Why Use Direct-Mail Marketing?

Using direct-mail marketing as a part of your marketing mix still is valid.

A source no less than the US Small Business Administration's SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) advocates direct-mail marketing. In a recent on-line post, SCORE reiterated why to use direct mail as a part of your marketing mix:

1. It works when you aren't working.
2. It leverages your efforts.
   
3. It targets your audience(s) with precision.
4. It gives you an immediate response.
5. It is easy to track return on investment.
6. It is relatively inexpensive.
7. It gets you one-on-one attention.
8. It is something you and touch and feel.

As the story points out, it hangs around, too. One of the biggest documented users of direct-mail marketing is Google. Why would the largest search engine in the world need to use a service and technologies that are so 20th (and maybe 19th) century? Because people still read their mail and react to it.

"Nothing replaces direct contact," Jennifer Beaty says. "Whether it is in person with a handshake or landing a piece of mail or a package on someone's desk, nothing replaces tangible contact," she continued. Jennifer is the managing partner of Executive Press, a North Texas company that specializes in direct-mail marketing.

"Our clients like the personalization of it," Jennifer said. "And being able to target very specifically and track the results quickly have made a real difference in their marketing programs."

As you formulate your marketing plans, seriously consider direct mail as a part of them. For more information visit Executive Press' website or call 214-217-7000.
The Executive Pressman

To read the whole SBA story go to www.score.com.

To Print or Not To Print...That Is The Question

OK, Shakespeare we are not, but the thought is in the right place:

Think before you print.

Before you commit resources, time and money to printing something--anything--think first.

• Will it help the reader to have this in their hands?
• Is the item more likely to be read if it is in hard copy form?
• Will it have more impact as a printed piece?
• How many people need to have it?
• What do you expect the reader to do once they've read it?

Whether you are pressing "print" on your computer or asking your printing partner to set up and print a 4-color brochure, the thought process is the same.

Some things go without saying that you need to have a printed copy. That list is pretty short these days--your business card. You still make connections and trade these things to make an impression. While business cards can be delivered electronically, more than likely they will always be printed and handed out.

So think carefully--and in a green way--before printing.

The Executive Pressman

www.executivepress.com