Tip 5: Test your market Always test your direct mail marketing on small groups changing one thing each time and measuring the response you get back. The three basic elements of any mailing campaign that you should test are:

1. Your List: Keep your offer the same and compare to a different mailing list.
2. Your Copy: Keep your mailing list the same and change your copy. Try different headings, discounts, gifts, samples etc.
3. Your Style: Try a humorous approach or
   Business Card Communication I
   The way you communicate yourself, your contact information and your market are vital in your business card.Clarity is vital to an effective business card. But clarity, although necessary, is not sufficient to really set your card apart from the rest. If clarity were the only consideration, then the most effective business card imaginable would be a white rectangle that contains your name, your business, and your contact information, and nothing else. If you were handed a business card like this in the real world, you'd more likely than not throw it out without even a second l
   A mailing list of valued customers is probably one of the most valuable assets your business could own. The fact of the matter is that a loyal customer will typically spend 5 times more in your business than a new customer. So how do you start to build a list of loyal customers for your business?

   One of the most effective ways of building your customer list is to use direct mail. It is the ideal tool for testing a new market; announcing a new product or changes to an existing one because of the huge numbers of people you can reach with one mailing campaign.

   But running a successful direct mail campaign is not as simple as purchasing any mailing list, writing a mail shot, and sending it. To be successful, your mailing campaign needs careful planning.

   These are our six tips to planning a successful direct mail marketing campaign.

   Tip 1: Identify your “perfect” customer The first step in any direct mail campaign is to look at your existing customer base and identify a profile for your “perfect customer”. You have already been successful in selling your product or service to this type of person or business. If you can identify other customers or businesses with a similar profile then it stands to reason that many of them will have a similar need that you can for fill.

   If selling to consumers you need to consider characteristics like their age, income, and geography. When selling business to business, also take into consideration features like the type of business and number of employees.

   Once you have established what your perfect customer looks like, you can then purchase a mailing list to match. The closer match your mailing list is to your profile, the better response rate you are likely to obtain from your direct mail campaign.

   Tip 2: Know who you are sending to The difference between junk mail and direct mail is that junk mail is not wanted and goes directly into the bin but direct mail is wanted and is read. Avoid your direct mail marketing being seen by your recipients as junk mail.

   Always make sure that you know the name of the right person to send your direct mail to and address them in person. Never address your mailing campaign to a job title, as it will be instantly discarded. And do not rely on others to pass your message on to the right person – they won’t!

   Tip 3: Write copy with impact Copy is the argument you write to sell your product or service. To be noticed, your copy needs to be made up of all the following parts:

   • An attention-grabbing headline.
   • A sub-headline stating your unique selling proposition.
   • Text that invokes desire in the reader and paints a picture in words of them using your product or service and enjoying its benefits.
   • Testimonials of customers that have already benefited from using your product or service.
   • Have a compelling offer.
   • Provide a clear call to action that tells the reader exactly what you want them to do next.

   Tip 4: Grab attention with design With any direct mail campaign, the design of the message is also important. It needs to grab a reader’s attention while visually clarifying the written message that you are trying to put across.

   1. Use one visual detail like a photo, cartoon, or graphic to dominate the page.
   2. Never use more than two typefaces, one for headings, and another for text.
   3. Include lots of white space to make a lasting impact.
   4. Ensure that your text is easy to read.
   5. Use bullets, bold type, and underlines. Keep paragraphs short.
   6. Display your logo prominently and do not forget your contact details like phone number, mail address, web site and email.
   7. Make responding to your mailing campaign easy by including a stamped addressed postcard or fax back form.

   Tip 5: Test your market Always test your direct mail marketing on small groups changing one thing each time and measuring the response you get back. The three basic elements of any mailing campaign that you should test are:

   1. Your List: Keep your offer the same and compare to a different mailing list.
   2. Your Copy: Keep your mailing list the same and change your copy. Try different headings, discounts, gifts, samples etc.
   3. Your Style: Try a humorous approach or a
      Going Undergound
      The role of underground movements in modern organisations Forget about empowerment. Forget leadership training. Forget coaching skills. The way to make a difference to your company is through rebellious underground movements. But underground movements are a Bad Thing. They work against the hierarchy and against the good of the organisation that they inhabit. Rebellion undermines the leadership and weakens the shared direction of an organisation. Then again, underground movements are a Good Thing. Radical change is rarely in the immediate interest
      perfect” customer The first step in any direct mail campaign is to look at your existing customer base and identify a profile for your “perfect customer”. You have already been successful in selling your product or service to this type of person or business. If you can identify other customers or businesses with a similar profile then it stands to reason that many of them will have a similar need that you can for fill.

