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    • 50 Things I Wish Financial Advisors Knew About Marketing
    • What's A Good Financial Advisor Marketing Budget? Here's What I've Found...
    • 5 Reasons Why Hiring A Financial Advisor Marketing Agency Is A Bad Idea...
    • 5 Elements of High-Converting Landing Pages For Financial Advisors (With Examples)
    • Why "Branding" Is A Terrible Idea For Financial Advisors
    • 9 Inbound Marketing Strategies For Financial Advisors That Are Working Right Now... (With Proof)
    • Financial Advisors: Here's How To Get 3 New Clients In The Next 30 Days...
    • I Analyzed The Websites Of Barron’s Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors: Here’s What They Do Differently…
    • 4 Things I've Learned From Testing 3.2 Million Financial Advisor Emails
    • What Is The Optimal Number Of Clients For A Financial Advisor? (My Answer May Surprise You...)
    • Will Financial Advisors Become Obsolete? (Future Outlook For Financial Advisors)
    • How To Become A Virtual Financial Advisor (Plus Traits And Tools To Help You Work Remotely)
    • An Open Letter To Financial Advisors With Imposter Syndrome (Plus 4 Tips For Overcoming It)
    • How To Overcome Objections As A Financial Advisor (The Right And Wrong Way)
    • 7 Priceless Tips For Financial Advisors Who Want A "Lifestyle" Practice
    • 9 Research-Backed Stress Management Tips For Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • 3 Powerful Ways Financial Advisors Can Use Webinars To Get More Clients
    • 10 Catastrophic Ways Financial Advisors Sabotage Their Own Success
    • These 5 "Weird" Tips Can Help Financial Advisors Form Better Habits
    • 5 Financial Advisor Follow-Up Tips (That Won't Annoy Prospects)
    • How Financial Advisors Can Write A Book (And Use It To Get Clients)
    • 7 Ways To Make Your Financial Planning Firm More Profitable
    • 7 Actionable Goal Setting Tips For Financial Advisors
    • 10 Of My Favorite Productivity Tools For Financial Advisors
    • How Financial Advisors Can Make A Phenomenal First Impression
    • 3 Reasons Financial Advisors Should (And Shouldn't) Start A Podcast
    • Financial Advisors: 4 Reasons Why Buying Leads Is Like Burning Money
    • 11 Tips For Writing A Stellar Financial Advisor Bio (With Examples)
    • 7 Traits Successful Financial Advisors Have (From Someone Who Has Worked With Thousands Of Advisors)
    • 6 Common Financial Advisor Interview Questions (And How To Answer Them)
    • 5 Things Financial Advisors Should Know Before Buying A Book Of Business
    • Looking For A Financial Advisor Internship? Here Are 10 Things You Should Know...
    • How Hard Is The CFP® Exam? (Plus 5 Of My Favorite Tips To Help You Pass)
    • 10 Insurance Marketing Tips, Ideas, and Strategies (That Actually Work)
    • How to Become a Financial Advisor In 5 (Not So Easy) Steps
    • How To Make Six Figures As A Financial Advisor
    • 11 Lucrative Cold Calling Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 10 Things I Wish All Entry Level Financial Advisors Knew
    • 6 Video Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors: Why Video Marketing Is So Powerful
    • 7 Reasons Why Most Financial Advisor Sales Training Completely Fails
    • Pros and Cons of Financial Advisor Coaching - Should Financial Advisors Hire a Coach?
    • 9 Elevator Speech Tips for Financial Advisors
    • A Day In The Life of a Financial Advisor: 7 Things You Can Expect
    • 7 Awesome Content Marketing Tips for Financial Services
    • Pros and Cons of Being a Financial Advisor: The Dirty Details Nobody Tells You
    • 8 Things Nobody Tells You About Being a Financial Advisor
    • 10 Things Financial Advisors Wish They Could Do Differently
    • 10 Awesome Content Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 12 Best Financial Planning Questions to Ask Clients
    • 5 Online Reputation Management Tips for Financial Advisors
    • Here's Why Clients Fire Financial Advisors
    • 5 Things Financial Advisors Should Never Do With Their Clients
    • 9 Cold Email Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Tips for Avoiding Burnout as a Financial Advisor
    • 9 Tips for Creating a Financial Advisor Business Plan
    • 7 Must-Know Google Ads Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Awesome Tech Tools for Financial Advisors
    • 10 Insurance Email Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid
    • 12 Facebook Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 3 Lessons From An Advisor Losing $1,000 Every Day
    • 7 Easy & Actionable Social Media Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Door-to-Door and Cold Knocking Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 5 Things People Really Want From Financial Advisors
    • 5 Client Loyalty Strategies to Help You Retain More Clients
    • 7 Client Referral Ideas to Help You Get More Referrals
    • 8 Tips for Attracting UHNW Clients (With Proof That They Work)
    • Top 10 Best Books for Insurance Agents (2020)
    • 15 Financial Advisor Prospecting Ideas & Techniques That Work!
    • 11 Awesome Client Appreciation Event Ideas for Financial Advisors
    • Life Insurance Leads - Should You Buy Them?
    • 5 Ways Financial Advisors Can Improve Direct Mail Marketing Results
    • 7 Reasons You'll Fail as an Insurance Agent
    • 7 Horrible Insurance Marketing Ideas
    • 5 SEO Strategies For Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • Social Media Tips for Financial Advisors: Experts Weigh In
    • The Secret Behind Awesome Financial Advisor Value Propositions (Plus Examples)
    • 5 Tips for How to Sell Insurance Over the Phone
    • 15-Step Client Onboarding Checklist: Onboarding Process for Financial Services
    • The Best CRM for Financial Advisors (CRM Software for Financial Services)
    • 10 Actionable Seminar Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • 9 Effective Appointment Setting Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 19 Financial Advisor Email Marketing Tips
    • 5 Ways to Overcome Call Reluctance
    • How to Handle Rejection In Sales: Overcoming Your Fear of Rejection
    • 7 Reasons Why Most Financial Advisor Websites Are Terrible
    • 27 Financial Advisor Marketing Ideas & Strategies That Work!
    • How to Become a Successful Financial Advisor: Your First Year
    • Top 10 Best Books for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Fatal Prospecting Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make
    • 5 Ways to Generate Leads Without Cold Calling
    • 7 Ways Prospecting Is Like Dating
    • 5 Reasons Why You're Not Getting Referrals
    • 5 LinkedIn Tips for Financial Advisors (Plus 3 Things They Should Be Tracking...)
    • How Financial Advisors Can Build Client Trust
    • 11 Reasons You'll Fail as a Financial Advisor
    • How Financial Advisors Can Make More Money
    • 5 Best Niches for Financial Advisors
    • How to Sell Without Being Pushy
    • How Advisors Can Get Out of Their Comfort Zone
    • 5 Characteristics of Successful Insurance Agents
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5 Ways Financial Advisors Can Improve Direct Mail Marketing Results

