Direct mail marketing in the 21st Century
Why direct mail marketing still makes sense in today’s digital world.
Many successful multichannel marketers are finding out that roots in direct mail marketing and database marketing are powerful assets in our new “big data” world. Strategies like segmentation, targeting, responsive marketing, and next-best offer are not new concepts, but they do have new digital and non-digital applications and opportunities.
Imagine that you need to reach a particular market with a great offer but it is time sensitive. Then imagine that your promotion needs to reach a person with a particular title and message relevant to a particular market segment. You don’t have their email address and there’s no time to take advantage of the many online media vehicles. Direct mail to the rescue! Direct mail is still a very viable option for marketers, even with the wonderful online tools that today’s technology offers.
Direct Mail is:
- Real keepsake vs. fleeting, forgettable
- Excites all the senses and can be web-enabled
- Lasting reminder
- Sharable – Initiates conversations and stories
- Easily accessed and referenced
Many like to use email, it’s easy to use and affordable.
Actually, email is one reason it pays to use traditional direct mail marketing. You see, email has dramatically reduced the number of direct mail companies and mailers that individuals receive. Email also fills up the in-boxes of computers, tablets and smart phones. As a result, it does not receive the attention it once did. With fewer mailers coming to businesses and homes and more email overflowing our inboxes, it is easy to see why a well-crafted well-produced direct mail piece stands out.
Advantages of direct mail over email are worth noting
If your direct mail marketing list is current, you are assured of a high rate of delivery. That cannot be said of email. Moreover, with fewer pieces of mail arriving, your direct mail piece will at least get noticed, and even better, likely read. The limitless options available with design and production of direct mail — paper, colors, photos and illustrations – provide you with even more advantages over email. Speaking of options, traditional direct mail comes in virtually any shape and size you can think of, which in turn allows you to tell your story and deliver a compelling message in one amazing package. Plus you can add a myriad of sales-provoking items to that package, such as letters, brochures, coupons, photos, DVDs, samples, and more. Lastly, with the technologies afforded to direct mail, you can personalize every element of your direct mail package, without the expense of multiple print runs. With so much going for them, direct mail ideas are worth putting into your marketing mix.
Some ways to put direct mail marketing to work for your business
It has been shown that direct mail marketing is an effective way to generate traffic to a location, a website or an event. Besides generating traffic, direct mail also is a great way to generate sales leads. That is because it permits you to easily target and reach qualified and interested prospects. Direct mail can be used to acquire new customers as well. All you have to do is ask your current customers to pass the mailer along to friends and colleagues. There is no more powerful way to sell than to get a recommendation from a third party—your customers. The list of ways to put direct mail to good use keeps growing: direct mail helps you to cross- and up-sell, send out announcements of important upcoming events, and complement other media efforts such as email, web, social media, and mobile campaigns. If all this weren’t reason enough to embrace direct mail, this should cinch it—direct mail is a smart way to build brand awareness because it has been and continues to be the most trusted form of marketing.
Trust direct mail, because it really works
Trust. It is something many of the most successful direct mail marketers have built. That goes back from the early days of catalogue selling (think Sears & Roebuck, Montgomery Ward), to marketers of today such as L.L. Bean and Williams-Sonoma. They know the benefits to be derived from direct mail. That is why they put their trust in it, and why they are so successful.
