Direct mail is now a widely used everyday marketing tool, but all too often businesses aren’t sure exactly when they should be using it, or how to achieve the best results. This article identifies some of the most common and proven occasions when direct mail is the best tool for the job.Use direct mail to gain new customers

New business development and customer acquisition all mean the same thing – gaining new customers for your business. And direct mail has an important role to play. Working from a profile based on your existing customers you can use direct mail to target more of the same type of customer. Or you can use direct mail to reach new types of customers in new areas, or sell new products or services.Use direct mail to sell more to existing customers

If you take into account the acquisition cost of gaining a new customer, it may be that you only start to turn a profit when the customer repeat orders for a second or third time. Therefore you can use direct mailings to contact existing customers and sell them product replenishments, upsell to newer or larger purchases, try new products and services, or gain repeat purchases.Use direct mail to keep existing customers for longer

Direct mail doesn’t always have to generate a sale each time. It can also be used to speak with your existing customers more often, so that you build a closer relationship with them. This way they’ll be less likely to defect to the competition, and more likely to become an advocate for your brand. Direct mail campaigns of this type often use newsletters, vouchers or third party offers to add value.Use direct mail to cut out a middle man

If you are in a market where you have been reliant on a middleman, reseller or intermediary, but you want to enjoy the greater profits of selling direct, then direct mail can often be used to target the end user directly. Because it is aimed at the individual mailings can be sent straight to the people you want. And because direct mail is low profile, it’s less likely to be seen by your distributors or competitors.Use direct mail to test marketing ideas

Because direct mail is so measurable, it’s the ideal way to test out new marketing ideas, whether they are new products, services, creative ideas, offers, or markets. You can even test more than one of these in the same mailing (but don’t include too many variables or it will become difficult to measure what works and what doesn’t).Use direct mail to make other marketing activities work better

Direct mail is the perfect tool for integrating with other marketing activities. It blends well with many other promotional tools, to create a far better end result. For example you could use direct mail with:

- Events and exhibitions, to send out targeted invites to contacts to get them to visit your stand before the event, and follow up leads and enquiries you gained at the show after the event.

- Websites, to push traffic online direct to your website, bypassing search engines when your market could be distracted by other websites or pay per click advertising.

- PR and advertising, to follow up on leads you’ve received through above the line promotions.

- Sales promotion to create a killer offer communicated direct to potential customers.

- Personal selling and telemarketing, to help open doors and prepare the way for more direct person to person sales efforts on the hone or in person.

To summarise, the best time to use direct mail for your business is when you need to achieve measurable results and you know exactly who it is you need to speak to.

How CFH DocMail Can Help You

With the price of mailing a letter consistently climbing, it is getting more and more expensive to send out direct mailing campaign materials for your business or organization.  Postage costs keep climbing and that even includes the bulk postage rate.  If you used to use direct mail as a method of spreading the word about your business or organization related functions, you could find yourself facing a dilemma.  How do you get the word out when direct mailing is costing you an arm and a leg in both postage and material?

There is a new way to get your message out. It is called CFH DocMail.  This form of direct mailing saves you time and money as you no longer have to spend money on material to print your letters let alone personnel to fold and envelope the letters.  Instead you have the option of using this new postage service and saving some money.  CFH DocMail is an online mail management system that is administered by a company outside your own.  You simply send them the letter or flyer that you want to use for your direct mail campaign, and who you need the information sent to, and they will take care of all of the work for one lump sum that will keep your costs down and cost you one bulk postage rate.  CFH DocMail allows the direct mail user to upload all of their information onto their secure server.  They will process your direct mailing package and provide you with a proof for approval before sending the direct mailing out on your behalf.

So far, users of the CFH DocMail postage service have been able to save up to 60 pence per letter, as a single sheet black print letter and envelope only costs you 25 pence using this service.  Considering that each piece of direct mail costs 85 pence to put together and send out, this is definitely a way to cut down on your company’s postage cost.  CFH DocMail allows new customers to test out their bulk postage package and if you find that your costs are climbing way too high to continue using direct mailing as a marketing tool, you may wish to try out CFH DocMail before discontinuing your direct mail campaigns all together.