Financial advisor sending a piece of direct mail
​​​​​​Direct mail is awesome.

When most financial advisors put together a marketing plan, they often ignore direct mail in favor of other communication methods, like social media or digital marketing. Because thousands of professionals are turning to digital marketing, direct mail is perhaps more of a gold mine than ever before.

Today, everyone’s inbox is full of mail. All types of mail – family, friends, colleagues, junk mail, spam, flagged, important, must-read, unread, and so on. I know people who have created separate email accounts just to weed out all the unwanted clutter. Social media is the same way. We have hundreds, if not thousands, of connections online that are all posting, messaging, updating, and commenting nonstop.

Then, at least once a day (for most of us), we go to the lowly mailbox… the real one. You pull down that creaky door, peek inside, and guess what? There’s likely less stuff in there this year than in all the years past. What gives?

Email and social media definitely have their place, and they can reach tons of people quickly with a relatively low cost. But the question is: do they get clients? I would much rather talk to 100 people with a high likelihood of converting than 1,000 people with a small likelihood of converting, and I’m sure you would too.

According to the United States Post Office and the Direct Marketing Association, 70% of Americans said snail mail is more personal than the internet. People trust it and like it more. How can you leverage this powerful tool to your advantage? Here are a few ways:
Picture

1. Don't Be Afraid to Experiment With Postcards Vs. Envelopes.

I read a few articles about financial advisor mailing before writing this piece and it disturbed me to see that quite a few blindly advocated sending out postcards. I want to make it perfectly clear that you should rarely accept any advice (even mine) as gospel. Test it for yourself.

