This post comes from Bob deLaubenfels, who provides Help for Microsoft Publisher.

Big Sale imageThe start of the all-important Holiday Shopping season is fast approaching. Since 25%-40% of retail sales revenue for the year occurs during this season, all of you small retail business owners know that you need to maximize your marketing effectiveness.

One way to maximize your sales is through direct mail marketing of your products and your holiday promotions. A direct mail marketing campaign allows you to personalize each marketing piece by using mail merge to insert names and other information you have about your customers into the publication to increase the impact of the piece.

You can also track the effectiveness of your campaign so that you can use that data to improve future marketing efforts.

Publisher can help you.

 

First, you need to be sure that you write effective marketing copy. We can help you with this:
Tips for writing effective marketing publications
Tips for personalizing your publication

Next, design your direct mail campaign:
Launch a direct mail campaign with Publisher

And don’t forget e-mail:
Tips on e-mail marketing

Since you are doing direct mail, you want to personalize each piece by using mail or e-mail merge:

Publisher 2010:
Create a mail or e-mail merge

Publisher 2007:
Create an Address List for mail merge
Create a mail merge
Create an e-mail merge
Set up a mail merge in Publisher 2007 (video)

Finally, you want to be able track the effectiveness of your direct mail campaign:
Tips for tracking effectiveness

Oh, and don’t forget that Office has some other tools and resources for direct mail marketing:
Promote your business with Marketing Campaigns in Business Contact Manager
Market your products and services in Business Contact Manager
Using the E-Mail Marketing Service in Business Contact Manager
Marketing Programs Analysis

For more ways to prepare for the holidays, visit the Office.com Holiday page.

-- Bob deLaubenfels