If you’re looking for a revenue-generating powerhouse for your business, you’re looking for direct mail. Direct mail campaigns are the Old Faithful of marketing—businesses count on them because they’re dependable and promise a consistent ROI.

You can push direct mail’s ROI from consistent to record-breaking with a focus on personalization. Some online marketers mistakenly think their methods are more personal than direct mail. But thanks to Internet cookies, over-sent emails and Google Ad Words, consumers are turned off and tuning out. Direct mail bests digital marketing tactics in the area of personalization because, to the consumer, it feels more human.

The simplest way to personalize direct mail is using variable printing to address your business’s leads by name. But you can go even further than that.

The key to effective personalized direct mail is to get as much useful information as you can from your customers and prospects. Use sales records, surveys and social media to collect good data about your mail leads.

Now it’s time to personalize your direct mail piece. To craft a message that’s relevant to the prospect without being creepy, you’ve got to use your data carefully. Let’s say, for example, that your jewelry store wants to market diamond engagement rings. You’re working form a list of young people who you assume—or hope, for your business’s sake—are single (and you should know that from your data).

It makes sense to write copy that speaks to a buying audience in the mail piece you will send to males. On the other hand, the mail piece sent to females should feature different photos and copy. Although who will buy and who will receive such a gift varies, catering the message of the direct mail according to gender is a subtle method of personalization.

As this examples shows, the best marketers have to interpret the data and use it in a way that tactfully shows consumers that your business is just what they need. But you don’t have to be selling jewelry to personalize direct mail skillfully and in a non-intrusive way. Think about your audience and how their demographic information may affect their buying habits or business needs.

Work from your recipient data to go beyond names in personalizing your business’s direct mail. When you personalize your direct mail piece with a name, you’re working to catch your prospects’ attention. Go one step further—and one-up online marketers—by letting demographics inform your direct mail piece.

There is a time for everything in the marketing business. A time to stick with your current marketing strategy, a time to change your plan just a little and a time to try something completely different. The beginning of the year brings an exciting time to implement new strategies that could ultimately improve your company’s bottom line. Here are some ideas to help get your marketing in gear for 2012.

QR Codes
Technology rules the world these days, and consumers want information at their fingertips. QR codes are just that, a quick response code that your clients will love. The small square codes can contain a large amount of information, and anything that you would like to program into them. You can place them on direct mail, business cards, posters and even buildings. In terms of marketing, you can direct customers to a coupon, contact information or a link to a special promotion on your website. The possibilities for creativity are virtually endless.

Personalization
Nobody likes to be treated as just another number. And with variable data, your customers won’t feel like a number at all. Variable data printing allows you to personalize your mailings towards each of your customers. The more information you have on your customers, the more personal you can get. And in today’s social media world, there’s more information to get. This marketing strategy allows you to deliver messages that matter to your customers, meaning they won’t automatically ditch your mail because they find it irrelevant.

Content is King
With all of the information we ever need—and then some—readily available to us online, many think the traditional printed newsletter is dead. Oh, contraire. Consumers are information hungry and a well-produced, quick-read newsletter is just the ticket to keep your brand on your customers’ mind.

Presenting information is a key part of marketing your business, and communication is the key to success when it comes to presenting. But it doesn’t matter if you have the best product or idea in the world. You need your prospects to understand your pitch. No matter what your goal is, if you can’t present your information properly it just won’t click with your audience. If you’re looking to impress with your next presentation, avoid these presentation don’ts.

Don’t Read Your Slides
We’ve all been to this presentation. As you sit there wondering why you showed up when the presenter could have emailed you a list of bullet points, you probably lose interest because they handed you a printout and you can just read it later. Instead, keep your audience interested. Use keywords and phrases that keep your audience wanting more elaboration. Pass out note-taking materials before you start so that your audience will jot down your main points and feel obligated to stay intrigued in your presentation.

Don’t Phone it In
Think back to that monotone professor you had that made you fall asleep, no matter how interesting you found the subject matter. The same can happen in your presentation. If you aren’t excited about what you’re presenting, then your prospects won’t be excited either. Don’t be afraid to use some humor if appropriate for the subject matter. Make sure that overall, your presentation team has a certain spark that will please the potential customers.

Don’t State the Obvious
If your audience already knows the information you’re trying to feed them, they will lose interest within the first few minutes of your presentation. Give them something they don’t know, and show them why you deserve their attention. There’s a reason behind your presentation, and the audience is there to hear it. So give them something new and exciting to keep them hooked.

Don’t Use Different Styles
If you’re trying to put together a book, you wouldn’t use different fonts on every page. It seems pretty self explanatory, but make sure that you use common features so that your presentation is pleasing to the eye. Make use of a common color scheme, but don’t go too colorful and loud. Your information should be the main focus, not rainbow colored fonts.

Don’t Rely on Spellcheck
Having misspellings or any grammar flaws will quickly lose credibility with your prospects. If you can’t get the presentation right, how are they to trust you to do work for them? It can be easy to rely on spellcheck, but that doesn’t mean spell check will catch everything, especially if sentences don’t make sense. Make sure to look over your presentation multiple times for the best results.

All of these presentation don’ts can be avoided by practicing your presentation in front of coworkers or even family members. Have them tell you what you can improve on and what you may be missing. By recognizing these flaws, you should be able to see better results. And always remember to gain feedback from your audience so that you can continue to improve your presentation skills.

Many employees come back from the holiday break with a renewed ambition to do their best. So take advantage of this opportunity to channel this energy into your marketing plan. After all, marketing your organization is everybody’s business.

Push the Envelope
You might find that your company has been doing the same marketing for years, simply because that’s how it’s always been done. If that’s the case, it’s time to question your company’s tactics. There’s one certainty: things change. And such is the case with marketing. There are a variety of new marketing mediums you can incorporate into your marketing strategies. Take a look at how your competitors are using new tools like social media, variable data printing and QR codes. Then determine how you may be able to use them to grow your business.

Figure Out What Works
It’s great to know what is working from the past year’s marketing plan. One of the easiest ways to do this is to simply ask how you’re doing. Seems simple, right? That’s because it is. You can conduct surveys online, make phone calls or even ask customers in-person.

Once you gain feedback from your customers, you have to actually listen. It can be difficult to hear that something you thought would be a promotional success didn’t work out as well as you had planned. But remember that it’s better to make a change to your marketing for the betterment of the company’s bottom line.

Be Positive
When considering a new marketing plan, it’s important to consider your Return on Investment (ROI). According to Web Pro News, it can be beneficial to look at each marketing activity individually and determine if you had a positive ROI rather than evaluating a comprehensive budget. If not, it’s time to implement a new strategy for the places that are lacking. Keep the positive ROI activities the same, or think of ways that you can improve them.