The idea of using postcards is a good one; it’s cheaper than the letter, and it’s more likely to get read since there’s no envelope covering it. Since the number one goal of direct mail marketing is to get the recipient’s attention, postcards seem like a good idea.

But postcards feel cheap. They just give the impression that you’re mailing them to every single person in the zip code. Letters in a physical envelope can include different headlines, long copy, and more literature.

Marketing consultants can read academic studies all day long, but without real-world experience, the studies can lead them astray. Here’s what I mean: if you read the studies, you will be led to believe that postcards will outperform letters all day long. In fact, there’s a DMA study that says that oversized envelopes have the best response rate (think birthday cards) at 5.0%, then followed by postcards at 4.25%, while letter-sized envelopes have a 3.5% response rate. You might think that postcards are a no-brainer because they are cheaper and have a better response rate, but you might be wrong.

The financial services industry is a different beast. It’s not a carpet cleaning business. Postcards might work for carpet cleaning because you can send out thousands to upscale neighborhoods, attach a few coupons, and get the phone to ring off the hook. Then, when these studies are being conducted, these businesses are included in the data and skew it upward. When it comes to postcards, I have seen wild success and I have seen epic waste and failure. However, in my experience, the letter-sized envelope is a noble workhorse that proves to be safe and steady. Test the two for yourself. Assume nothing. 

Let’s say you send out 1,000 postcards at a total cost of $300 (which is more or less accurate, depending on who you use) and you get a low response rate of .5%. That’s 5 qualified leads at a cost of $60 per lead. But what if you sent out 1,000 direct mail pieces at a cost of $900 and got a 2% response rate? That means you’d get 20 qualified leads at a cost of $45 per lead – 25% cheaper. I don’t know about you, but that money is better off in my pocket than in the mail company’s pocket. That leads me to the second tip…

2. Test Everything.

In addition to testing postcards vs. envelopes, you should be testing various offers, literature, formats, and audiences.

Marketing is all about trial and error, but when testing, only test one thing at a time. For example, change ONLY the headline, or the font, or the size of the postcard. If you do it all at once, you won’t be able to track what actually contributed to the results, for better or worse. Just make sure that you’re using a large enough sample size to improve your statistical confidence.

I recommend a minimum of 1,000 for split tests, which means that each A/B test you run will cost a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. I say this so you have realistic expectations going in and so that you don’t get discouraged when you’re losing a small amount of money or just breaking even at first. Understand that it might take you a few thousand dollars to scientifically find a working formula, but once you do, it’ll be a money machine.
Financial advisor's direct mail being delivered
Don't be afraid to split-test your direct mail for better results...

3. Never Confuse Response For Results.

This is a killer of dreams and budgets. Responses feel good. They’re phone calls and questions and answers to the “where did you find us” bubbles that say “your mailer”. That means the mail campaign is working, right?

Not necessarily – make sure you know the difference between responses and results. For example, in lead generation, you can generate a lot of leads with a free offer (response) but how many of those leads will convert into clients (results)? Results are the things that actually make you money, and results are the ONLY thing that should be measured against your marketing expenses to make sure that your machine is working

4. Compare Your Direct Mail Campaign Against Other Advertising Methods.

I may be a marketing consultant, but I am business-oriented. I enjoy the process of getting the largest return possible for money invested, and you can do the same for your direct mail. I already told you that you should be comparing different campaigns and variables, but you should also be comparing your direct mail campaign against other advertising efforts.

If you are running an advertising campaign at the same time as your direct mail campaign, compare them on a “cost per X” basis. This is the common denominator of all marketing – how many greenbacks does it take to get a result, response, etc. Let’s assume that I’m running an advertising campaign and a direct mail campaign at the same time. Let’s also assume that I close 20% of all my prospects in both scenarios, which means 20% of my responses will turn into results.

