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How Your Mailings Can Spark That Mail Moment To Boost Results
by Shirley Hanson

A mailing can open a surge of good prospects for your business or professional practice. Or it can become an unwelcome waste of time and money.

What makes the difference?

Perhaps the mailing failed to spark "The Mail Moment." True, it’s a lot harder than it used to be to stand out. For example, the average household receives twice as many pieces of mail a day as it did 30 years ago.

So how do you get noticed?

By giving prospects an experience like "The Mail Moment." Reporting on a survey, the U.S. Postal Service had this to say: "Two-thirds of all consumers do not expect to receive personal mail, but when they do, it makes their day. This 'hope' keeps them coming back each day." When they gain meaningful mail, that’s their "Mail Moment."

The article goes on, "Even in this age of technology, according to the survey, 55 percent of Americans said they looked forward to discovering what each day’s mail might hold." Face it. Your mailing is not an invitation to a family party, a wedding invitation, or a heartfelt note of congratulations.

There are steps, though, that you can take to edge closer to that "make my day" moment. And this can happen even if you are mailing in the more standoffish world of business. Here’s how . . .

SIX STEPS TO A PROFITABLE MAILING

Step 1 - Decide Who You Really Want To Reach

After all, your resources are limited. And the truth is you can’t do everything well. So zoom in on a specific target audience.

For instance, as a financial advisor, your audience may be franchise owners, family owned businesses, doctors and dentists who have been in practice 5 years or more, high-net-worth women, teachers, realtors, middle income families who may be thinking about retirement, or another category.

The finer you target your mailing the more personal your message can become.

Step 2 – Match Your Mailing List To Your Desired Audience.

This may mean dividing your own list into segments and addressing each audience separately. If you are purchasing a mailing list, tailor the list to your top prospects.

Step 3 - Shadow Your Prospects And Customers or Clients Until You Can Paint A Portrait Of A Real Person

Know in minute detail the characteristics of your chosen prospects. Most likely, you’ll have to undertake research to add color to the picture. This is not about guesswork.

The ad agency Young & Rubicam spent two million dollars of its own money to prepare for a presentation to win the Sears account. Researchers shadowed Sears customer for a week and were shocked: 84 percent were women. Women even bought power tools. And their campaign won the account by speaking of "the softer side of Sears."

Equally vital, discover as much as you can about their psychological traits (psychographics)

- What are their biggest fears?

- What are their hopes, dreams, and desires?

- If they are in business, what are the trends that are pummeling their business right now?

- What is their biggest problem that you can solve for them?

Step 4 - Speak To Them In Their Language

Delete the jargon. Can the technical talk. Engage in a conversation with them. Be able to describe their world in vivid detail. Use what you learned about them to enter into their world

Translate "we," "us," and "our" wherever you can into the "You" and "Your" language of your prospects and customers or clients.

Caution: If your prospects are technically oriented, perhaps a software developer or an engineer -- someone who can’t relax until he or she grasps how and why a concept or an idea works -- you’ll need to address the logical side as well.

Step 5 - Reveal Yourself

Please answer honestly. Do your words sound as if they were dished out by a robot or a computer? Do they sound too “professional.” By that we mean . . . Stuffy. Cautious. Remote. Starched. Without individuality. Lifeless words that could be written by almost anyone.

The antidote is to relax. Be less reserved. Write the way you talk. Let the You-nique You shine.

Step 6 - Devise Ways To Get Your Mail Opened

You could have the perfect message. But nothing else matters if your message doesn’t get through.

What works? You’ll have to test ideas for your particular market. Here are a few:

* A FedEx mailing,

* An unusual envelope. Maybe a colorful design or an out-of-the-ordinary color or size,

* Lumpy mail with an item inside that’s tied to your Message,

* Your letter mailed in a good-looking box or a black box,

* A hand-addressed envelope with your return address and without your company name, or

* Teaser copy on the envelope that promises a big benefit or asks a challenging question.

Imagine the difference when your mail evokes "The Mail Moment!" These six steps can spark that happy occasion in your prospects. And your own delighted moment will arrive when your mailings gain the results you desire for your business or professional practice.

Shirley Hanson is a direct marketer who specializes in financial advisor marketing to help advisors attract more clients. For a free report go to http://www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com

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