In both the US and UK, mailers are required and if not required, advised to check their address files against a number of key database files. These files are in place to protect the consumer against unsolicited mail.

There are numerous files available but, the key files that you should be implementing to ensure compliance include:

Telephone Preference Service (TPS) – This is a list maintained whereby the consumer can register her desire to be on the list. In theory at least, the customer should not then receive sales calls to their phone line.  Companies are liable to fines if they do not adhere to the Telephone Preference Service.

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What to expect part 2.

1.Process

Direct mail fundraising is a process, not an event. It’s a way for you to build solid, mutually rewarding relationships with lots of donors – without necessarily ever meeting them face-to-face.

2. Long-term

Rewards in direct mail come only over the long haul. The real return on investment may be sizable bequests you receive years later from one donor in a hundred, or a thousand. But a successful direct mail fundraising program requires you to make available a number of different ways for donors to become involved – as volunteers or activists, not just financial donors. And you’ll need to provide many different ways for people to channel financial support to you.

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Marketing is an important strategy, both in good and critical economic times and those who know how to make the most of it are the ones who will succeed and accomplish their goals. Direct mail programs, which are very frequent nowadays, have two basic components: a message and an audience. The essential thing about direct marketing is to know what you are trying to say and to whom you are saying it. Once you have solved these two issues, nothing can go wrong.When sending direct mail messages, the audience you are trying to reach represents the key factor. Thus, it is useful to identify the common traits and the characteristics of your target audience in order to come up with a successful direct marketing plan. Targeted mail, be it postal or electronic, reaches a more select audience and a more receptive reader. Nowadays, there are many list providers who can provide you lists with demographics tailored to the target audience you are interested in. Each message you want to convey is different, but effective direct mail is all about a few universal elements. First of all, keep in mind that your message should be brief, concise and direct; you donâ??t want to waste your readerâ??s time and that is why you should start with the most important message you want to transmit. Next, do your homework and get to know the audience you are interested in and when sending the message, be respectful both in tone and content. As long as your direct marketing message is informative, it shares knowledge and originality, it will have more success than you imagined.Furthermore, direct mail should be used as a frequent means of direct marketing because it represents one of the most cost effective ways of reaching the target audience. Also, make sure that your message goes to a real recipient and this is why you should keep your client list up to date so that you can count on reliable sources. An efficient way of increasing the effectiveness of direct mail is to follow up with a marketing campaign.Although direct marketing sounds very simple, many managers and business owners seem to ignore the above tips thinking that they know better and ending up with disastrous campaigns. It is better not to send direct mail by yourself if you donâ??t have any experience, your time is precious and there are too many items that need to be sent. At present, there are many companies willing to be the job quickly and cost-effectively, so it would be better to leave this to experienced persons who know their business. The most important part of the direct mail campaign is having the best client list. The most common mistake in this field is not spending enough time and effort when selecting and testing the lists you count on. The list is your market and the best way of reaching your target is to have an updated list of customers who bought from you, responded to your ads, etc. renting or buying a list is also possible, but it is a little bit more risky than having your own list.

Reasons to still use Direct MailDirect mail is almost deemed old fashioned now a days with the huge move away from offline marketing towards online marketing but direct mail still is a very important marketing tool when used correctly. You probably do not realise how much direct mail you receive through the post yourself.Think of the big supermarkets that send you a leaflet every week with the latest bargains in store or the utility provider that sends you a direct mail every month wanting you to sign up with them because this month they have a fantastic deal.If many of the UK’s biggest companies are still using direct mail as part of their direct marketing then it must be an effective marketing tool. They are using targeted database marketing campaigns as an effective method of capturing customers. So direct mail should be considered when planning any marketing campaign.When using direct mail as part of your direct marketing or database marketing campaign you can get a clear message across to your potential customers and you can add more detail into the message. You can spend time thinking about the layout and the presentation of the direct mail and obviously there are fewer restrictions with the amount of information you can add.Direct mail has a longer shelf life than say a commercial on a radio, as a leaflet can be put to one side and read later when time allows. A commercial is a 30 second data surge and once its over you have nothing to reference back to for further information unless you managed to catch the telephone number they through in at the end.More importantly, using direct mail for your direct marketing campaigns is cheaper than most other advertising channels. You can normally get a discount rate for bulk purchases from the post office so remember the more you send the cheaper it will be. You will need to get your flyers designed and printed up but remember this is a lot cheaper than producing any kind of TV or Radio advertisementOnce you have sent out your direct mail make sure you exhaust all your opportunities by making follow up calls to the contacts that you sent your direct mail to. Ask them if they received the direct mail, are they interested? Do they need any further help or assistance with your product or service? You will vastly increase the conversion rate of your campaign if you pro-activity contact these contacts after you have sent out your direct mail.So, the reasons to still use direct mail… well, a) it is a proven, tried and tested method. b) You can deliver more information and the contact has a physical reference. And c) it is cheaper than most other methods but remember to follow up your contacts for maximum opportunities. This may seem like general information but it is important to consider all your options when planning your direct marketing or database marketing campaigns. It is only when you have all the information that you can really decide on your best course of action.

