target the audience that you are trying to reach. Direct mail can be specifically addressed to people who live near your business or who are likely to patronize your establishment.

Postal bulk rates allow you to mail your advertisements at a fraction of the cost of more expensive methods saving you money that you can use to invest in your business.

The United States Postal Service offers many options that will help you to get your business information in front of the people that you want to reach.

There are two direct mail options available from the postal service: 1) Every Door Direct Mail/Retail and 2) Every Door Direct Mail.

Every Door Direct Mail/Retail is used by most local businesses according to USPS because it is the simplest, most cost effective option. It allows you to send up to 5,000 mailpieces per day per zip code and by using the approved Every Door Direct Mail Retail Indicia you don’t have to purchase a postage permit.

The Every Door Direct Mail option allows businesses with larger mailings to distribute their materials using a mailing permit. This method requires a postage permit and a BMEU (business mail entry unit). Every Door Direct Mail is great for announcing new store openings, sales and other events. And with this method there is no need to print names and addresses on each mail piece.

The major advantage of direct mail is that it gets your business information directly into the hands of your target consumer base and that is what every business owner wants.

4CP Inc. will take your designs and produce them into quality direct mailing material that will make you stand out and draw customers to your business.

4 Direct Mail Marketing Tips

August 28, 2014Leave a comment

Direct mail marketing can be very effective because it shows up right in the customer’s mailbox, which they generally check everyday. If it turns out that the product or service you’re selling is something that the customer has been thinking about buying, then it’s definitely likely to catch their eye and prompt a phone call which will eventually lead to increased sales. However, it’s still important for your direct mail piece to be unique and persuasive without overdoing the sales element. Here are a few tips to put together a direct mail piece which is sure to yield results:

Clear content. Sometimes, direct mail is put together in the form of a personalized letter to the customer. This is a good technique which will make the customer feel special. But it’s not much use if the font in which you write is too small and the lines are so tightly spaced together that they tend to blur into each other. Our team will help you to make sure that your content is clearly readable before you send it off.
Information. People often forget that the main aim of advertising and marketing is providing the customer with information. You tend to get so caught up in selling something that you forget to provide all the information the customer might need. For example, if you’re selling furniture, you’ll need to tell your customer about the various pieces you stock, the colors they’re available in, whether they come with removable covers and how much each one costs. Make sure that all this information is easily readable and accompanied by images.
Special offers. Once you’ve communicated information in a clear way to your customer, you can draw their attention with your special offers or sales. It’s ok to highlight this part of your direct mail piece as long as it’s not the only thing you end up focusing on. People actually tend to be suspicious if they see the words “free” and “zero” one too many times. So use these words but don’t overuse them.
Presentation. The text of your direct mail piece is important but so are the images and the overall presentation. Although you want people to sit up and take notice, you also want to come across as reliable. Depending on what field you’re in, you might want to seem more trendy or more conservative. So think about what you’re selling and your company image before you send out your direct mail piece.

One Single Tip that can Make Your Direct Marketing 21% More Successful.

August 21, 2014Leave a comment

In direct marketing, having an advantage is the name of the game. From offering trial periods, to free products, finding something that will increase response rate is paramount. This however sometimes leads to simple things being over looked that have a tremendous impact on responses. In this case, we’re talking about the signature line.

In 1987, the Journal of Social Psychology published an study about response rates in relation to how signatures are inscribed, titled Survey Response Rate as a Function of Personalized Signature on Cover Letter. In this study they took a look at a variety of different signature styles, appearances, sizes, colors, fonts, and even the big question of handwritten versus printed signatures.

Glancing at the study, most people wouldn’t think how big of a ramification it has on the marketing world, however what the study determined is absolutely huge. When comparing survey response rates based on just the color of the signature, 21% more people responded when the signature was done in blue ink over any other color. Take a moment, let that sink in. Out of a group of 1,000 people contacted, that’s 210 more people responding!

The big guys in direct marketing saw this study for what it was immediately, something you can see for yourself by looking at the signature lines of such big names as Publishers Clearing House. You’ll notice that while the content and overall appearance may differ between direct mail letters, one near constant is that they all feature a signature in blue.

Of course, adding a second color to a print job increases the cost, especially with large professional printing companies. It involves an added ink, running the print through the presses twice, and can take longer. The big guys in direct marketing take that added expense happily because they, like you do now, know that the little added detail despite it raising the cost of the printing returns several fold in the increased response rate, making it an quality investment.