      If selling to consumers you need to consider characteristics like their age, income, and geography. When selling business to business, also take into consideration features like the type of business and number of employees.

      Once you have established what your perfect customer looks like, you can then purchase a mailing list to match. The closer match your mailing list is to your profile, the better response rate you are likely to obtain from your direct mail campaign.

      Tip 2: Know who you are sending to The difference between junk mail and direct mail is that junk mail is not wanted and goes directly into the bin but direct mail is wanted and is read. Avoid your direct mail marketing being seen by your recipients as junk mail.

      Always make sure that you know the name of the right person to send your direct mail to and address them in person. Never address your mailing campaign to a job title, as it will be instantly discarded. And do not rely on others to pass your message on to the right person – they won’t!

      Tip 3: Write copy with impact Copy is the argument you write to sell your product or service. To be noticed, your copy needs to be made up of all the following parts:

      • An attention-grabbing headline.
      • A sub-headline stating your unique selling proposition.
      • Text that invokes desire in the reader and paints a picture in words of them using your product or service and enjoying its benefits.
      • Testimonials of customers that have already benefited from using your product or service.
      • Have a compelling offer.
      • Provide a clear call to action that tells the reader exactly what you want them to do next.

      Tip 4: Grab attention with design With any direct mail campaign, the design of the message is also important. It needs to grab a reader’s attention while visually clarifying the written message that you are trying to put across.

      1. Use one visual detail like a photo, cartoon, or graphic to dominate the page.
      2. Never use more than two typefaces, one for headings, and another for text.
      3. Include lots of white space to make a lasting impact.
      4. Ensure that your text is easy to read.
      5. Use bullets, bold type, and underlines. Keep paragraphs short.
      6. Display your logo prominently and do not forget your contact details like phone number, mail address, web site and email.
      7. Make responding to your mailing campaign easy by including a stamped addressed postcard or fax back form.

      Tip 5: Test your market Always test your direct mail marketing on small groups changing one thing each time and measuring the response you get back. The three basic elements of any mailing campaign that you should test are:

      1. Your List: Keep your offer the same and compare to a different mailing list.
      2. Your Copy: Keep your mailing list the same and change your copy. Try different headings, discounts, gifts, samples etc.
      3. Your Style: Try a humorous approach or
         Weird Things Get Attention
         Try This NowTake a good look around and make a list of all the objects you can see that are blue. Take your time, there is no hurry.Got your list? You've probably got between five and fifteen objects. Now shut your eyes and think of all the red things you saw when making the list. The weird thing is that you will be able to think of one or two objects but if look around now, you will see just as many red things as blue things.The human brain is an amazing filter and will ignore anything it doesn't consider important. This is why when looking for bl
         direct mail campaign.

         Tip 2: Know who you are sending to The difference between junk mail and direct mail is that junk mail is not wanted and goes directly into the bin but direct mail is wanted and is read. Avoid your direct mail marketing being seen by your recipients as junk mail.

         Always make sure that you know the name of the right person to send your direct mail to and address them in person. Never address your mailing campaign to a job title, as it will be instantly discarded. And do not rely on others to pass your message on to the right person – they won’t!

         Tip 3: Write copy with impact Copy is the argument you write to sell your product or service. To be noticed, your copy needs to be made up of all the following parts:

         • An attention-grabbing headline.
         • A sub-headline stating your unique selling proposition.
         • Text that invokes desire in the reader and paints a picture in words of them using your product or service and enjoying its benefits.
         • Testimonials of customers that have already benefited from using your product or service.
         • Have a compelling offer.
         • Provide a clear call to action that tells the reader exactly what you want them to do next.

