Why should I incorporate Single Piece Direct Mail into my advertising program?

"Flexibility" is probably the first word that comes to my mind. Unlike newspaper, yellow pages, co-op mail, magazine, television or radio, Single Piece Direct Mail lets the advertiser control exactly which households actually see your promotional message. It also lets the advertiser control who "doesn't see" your promotional message. This can be a tremendous competitive advantage, as well as cost savings, if there is an incentive offer attached to the promotional message.

What kind of response can I expect from a mailing?

Response rate is controlled by many variables and is never the same from industry to industry. First and foremost, however, always spend the majority percentage of your promotional dollars when the demand for your product or service is the highest. If you were in the Air Conditioning business, for example, you would probably spend 80-90% of you yearly budget from May 15th to September 15th.

In addition, response rate is also controlled by what is being offered to the consumer as an incentive to "perform today". The greater the performance incentive offer, the higher the performance. Sorry folks, that's just the way it works. And then there's mailing frequency. On your first mailing, you'll probably get a fairly low return. On the second mailing, the response will be a little higher than the first mailing. By the time that you do your third mailing, you'll have a fairly good level of credibility with consumers and you'll see a better response than the two previous mailings.

Where's the "REAL" profit in advertising expediture if I have to give it all away on a performance incentive?

There are basically two ways to generate new customers for a business:

1. by Solicitation.
2. by Referral.