A Strategy For Your Direct Mail Strategy

Map out a strategy for direct mail

Direct mail campaigns perform best when they are strategic. By studying key points for your business in the calendar year ahead, you can plan a schedule for mailings that will support your business goals and needs. If you don’t, you will send out post cards and brochures haphazardly and that’s an almost sure route to disappointing results.
We advise clients to look six months to a year out and think about how direct mail pieces can support their overall business strategy.

Mailings sent at key points in the year

A number of businesses that we work with have direct mail down to a science. Churches are a great example. The year’s religious holidays are a built-in trigger for their direct mail pieces. As Easter approaches, churches get the word out about sunrise services and Easter egg hunts through post cards and flyers. In the summertime, parents are mailed news about vacation bible school programs. And as the year comes to a close, churches promote their many Thanksgiving and Christmas events.

Direct mail can move last season’s inventory

On the retail side, one high-end clothing store we work with builds its direct mail around the end of one season and the start of the next. As new inventory arrives, the store advertises sales of the previous season’s clothing. The direct mail drives in customers who are interested in marked-down bargains but who also want to see what’s new for the coming season, fashion wise.

Let the calendar drive direct mail

Any business can make its direct mail strategic. Tax preparers can benefit from reminding people of their services in late January, well in advance of the April 15 income tax deadline. Summer camps for kids can send out brochures in late winter or early spring to remind parents that it will soon be time to figure out their kids’ summer schedules. A jeweler can promote dazzling diamonds before Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
By sitting down with a calendar and thinking about times of the year that are key to your business, you can develop a direct mail strategy that pays.