Cheap Direct-Mail Marketing Options

When the economy is slow, smart businesses know the time is ripe to push marketing campaigns to the max. A sluggish economy forces many companies to scale back their marketing efforts, presenting plentiful opportunities for you to leapfrog the competition and make a name for yourself. Still, it can be difficult to justify splurging on new marketing campaigns when your own sales have dwindled. Fear not - with the following cheap direct-mail marketing options, you can launch a full-scale direct-mail marketing campaign and emerge from any recession stronger than ever before.

Cost vs. return on investment

When it comes to direct-mail marketing, four main factors influence your total cost. These are your mailing list, cost to develop your campaign (marketing material copy, design and offer loss), printing, and postage. The great thing is that you can influence the cost of each of these, leading to a better return on investment. Keep in mind that your total cost is not your loss - your return on investment should be greater than your cost and so, in essence, direct marketing really costs nothing because it turns a profit.

Get a great mailing list

Your mailing list must consist of highly targeted prospects who are likely to buy for best direct-mail marketing results. To keep mailing list costs low, you can use this mailing list generator tool to refine a targeted list for your products and services. You can also compile list of past and current customers, or share lists with complementary non-competing businesses. The latter two methods might even help you put together an incredible mailing list for free.

Cost-effective postcards

The remaining three cost factors - development, printing and postage - are largely contingent on the size of your printed materials. It might be said that all direct-mail marketing materials can be converted into postcards, which is economical across the board. Designers and copywriters often charge less for postcards, and postcard printing is extremely cost effective. In addition, bulk postage rates for postcards are among the lowest in the nation. Best of all, postcards have proven time and again that they're capable of achieving incredible returns!

Newsletters and newscards

If you want to send a catalog, newsletter or other multi-pager, don't let the postcard size discourage you. Instead, tap into your creativity. Many companies have begun sending postcard newsletters, or newscards, which have two or three short articles printed on the front and back coupled with an offer. If you have an online catalog, you can use a postcard to promote one to four of your items and include a link/offer combination that leads back to your web catalog. Postcards aren't the only way to be frugal in direct-mail marketing, but they present perhaps the best opportunity to significantly reduce your total direct-mail marketing cost and simultaneously boost return on investment. No matter what materials you're sending, carefully consider your size, finishing and mailing options before you start developing your campaign to maximize influence and profit margins.