The study found that 76% of people read direct mail that is sent to them. Further, it found that the piece you send and what is put on it are more important than ever. Up one third from last year, 63% of people feel that the appearance and message of the piece makes a difference in their decision to respond. This is another reason postcards perform well. The instant appeal and attraction of a well-designed, full-color card certainly makes it stand out amongst envelope-wrapped letters.

Statistics like those should help those who may feel uncertain about investing in direct mail marketing programs. In such cases, I have found they have usually broken two key rules in their past attempts at direct mail that caused a lack of success. These rules will help make your direct marketing work and will give you a stable and increased source of sales leads:

1. You must do something.

I am constantly surprised at the number of small business owners who tell me that "we just get referrals" or that direct mail marketing "doesn't work for us". Yet my next question usually stops them cold. What marketing are you doing? The vast majority of these businesses are not doing any marketing at all! Yet they feel marketing doesn't work for them. Of course it doesn't work if you don't use it.

So the first rule of direct mail marketing is that you must do something--anything. Just about anything being sent out gives one a basic level of outreach and will give you some degree of response. And that promotion can then be adjusted, focused, narrowed and targeted more exactly to improve the response and build it higher and higher. But if you don't do anything in the first place, you're not even yet at Square One.

2. You must be regular and repetitive.

One-shot mailing leaves a lot of leads on the table. Your mail piece is just one of the hundreds of messages glanced at daily by the average customer. Even with a well-designed piece that succeeds in gaining attention, a substantial percentage of recipients will notice but not respond. Don't just leave them there. More mailings will develop them into customers.

Further, 69% percent of those surveyed above said that their current needs and the timing of the offer mattered to their response. Even if they aren't ready for you now, continuing your mailings will increase their interest and keep you in front of them. Then when they are ready, you're right there.

Finally and most importantly, a regular mailing campaign gives you stability in your business and its sales. It can be easily measured that peaks of marketing outreach are followed soon after by peaking sales. By maintaining a regular and stable level of direct mail outflow, you will find your leads and sales stabilizing as well.