What Small Business To Start

The owner of a mid-size business in a regional market wrote in with this question about direct mail strategy for introducing a new product:

" What would you recommend, "If you had a choice of mailing to several communities one time (possibly twice) as opposed to mailing to a few communities two (maybe three or four) times?

And you don't know when that will be. " It's essential that your mailer be there during the critical time frame in which the customer is interested in your product. Our answer to this type of question is going to be "go with frequency, in all but a few situations.

They've probably forgotten about it, if you've mailed only once. Your offer will likely get their consideration, if you've been mailing on a steady basis. Or they're getting ready to sit down with their contractor and spec out the kitchen remodel, until the month comes when they notice their old machine is starting to leak. . . But your offer will barely register as people sort their mail, you may have the best deal on dishwashers in the state, for instance.

That's where mail list testing comes in. It won't do you any good to mail frequently to the wrong lists or to the wrong list segments, of course while frequency is a key.

We'd recommend following up with a program of frequent mailings to those top-performing segments rather than only one additional mailing to the broader list, and your mailing budget is limited, ) If particular segments of the initial mailing perform better than others. (Make sure your employees know to ask customers who call or come in to your store how they heard about the new product. Broad mailing to several list segments and carefully tracking response to that initial mailing, you might consider doing an initial.

It's important to have direct marketing consultants who pride themselves in helping clients tailor the right lists to find the right buyers. And much of it is influenced by how well you -- and your list broker -- know the lists you are using, segmenting and testing lists is an art.