In this economic climate, it`s important to save as much money as possible, even if you do have it. That`s why I`ve put together some money saving tips for direct mail, one of the popular methods of promoting small businesses.

To save money, try one of the following methods. . . or all of them, if you prefer!

Talk to the post office. Usually, you`ll find that there are discounts for bulk mailings, but you may also discover a hidden bonus by actually talking to people who work at the post office.

Check online. Online stamps that you can simply print off yourself may end up being cheaper, so make sure you take a look.

Go small. A postcard usually costs less to send than a full envelope. So, while you may not want all your direct mail to go out in postcard form, this is definitely a good way to get started and to remind people who you are.

Remember that it`s the content of the direct mail that will convince people to read it or throw it away. With that in mind, you may find that you can actually write quite compelling text in a small amount of space and save more money.

No one is able to be an expert in everything and business writing is no exception. While every business owner should be able to write a decent letter, when it comes to crafting proposals or other extremely important papers, it pays to hire a professional.

A professional writer can provide you with the following in your business writing:

• Clear, precise writing
• Proper formatting for any business document
• Correct grammar and spelling
• Convincing copywriting

Not everyone is willing to hire a professional for these things, but it really is worth your while. You`ll find that despite having to pay for the service, it will more than earn the money back when you send out valuable business writing. Business writing is something that simply should not be skimped on, so if you aren`t an expert, you`ll want to get someone who is.

Most business owners look at the internet as the way to do things and real world marketing methods like direct mail don`t even register on the radar anymore. There are some disadvantages, to be sure, namely that sending out flyers or paper via snail mail tends to be expensive, while it`s free to send an email. However, there are some definite advantages, as well.

The novelty. People have become somewhat immune to email ads and mailings. The spam filters are increasingly more difficult to get past, even if the person has subscribed to your email list. Direct mail is something tangible that still gets people`s attention.

It reaches a bigger market. Not everyone is interested in emails, but you`ll find that sending out a physical item will reach your target market easier, especially if you have an offline business.

You may find that by expanding your marketing to include direct mail, you end up with more clients than ever before. Take a good look at your audience and think about whether or not they would respond better to a piece of paper in their hands . . . then make your decision.

Companies making the transition from print advertising to online marketing might wonder whether web page design is like print page design. This is a legitimate question and it deserves a thoughtful answer. My answer, the one I’d like you to keep in mind is, yes and no.

Cliche, I know. But it’s also true. In some respects, the two are a lot alike. In other ways they are completely different.

Design is design, right? The purpose for any page design - whether print or Web - is to attract a reader’s response. You want your copywriting and visual elements to work together to elicit a positive reaction - close the sale. That’s the point to any kind of page design, whether we’re talking web page design or print page design, but that’s really where the similarity ends.

Web page design is a bit more complex and a lot harder to nail down that print design. With print design you are dealing with a two-dimensional canvas. Web page design is a four-dimensional canvas. Consider:

Print Design
Brochures, flyers, newsletters
All are solid and flat
Words sell, graphics enhance
Limited space
Say too much, lose the sale
Say too little, lose the sale
Say the wrong things, lose the sale

Web Design
Blogs, websites, and html newsletters
Words sell, graphics enhance
Audio and video capable
Unlimited space
People thrive on information
Biggest danger is not saying enough
It is almost impossible to say too much (almost!)

The essential difference between web page design and print page design is that with web design you can include elements that you can’t include with print design and once you publish something it has no time line. A print page can be discarded or discontinued and you know that the information at some point is no longer valid. Once you publish information to the web is there forever and even if the information is outdated, you’ll have a tough time retrieving it. Let’s explore that:

E-mail Newsletters - Hit send, it’s gone. No getting it back. Better make sure it’s accurate and you better make sure that if your information is timely or has a deadline that it is carefully and intentionally spelled out.

Blogs - Blogs are, by nature, timely. Make a post today and this time next year it is obsolete. It’s a given. People expect that. But the blog post is still there and will always be available for viewing. If you want to correct a blog post with incorrect information in it, you’ll have to make another blog post and make sure that your readers can find it. Simply removing a blog post leaves a cache copy of the incorrect information in cyberspace.

Websites - You have a window in the beginning to catch information before it is indexed by the search engines. Once a web page is indexed, it is difficult to have the information de-released. You can change your web page, but there is still a cache copy of the old page until the search engines crawl the new page again. Even then, websites like archive.org will make the old page a treasure for centuries.

I mentioned that web publishing is four-dimensional. I’ve already talked about the time element. The third dimension is what you can do with audio, visual, and links. Programs like Flash and technologies like podcasting and video marketing allow you to do things on web pages that you can’t do in print. A rising trend is the use of spokesmodels on web pages. You can actually turn your web page into a running infomercial. This type of technology plus the element of linking between pages - and between websites - makes web page design a completely different publishing platform than print design. There is more to think about, there are more ways of doing what is possible, and your imagination is the only limitation. The offset is that with web page design, there is much more potential in terms of monetization and reputation success.

Direct mail is still a very popular method of marketing for many businesses, but if you are a smaller business, it can be a bit frightening to jump into the world of direct mail. That doesn´t mean it needs to be difficult, though. You can still get started with direct mail and not stress out too much over it.

Piggyback your marketing campaign. Talk to another business in your industry that does direct mail. You might be able to add your flier into their mailings for a small fee.

