Determining Your Budget
Starting out with a good estimate of your potential costs is imperative. Get informed and make the right choices early in the game. Now that you've set your objective and determined your offer, you need to decide how much money you can spend on your mailing. Remember, setting a budget during the early planning stages helps you stay on track and determine the most cost-effective way to create and deliver your message.
Research potential costs:
- How much will it cost to rent a mailing list?
- How much will it cost to hire a writer and/or graphic designer?
- What are the costs of printing Direct Mail pieces yourself versus at a print shop?
- What kind of postage will this mailing require?
- Are you using the most efficient size and format for your mailing?
Sample Estimate of Mailing Costs:
| Component | Estimated cost per piece (based on 100,000 pieces) |
| Creative | $0.1125 |
| Art & Preparation | $0.0905 |
| Printing Production | $0.1799 |
| Mailing Lists | $0.1235 |
| Computer Processing | $0.0163 |
| Lettershop Production | $0.0468 |
| Allocated Fees | $0.1355 |
| Postage | $0.2550 |
| Source | DMA Statistical Fact Book 2015 |
Finding Your Prospective Customers
Save time and money by advertising to the right folks by learning how to target to those who would have a desire or need for your offer. Picture your ideal customer. Who do you imagine responding to your offer? A great way to start is by studying your current customers. New customers will likely be similar to the people who currently do business with you.
Where to start?
- Casually talk to your current customers and get to know as much about them as possible.
- Conduct a simple survey to learn about customers' tastes.
- Pay attention to characteristics such as age and income.
- Look at your records - sales slips, invoices, delivery information. These tell you who your customers are, what they buy, how often they shop, and how much they spend.
With Direct Mail you can save money by pursuing your best prospects - and not spending extra on those who wouldn't likely be interested in your product or service. You can carefully determine the characteristics of your audience, tailor your message to match their needs and interests, and increase the chances that they'll act on your offer.