irect mail can be used effectively in two ways: to generate a response from a prospect or customer, or to maintain awareness and build brand through "drip marketing."

Drip marketing is the process of delivering a connected group of promotional mailings over a defined period of time. Drip marketing was a response to the "Law of 29," the belief among some marketing pros that it takes 29 "hits" for a marketing message to successfully turn a prospect into a client.

A newsletter is a perfect example of drip marketing. Mailing a newsletter once every month is a good way to keep your brand in front of your prospects and customers and, with luck, keep customers coming in the door all year long.

In addition to newsletters, drip marketing can take the form of postcards, promotional materials, new product announcements, or virtually anything else the U.S. Postal Service will deliver. The trick is to build your brand equity by reinforcing a message, image or theme.

That, of course, is the goal of all direct mail. And come to think of it, the goal of most marketing. Every time you put your brand in front of a customer or potential customer, you create an impression, which impacts the perception of your brand. When that perception is consistently repeated, you build a brand that becomes easy to recognize and remember.

In every piece of marketing you send out, your unique selling proposition (USP) should be reinforced in as many ways as possible. Without being boring, and thus losing readership or attention, make sure your tone, look and at least some part of your copy addresses your USP.

Equally important, you want your readers to feel that you know them and understand their needs. You do this by your tone and look, but most importantly by ensuring that the product or service you sell is one that they need. Standard direct mail differs from drip marketing in one significant way: Rather than slowly and steadily building awareness and recognition, direct mail is used to generate a response.

So the first step, of course, is to determine what response you want. Remember that direct marketing should be used to generate leads, not sales. The purpose is to open doors, gain share of mind and, hopefully, access. So decide if you want your reader to call, return a card or fax, agree to an appointment, request more information or even opt out of your mail program.

Be very clear about what you expect, and make sure to communicate it clearly. You want to make it as easy as possible for your prospects to do exactly what you want them to do. In fact, the harder it is NOT to do, the better your response will be.

Following are my thoughts about maximizing the potential of direct mail marketing:

It begins and ends with the list

No matter how effective your communication is, or how great your offer, nothing will happen if you don't reach the right people. It's not enough to pull a list of companies from the Yellow Pages; you need to find the ultimate "purchaser" of your service.

And you need to know as much as possible about your group of decision makers, because your direct mail has to speak directly to their needs.

Plan your approach

Wouldn't it be lovely if we could say something once and get our point across? But as any parent knows, it's not likely to happen. Direct mail, with its standard response rate of less than 5%, requires a series of carefully timed communications with a consistent look and feel.

Create a mailing calendar that spaces mailings from three to 10 days apart, making sure they don't arrive on Mondays, or immediately before or after holidays.

Get past the gatekeeper

I don't know about you, but when a package of mail lands on my desk, the first thing I do is "toss the junk." Not the bills, but everything that looks like a mass mailer and doesn't immediately capture my interest is history. Trash.

And in some companies, where decision makers have the luxury of a secretary or executive assistant, promotional mailings never even get as far as your prospect's office. So...

• Disguise yourself. Send a box with a gift or premium item enclosed. It's unlikely that it will remain unopened.
• Make sure a relevant benefit is immediately visible. In fact, make it hard to miss.
• Choose postcards over letters. They're cheaper, for one thing. And you can make them oversized, brightly colored, artistic, creative, or any other kind of eye-catching thing you can think of.
• Do anything you can to make your mailings look personal, rather than mass-mailed. Hand address or hand stamp them, even write a personal note on each card. You want your readers to feel that you are speaking only to them.

Make your point

At the beginning, in the middle and at the end, tell your readers what's in it for them. Keep it short, simple and clear. Speak in terms of benefits. Your readers don't care how many features you offer, what your company culture is, or why you think you do a better job than anyone else.

They want to know how your service can make their business lives easier, more effective and more profitable. Keep your tone personal and conversational, but be clear and to the point. If you confuse, you lose. If readers have to "focus" at all to get your point, consider them gone.

Do the little extras

These are not things that will make or break a deal, but every little bit helps, and the following have been known to make a difference:

• Use white space. If readers see too much copy, they'll put the piece aside. Bullets, spacing, indented paragraphs and short sentences all help.
• Use the postscript (P.S.) if you're sending a letter. Understand that the eye will go to two places: to the bold, indented words or paragraph, and to the P.S. Use this space to reinforce a main benefit or make clear the required response.
• We call it the "call to action." It's the place where you tell readers what they should do and when and how they should do it. Typically, it's the last paragraph before the signature, and is often reiterated in a P.S. Just remember to KISS: Keep it simple, stupid.
• If you include a return card or envelope, stamp it.
• Certain keywords are usually effective in direct mail: "no-risk," "free," "one-time offer" and "guaranteed" are among them. You get the idea.
• Testimonials from well known people in the marketplace lend credibility.

Remember: Like every other form of marketing, direct mail speaks to your professionalism, leadership and level of service. Even if you don't have a large budget, you can still create a professional mailing piece. Design simply and maturely. And of course, proofread!

To read more articles in the Marketing 101 series, please visit www.greensheet.com and browse the print archive.

Nancy Drexler is the Marketing Director of Cynergy Data, a merchant acquirer that provides a wide array of electronic payment processing services while continually striving to develop new solutions that meet the needs of its agents and merchants.

In addition to offering credit, debit, EBT and gift card processing, along with check conversion and guarantee programs, the company offers its ISOs the ability to borrow money against its residuals, to have websites designed and developed, to provide merchants with free terminals, and to benefit from state-of-the-art marketing, technology and business support.

Founded in 1995 by Marcelo Paladini and John Martillo, Cynergy Data strives to be a new kind of acquirer with a unique mission: to constantly explore, understand and develop the products that ISOs and merchants need to be successful, and to back it up with honest, reliable, supportive service. For more information on Cynergy Data contact Nancy at nancyd@cynergydata.com.