Direct mail advertising can be pretty expensive, so it's best you know the ins and outs of it before you start.

My first of several direct marketing tips… It typically takes anywhere from three to five mail pieces before you get any kind of response, and sometimes it takes even more exposure. For an optimal response rate, it's best that you use a highly targeted direct mail advertising list.

To acquire a nice, highly targeted direct mail list, rent one that has some commonalities, such as the same industry, occupation, people in certain age rages, demographics, etc…

Once you have that list, write a headline that can connect with the target audience, one that will hit their hot buttons. If you write up a pretty good headline, mailing out to a solid list, there's not reason that you can't do better than the standard one percent response. Perhaps boosting it up to 3 to 5 percent.

Another one of my favorite direct mail tips is this… in order to find out what your audience is most interested, just ask them. Why would you want to mail out your offer to an audience that does not want it. Of course, this option is not available to everyone and some expense will be incurred in testing this, however once you have refined this process, the response to your offer will be much greater… translating into greater profits.

On with more direct mail tips… next we have postcards. They are not used too often by larger businesses and when you do find one, save it. They know what they're doing. It's an excellent way to reach out to your customers and clients at a fraction of the cost. It's cheaper to reproduce and mail out postcards, and it's especially beneficial when you can post all your content on one side and have a nice picture. I love this because the prospect or client will be forced to read your message.

Moving on with the direct mail tips… you should set up a system to track and measure all mailings you send out. You want to test the headline, offer, price, envelope, day of the week you're mailing, etc. Once you find a number that you're happy with, you can continue until you see the numbers dwindle, or try to beat it by testing even more.

Next, you should be using a two step process. Get your audience to first let you know that they are interested, then it will be much easier to market to them, as opposed to marketing to a cold list. Here's one of the most powerful of all direct mail tips, when it comes to writing your sales offer… you're going to want to use a deadline. It forces people to take action, instead of having them wait days, weeks or months, if ever to respond to your offer.

Start small, then work your way up. Test 500 to 1000 pieces first, adjust and track your numbers. The bottom line here, direct response advertising can be an effective tool, you must know how to use it. Maximize your return by testing and comparing your data, always trying to reach for the highest response. Use some of these direct mail tips as a starting point, and learn how to implement it in your business. Your business will thank you.