Hi all,

I've avoided marketing for way too long and now in the process of brainstorming on which way to do it best. I'm thinking of a direct mailing to a targetted audience. I'm in IT services and thinking of small and medium size businesses with 15-50 employees. I thought about postcards and brochures. Post cards advantage is that ppl don't have to open an envelope but at the same time they 're more likely to chuck it thinking it's spam. Brochure on the other hand looks more professional but it's more costly and does not expose the content as well as postcards. So, there's also cost/budget factor in makeing the decision. As like everyone else here, I want to maximize my marketing investment.

What do you think? Interested in hearing ppl who has done this for IT services. Are they effective?

Coming up with a good design is another story....

It all depends on ... well lots of things.

How well targeted is your list. How attractive is your product or offer. Is your brand well known. So no answer posted here can be complete.

But, for what it's worth, here's my views.

Never found brochures to be effective. Expensive to produce and send. Copy and graphics need to be outstanding to attract the attention of a cold prospect.

There is a viral aspect of postcards - anyone who handles it can see what it is about. If it is amusing/interesting it may get read. Pretty cheap to produce and send. I think they are great for keeping in touch with warm prospects.

Why do you not mention direct mail. You can say more in a letter. Good copywriting is essential but that should come cheaper than a professionally produced brochure.

If you haven't done much marketing recently there place I would always start is with my existing customers. You have a relationship with them. They like you (hopefully). Are you sure you are selling all that you can to your existing customers? Are you sure that all your customers know all the products or services that you provide? Remember, it is between 6 and 12 times easier and cheaper to sell to an existing customer than it is to find a new one.

finally, do you have a proactive referral scheme? If not I would concentrate on getting that in place before even thinking of a mailing campaign.

Hope this helps.

Mailing just a brochure will not get you very far. Brochures are more effective once you've already had initial contact with someone, and they're ready for more information, either to learn more about your business now, or to file away for when they need you.

I second the motion on direct mail. A postcard is one form of direct mail, and if it's well done, it can be effective. But my personal favorite is an aggressive 3-letter campaign, written Dan Kennedy style. If you want to do this yourself, pick up Kennedy's book "The Ultimate Sales Letter." Another good book to look at is Bob Bly's "Business to Business Direct Marketing." I have both these books on my reference shelf and use them all the time in writing direct mail campaigns for my clients.

In direct mail, the top 3 factors in your success will be
1) the quality of your list
2) your offer (a special, a package deal, a set of services for a special price - something concrete instead of just a laundry list of what you do)
3) the copy and design.

Good luck!

__________________
Eileen Coale, Copywriter
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Third Thursday Marketing Tips

Hi Eileen,

I totally agree on Dan Kennedy's book. His ten questions to help you think like a customer and to pitch your sales message accordingly are a permanent fixture on my office wall.

For those who don't know what I am talking about have a look below.

Get into your customer's mind:

1. What keeps them awake at night?
2. What are they afraid of?
3. What are they angry about and who are they angry with?
4. What are their top 3 dailiy frustrations?
5. what trends are occuring in their business lives?
6. What fo they secretly ardently desire most?
7. Is there a built in bias in the way they make decisions?
8. Do they have their own language?
9. Who else id selling something to them and how?
10. Who else has tried and failed to sell something to them and why?

If a couple of these are a bit vague to you I really suggest you do buy Dan's book. It isn't long, reads well and is invaluable.

You don't have to be a brillant copywriter to put yourself ahead of 90% of your competition.

We recommend a series of postcards. There is a theory out there in the big world of marketing that it takes many "touchpoints" before someone acts. A brochure is just one point. With a series of postcards you can present different messages and keep your name in the forefront. My approach for IT would be "tongue-in-cheek". Most people don't proactively hire an IT firm. As you most likely know, it is after things have gotten out of control and they are so frustrated. Play on that- that's the pain and you've got the remedy.

Good luck! I'm here when you need it.

__________________

KARIN WASZAZAK
Black Diamond Consultants Group, LLC
Solutions for Web, Print and Branding

Work is art..."When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece." -John Ruskin

Get Dan Kennedy's Magnetic Marketing. It's literally a step by step method of producing sales letters that get results.

Don't focus on getting the most attention...focus on getting the most results.

Your best bet is utilizing a postcard to
generate leads from the list you are mailing to.

Your marketing budget will determine how effective your
postcard campaign will be and includes the following factors:

1. The list:
Sending the postcard to the decision maker.
Have they invested in IT services before?
Do they understand the value of your services?
How many leads are on your targeted list?

2. The Copywriting:
Does your marketing message speak directly to your prospect?
Is your special offer compelling enough to
make them pick up the phone and call you?

3. The Design:
The graphic design and copywriting should work together
to make your postcard stand out.
Neither should overwhelm the other or
distract from your marketing message.

4. The Strategy:
Do a postcard campaign instead of sending one postcard.
Your marketing budget will determine how many postcards you can mail out.
Go for quality over quantity.
It is best to mail 10 postcards to 100 highly targeted prospects,
instead of 1 postcard to 1000 suspects.

What is your special offer for your list?


Good luck with your marketing effort,
and feel free to contact me
if you have any questions.

Take care,

Tresaca

__________________
Helping Service Businesses
attract more clients in less time.
www.blackunicorninc.com

I had success with postcards and brochures. Both need to be designed to catch the readers attention within 3 seconds to be successful.

Christoph

__________________
The Web Hosting Resource Kit - Hosting Business related articles and tutorials.
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I agree with most of what was said above. If you've already built a recognizable brand with your target list, go for the sales letter with a good, solid offer. Make sure the list is up to date and is targeted as specifically as possible to people who would be interested in your product.

If you don't yet have a recognizable brand, I recommend using a series of postcards to your same up to date and targeted list. I suggest a mailing frequency of about every other week, for 9 mailings. Do three mailings at the very least. You can put special offers on the postcards, and make sure to feature your logo prominently. You likely won't see much return from the first several mailings. Just remember that you're using these to help build your brand and help people recognize your company. After that, hit them with the sales letter and make the offer very hard to resist. After the series of postcards, most people who are going to be interested will at least be thinking about doing business with you. Use the direct mail letter and offer to push them over the edge.

It can often take several repetitions of your message to see any appreciable results. Don't ditch your direct mail efforts after just a few mailings.

__________________
Brian Darrow
R-Design
Small Business Marketing Articles , Small business marketing forum
Your Design is R-Design!

Very good tips and strategies. Keilo, the customer mind list was excellent. It gave me some ideas on how to approach this. It would be a lot more convincing to start on their concerns rather than the usual listing "features" which most of them probably won't understand.

ok, so I get that postcard and brochures serve their purposes. Has anyone designed this on their own? I think they're templates out there where you can basically fill in your own writings and pictures. A good professional job seems to be out of my budget at this point and if I were to hire someone to do it, I wanted the whole package including doing the pitch.

How did you handle your postcard/brochures design and printing work?