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5 ways to find new customers with Mailshots Online plus win £100 worth of credit

Door knocker letters

06/07/2010 send to a friend

Finding new customers is vital - they're the lifeblood of your small business. But you need to do it effectively. Here are five ways to use direct mail to find new customers plus your chance to win £100 worth of credit to use Mailshots Online from Royal Mail and try for yourself.

  1. Make the message relevant
    Tailor your message to your audience, and think about what would really interest them. Think about the benefit to your customer of working with your business and make that the main message of the mailshot.
  2. Give an incentive
    Incentivising your mailshot with a discount or other promotion gives the recipient another reason to try your business so always look for a way to incentivise. You might think about a percentage discount, buy one get one free offer or setting up a loyalty scheme for repeat customers.
  3. Make your design stand out
    The design is crucial to encourage recipients to read your mailshot, so make sure you include good quality images, logos and your brand colours to build recognition with the customer. Make sure the response mechanism - which might be a web address, email address or phone number - is clearly visible.
  4. Set a deadline
    Running incentives for 'a limited time only' encourages new customers to get in touch and take advantage of any offers available. Set deadlines to any offers and make sure you have the capacity to deal with an influx of customers.
  5. Build trust
    If you're looking to establish a relationship with new customers think about offering 'money-back' or 'satisfaction' guarantees that help to build trust. If they know you have their best interests at heart, they'll be more likely to become your customer in the first place.

Win £100 worth of credit to use Mailshots Online

Created specifically for small businesses by Royal Mail, Mailshots Online is a simple, fast and cost-effective tool to help you engage with new and existing customers. Register in seconds to start designing high quality and high impact communications from the comfort of your computer.

With Mailshots Online you can choose the look and style of your postcard or letter, write your own copy, and add a mailing list - all in under 30 minutes. Because there's no minimum order quantity, you can send just one postcard or letter or 1,000 for the same unit price, making budgeting simple.

How to win

Just leave a comment below to be in with a chance of winning £100 worth of Mailshots Online credit. Remember to leave your name and some way to contact you and we'll pick a winner at Random.org in a week's time.

Good luck!

Royal MailMailshots Online
This post is sponsored by Mailshots Online by Royal Mail. Find out more at www.mailshotsonline.com

Photo credit: Maltese Falcon59

 

 

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Comments

Author: Jose Reyes

Date: 06/07/2010

Comment: I'm not sure if this comment needs to say anything more than I'd like to win £100, but there you go

Website: www.richard-turner.co.uk

Author: San Sharma

Date: 06/07/2010

Comment: That's a good start! :-)

Website: http://www.enterprisenation.com/

Author: David

Date: 06/07/2010

Comment: I'm not personally convinced of the effectiveness of these Mailshots, but would be interested in trialling them to perhaps prove me wrong!

Website: http://www.integreatmedia.com

Author: Kay Bowman

Date: 06/07/2010

Comment: Money back guarantee works really well, best for the customer and your business. If the customer isn't happy then they won't recommend you and there is no better advertising than word of mouth. Besides that, we wouldn't want a customer to be unhappy with our product.

Just my 2 pence worth!

Website: http://www.wellyracks.com

Author: Laura Morris

Date: 06/07/2010

Comment: Oooh I would like to win too please :)

Website: www.rentabuggy.co.uk

Author: christelle coulin

Date: 07/07/2010

Comment: need to be proved that this mailshot really works for my business, bring it on !!!!

Website:

Author: Mildred Talabi

Date: 07/07/2010

Comment: I'd like to win too if not too late :-)

Website: http://www.rawloveuk.com

Author: Beverley Palmer

Date: 07/07/2010

Comment: Mailshots online is ideal tool for the future. Keeping current clients updated is great, how can it target new business.

Website: www.home-calls.co.uk

Author: Holly Hinton

Date: 07/07/2010

Comment: I am always looking at new (and cheap) ways of getting my business known so this something I'll look into...

Website: http://www.hollyshobbies.co.uk

Author: Diana Robbins

Date: 07/07/2010

Comment: If you don't tell people what you are doing, how will they know?!

Website: www.dartdesigns.co.uk

Author: Georgie Kirby

Date: 07/07/2010

Comment: I'm currently having a logo designed and a new website so this would be fab to try out.

Website: www.bigbeautifulbunting.co.uk

Author: Janet Drake

Date: 08/07/2010

Comment: A one off mail shot is just the start ... and its a good start. There is always something nice about receiving a personalised note / card or letter through the letter box. What you have to offer your customers / clients, potential and existing, may not be for them right now but may be for them or their friends in the future, so never forget that 'follow-up is fortune'.

Website: www.4urwellbeing.com

Author: Mel Sherratt

Date: 08/07/2010

Comment: I'd like to be in to win please.

Website:

Author: Drew Rogers

Date: 08/07/2010

Comment: I've tried flyer marketing before and it's worked for me (all of the clients who noticed the flyers are still loyal clients of ours now) so marketing by mail and mail shots are still effective in the digital age. I'd be interested in selecting certain postcodes to see if the conversion rate is better!

Website: www.renewfitnessretreat.co.uk

Author: Tracey Hawley

Date: 08/07/2010

Comment: I plan to launch my babies and childrenswear business over the next 3 months.
This would be a great inclusion into my marketting plan.

Website: 'work in progress'

Author: Elizabeth Geldart

Date: 09/07/2010

Comment: Not all the independent card/gift/baby shops that stock my products are online or have email addresses, so communicating by post is the best way I have of showing them new products and stockists offers.

Website: http://www.chiggs.co.uk

Author: Kate Upcraft

Date: 11/07/2010

Comment: I'm just starting out with direct marketing so keen to see if it works
Kate

Website: www.takeuppayrollmentoring.co.uk

Author: Yaa

Date: 11/07/2010

Comment: I have no doubt mail shots give results, it's the reason why i shop in Tesco, i wouldn't say i go there for my shopping but every time i go shopping the decision is influenced by my discount vouchers so i end up going there any.

Website:

Author: Liz Rice

Date: 12/07/2010

Comment: Would be interesting to see how physical mail shots compare with our existing email marketing.

Website: www.pluginseo.com

Author: Steve Sosna

Date: 12/07/2010

Comment: Would be nice, always difficult setting up a new business especially in design :-)

Website: www.773c.co.uk

Author: Sharon Dempster

Date: 19/07/2010

Comment: Busniess have not been great and I am finding it difficult to react my target customers without any funds, this would be great.

Website: http://www.trydeezhairextensions.com

Author: Amanda Fawzi

Date: 27/08/2010

Comment: would love to try royal mail mailshot

Website: http://www.folksy.com/shops/JaneExelbys

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