To find out more tricks to get your direct marketing to be more effective, and how we can help you fill your direct marketing needs, contact us.

Is Your Business Making These Direct Mail Mistakes?

August 14, 2014Leave a comment

Direct mail can be a powerful tool to bring attention and new customers to your business, but to reap the rewards of this type of marketing you need to do it right. Just throwing together a package and sending it out into the wide world will not achieve the results that you need.

If you feel like you are not getting what you expected out of your Direct Mail campaigns, then you should make sure you are not engaging in any of these common direct mail mistakes:

Neglecting To Improve Your Mailing List

You should always be actively trying to cultivate a more effective mailing list. This doesn’t mean just adding more names onto the list either, bigger is not always better here.

You will achieve a much better response rate from a well targeted list of 100 people or businesses who are likely to have a need for your product than you will with a list of 500 people who you have not screened for potential.

Failing to Test Different Types of Packages

A lot of work goes into developing a polished direct mail package, which can make it very tempting to continue sending out the same thing over and over. Unfortunately, it can take many attempts to find the right package to bring you maximum benefit.

It is well worth the effort to design and test many combinations of direct mail components to see what brings you the best response rate. Many businesses see huge differences in response rate depending on what they include in their mailers.

Having Poor Follow Up

While potential customers may take their sweet time before contacting you, they are still going to expect a fast response from you. If you are taking more than 48 hours to follow up with contact from direct mail responses, then your are probably missing out on many possible conversions.

You should also make sure to follow up on your most promising mailing lists with more than one mailing. Many times recipients who don’t respond to the first piece of direct mail will contact you on the 3rd or 4th mailing.

To find out what direct mail can do for your company, contact us for more information today.

3 Tips for a Great Direct Mail Campaign

August 7, 2014Leave a comment

These days, most businesses take a multi-channel approach to marketing. For some companies all those channels are digital–email, website, online ads and social media. But a lot of savvy companies include Direct Mail in their plans. And with good reason.

Consumer research has turned up some interesting facts about people and their mail. Only 36% of companies surveyed believed that customers still value snail mail. But a whopping 64% of consumers said they do value receiving mail at home. That includes Direct Mail.

Another surprising fact: 65% of adult Millennials said they’d rather read something on paper than online!

If you’re marketing plan includes Direct Mail, you may already be expert at getting your message across. But if you’re not completely satisfied with your roi, here are three ways to increase your response rates:

Make it Personal–Direct Mail has always worked best when it’s personal and targeted. That means choosing lists with defining characteristics, such as age, neighborhoods, socio-economic factors and so on. It’s not enough to personalize the mail with recipients’ names. It’s important to speak to the readers as though you know them personally.

Mail Smarter–As the cost of postage continues to rise, Direct Mail marketers are getting more targeted. The message needs to fit the mailing list(s) like a glove. It’s no longer about mailing more pieces. It’s about getting a higher response rate per piece. Advances in list segmentation technology make it possible to target ideal customers with great accuracy.

Test, Test, Test–The letter, the graphics, and the mailing package itself can all enhance or retard response. The most useful tests change one element at a time, to see exactly what elements make the most difference. Your printer can help with the logistics of testing.

Counting Your Printer as Part of the Marketing Team

When it comes to Direct Mail, it’s a great idea to include your printer or print broker as part of the team. After all, who knows more about the technical aspect of getting pieces printed and ready to mail than your printer?

4CP is an independent print management company that provides clients with management services for printing and mailing needs. With over 15 years of experience in managing direct marketing production projects, 4cp specializes in delivering the highest quality in management services. To find out how we can make your next Direct Mail campaign cost effective and hassle-free, please contact us.

Welcome to “In the Loupe”

July 20, 2014Leave a comment

This is the new blog for 4-CP, For Complete Production Solutions, Inc. We’ll be sharing news and views related to the printing, print production, direct mail and marketing industries.

Have a topic you’d like us to address? You can email us your request or comment below.

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About Us

4CP is a reliable independent print management company with experience in implementing outsourced print management programs designed to reduce cost, add value, deliver a high standard of customer support, and ensure on-time deliveries.Our mission is to provide our clients with a valuable partnership by supplying management services for their printing and direct mail needs.

4CP, Inc.

Independent print and mail management based in Maryland