It’s an emerging debate that looks set to become more widespread in the future – which direct marketing method is most effective: traditional direct mail campaigns, or new generation email marketing?

Direct mail is sent to businesses and consumers every day and is used by a very wide range of organisations and industries. A mailing in the post, often accompanied by a letter, has become a proven and accepted way of targeting your audience, with consistent conversion rates of about 1-5%. However in recent years direct mail has attracted criticism over the environmental impact it can have, and the annoyance caused by misdirected mailings.

Email marketing using opt in data is less widely used at the moment, but is growing more rapidly in popularity than almost any other direct marketing tool. A growing range of good quality opt in, and in some cases double opt in lists are becoming available, as are a wide range of email broadcast services. But this new marketing medium has already been tainted by abuse and association with the practice of spamming or junk mailing.

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To be successful with direct mail sales letters, there are several strategies you can use to increase response rates:
1. At the top of your sales letter, use a strong headline that states the most important benefit you are offering. This headline should be bold and a larger font size than the font size you use for the body text in your sales letter.
2. When writing your sales letter, use a friendly conversational style. Do not try to write “corporate” where you use large words and try to impress your prospects with your command of the English language. All that does is turn people off. Instead, write your sales letter as if you were talking to your best friend.
3. Use a P.S. in your letter and restate your most power benefit and sales offer in it. Most people will read a P.S. first before reading the sales letter, so it is important to make your P.S. have a very strong sales message and a call to action.
4. Your sales letter needs to explain the benefits your potential customer will receive. Understand that everybody cares about one thing in life – “What’s in it for me?” Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and ask yourself, “If I was receiving this letter, why would I want to buy the product or service being sold? What’s in it for me?”
5. Ask your prospect to take action such as to call you for more information, to visit your website, to complete and order form and mail you a check, etc. If you do not ask your prospects to take action, they won’t.
6. To get your sales letter opened, use a standard white business envelope and handwrite the recipient’s name and address. Yes, this takes a lot more time than using mailing labels, but mailing labels scream junk mail! The first key in a successful direct mail campaign is to get your envelope opened, and by handwriting the recipient’s name and address, you can almost guarantee that your envelope will be opened.
7. Make your envelope “lumpy” by enclosing a small, inexpensive free gift. Make sure the gift has your company name and contact information on it and that the gift is something a person would want to keep – such as a nice pen, a good highlighter, etc. And, the promo gift should have your company information on it – your company name, phone number, and website address.
8. Here is the most important direct mail tip. Repetition. You will not have success with your direct mail campaign if you only send out one mailing. Each prospect on your contact list should be contacted a minimum of three to six times during a 12-month period. Properly used, direct mail can be one of the most effective and cost-efficient marketing strategies you’ll ever find for your business.
As a final thought, understand that the national average direct mail response rate is only 1%. What that means is if you send out 100 letters, the average response rate is for one customer to contact you. However, one way to greatly increase your response rate is to use the tips I mentioned in this newsletter and to make follow-up calls to the contacts you sent your letters to, especially if you are marketing to businesses.

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

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A direct mail marketing company is a business that promotes products and services by sending catalogs and information in physical form via post or a delivery service, direct to target customers. This method attracts huge response as the marketing message is directly communicated to prospects, with no intervening media.

USA’s direct mail marketing business dates back to 1872 enjoys a huge customer pool and steady upward trend nowadays. Imagine getting exclusive offers not available in shopping malls or local stores directly in your hand. We at Catalog Solutions have been doing direct mal marketing since 1980 and considered as one of the best known direct mail marketing company in USA. Targeting the right customers only, we have succeeded in bringing in thousands of requests and orders from our catalogs every month. The well known catalogs which can effectively get your products in to customer’s hands are: