I am not a great fan of the United States Postal Service.
Overall there’s no doubt in my mind that it is a poorly managed, inefficient, financially troubled operation sadly in need of reform. But in spite of all its faults that system gives you a powerful and effective sales force at a bargain price.
Using the postman as your salesman via direct mail advertising is a great bargain and one of the most effective marketing strategies available to most businesses. Direct mail gives the marketer tremendous control over the sales process. You can do direct mail marketing cost effectively in relatively small quantities.
You control who gets your advertising and who does not. You can control to a great degree when they get it. You can test and evaluate a promotion very inexpensively before committing a big budget.
There really is no other media that gives you all of these advantages for the delivery price of a postage stamp. There have been many studies done to determine the average cost of sending a rep out to make a personal sales call, getting an ordinary business letter done and out of the office or making a telemarketing call.
My observation is that the bigger the company, the higher the cost. But even in well run cost efficient situations, these marketing methods can easily cost from ten dollars to a hundred dollars or more per prospect contacted. At that cost they are not the way to prospect for new business.
Advertising in newspapers and magazines, radio, TV and cable TV also has a cost factor problem, mammoth waste. When you buy this type of advertising, you’re paying for distribution outside your market area, copies that never reach readers and circulation to recipients who have no possible interest in what you have to offer.
Most businesses can benefit tremendously from the more controlled targeted process of direct mail advertising. In my blog posts that follow, I want to give you some insight into the three aspects of success in direct marketing advertising and introduce you to the two most common, most successful formats you can use in direct mail advertising.
Author Info: Dan Kennedy is internationally recognized as the 'Millionaire Maker,' helping people in just about every category of business turn their ideas into fortunes. Dan's "No B.S." approach is refreshing amidst a world of small business marketing hype and enriches those who act on his advice. 
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
My father will greatly enjoy the picture associated with this blog. He had a brief, not so positive, relationship with the USPS.
I have tried vistaprint.com for their direct mail programs. You can design a postcard, buy a mailing list, and ship it all in about an hour. The only returns I’ve seen so far are the cards mailed back to me unable to forward. I’m convinced it’s the sub-standard, wimpy ad copy, not the media, responsible for the lack of response. My next campaign is much more direct, and the incredible offer is quite incredible, so I hope for better results.
Because it is such a cheap media, it frees marketers to try newer things, maybe bolder things, than they would in the yellow pages, on a billboard, or something more permanent. If it doesn’t work, change it. Test, test, test. A small business owner really can’t afford not to spend at least $0.44 per lead.
If you have absolutely nothing but access to your local library and $10 to invest, you can write 100 letters by photostat or even by hand, send them to 50 targeted customers (a letter and a follow up), and get a direct mail response which can bring in the money to need to build your empire.
What else besides the USPS offers that?
The handwritten envelope, first class stamp, will definitely increase response rates… who gets personal letters anymore?
I open anything besides “bills and advertisements”… first!
Don’t forget, as Rob Anspach (I believe) mentioned recently on a post here from Dan… people open their mail over the… trash.
aack. Make that $50 to invest….
$10 will be harder
They may open the mail over the trash, but the usually have to read it before they throw it. If they read the first sentence they should get the message.
Make your intro into a hook, you have to catch them in the first sentence, or get them to open the envelope -which makes it seem higher value.
Better still put your ” hook” on the envelope, it slows down the time they get the message. An envelope is another stage, but gives validity to value higher cost products or services.
Radio ads are great for instant response, statistics show that they get the fastest response, but burn out quicker.
Even TV ads have to be shown and average of three times before they are remembered longer than 4 hours.
Letter, brochures, cards hang around, sometimes for days before they’re dumped. Make the message clear, ” Glance friendly “
All the comments above are spot on but anyone following Dan Kennedy’s awesome work should already know this(although it is usually the basics where we mess up).
Personalizing sure helps you get your foot in the door.
Les… on your “Glance Friendly” suggestion what better way than having a picture or slogan on a postcard that ‘earns its place on the fridge?’
Has anyone here considered using sendoutcards in their marketing? Keeping in touch is easy. Helps you build that “Iron Cage” around your clients that Dan talks about in your marketing to the point that your client doesn’t even notice someone else’s widget because ‘you’ already have that covered.
I built my first multi-million dollar business through the mail exclusively about 25 years ago.
I said then, and I still say it today: No matter how much they keep raising postage rates, the USPS is still the biggest bargain in the world.
Come on, now! Where else can you get someone to take something from your door and bring it clear across the country to the precise recipient you want at basically the precise time you want for just 44 stinking cents?? Amazing.
If only more business owners took advantage of it…
44cents per mailing is great
and also the free email sending with the autoresponder service is awesome.
thank you Dan
I love and hate being the only one in my industry using direct mail. I love it because of the increase in business. I hate it because I have yet to figure out how to get a 2 to 1 ROI.
Yes what better way to sort mail…over the trash…
Open bills and personally addressed mail and toss the rest
Direct marketing mailers work on me. When I sort my mail I toss the boring junk and open the intriguing lumpy mail or envelopes with personalized teaser copy. TV and radio ads I change the channel or station since most don’t apply directly to my needs. Magazine ads sometimes catch my eye but rarely do I buy anything because of a magazine ad.
I definitely believe in the value and power of direct response mailers. Recently I subscribed to two different magazines because of direct mail offers that were to good to pass up. I had never subscribed to those magazines before and now I have because of a mailer.
It was worth their 44 cents to mail me an offer.
You might not always like what you get when open a bulky envelope, but you always open it because of it’s perceived value