Five DM Tips to Reach SMBs
Any marketer who has tried direct mail to reach small business owners lately knows that response rates are trending down. According to MarketingSherpa, the average response to third-party lists fell from 2.9% in 2006 to 2.5% in 2007. As a result, some small business marketers are backing away from DM, and all marketers are having to work harder to make an impression through the mail.
Despite this, DM is still a good small business acquisition tool, especially when times are tough. In fact, 47% of respondents to our May survey on marketing to SMBs said they will maintain or increase their DM spending over the next year. And small business owners will always respond to strong offers presented in a compelling format.
Use these tips to ensure that your campaign gets a response from SMBs:
Choose a format SMBs will notice
For your highest-value prospects, three-dimensional mailings help to cut through
the clutter and leave better recall with prospects than flats. To increase
response, precede a dimensional mailing with an email and follow it up with
a phone call.
For lower-value prospects, you can generate a response cost-effectively by
combining emails and postcards. For one banking client, we are dropping three
waves of emails and postcards to promote three products in a four-week span.
If you're mailing letters, as a rule, the larger the envelope, the higher
the response. Letters with collateral typically get better response than self-mailers
and flyers. Test using a First-Class stamp; you may find it's worth
the extra cost.
Do the necessary up-front work
To maximize your program payback, model your customers before formulating your offer and selecting your list. Profiling your customer base helps you know as much as possible about your best prospects.
Provide a deadline
Ask for responses based on urgency with a specific timeline and be sure to follow
up hot leads within 48 hours.
Match the format to the goal
Use low cost-per-contact formats (such as emails and postcards) for announcements and low-cost events like webcasts. Use personal invitations for high-cost events like trade shows.
Personalize your letter
In your letters, always personalize the salutation, include a realistic signature
and include a postscript. Those three parts of the letter are read the most.
The length of your letter should match the objective – shorter for a specific
need, longer for a sale. Always include a Business Reply Envelope (BRE) for
responses – more responses will come back with BREs than by fax or email.
BBI can make your direct mail program get noticed in the mailbox. Learn more.
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