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From grocery cards, to club member cards, to library cards, the average household belongs to 12 loyalty programs. Half of all Americans use some form of loyalty card every day- that means right now your customers and potential customers are using loyalty cards. Loyalty programs are marketing efforts that reward loyal buying behavior, which is behavior that benefits your business. Some examples include programs that allow you to receive a free item after a certain number of purchases or add up reward points for gifts.

It’s clear that people understand the value of membership to loyalty programs. 64% of Americans said their shopping decisions are affected by loyalty programs.

You can add value to your membership program with loyalty cards. Loyalty cards market you business to existing customers and to those who see the card. The cards provide useful data-gathering tools to help you enhance your marketing and customer service efforts.

If your company does not already offer a loyalty program, you should consider this as a marketing initiative for 2010.

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There are often many goals associated with any direct mail campaign but the ultimate goal always seems to be to drive potential customers to your business and increase sales. Achieving this goal is not simple, however, and the planning begins long before the piece is designed. A firm understanding of your target market and what offer will capture their attention is the first step.

As an example, if you are a restaurant that has a strong customer base for your “happy hour” time, but want to draw more of a dinner crowd, offering a free drink might not be the best offer. Instead, something like $15 off any purchase of $25 or more (excluding drinks) might be a better idea.

There is a fine line when considering what to offer customers. You want to increase sales in the immediate future, but the best offers are ones that draw in potential customers who are likely to come back. Knowing your audience and really considering or even testing different offers is the best way to meet your goals through direct mail.

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In a report from Balihoo, a provider of local marketing automation technology and services, direct mail is listed as one of the top marketing trends for 2010. The reason cited is the negative affect of no-call lists, e-mail spam rules, and untargeted broad media on a marketer’s ability to reach audiences. Direct mail is a way to reach your audience in a targeted manner.

The report also makes the prediction that better targeting and new, advanced tools to personalize messaging and track results will lead to surge in direct mail. The full article can be found here.

Direct mail has evolved a great deal from the days of traditional postcards. There are now direct mail products available that can have encoded magnetic strips and link right to a business’s point of sale system. These pieces are easy to track and secure. Many people view direct mail as a fading marketing medium, but fail to consider all of the advantages direct mail has to offer.

One of the biggest advantages for direct mail is the ability to target and personalize your message. Broad media, such as tv, are not as easily targeted nor can you personalize a message specifically to a single recipient.

Direct mail is an affective medium in terms of redemption and costs and should not be overlooked when planning 2010 marketing.

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Often, small businesses write off plastic card mailer campaigns because they are more expensive than traditional post card campaigns, but as one restaurant owner did recently, taking the time to work through the ROI can help small business owners to see the value behind spending more on this type of marketing campaign up front.

In the case from above, the owner of a single location restaurant figured that she would be spending about $3,795.00 upfront, but based off her average ticket price and the average redemption rate of plastic card mailers, she saw the potential to profit at least $2,500.00 from the plastic card mailer marketing campaign.

How did she come up with that number?

She took an estimated total cost of the plastic card campaign at $3,795.00 (for roughly 5,000 card mailers) and assumed 7% of people would redeem them. She then figured if the 350 additional customers spent the restaurants average ticket price of $30 and her costs are roughly $8,000 including the marketing campaign, then she stood to profit $2,500.00.

While this process does take some time, it can make a big difference when any small business considers a marketing initiative. Because a plastic card mailer campaign that costs more up front can have the potential for a much higher profit than a cheaper traditional direct mail campaign, it is actually a great way for small businesses to use their marketing dollars.

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