The concept of direct mailing sounds simple enough: send a promotional postcard or letter to increase interest in your business and generate sales. In practice, however, there are several important decisions to make before you begin your campaign – everything from the type of mailing you want to send to your overall budget.

Direct mailing considerations
The most important decision is figuring out who your audience is. Direct mailing requires a significant investment of time and money and you risk wasting both if you don't target the appropriate candidates. Narrow your audience in steps: are you trying to create new business, or encourage existing customers to return? Are you selling to particular geographies or demographics? Once you know the audience, you can start planning the mailing itself.

Next, hone in on the offer. This is the part of your direct mailing that your customers will care about the most. Are you selling a new product? Is it a one-time sale where your customers can save a lot of money? Do they have a limited window of opportunity to take advantage of your offer? Your mailing needs to showcase something the customer finds valuable or useful and provide enough information about how to get it.

Then, consider your budget. The biggest mistake businesses make when exploring direct mailing is to overlook the largest single cost: postage. You can cut corners on design, paper quality, and other aspects of your project, but you can't skimp on postage. While a direct mailing vendor can help you get significant discounts on postage, it will still account for about one third of your total costs. The budget will determine the rest of your direct mail considerations:

• How many pieces? Most companies require a minimum 5,000- to 10,000-piece mailing and offer volume discounts for larger quantities.
• What type of mailing? Options range from a simple 4" x 6" postcard to a multi-page four-color brochure. It all depends on what you have to offer and how much you want to spend.
• Who creates the piece? If you have staff that can write effective marketing copy and create the design, you save money on those services. If not, direct mailing vendors can develop the messaging and design for an hourly fee.

Be realistic
Even the most successful direct mailings only result in a small response rate and yield even fewer sales. It's important to be realistic about your expected results so you can appropriately determine how much to spend on developing your mailing.

Out of any direct mailing campaign, you're likely to get only a small percentage of responses and will make even fewer actual sales. Remember to factor in that some of the value in direct mail is piquing customer interest so customers keep your business in mind for future purchases.