Direct-Mail Brochure Marketing Campaign Mistakes

Direct-mail brochures can sell for you. They can impact influence your audience and drive response. They can also flop. While brochure design is an important aspect of a brochure's success, many other factors come into play that small businesses often overlook when pouring over design concepts. To get you on the right track, here are some mistakes to avoid for an important direct-mail brochure marketing campaign.

Being too broad based

This is perhaps one of the most frequent mistakes made by small businesses in direct-mail brochure marketing campaigns. The goal of direct-mail brochures is not to deliver your company's mission statement or to act as a complete product or service catalog. The goal is to drive response. Targeted niche campaigns always outperform broad-based campaigns, so identify your audience and use your direct-mail brochures to promote a single product or service at a time.

Expecting customers to read everything

Customers won't take the time to read a brochure packed with paragraph after paragraph of text. Brevity is important, so deliver your message through powerful headlines and concise body copy. Highlight key benefits with pull-out boxes, bulleted points and other attention-getting devices.

Lack of unique selling points

What you do isn't as important as what you do better than everyone else. Your brochure must emphasize your unique selling points. Consider what makes you different from the competition. Is it quality? Customer service? Low prices? If you want uncommon sales figures, you'll need an uncommon front to promote to your customers.

Bad list

Like all other forms of direct-mail marketing, a bad mailing list will get you nowhere. Why waste time and money on a direct-mail brochure if you're sending it to unlikely customers? Define your target audience for your key product or service well, and then use the powerful mailing list creation tools available at PsPrint to develop a list that will work for you.

No offer or call to action

You want your brochure to help you sell, right? You would be amazed at how many direct-mail brochure campaigns lack a compelling offer and a call to action. Remember to give your customers an incentive to purchase from you, and then tell them what to do next. Keep in mind that your brochure does not need to make a direct sale - brochures can be more effective when used as a step in the purchasing process. The next step could be visiting a website, brick and mortar store or calling a phone number to complete the process.

Poor printed materials

Customers equate the quality of your company with the quality of marketing materials you publish. Never send a brochure that's been printed on a desktop printer. Have your direct-mail brochures professionally printed by an online printing company such as PsPrint, which offers several high-quality gloss and matte paper stock options that lend credibility and style to your direct-mail brochures. Direct-mail brochure marketing can be a powerful way to promote your products and services. Take the time to do it right the first time, and you'll be on your way to direct-mail success that carries a healthy return on investment.