For those of you not used to marketing lingo we are going to clarify things for you. Direct mail is advertising including- postcards, catalogs, CD's, letters, & 3 dimensional items sent through the mail. ROI stands for Return On Investment. Basically because you can measure the results of mailings due to the responses they get from each mailing marketers, CFO's, CEO's and business owners like to know how well their marketing is doing.

Because you can measure results, direct mail is pretty popular. Direct mail tends to be more of a sales tool than just a marketing tool to create brand awareness only. There are several things that can effect your ROI though so you must be aware of what you are signing up for if you take on a direct mail campaign. Here are a few of them:

1. Direct mail is best done in campaign form. It make very little sense doing a single postcard and hoping your sales worries will be over forever.
   
   
2. Testing is the key to success. Start with a quarterly campaign and then at the end of the year evaluate your campaign. Did you meet your expectations or fall short? Decide what could have been done better and change that for next year. Maybe start using A, B testing. Create a campaign and for each mailing have two mailings. Only change one thing on these mailing like - the call to action, the images, the offer, the headline or list. By doing this and mailing on mailer to half the list and the other mailer with the one edit  on it to the other half of the list. This will give you excellent information to use for your next mailing.
   
   
3. Keep in mind this should be an on-going learning and evolutionary process, not a once and done marketing promotion.
   
   
4. Make an offer a client or prospect would be interested in. I see so many mailers that are like, hey look at me, and then forget to have an offer or a way to contact the company or other random mistake.
   
   
5. Hire a professional who has a few years experience under their belt. This will help you get better results and save you money as well.