Advertising campaign
Cost: $10,000
Responses: 250
Results: 50
Cost per response: $40
Cost per result: $200

Direct mail campaign
Cost: $5,000
Responses: 200
Results: 40
Cost per response: $25
Cost per result: $125

In this example, I am “buying” new clients for $200 with the advertising campaign and for $125 with the direct mail campaign. Having this information will give me the confidence to pump more money into the direct mail campaign and less into the advertising campaign, allowing my dollars to stretch a little more. Doing this type of math early on, then testing the variables against each other, can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your career.
Picture

5. Think Boring.

Not only does full color drive up your printing costs, but pretty mail rejects involvement. People will say “isn’t that pretty?” and then dump it into the trash. When it comes to direct mail, think boring.

Pretty mail rejects involvement. Boring direct mail gives no pretense of cleverness. The sole objective is to generate phone calls and nothing else. You are not trying to win an award; you are trying to get business. A lot of direct mail marketers will succeed IN SPITE OF their design, not because of it. Boring mail works because there’s no design to get in the way.

Mail is not for branding, it is for direct response. Do what works to get responses. 

BONUS: Use a stamp. People can tell when something has been mass-mailed. If you put a live stamp on the envelope, it looks like it came from a real person, which means it will more than likely get opened. The academic studies often don’t account for live stamp vs. mass mailing, contributing to the letter's lower response rate. 

