Today’s businesses are looking for an advantage to help them weather the storm and avoid layoffs or losses in revenue. That’s why companies are focusing on a single task to stay afloat – increasing sales.

Typically a recession drives small businesses to evaluate, re-design and refine their product offerings and marketing processes as they focus on cash flow, costs, customer retention and survival.

There has been an upsurge in Internet and email marketing, yet many top decision-makers in businesses nationwide and even globally still rely on traditional marketing tactics such as direct mail when positioning products, developing media strategies.

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It isn’t easy reaching C-level. I’m talking about getting your direct mail letter through to senior executives in a corporations, the ones with the letter “C” for “Chief,” in their titles. Here are just a few of the more common C-level titles . . .CEO – Chief Executive Officer; COO – Chief Operating Officer; CFO – Chief Financial Officer; CMO – Chief Marketing Officer; CIT – Chief of Information Technology; and CTO – Chief Technology Officer.C-level executives, of course, are the decision-makers you want to reach if you’re selling major systems or services. They’re the folks with the power to make big purchase decisions or instruct the appropriate person in the organization to “check out” what you’ve got to offer.Needless to say, everyone wants the ear of the C-level players. Which means that they’re protected by assistants who make sure that junk mail never reaches their desks. So what’s a poor copywriter to do? What tricks can you use to make sure that your  letter gets past the gatekeeper, gets opened by the senior executive, and generates the action you’re asking for?Here are some copywriting tips and techniques which can help get your letter in front of a decision maker.1. Forget about envelope teaser copyEnvelope copy screams “JUNK MAIL” and thus will be tossed out by the executive’s administrator. Some companies actually have internal mailroom policies stating that obvious junk mail should never be delivered to the executive’s desk! This means that you should avoid the junk look at all costs and use a standard #10 business envelope without any teaser copy.2. Use overnight mail or priority mailA better approach, if your budget permits, is to use an express service. When someone sees a FedEx package, they open it. It’s as simple as that. Of course you can’t afford to send a mass mailing via FedEx, but if you’re mailing in onesies and twosies, and following up with a phone call, this is a great way to go!3. Send a dimensional packageIn the jargon of copywriters, a dimensional mailing is a package that actually has something stuffed inside it (i.e. it has three dimensions). Often, by adding an attention-getter, you can be sure your package will get opened. For example, you can enclose a book that you think the prospect might enjoy reading. Or an important report. (Forget about calculators, caps, and any other junky gifts.)4. Use the “Peer-to-Peer” approach.This means you can have your letter signed by a person at your company with the same C-level title as the prospect’s. For example, if you want to send a letter to the Chief Financial Officer at American Widget, have it “written” by the CFO at your company. Play up the fact that both executives face the same challenges, the writer knows from personal experience what the prospect is up against, etc.The take-away message? If you’re writing to C-level executives, you have to cut through the clutter, get past the gatekeeper, and make sure your letter gets read.

With the internet age upon us many business people tend to overlook the things that are proven to work. Direct mail marketing is one of those things. Think about it. Do you still get advertisements in the mail? Of course you do. It only makes sense that direct mail is still a very good way to advertise your business. After all, if it did not work all you would find in your mail box are bills and correspondence.

Many of today’s big advertisers were once, and in some cases still are using direct mail. The biggest reason that these companies use direct mail is because it is a proven strategy. Here is the proof. According to the U.S. Post Office Americans spend over $250 billion each and every year in response to direct mail. Direct mail campaigns average $10 in sales for each dollar that is invested. In case you are interested that is about double the return on investment of a television ad.

The benefits of direct mail marketing are many.

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Boosting your business with direct mailing lists is a very wise move to make. When you buy mailing lists, you are investing in your business because you will be able to reach out to more individuals compared to any other means out there. With Find List, the successful implementation and delivery of these direct mailing lists are highly guaranteed.The direct mailing lists you get from Find List are highly impressive. Find List is aware than marketing is vital to the success of your business, and direct mailing lists are connected to this. The success of your business entails getting several names that will make up the direct mailing lists for your company. Find List helps you by scoping out materials where such names can be gotten, from magazine companies all the way to religious organizations which people belong to. When your business is at stake, Find List makes it its job to find ways to improve it.The company also guides you by carefully analyzing each individual’s demographics in order to make your list more accurate for the market you want to reach. The analysis is done using special tools that make the job efficient and accurate. The creation of these specific tools is also strengthened with the important details about the clients which you will provide the company with. When the list has been finalized, you can then leave it up to the Find List experts to do the next step in firing off these lists to the right people at the right time.These explanations demonstrate just how important it is to find the right people when you buy mailing lists. Every time you buy mailing lists, Find List will make it their task to ensure that they are well-researched in your business. When you buy mailing lists, the company will make it their business to know just what characteristics make up your niche market. Even when they already have their own compilation, they will still go out and look for other possible candidates as well.The lists and services you will get from Find List are top notch because it factors in the budget consideration. You will of course end up determining how much you are willing to spend in order to purchase these mailing lists. Find List understands your situation and with a trained email list broker, work to come up with the best solution. To add to this, there is a free consultation session which you should take advantage of. This indicates that Find List means business and they will not hard sell you with their mailing lists. The focus of their business is to give you the best list possible.Buying mailing lists from Find List also entails committing to a contract. The terms as well as the conditions that are related to your transaction are easily reflected in the contract. Thus, there are no hidden charges or stipulations which you might not be aware of at the outset. With Find List, transparency is the key in order to build a better working relationship with you.

For one, it is the only way to get taget the customers who need and want your services. There are so many forms of data available, you can literally target hundreds of different types of people.

For this example, let’s take loan modification mailers. If someone needs a loan modification, they are either late on their mortgage payments or stuck in a sub prime loan and can’t refinance because they are upside down. Well, you just search for the data in whatever states you want to target like this:

1. Homeowners who are 30 – 60- 90 days late on their mortgage payments

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Where to Start:

Most novice marketers have definite fixed ideas about direct mail that are way off base – most often in the area of what to spend and how much to do. You should determine what you are able to spend for your marketing budget, spend it, and determine the maximum number of leads that you can create. For instance, I’ve heard this statement quite often: “We aren’t that large of a company. How could we send out 2,000 postcards all at once?” because “What if they all call?” – seems like a valid concern, right?

Here is the reality behind it: Unfortunately they won’t all call. However, a good deal of them very well may and making sure that your traffic in is not more than you can handle is something to think about. Truthfully, there is no sure way to tell exactly how many people will call if you haven’t done this type of marketing before. Think of it this way. What would happen if they did all call? You may not be able to handle all of them, but you would handle as many as you possibly could, right?

In this scenario, you would have maximized your income for that time period providing you could close up all those callers! You can also explore the idea of expanding your operation to handle the number of leads that you can create.

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In any direct mail campaign, it is important to have a decent list of people to send your mailer out to, but 98% of the time, these prospective clients won’t even respond. Unfortunately, a surprising 44% of recipients won’t even open your letter – it will go straight into the trashcan. So, the question remains – what is the secret to getting your direct mail not only opened and responded to but also to provide quality sales leads? 

In my many years of owning my own marketing firm, I have seen both good and bad direct mail campaigns, but there is one perfect recipe I have found that can provide a response rate of 10-20% or even higher. One of my clients, a cabinetry remodeling business that earns $40,000 – $60,000 per ticket, was even forced to stop mid-campaign because they were receiving more leads than they could handle.

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Warning: the following statistics are hardly promising and definitely not satisfying. In fact, they’re kind of depressing. 

1-3% is the average response rate for a direct mail campaign. 

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