         Tip 4: Grab attention with design With any direct mail campaign, the design of the message is also important. It needs to grab a reader’s attention while visually clarifying the written message that you are trying to put across.

         1. Use one visual detail like a photo, cartoon, or graphic to dominate the page.
         2. Never use more than two typefaces, one for headings, and another for text.
         3. Include lots of white space to make a lasting impact.
         4. Ensure that your text is easy to read.
         5. Use bullets, bold type, and underlines. Keep paragraphs short.
         6. Display your logo prominently and do not forget your contact details like phone number, mail address, web site and email.
         7. Make responding to your mailing campaign easy by including a stamped addressed postcard or fax back form.

         Tip 5: Test your market Always test your direct mail marketing on small groups changing one thing each time and measuring the response you get back. The three basic elements of any mailing campaign that you should test are:

         1. Your List: Keep your offer the same and compare to a different mailing list.
         2. Your Copy: Keep your mailing list the same and change your copy. Try different headings, discounts, gifts, samples etc.
         3. Your Style: Try a humorous approach or
            Do You Have a Website or a Purple Cow?
            Or what about a pink elephant? For those of you not familiar with Seth Godin he has written numerous books about how to run a business using marketing, stressing the need to always be remarkable. As a point of illustration he uses cows. In a field full of cows a purple cow would stand out, you would remember, it would be remarkable. Until all the cows became purple of course.A simple illustration that makes a big point, unless you stand out you are invisible. If you're invisible how are you going to sell? The point being that you need to create a product and organisation that is
            tion.
         4. Text that invokes desire in the reader and paints a picture in words of them using your product or service and enjoying its benefits.
         5. Testimonials of customers that have already benefited from using your product or service.
         6. Have a compelling offer.
         7. Provide a clear call to action that tells the reader exactly what you want them to do next.

         Tip 4: Grab attention with design With any direct mail campaign, the design of the message is also important. It needs to grab a reader’s attention while visually clarifying the written message that you are trying to put across.

         1. Use one visual detail like a photo, cartoon, or graphic to dominate the page.
         2. Never use more than two typefaces, one for headings, and another for text.
         3. Include lots of white space to make a lasting impact.
         4. Ensure that your text is easy to read.
         5. Use bullets, bold type, and underlines. Keep paragraphs short.
         6. Display your logo prominently and do not forget your contact details like phone number, mail address, web site and email.
         7. Make responding to your mailing campaign easy by including a stamped addressed postcard or fax back form.

         Tip 5: Test your market Always test your direct mail marketing on small groups changing one thing each time and measuring the response you get back. The three basic elements of any mailing campaign that you should test are:

         1. Your List: Keep your offer the same and compare to a different mailing list.
         2. Your Copy: Keep your mailing list the same and change your copy. Try different headings, discounts, gifts, samples etc.
         3. Your Style: Try a humorous approach or
            How to Evaluate and Select Survey Software in 3 Steps
            1. Identify Candidates – Make a List.Build your master list of potential candidates knowing full well you will throw away most of these names in time. Build up your list using all available means possible. Ask your friends for recommendations, look for online directories that list survey software (Yahoo, DMOZ, etc), and of course, check the search engines. When searching the internet, be sure to specify the most relevant keyword phrases that appeal to you. If you are looking for Microsoft-based survey software, you might also try Google’s Microsoft focused search engine.2
         4. Ensure that your text is easy to read.
         5. Use bullets, bold type, and underlines. Keep paragraphs short.
         6. Display your logo prominently and do not forget your contact details like phone number, mail address, web site and email.
         7. Make responding to your mailing campaign easy by including a stamped addressed postcard or fax back form.

         Tip 5: Test your market Always test your direct mail marketing on small groups changing one thing each time and measuring the response you get back. The three basic elements of any mailing campaign that you should test are:

         1. Your List: Keep your offer the same and compare to a different mailing list.
         2. Your Copy: Keep your mailing list the same and change your copy. Try different headings, discounts, gifts, samples etc.
         3. Your Style: Try a humorous approach or a serious one. Change the photos, ink or paper colours, envelope design etc.

         Tip 6: Always follow-up Always follow up on your direct mail with a phone call a few days later. A single conversation can improve returns dramatically.