How To Use Direct Mail To Promote Your MLM Program (written August, 2011)

Let’s get realistic just for one moment please. Shall we? Why do you think that if you mail 10,000, 20,000 or even 100,000 brochures, you will be rich? Why do you think you should get even one (1) reply? Do you respond to every piece of mail you receive?  Do you even look at every piece of mail you receive? And if you do, that means if you were given a quiz 10 minutes after you looked at your mail, you would remember every piece?

Fact is that most of you use direct mail “haphazardly.” You just mail out whatever you got to some list of people you think are prospects and then sit back and guess what? You fail! Some of you blame others and some of you don’t, but all of you should blame yourselves.

Let’s look at reality for a moment. The Direct Mail Marketing Association studies have concluded that most direct mail fails to produce the initial results to earn back even the cost of the promotion in the first place. So why do it?

Believe it or not, direct mail for the MLM Industry is your most cost effective, time saving, least rejection method known to man today! It’s “the way” you use direct mail that makes the difference. Direct mail should be considered an on-going never-ending promotional method. Too many of you use direct mail once/maybe once in a while instead of an ongoing promotional system. Of course when you use direct mail once in a while or even just once, the Direct Mail Marketing Association itself has concluded your mailing campaign will fail. Is that what you want? To fail?

Too many of you do not use direct mail wisely and consequently, think it is too expensive or just doesn’t work. Then why are you doing it then? How should you use direct mail to promote your MLM program? You can start immediately by changing your philosophy on what direct mail can do and can’t do; then develop a 6 month mailing campaign to promote your MLM program. Then stick to it!

Your campaign should start with creating your own promotion for the program you are promoting. It is recommended that you use postcards that generate leads. Instead of using the same promotions that possibly hundreds of others – maybe even thousands – are using for the same program, be different from the crowd. Keep it simple. Too many of you think that by looking intelligent or by looking big, helps makes you money. No it doesn’t. People like to deal with people – real people like themselves. So a good suggestion would be to develop a totally separate postcard that you and only you are using to differentiate you from others promoting the same program. Your headline for your postcard should say something about how much money a person can make for joining this program now and right under the headline should be a free voice mail contact number that people can call to get more information. Your goal is to develop as many leads as you can. Too many of you want to make a sale without cultivating a potential prospect first. How many times did you jump on board without first learning if this business or these people are for you? Maybe once – but never more than that. So you don’t want to lose any potential sales by trying to “sell” them first.

On the postcard itself, after the free voice mail number, have some “bullet” type information about the program – give a prospect other reasons why they should join the program and what the program is about. Keep it brief and to the point. Remember: the key is to get leads from your postcard.

Obviously setting up a postcard and getting an 800# sounds expensive and difficult. No it’s not! Not if you want to promote properly. If you need help developing a simple postcard or getting an inexpensive 800# to use then contact the author of this article. He’ll be more than happy to steer you in the right direction. Then you’ll be his lead. See how it works.

The KEY is to generate leads – or prospects that actually are interested in what you are doing now and what you might be doing in the future. When a prospect calls your free 800#, you want to give this person a description of what you are promoting and the choice of leaving their name, address, and phone number for more information. Here’s where your real promotion comes into play. Once you have this prospects name, address, and phone number, they should be put on your main mailing list – yes you will now develop your own mailing list of interested prospects – these are your gold mine names – this list will make you money now and will make you money in the future!

Once you get a lead, you want to send this interested lead information on your program. It is suggested you use the company’s material, but add a personalized cover letter. It could be as simple as typing one letter and just adding this prospects name to it when they call. After you send this prospect info, it is suggested you call this prospect up a week or two later. Even if you don’t wish to call, you should send out a second follow up 2-4 weeks later and then a third follow up a couple of weeks after that and even a fourth follow up.

Think about it for a moment? Who do you think you have a better chance to get to join your MLM program? A person who has never heard of you or a person who actually requested your information? The answer should be obvious.

All successful MLMer’s use this strategy of generating leads, then following them up. It’s pretty much a sure bet that if you are failing with your direct mail promotions, you are not using this generate a lead – follow it up strategy. You are using your direct mail campaign incorrectly then.

