People underestimate the power one great letter can have for their business. I’ve had several people call me or email me, to ask for my opinion on a direct mail campaign. Most of the time, they’re so worried about how it looks, that they don’t bother to really worry about the offer.
I recently spoke at the Coral Ridge Country Club in Ft. Lauderdale for a group of entrepreneurs, at an event called BIG Breakfast. When I explained to them, that 40% of the success of a direct mail campaign is the offer, they looked at me as if I had two heads. I continued on to tell them that another 40% is the list they’re mailing to, and the final 20% is the creative. What do most people spend their time on? Of course, the fun stuff… the creative.
A common problem we encounter is that most businesses don’t understand the science behind direct mail.
To a critical and untutored eye a great direct mail letter doesn’t look like much. It looks simple, which is much more difficult to achieve than something sophisticated – a word that in this context usually means corporate gobbledygook. The critic reading the direct mail letter is rarely a member of the target audience so, naturally, the letter doesn’t resonate.
If you’d like to read some great examples of how simple letters work very well, visit my recent Forbes article:
Hope you’ll pick up an idea or two for your own business. Let me know how it works out.