P.S. If you're a financial advisor who wants to get more clients from LinkedIn, make sure you check out How to Get Clients With LinkedIn: How Financial Advisors Can Set Appointments and Convert Prospects With LinkedIn
​
MORE THAN 50,000 FINANCIAL ADVISORS SERVED... ARE YOU NEXT? CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE. 
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  • Home
  • About Me
  • Get Clients With LinkedIn
  • New Advisors
  • Products
  • Inner Circle
  • Blog
    • 50 Things I Wish Financial Advisors Knew About Marketing
    • What's A Good Financial Advisor Marketing Budget? Here's What I've Found...
    • 5 Reasons Why Hiring A Financial Advisor Marketing Agency Is A Bad Idea...
    • 5 Elements of High-Converting Landing Pages For Financial Advisors (With Examples)
    • Why "Branding" Is A Terrible Idea For Financial Advisors
    • 9 Inbound Marketing Strategies For Financial Advisors That Are Working Right Now... (With Proof)
    • Financial Advisors: Here's How To Get 3 New Clients In The Next 30 Days...
    • I Analyzed The Websites Of Barron’s Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors: Here’s What They Do Differently…
    • 4 Things I've Learned From Testing 3.2 Million Financial Advisor Emails
    • What Is The Optimal Number Of Clients For A Financial Advisor? (My Answer May Surprise You...)
    • Will Financial Advisors Become Obsolete? (Future Outlook For Financial Advisors)
    • How To Become A Virtual Financial Advisor (Plus Traits And Tools To Help You Work Remotely)
    • An Open Letter To Financial Advisors With Imposter Syndrome (Plus 4 Tips For Overcoming It)
    • How To Overcome Objections As A Financial Advisor (The Right And Wrong Way)
    • 7 Priceless Tips For Financial Advisors Who Want A "Lifestyle" Practice
    • 9 Research-Backed Stress Management Tips For Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • 3 Powerful Ways Financial Advisors Can Use Webinars To Get More Clients
    • 10 Catastrophic Ways Financial Advisors Sabotage Their Own Success
    • These 5 "Weird" Tips Can Help Financial Advisors Form Better Habits
    • 5 Financial Advisor Follow-Up Tips (That Won't Annoy Prospects)
    • How Financial Advisors Can Write A Book (And Use It To Get Clients)
    • 7 Ways To Make Your Financial Planning Firm More Profitable
    • 7 Actionable Goal Setting Tips For Financial Advisors
    • 10 Of My Favorite Productivity Tools For Financial Advisors
    • How Financial Advisors Can Make A Phenomenal First Impression
    • 3 Reasons Financial Advisors Should (And Shouldn't) Start A Podcast
    • Financial Advisors: 4 Reasons Why Buying Leads Is Like Burning Money
    • 11 Tips For Writing A Stellar Financial Advisor Bio (With Examples)
    • 7 Traits Successful Financial Advisors Have (From Someone Who Has Worked With Thousands Of Advisors)
    • 6 Common Financial Advisor Interview Questions (And How To Answer Them)
    • 5 Things Financial Advisors Should Know Before Buying A Book Of Business
    • Looking For A Financial Advisor Internship? Here Are 10 Things You Should Know...
    • How Hard Is The CFP® Exam? (Plus 5 Of My Favorite Tips To Help You Pass)
    • 10 Insurance Marketing Tips, Ideas, and Strategies (That Actually Work)
    • How to Become a Financial Advisor In 5 (Not So Easy) Steps
    • How To Make Six Figures As A Financial Advisor
    • 11 Lucrative Cold Calling Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 10 Things I Wish All Entry Level Financial Advisors Knew
    • 6 Video Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors: Why Video Marketing Is So Powerful
    • 7 Reasons Why Most Financial Advisor Sales Training Completely Fails
    • Pros and Cons of Financial Advisor Coaching - Should Financial Advisors Hire a Coach?
    • 9 Elevator Speech Tips for Financial Advisors
    • A Day In The Life of a Financial Advisor: 7 Things You Can Expect
    • 7 Awesome Content Marketing Tips for Financial Services
    • Pros and Cons of Being a Financial Advisor: The Dirty Details Nobody Tells You
    • 8 Things Nobody Tells You About Being a Financial Advisor
    • 10 Things Financial Advisors Wish They Could Do Differently
    • 10 Awesome Content Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 12 Best Financial Planning Questions to Ask Clients
    • 5 Online Reputation Management Tips for Financial Advisors
    • Here's Why Clients Fire Financial Advisors
    • 5 Things Financial Advisors Should Never Do With Their Clients
    • 9 Cold Email Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Tips for Avoiding Burnout as a Financial Advisor
    • 9 Tips for Creating a Financial Advisor Business Plan
    • 7 Must-Know Google Ads Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Awesome Tech Tools for Financial Advisors
    • 10 Insurance Email Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid
    • 12 Facebook Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 3 Lessons From An Advisor Losing $1,000 Every Day
    • 7 Easy & Actionable Social Media Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Door-to-Door and Cold Knocking Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 5 Things People Really Want From Financial Advisors
    • 5 Client Loyalty Strategies to Help You Retain More Clients
    • 7 Client Referral Ideas to Help You Get More Referrals
    • 8 Tips for Attracting UHNW Clients (With Proof That They Work)
    • Top 10 Best Books for Insurance Agents (2020)
    • 15 Financial Advisor Prospecting Ideas & Techniques That Work!
    • 11 Awesome Client Appreciation Event Ideas for Financial Advisors
    • Life Insurance Leads - Should You Buy Them?
    • 5 Ways Financial Advisors Can Improve Direct Mail Marketing Results
    • 7 Reasons You'll Fail as an Insurance Agent
    • 7 Horrible Insurance Marketing Ideas
    • 5 SEO Strategies For Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • Social Media Tips for Financial Advisors: Experts Weigh In
    • The Secret Behind Awesome Financial Advisor Value Propositions (Plus Examples)
    • 5 Tips for How to Sell Insurance Over the Phone
    • 15-Step Client Onboarding Checklist: Onboarding Process for Financial Services
    • The Best CRM for Financial Advisors (CRM Software for Financial Services)
    • 10 Actionable Seminar Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • 9 Effective Appointment Setting Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 19 Financial Advisor Email Marketing Tips
    • 5 Ways to Overcome Call Reluctance
    • How to Handle Rejection In Sales: Overcoming Your Fear of Rejection
    • 7 Reasons Why Most Financial Advisor Websites Are Terrible
    • 27 Financial Advisor Marketing Ideas & Strategies That Work!
    • How to Become a Successful Financial Advisor: Your First Year
    • Top 10 Best Books for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Fatal Prospecting Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make
    • 5 Ways to Generate Leads Without Cold Calling
    • 7 Ways Prospecting Is Like Dating
    • 5 Reasons Why You're Not Getting Referrals
    • 5 LinkedIn Tips for Financial Advisors (Plus 3 Things They Should Be Tracking...)
    • How Financial Advisors Can Build Client Trust
    • 11 Reasons You'll Fail as a Financial Advisor
    • How Financial Advisors Can Make More Money
    • 5 Best Niches for Financial Advisors
    • How to Sell Without Being Pushy
    • How Advisors Can Get Out of Their Comfort Zone
    • 5 Characteristics of Successful Insurance Agents
  • Contact