Direct mail is perhaps one of the most powerful marketing mediums in use today. Few other marketing tools can deliver your message with exact precision at such a low cost. The amount of mail in your mailbox every day attests to the effectiveness of this medium. If it didn't work, your mailbox would be empty!

Here are eight reasons why I believe direct mail is still king of the marketing mediums:

Reason # 1: It’s working even when you're not.
Like the old saying goes: "In rain, sleet, or snow," the mail arrives. Whether you're sleeping, vacationing, working or walking, your direct mail is working for you. It gives your best sales presentation over and over again without your having to be present. Direct traffic to your website where you can sell people even more of your programs.

Reason # 2: It leverages your efforts.
Do you want to know how to waste your time? Give your best sales presentation to one person at a time. If you do this, you'll only sell one dance class at a time. Send out thousands of letters and your best sales pitch is being presented to thousands of people simultaneously. That's called "leverage!"

Reason # 3: It allows you to target with precision.
Instead of "spraying and praying" your message to people who may or may not be interested or even qualified to take advantage of your offer, direct mail allows you to pinpoint the people who fit your psychographic, demographic and geographic profile. Just be careful to make sure your piece is directed to your target audience.

Reason # 4: You get an immediate response.
Once you send out your direct mail piece it doesn't take long to get a response. Within one to two weeks, you'll receive about 80 to 90 percent of all those who are going to respond. If your campaign works, you'll know about it quickly. If it's a bomb, you'll know that quickly as well. Whatever the case is, examine what happened and move on to the next one. Don’t let one dud or one home run dictate how you will proceed.

Reason # 5: It's easy to track your return on investment.
Dance school owners can't afford to waste a single penny on wasteful marketing. With direct mail marketing you can code your mail pieces to determine the exact number of responses you received from each campaign.

And as I said before, the results of your direct mail campaign come back fast, so once you know what worked and what didn't, you can immediately start to tweak your mail piece to increase your response and hold your marketing dollars accountable.

Reason # 6: It's relatively inexpensive.
Depending on the size and complexity of the mailing piece it will cost you from $.50 up. You can send out a direct mail piece that includes your full marketing message. It is amazing what you can get into a small business size envelope and at the $.50 minimum. Photos, newspaper articles, letters, special reports and more can be put in these envelopes for about $.50. This means you can reach 100 target prospects for only $50. Comparatively speaking, that's a bargain! If you do a post card, it is even more cost effective as long as your message is crystal clear.

Reason # 7: It gets one-on-one attention.
One of the best things about direct mail is that it gets one-on-one attention from your target prospect. Unlike billboards or radio and television commercials that get a piece of your attention while two to three other things are also going on, direct mail is opened one piece at a time and read one piece at a time. It gives you the best chance of catching your prospect's attention and keeping it for a period of time.

Reason # 8: It's something you can touch and feel—it hangs around.
Direct mail is something that you can hold in your hand. It's not made of electrons that can be deleted with the twitch of a finger. It's not a radio frequency signal that is here and then gone a moment later. It is physical. It is something that can hang around for a period of time. It has "lingering" marketing effects.

All these reasons I've mentioned make direct mail a very powerful marketing medium that, if done right, can have a very high return on your marketing dollar.