Direct mail, when is it good?

[k8_doran]

If you were to recieve post from someone advertising
their business to you, what elements would attract you
to this piece of post? What does it need to look like
for you to be interested and not throw this post away?
Any thought or comments you have on this type of
direct mail would be highly appreciated. What kind of
thing would make you want to keep this piece of post,
or wouldn't you keep any type?

I am not trying to make you buy anything, I am just
looking for research and I would very much appreciate
your response to these above questions.

Thank you very much for your time.

[Ethel]

I have signed with mail preference service, opted out of Royal Mail mail drops and do everything I possibly can to stop junk mail and free papers coming through my letterbox.

Any junk mail that does get through gets sent straight back to sender - without a stamp.

So from my point of view, it's a complete waste of money.

Good luck with your business, anyway. :)

[Toureman]

Same as Ethel, again

[jennifer_cro]

I have to say, I often look at some of the free leaflets that come through our door, especially if they are offering discounts/bargains/free gifts etc, unfortunately I'm very taken in by marketing!

So it has to stand out from the rest, be creative, very succinct and relevant to my needs I supose.

Hope that helps.

[khana]

To be honest most of the stuff goes straight in the dustbin without a second thought........unless it happens to be advertising something I think i'm actually may need sometime in the future eg car valeting, house cleaning that sort of thing. Otherwise its only takeaway menus that get kept.

In general, I think it needs to be easy to read, clearly labled on the front in big letters what they are advertising (so its got a chance to catch my eye on the way to the bin).

In this day and age there should also be a website listed on there for further information.

Keep it short and simple really, to much information is almost as bad as no information at all.

[Oneeyedvic]

Our latest mailshot had a good affect - we even had someone email us telling us that htey liked it but didn't require our services.

A couple of little points:

1) Make sure you send it to people / companies who would be interested in your product / service ie don't market double glazing to council house tennants.

2) Personalise the letter / mailshot as much as possible. People are likely to read a letter addressed to Mr Smith but not one marked to The Householder.

3) Try and make yourself stand out form the crowd - our mailshots are not what you'd expect from our industry. I know it is a typical thing to say but try to "think outside the box".

4) Try to be humerous (but not silly). People want to deal with people that they can relate to. Everyone has (or think they have) a sense of humour.

My company is a commercial finance broker, and most of our competitors have a brochure with impressive looking buildings or people shaking hands - we have a 12 year old girl scremaing in fear on the front of our brochures.

We aimed at getting small local businesses on side with our mailshot - finance ranging from �1000 - �25,000. One of our first enquiries was for �2 Million - so posh people have a sense of humour to!

Don't get despondent when you don't get lots of phone calls in response. We are still getting responses from companies 6 months later.

Good luck