Chapter 19. Direct Mail

I know what you're thinking—"Direct mail? Isn't this book supposed to be about online business?"

Believe it or not, direct mail is an integral component of many of the most successful online businesses.

In fact, "online business" can be somewhat of a misnomer. The Internet should be considered a part of your business, but you shouldn't limit yourself to using the Internet to the exclusion of all else. You should still talk to your prospects on the phone, and you should still use good old-fashioned postal mail.

In fact (and I know this suggestion will be quite shocking to some) you should even try to meet your clients face-to-face on occasion! I know it's a novel concept, but try it.

Now back to the subject at hand. Use direct mail to drive people to your site. As much as I love the ease of sending a message to 5,000 people at the click of a button, e-mail has its limitations.

It's getting blocked by the ISPs; it's getting blocked by the e-mail client spam filters; and it's getting lost in the crowd, becoming so much static in the lives of many of your prospects.

That's not to say it's dead, by any means ... what I am saying is that limiting yourself to e-mail is limiting your profit potential in a big way.

What if you could send 5,000 real paper-and-ink letters with the click of a button? Do you think those 5,000 letters would have a little more impact sitting in your prospect's hand?

Is it possible that a simple piece of paper would have more impact than ...

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