Practical Application

Direct Marketing 101 - The 40/40/20 Rule

Although you'll see the specifics that follow vary between direct marketing 'gurus: the essence is the same. There are three things that make or break any direct marketing effort.

The first is finding the right audience, or mailing list. If, for example, you're selling home renovation products or services you probably want to target home owners in more mature neighborhoods as they are most likely to need upgrades and replacements. 40% of a successful direct mail campaign depends on using the right list.

The second is making the right offer to that targeted audience. The offer needs to address the audience's specific needs in order to work. It must motivate him to respond. Using the previous example of older home upgrades, perhaps volume discount is the way to go-three windows for the price of two, or a seasonal discount to generate furnace or Ale sales or service in the off season. The second 40% of a successful direct mail campaign is having the rig ht offer.

Finally, the package that presents the offer to the target audience has to be easy-to-understand, effective and provide a clear and simple call to action. Effective design is the final 20% of a successful direct mail campaign.

All of this sounds simple. And on one level it is. But the devil is in the details. The good news is, at Ross PrintMarketing, we do details.