Introducing the Direct Mail Marketing 40/40/20 rule.

Direct mail marketing has been a tried-and-true effort by businesses to attract new customers to their products. I can remember each year, right around Christmas, getting the big Sears Catalog in the mailbox and, quickly dog-earing every page that had the cool toy, awesome electronic gadget or snazzy shirt.

Sure enough, somehow, Santa found a way to see those pages and deliver ever Christmas with exactly what I had wished for. Sears knew things like this would happen and, targeted the market that would respond, thus making the cost of mass printing a really thick book worth every penny.

Here’s how they applied the 40/40/20 rule towards their direct mail marketing efforts…

First 40% comes from how effective your mailing list is!

Sears knew their mailing list was the golden ticket to their customers front door. If your data mining efforts are done correctly, and the information you obtain is accurate, you should be able to pinpoint, identify and approach those businesses that you feel fall within your product’s “air space.”

By targeting just those businesses that can benefit from your services, you save money, time and effort by not delivering your campaign to uninterested recipients.

It’s not smart to send a .45 cent postcard with a great discount on motorcycles to a retirement home address, or offer Med Alert services to a household full of 20 somethings. Investing the time to focus on gathering just your customers avoids throwing money out the window when it comes time to execute (and pay for the postcards!).

The second 40% comes from how “Sweet” your deal is!

Fast food restaurants are the best at offering sweet deals via direct mail marketing campaigns. Think of the B.O.G.O McRib deals hitting your mailbox BEFORE it actually hits the store (and then those instances where there is a line, waiting for the doors to open on the first day the McRib arrives). It’s a predicted science that can work in any target market, and, for McDonalds, everyone is a potential customer for something off the menu, even if it isn’t the McRib.

For direct mail marketing to really have bite, you need to sometimes take a loss in the offer to attract a bigger audience. That’s why everyone gets the McRib offer in their mailbox.

The money lost in the print and delivery more than makes up in profits for McRib sales (and other items added to the ticket during the visit… like the McFlurry).

The final 20% comes from everything else!

The design, copy/text of the mailing, images you’ve chosen, and delivery date and method make up the final 20% of response in a direct mail marketing campaign. Perhaps it’s the snazzy logo, mouth watering photo of pizza, almost summer when you get your bikini catalog in the mail or fancy packaging that made you interested.

Regardless, the fact that it caught your potential customers eye should be considered a win.

Smart campaigns rely on all of the above to execute a strategy that can produce expected returns.

Add the 40/40/20 up and you’ll get 100%

The best bet to ensure your direct mail marketing campaign runs smoothly is to apply the 40/40/20 rule as part of the processes’ forecasting. A great mailing list, a sweet offer and a good-looking postcard can seal the deal. By applying the 40/40/20 rule, understanding its components and developing a strategy to execute, you can have an awesome direct mail marketing campaign. (Oh yeah, we can make your postcards, too!)