to one person at a time. If you do this, youll only sell one widget at a time. Send out thousands of letters and your best sales pitch is being presented to thousands of people simultaneously. Thats called "leverage!"   Reason # 3: 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.   Reason # 4: You get an immediate response   Once you send out your direct mail piece it doesnt take long to get a response. Within one to two weeks youll receive about 80% - 90% of all those who are going to respond. If your campaign works, youll know about it quickly. If its a bomb, youll learn that quickly as well.   Reason # 5: Its easy to track your return on investment   If youre a small business owner, you cant 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 didnt, you can immediately start to "tweak" your mail piece to increase your response and hold your marketing dollars accountable.   Reason # 6: Its relatively inexpensive   With just $.34 (at the time of this writing) 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 keep under the $.34 limit. Photos, newspaper articles, letters, special reports, and more can be put in these envelopes for under $.34. This means you can reach 100 target prospects for only $34. Comparatively speaking, thats a bargain!   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 your attention while two to three other things also have it 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 prospects attention and keeping it for a period of time.   Reason # 8: Its something you can touch and feel - it hangs around   Direct mail is something that you can hold in your hand. Its not made of electrons that