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The news that Royal Mail is set to increase business mailing costs in 2011, places renewed pressure on direct marketing campaigns to achieve the best possible results.

When planning your direct marketing campaign, make sure you identify all the resources you will need to make it happen.

It seems that trends come and go in marketing just as they do in fashion led industries.

Pre-internet, direct mail was very much the ‘enfant terrible’ of marketing, lacking the mystique of above the line advertising and rather brashly targeting the customer one to one. Far too much reliance on data and technology at the expense of high minded brand values.

Direct marketing is an individually targeted marketing tool, so make the most of the opportunity it provides to talk one to one.

With advances in digital printing technology it is very quick and simple to, at the very least, produce customised sales letters for each recipient, perhaps mentioning their previous history with you or their industry in the content by using the same technique as in a mail merge.

When planning a direct marketing campaign or a mailing, be clear about your desired outcome.

Remember that a mailing can have several aims; achieving a sale, generating an enquiry, asking for a referral, stimulating a sample request, collecting data, and so on.