How to make your direct marketing less effective

[Daniel O.]

Every couple of weeks, I get a direct mail attempt to buy a property I purchased from a bank a few years back at a very very good price. It has roughly tripled or quadrupled in value in the eight or so years I have held it.  These offers use terms such as "final notice", "urgent", "offer will be terminated" etc. You get the idea. If you are reading this, you have probably either sent or received these notices yourself. Some weeks I get two or three of these for the same property. I received another one this morning, and this has prompted me to offer some advice to folks using direct marketing. Here are some of the strategies I've seen marketers use to make their efforts less effective:

1: Ask me to call as soon as possible, but don't include a phone number anywhere on the mailing.

2: Don't include any sort of contact info -- company name, address, etc. -- so that I have no way to check to see whether this is a scam. 

3: Send me offers to buy for cash properties I have never had any sort of interest in, ownership or otherwise. 

I could go on, but you get the idea. Do direct marketers who don't include a way for their target audience to reach them have much success?  Might want to fine-tune something!  And can you deduct direct marketing expenses  as a business expense if you don't include your contact info?  Just wondering. My accountant was laughing too hard to give me a straight answer.