Here’s the real magic of this system. As your career in MLM develops, you will probably join into other programs too. Since you are developing a constant list of leads, don’t you think that the next program you join will also be good for these leads – even the ones that didn’t join your first program? You bet they are! That’s why you need to put these names into a database and keep follow them up. You will be building a positive relationship with all these prospects! And just like everything else in life, it’s a numbers game! The more prospects you can develop a positive relationship with, the more money you will make in your MLM career. That’s called networking!

Do yourself a favor. Answer some mail you get or reply to some ads you see. You don’t have to actually do anything when you get the information. Just make note of who follows up with you and who doesn’t. Make note of how they follow up and how many times they follow up. You will then be able to determine who is succeeding and who isn’t. It will be as obvious as the nose on your face.

Direct mail means mailing out your promotion to a prospect. However they way you mail it out and who you mail it to makes a big, big, big difference and your budget probably will determine which method you use. The two methods of mailing are: #1) simply by itself – “solo mailing” or #2) With other promotions – “cooperative mailings.”

It should be obvious to you but if it isn’t, a “solo mailing” means you are taking your flyer or your postcard and mailing it directly to a prospect and that prospect only receives your offer. You will always get you best response with “solo mailings” always!  Unfortunately it also is the most expensive method of direct mail promotion.

A “cooperative mailing” is the cheaper alternative to “solo mailings.” Your flyer is mailed with other flyers to a prospect, so when this prospect gets a cooperative mailing they will be receiving a bunch of offers together. Your response will be much lower then mailing it out by itself, but it also will be much cheaper – usually a lot cheaper!

Which is best for you? It depends on you. Good MLMer’s use “cooperative mailings” to generate leads and “solo mailings’ to these leads they get on a regular basis. That is what is suggested. However you may wish to only mail things “solo” or you may be on a limited budget that only allows you to mail with other flyers – “cooperative mailings”.  The author of this article does both types of mailings at reasonable rates so you may wish to contact him to determine which may be best for you to use.

Please also remember this: There is a little acronym advertiser’s use. It’s a girl’s name – T.I.N.A., which stands for “There Is No Average.” You will never know what average response you should be getting for your offer. There is no average. Every offer is unique and so is every mailing. Mailing your offers out to as many people as possible is the best way to get as many responses as possible. This is called testing. You may find some offers are better than others. Stick with the good ones, but by golly, keep testing! When you advertise, there are no guarantees of responses. Advertising is not a Science.  It is a calculated risk.  But by testing you are keeping your risks at bay!

Though you have no control over what response you may or may not get, you do have control over one thing. That is to advertise. If you don’t advertise, you certainly will not get any response. That you know for sure. When you advertise consistently and constantly at least you are giving yourself a chance to succeed. The better you grasp the “lead generating-follow up system”, the better your chance at succeeding!

How much is your business worth to you? That’s why you should only get involved with an MLM Program you believe in and can stick with and continue promoting for a minimum of 6-12 months. And don’t forget the intricate value of showing others that join with you this system. Why? Because in MLM, when your new distributor promotes, they are also promoting for you, because you make money on whatever they do. Could you imagine having 10, 20, 100, 1,000 distributors joining your MLM Program and then constantly generating leads and following them up? How big will your organization be then? Teach your distributors to duplicate what you are doing and you will be more successful then ever!

What type of prospects should you mail to? Well if you have a direct mail money making MLM opportunity, who do you think you should mail to? A person who either answered an ad for a direct mail money making opportunity or person who joined into and spent money on a direct mail money making opportunity! This type of person will always be your best prospect and again the author of this article; can supply these types of names to you.

One last goldmine suggestion. When you start building a quality mailing list for your own use and keep mailing to it regularly for your MLM program, don’t you also think others would be interested in renting it too? In MLM quality mailing lists are hard to come by. By you generating leads, cultivating them and following them on a regular basis, you will not only be building strong organizations that will make you lots of money, but you will also be developing a high quality MLM mailing list that will be in demand – this will also make you lots of money!

Advertising is not easy!  Advertising can be frustrating!  Be patient, work hard, be consistently, be persistent, test your offers, and continue to learn about your business!  MLM IS A GREAT BUSINESS! Treat it as such and you will succeed beyond your wildest dreams!!

The author of this article is Larry Costello, President of All-American Print & Mail, 2200 Wilson Blvd #102-57, Arlington, VA 22201.