A Step-By-Step Guide to Executing Your Next Direct Mail Campaign

As many Charli Jane Members already know, I’m a huge advocate of direct mail campaigns for speakers looking to secure gigs. If you haven’t already, make sure you check out my latest blog post on the subject of direct mail, which covers a number of tried and tested strategies for securing new speaking opportunities. 

However, it’s possible to choose a great strategy and still receive no leads. The reason? Poor execution. Carrying out an effective direct mail campaign is a process that has many components, and getting just one of them wrong can pull the whole thing apart. 

So with that in mind, let me take you through each phase of a direct mail campaign, step by step, to ensure you have the best chance of securing gigs off the back of your hard work. 

Step #1: Research and Targeting 

The first and perhaps most important stage of any direct mail campaign is the research phase, and putting in the hard yards here can make all the difference. The issue I see with many inexperienced speakers trying out direct mail marketing is that they take a scattergun approach – sending out mailers to anyone and everyone that could potentially book them. 

This is a big mistake. You will just end up spending time and money on people that will never be a good fit for you. Instead, you want to focus your energies on finding people that will be receptive to your unique talents and attributes. 

Thus, you should pour as much time and energy as you can into carving out a specific audience and compiling leads within that niche to send a direct proposition to. Yes, this process will take a lot more time upfront, but it pays dividends later down the line when converting your leads into bookings. 

If it’s taking you longer than you would like, you could do batches of 20 organizations or meeting planners to keep the campaign cycle streamlined and then start the entire process again once you’ve exhausted your options within those 20 candidates. 

Step #2: Picking a Direct Mail Strategy 

I’ve already covered direct mail strategies extensively in the direct mail strategies blog post mentioned above, so I’ll try and keep this brief. The point of your direct mailer is to grab attention (so the leads are intrigued enough to open it). 

Thus, make sure that whatever you send (be it a letter, brochure, or so-called “lumpy” mail) grabs the attention of the addressee. Bright colors and unusual shapes and sizes are your friends in this regard. 

Step #3: Send Out Your Direct Mailers

Once you completed all of the research, picked out your top targets, and decided upon a strategy, it’s time to send them out! Depending on what you’re sending, you might not want to use the post office and instead go for a courier like UPS. The act of making your targeted leads sign for something is also bound to pique their interest.  

In many ways, this is where the hard work starts. You can’t just send them all out and hope somebody calls you back. You have to be proactive, as I shall now explain. 

Step #4: FOLLOW UP! 

The biggest mistake I see speakers make when executing a direct mail campaign is not following up. It’s all about the follow-up! Just because someone hasn’t got in contact, that doesn’t mean that they didn’t love what they received and refuse to find out more. Life gets in the way, people get busy, work emergencies happen, and they all drag attention away from your perfectly-targeted mail campaign. 

So once you’ve waited a few days after your mail should have arrived, it’s time to initiate your follow-ups. You’ve got several options. You could drop an email, send them another mailer that’s slightly different but recognizably similar to your initial batch, or my personal favorite, give them a call to see what they think of what you sent out. 

It takes an average of seven touchpoints before someone will consider making a purchase. So use that general rule of thumb as your guidance when following up with a potential lead. If anything, your direct mailer acts as the ice-breaker, opening the door and allowing your name to enter the event planner’s mind. It’s then up to you to force that door open and convert that initial interest into a converted booking. 

Step #5: Track Everything and Start the Cycle Again

It’s crucial to stay organized to get the most out of your direct mail efforts. You need to note down your actions through every step of the journey, especially during the follow-up phase. 

Note down people’s names, their company’s name, their phone email, where they are up to in your direct mail funnel, what actions you have taken and what steps you need to take next. That way, when you come back to a contact that you haven’t interacted with in a while, you know exactly where you are up to concerning your respective actions up until that point. 

Once you’ve exhausted all of the potential leads, it’s time to roll that campaign up (keep tabs on everything in case someone gets in contact out of the blue) and then start the entire cycle over with a new batch of potential leads. 

Execute Your Direct Mail Campaign Correctly to Enjoy Excellent Results 

Direct mail marketing is so much more than sending out 100s of postcards and hoping for a phone call. Taking that approach will yield next to nothing in terms of results. However, by following the steps above, you can ensure that you squeeze the most out of each and every contact, resulting in much higher conversion rates and, crucially, more gigs booked for your business.

Of course, direct mail is just one of many marketing tactics you can use to secure speaking opportunities. If you would like to learn more about which outbound marketing strategies are killing it right now in the speaker space, then make sure to join our private Facebook Group Grow Your Speaking Biz.

Alternatively, if you’re ready to launch into a direct mail campaign now, why not take a look at some of our free speaker marketing templates to get inspiration for your direct mailer?

I also created an awesome kit to help you find speaking gigs below.

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So, sit back, and watch Wendi’s training. Make sure you have a pen and paper handy. Better yet download the How to Find Speaking Gigs workbook to complement this masterclass. You will also find a bonus, the Gig Tracker to help you stay focused and on trac