Direct Mailers or Junk Mails???

Junk Mail: Don't ya love it?
Junk mail. Unwanted mail that fills your mailbox day after day that you must sort through to get to the real mail...the bills. Did you ever stop and consider, "How did I end up on this mailing list?" "Why are they sending this stuff to me?"
Why? Because you fit the profile of the person most likely to purchase that product based on past experience. Does your neighbor receive the same junk mail you do? Except for the Publisher's Clearing House mailing probably not. Why? Because you are different from your neighbor. You have a different model car, different clothes, different hobbies and interests. They may receive mailings on outdoor products and you receive mailings on books and indoor hobbies. They golf you hunt and fish. They like beer, you like wine.
How Did I End Up On This Mailing List?
The two most popular means of getting on mailing lists are: Using a credit card to purchase something or filling out a warranty card when you buy a new product. Third is magazine subscriptions.
Do you have an American Express Card? American Express allegedly keeps 450 pieces of information on each cardholder. Each time the card is processed, you decide by your purchases, which sales offers will be included with your next bill. Direct mail is major business. More money is spent each year on direct mail than any other media. Why? Because it works.
How does direct mail compare with other advertising?
Let's suppose that one of the magazines your target market reads is Time Magazine. I know as a small town business you aren't going to advertise in Time. Humor me to make this point. You want to place a full page ad in Time. Cost: $75,000. Let's say, for this exercise, that Time has 500,000 subscribers. So, our message is going to reach 500,000 people, right?
Well, it won't reach the people who just read a portion of the magazine that doesn't include our ad. It won't reach the people who go right past our ad looking for something else.
I also said that Time is ONE of the magazines our target market reads. Actually our demographics only fall within a small cross section of the total Time readership. Our target market might be ages 18-45. Times age demographics might be 18-65.
Your market is in there but it is a portion of the overall demographic. You are wasting your money reaching people between the ages of 46 and 65. They are not your customer. And last but not least, our ad is there with our competitors.
Why does direct mail work?
It's efficient and cost effective. If your research and profile of your target customer is correct you have eliminated contact with unqualified customers. Huh? What does that mean?
Each time you refine your mailing list you eliminate more and more non-customers. Every non-customer you eliminate lowers the cost of the mailing.
For example: My target market is left handed Italians, who live in towns of less than 9,714 people, in two story houses, on the south side of the street, own female Clydesdale horses and are married to women named Inga. Does this list eliminate most of the population? Yes it does. But why would I want to spend a ton of money on conventional advertising hoping I would reach this small market segment.
If I want to reach homeowners, why would I waste money advertising to renters? Don't you do this now with your current ads on the radio and in the newspaper? Are there radio stations renters aren't allowed to listen to that I could advertise on? Newspapers renters aren't allowed to read?The more I know about my customer, the easier they are to reach and sell. The more non-customers I can eliminate from my list the lower the advertising cost becomes.