While occasionally you do want to send a common email to your entire distribution list, sending specific messages to targeted email lists can be more effective because each of your prospects are seeing the most relevant messages, and messages they are most likely to respond to. 

A great tactic to add to your marketing campaign is targeted email lists, which segments your contacts into specific categories.  Better response rates lead to increased conversion rates, which is the ultimate goal of any marketing campaign.  As explained by Ina Steiner, co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes, “Segmenting email contacts vastly improves the ability to target your message, which helps improve the open-rate and click-throughs on links in your email. Over the long-term, it increases personalized rapport and long-lasting, profitable relationships with customers.”

Email lists can be filtered along pretty much any category, such as:

• Demographics – if your product or service offerings can be separated demographically, such as by industry, location, economic status, gender or age, you can create targeted email lists for your relevant demographics.
• Previous Purchases – You can build an email list of customers that have purchased a specific product to alert them to updates on the product, or to upsell the customer to another product.
• Documented Interests – If a customer has shown interested in a certain product or services by requesting information, attending a webinar, or downloading a white paper, you can send them a targeted email to let them know about products related to those information products.

The most effective categories for targeted email lists for your business will depend on your specific company products and/or services, and other variables.  Emily Keye, Marketing Strategist for Bronto Software adds, “You won’t have the best offer for every subscriber every time, but the more frequently you reach consumers with deals matched to their interests and preferences, the more you’ll set yourself apart and be remembered as the company that ‘knows what I like’.”

Image – © fuzzbones – Fotolia.com

A marketing postcard is one of the most basic pieces of direct mail that you can create. It’s small, requires no folding or assembly, and can include just about any message you want to deliver.

However, the simplicity of a direct mail postcard can be deceptive. You might be tempted to put too much information on that small space, and your customers might be visually overwhelmed. Let’s take a look at the parts of a direct mail postcard.

The card itself can be simple matte card stock or a glossy white. A postcard can be printed in single color or full color. Your graphic design service can help you to decide what types of paper and printing processes are right for your project and your budget.

The address side of the postcard has several requirements that have to be met in terms of address information, postage and the intelligent mail barcode. These requirements will dictate how you lay out the addressing information, but there may be additional space on this side that you can utilize for your message, but keep it simple.

The media side of the direct mail postcard is all up to you. There are no requirements for addressing and such, so you have a blank canvas to work with, which is both a blessing and a curse. Think about the reason for sending this postcard: if it is a notification of an event, put the event details clearly on this side of the postcard. If you are sending a coupon, use the whole area for the coupon so your customer doesn’t have to cut anything out, and the details are large enough to view and understand quickly. Be clear about your message and provide a way (via phone, web or email) for the customer to get more information.

Image – © DavidMSchrader – Fotolia.com