Direct Mail Marketing Best Practices
There is no denying the fact that digital media has completely changed the marketing landscape. However, businesses now have a wonderful opportunity of connecting with their potential and existing clients. This could be through emails, social media, paid ads on search engines and more. On the other hand, the emergence of digital media hasn’t dented the effectiveness of direct mails. In fact, as many successful marketers will tell you, without an effective direct mail marketing practice, your marketing strategy is incomplete.
The marketing industry is fiercely competitive. As a result of which most consumers are inundated with calls, text messages, emails and direct mail from myriad sources. Therefore, to increase the likelihood that your marketing material is read or opened in the first place, it’s important to stand out from the clutter. So there are different strategies that you can employ to create an effective and successful direct mail marketing campaign; let’s take a look at the top 10 tips.
Thoroughly research your target audience
Before you even think of creating a direct mail marketing strategy to target your audience, it’s important that you thoroughly research the demographics, their interests, and what they may need. This will give you an insight into what type of marketing material they are likely to find useful.
Create content that’s different
If you want to increase the probability of your mail being opened and read by your target audience, it’s important to create copy that stands out from the rest. You can employ the help of professional designers and copywriters. And they can create attractive, appealing direct mail content to grab the attention of your target audience. You can also make you mailers lumpy as it raises the curiosity of consumers, and they become eager to find out what’s inside it.
Include promotional products in your mailers
To increase the effectiveness of your direct mail marketing, include a promotional product, such as a pen. This will help you create a positive perception of your brand in the minds of your target audience. Also, including something useful in your mail will increase the anticipation of your audience, and they will look forward to your mailers the next time around.
Provide a link to your website
You may be using traditional paper (mass and/or trade print) advertising. But that does not mean you can’t integrate this into your online marketing campaigns. Not only should you provide a link to your website in your direct mail piece. But you can also provide an incentive to do so. For example, a coupon placed on a specific page that the URL links to. This page can also include a sign-up form for your email mailing list, offering future company news, coupons, and discounts. Likewise, keep in mind modern consumers are more likely to find your company through online searches. In addition, anything you put in print advertising can be duplicated and placed online, to reach a different audience.
Make the content personal to the consumer
Take the time to study and learn about your target customer. Then customize your message with offers and information that would appeal specifically to them – right down to the packaging. Therefore, your content should directly address their needs, desires, and concerns. Furthermore, you can even segment your recipients further. And send different pieces (with adjusted content) based on each segment. However, don’t forget to include a powerful and compelling call to action. As well as an easy way to get more information and/or contact you.
Enhance the presentation
With email marketing, you are limited solely to a single sentence in the subject line. But no matter how strong your headline, it’s possible that it will be viewed as spam and end up never being seen. However, in a print advertisement, you can incorporate eye-catching logos or pictures. As well as using your company’s colours to make the piece stand out – all visible with one glance. Therefore, a compelling message and graphics makes it less likely that your ad will end up in a recycling bin.
Connect with your other marketing campaigns
Combining your direct mail data marketing programme with other channels, such as social media’s and email marketing, allows for multiple touches and an expanded audience. A great example is those mailers you receive that are filled with coupons. Many of these companies concurrently advertise these offers on social media and via email to stimulate interest. A prospective customer may throw the paper coupon away, but they may notice the email from the business and take action, or vice versa. In order for your cross media marketing campaign to be most effective, make sure that your message is consistent across all channels, meaning that all offers and claims about your business are the same on each platform.
Don’t create a sales brochure
Companies invest capital and time in creating their direct mail campaigns, and it’s only natural to expect a good ROI from them. However, it is also important to remember that the aim of direct mail marketing is to create awareness about your brand and create conditions that increase the probability of a sale. Creating out-and-out sales brochures will only bore your customers and lead to a decline in interest in your marketing communication. You should use your direct mailers to create a conversion with your target audience and raise awareness about your brand.
Mail an odd looking package
The odd looking package doesn’t have to be extremely large. You could mail out your letter in a bubble wrapped envelope and people will open it up to see what’s inside. Usually, people think it’s a gift or something important, as it is wrapped in bubble wrap, so they will open it up to see what’s inside to see what made the package bulky.
Refine and update your list
As you receive feedback and new responses, make sure you keep those records current. Having your sales team connect with existing clients on a regular basis will help in keeping your internal list accurate. The fresher the data the more accurate it will be, try verifying it with your customer every now and again, for example, verifying if their details are same and them reading them out to check. Also make sure to assess your progress. This is so that you can see the results that you are getting, and if it is not matching your targets then it gives you some incentive to push on. This will also help you see how well the campaign is going, and you could tweak a few things and see how the results differ. Eventually you will start to see the results you were after.
To enhance the response rates from your direct mail campaigns, why not seek fresh and accurate direct mail data? This will accompany the above points, giving you the best chance for optimising your direct mail campaign.
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