Start small. Rather than plan a huge mailing the first time out, why not begin with a small list of clients who might be interested in a new offer and send them just a postcard? This makes the first run smoother and a lot less stressful.

Keep it infrequent. While you do want to maintain contact with your clients on a regular basis, you don´t have to send out a direct mail campaign every week. This can be stressful as well as expensive.

Mix it up. Using email as well as direct mail can be a good combination that will allow frequent contact without huge expenses. Also, this is a great way to really get people to respond, they hear from you on a regular basis via email and once in a while receive something in the mail.

Direct mail can be a great way to communicate new offers to people on your mailing list, but don´t let it turn into a stressful event for you. Take it easy, start small and you´ll find that you´ll get the best results.

How often do you toss junk mail into the garbage because it is just a bunch of fliers addressed to “Occupant”? People tend to shy away from things that are obviously ads sent out to random addresses. It can really help to put a personal touch on things and here´s how.

• Use postage stamps. It is more time intensive, but there have actually been studies on this and it was discovered that people felt stamps were more personal than pre-printed postage.

• Choose a colored envelope. Most direct mail comes in a white business size envelope, so mix it up a bit. Go with a pastel color, since a bright red envelope screams “AD” and choose a non-standard size envelope.

• Personalize the whole letter. This shouldn´t take much time to do, a basic word processor should let you search and replace, so you can change the name. It´s far more effective to use someone´s name throughout the sales letter, rather than only in the greeting.

Personalized direct mail will really help you communicate with your potential clients. They will be far more likely to open and read your direct mail, which is the first step in getting them to buy. So, make the effort and create personal direct mail.

When it comes to direct mail, the big thing is to get responses. After all, if you send out so many pieces of direct mail and no one buys anything or even shows interest, it´s a huge waste of money. So it is in your best interest to get people to respond to your mailings.

3 Direct Mail Tips

• Make it personal. Addressing an envelope to “current resident” is not a good way to impress someone and these letters tend to get tossed instantly. Instead, take the time to find names and send your direct mail to someone specific.

• Limit your mailings. It might sound good in theory to send out frequent mailings to the same group, but in reality, unless they´ve expressed interest in hearing from you, multiple mailings probably won´t be welcome and you could end up hurting your reputation and business more than you help it.

• Use fresh lists. Using older mailing lists is likely to result in the wrong name and mistakes in the addresses. All of these can cause issues and mean that your direct mail probably won´t arrive at its intended destination.

Direct mail is often overlooked as a marketing medium these days, since email is cheaper and faster. However, direct mail can still be extremely effective when done right.

With direct mail, you have a weight limit on your envelopes, but should you stuff them until they hit that limit? All of us have received direct mail envelopes that are full of various papers and fliers and cards . . . it can be pretty confusing.

The problem with overfilling your direct mail envelopes is that you can confuse the customer. With fliers and brochures for each of your products, several sales, etc, they won´t know which one to focus on. That´s why direct mail often works best when it is based on a single campaign. Don´t overwhelm your readers. Instead, give them a very specific path to follow.

A good direct mail campaign might end up with a letter to add a more personal touch, explaining the deal, plus a flier or card that is just about the special deal they´ll receive and perhaps a catalog of available products. That´s really the most you need. It´s not usually worth trying to save money by mailing all your deals in one go, since too many people won´t act at all.

Keep your direct mailings simple and you´ll find that they are far more effective. People will know immediately what they need to be focusing on.

Direct mail is still a very effective method for businesses to reach clients. While email can be faster and cheaper, there is just nothing like opening the mail and finding a postcard addressed to you. Postcards are actually a fairly affordable method of doing direct mail that allows even smaller businesses to take part in this form of traditional marketing.

Direct mail postcards are cheaper to print, since you can fit 4-6 on a sheet and tend to be well received. After all, there is no envelope to open, you simply turn it over to read the message. A stunning photo or headline on the front will usually be enough to entice people to read the back of the postcard, even if they wouldn´t have opened an envelope.

Making your direct mail postcards interesting with bright colors and bold print will also help raise visibility and there is an added bonus . . . you´ll be advertising to more than one person! Postcards aren´t all shut up in an envelope, so as they pass through the mail system, there is a very good chance that they will catch someone´s eye. A postman, a sorter or anyone else who comes in contact with the mail can read your card, too, making this a great way to advertise to multiple people without spending any extra cash!

Direct mail postcards are a good way to go if you are a small business on a budget and can´t afford to stuff envelopes full of papers and offers and scratch and sniff cards. They are small, convenient and cheaper to print, so why not give it a try for your next direct mail campaign?

Often, the best marketing approach is one that uses both online and offline techniques. Direct mail is a great way to catch people´s attention, but it may be too expensive for many small businesses. That´s where email marketing comes in.

Email marketing can be a very economical method of communicating with your clients. You don´t even have to have a website to do this, though it definitely helps. Your customers can sign up by giving you their emails right in the store. A guestbook can be a very useful method of collecting email addresses, just make sure you have a column for it.

With email marketing, you can send out updates and information on your latest events, sales and products. It´s a good way to keep your business fresh in people´s minds and ensure that they don´t forget you. Hopefully, the next time they need your product or service, you will pop into their minds!

Even if you currently have a direct mail campaign, that doesn´t mean email shouldn´t be used. You can also do split testing this way, see which method works best for your target market. Email marketing could be a great way to boost your offline business contacts.