The Pros and Cons of Direct Mail Advertising

There are many pros and cons of direct mail advertising, so it is good to go over them so one does not make a mistake when they do not have to. Let's start with direct mail.

Direct mail is suitable for:

• organizations wanting to reach a well-defined audience, whether geographically, economically or socially

• organizations whose message is long, or needs a lot of illustration

• advertising which needs to be seen at a specific time - as in the launch of a new business, or to tie in with a particular event

and unsuitable for:

• very general advertising

• organizations with a very short message.

Direct mail is the distribution of advertising material direct to people's addresses, whether the postal service is actually used or not. The mailing piece can be as large as you like - within reason of course - so it is a very versatile medium. You can target your market rather better than you can in most other forms of advertising by using very specific mailing lists. Indeed, if your mailing piece is a sales letter, then a short, very specific, mailing list is almost essential.

If you are launching a new local business, then distributing a small leaflet in the right area is a very good way of getting your name known - especially if it includes a device like a money-off voucher to encourage the public to come and see the business themselves.

Obtaining a mailing list is obviously what you need for direct mail, and there are a number of ways in which you can get a mailing list:

• If you want repeat business, you can use your own customer files. Be sure to 'clean' the list from time to time to remove people who have moved or who were bad debts.

• You can compile your own list from Yellow Pages or professional directories if you want people in a particular line of business, or from the electoral roll for people in a particular area. Yellow Pages is a particularly good source if you are doing a sales letter.

• You can approach organizations like professional institutions, credit card companies, mail order companies or book clubs - anyone who does a lot of mailing themselves. Some will rent their lists, others won't.

Your local postal sales representative will advise you on mailing lists generally, and tell you of the Post Office's special schemes and postal rates for large mailings. Contact him or her at the nearest Business Services section of the Post Office (look under Post Office in the phone book).

If you rent a mailing list, you are only entitled to use it once. Don't be tempted to use it more than once without paying. The list broker will almost certainly have one or more 'check addresses' in the list (perhaps the homes of employees), and will very soon find out if you try to cheat the system.

What about sales letters? A special form of direct mail is the sales letter. Like a brochure, it is mailed to your prospective customer, but it should be personalized and individually addressed. This only works if your mailing list is relatively short - say 100 addresses or less - and is best for business-to-business advertising.

You can send your brochures through the mail; that is obviously the best way of distribution if your potential clients are scattered around the country rather than concentrated in one or two particular areas. If you have a particular area you want covered, however (as with the launch of a new local business), you may find a leaflet distributor better value. Look under 'Circular & sample distributors' in Yellow Pages. These are also specialist mailing houses which will take over the whole organization of your direct mail operation for a fee. Look under 'Direct mail' in Yellow Pages.

Printing is by far the largest cost element in direct mail. So, before you start, make sure you know what it is likely to cost to have your brochure printed. You will not be able to get a firm estimate from a printer until you can give him a definite idea of illustrations, layout, size etc. But most firms will be happy to give you a rough idea of the sort of costs involved, so that you can budget and decide on your mailing lists.

All together it can be extremely effective if used properly.