How to Improve Your Direct Marketing Campaigns?

Direct marketing can be one of the most effective ways to sell your products and services to new and existing customers. However, many businesses get it wrong and end up wasting considerable amounts of money for very little return on their investment. They often assume that direct marketing simply doesn’t work for them, but usually the problem is more related to the fact that they have done something wrong.

If you are considering launching your own direct marketing campaign, here are a few things to keep in mind to improve your results.

Headlines Really Matter

The headline of your letter or email really has to capture the attention of the reader. Ideally, it should include a benefit and stand out to the reader. Many copywriters spend as much time on the headline as the rest of the letter combined, and this is because if the headline does not work, the rest of the copy does not matter. The aim of the headline is to make the reader carry on to the first paragraph, and if you do not achieve that, you will lose the chance of making a conversion.

Always Use the Best Data

Who are you sending out your sales letter, catalogue or email to? Are they really the people who you should be targeting? The quality of your data is very important. You could waste a lot of money sending your letter to people who are not likely to be interested or who have even moved home. Hire a data cleansing solutions provider or a company that provides high-quality lists of data, and this can be a very easy and effective way to improve your results instantly.

Use Compelling Language 

Sales language is not made up of long words and poetic sentences. You are not writing a novel, after all. Your copy needs to be short, direct and easy to understand. It needs to speak directly to the reader using language they are familiar with, otherwise you will fail to connect with them and this can affect your conversions.

Include a Clear Call to Action

You need to make it clear to your targets what you want them to do, whether you want them to order your new product or give you a call. Make a clear call to action to make it easy to respond – for example, include return postage if you want them to send in a reply to get a better response. You could include a number of different calls to action if you think this will work better.

Experiment

Try sending out different types of direct marketing materials. Experiment with short and long-form copy, images, design and font. Everything matters in a sales letter, so find out what works best and then fine-tune your efforts each time you send out a new letter to get even more from your direct marketing.

Improve Your Direct Marketing Results

These are some of the ways that you can improve your results from direct marketing with ease. Don’t assume that direct marketing is not for you simply because you have not had any success with it yet. You could well be doing something wrong that is preventing you from enjoying the success that you should. Direct marketing can be very effective and can really help you to boost your sales, so keep the above considerations in mind and improve your own direct marketing efforts today.

Author:

This guest post was written by SB for Qbase, which provides data cleansing solutions and a range of other services to businesses. Find out more about the services it offers by visiting its website at www.qbase.net.