Direct mail marketing is one of the oldest advertising strategies in the book. It involves delivering promotional materials through the letterbox and is designed to engage potential customers, so they feel inclined to investigate your business some more. You can post anything from special discount codes to corporate goodies. The reason why direct mail marketing continues to be used after all these years is that it genuinely works. It helps businesses to connect with their customers and clients in a meaningful way. If you still need convincing, then keep reading, as we are going to take a look at all the proven benefits of direct mail marketing in our article today. Here they are:
It Gets Opened
Twenty years ago, emails were marketed as the new-fangled alternative to direct mail. It is true that email marketing is more prevalent these days, but it isn’t necessarily any more effective. In fact, the opposite could be said. People are far less likely to open their emails than they are to their physical mail. Customers also tend to flag advertising as spam, meaning they will never even see the email in their inbox. As a result, the open rate of emails is incredibly low. Direct mail, on the other hand, has a much higher success rate. Most people immediately pick up their mail when it comes through the door and sort through it. This means you can strike them straight away, increasing the likelihood of them engaging with your marketing materials. As well as this, there is much less competition when it comes to direct mail marketing these days. Most companies have switched to email, so people’s letterboxes are no longer inundated with junk. This makes it much easier for your mail to stand out and actually get opened.
It is Tangible
Another massive benefit of direct email marketing is that it is tangible. This means that customers can pick up and hold your messages, maybe setting them aside for later so they don’t get forgotten about or putting them in their handbag. These are private areas that advertisers can’t otherwise reach, making them invaluable placements. For example, social media and television adverts are limited to the screen. If your promotional materials remain in the customer’s home, this provides a consistent visual prompt, so people are much more likely to open it and engage.
It is Targeted
Advertisers are able to obtain information on customers that goes beyond their name and address, allowing them to accurately target their demographic. This means that direct mail will only ever reach those to who it is highly relevant to. If you are worried about sending promotional mail to a fake person, don’t be. There are plenty of address verification tools that can help you with this and save you wasting your money. For example, you can use Lob’s address verification tool to ensure that each address is deliverable and that your messages will reach the right customers in the right place, at the right time. Targeted marketing is one of the very best ways to engage audiences and generate sales.
It is Personalised
Unlike other forms of advertising, direct mail marketing can also be highly personalised. For instance, social media adverts must appeal to a broad range of customers, as do billboard adverts. Meanwhile, direct mail marketing can be specifically engineered for each person on your mailing list. You can address them by name, immediately grabbing their attention. This also helps customers to feel more like the promotional material is relevant to them. Thanks to modern technology, computers and printer systems can craft emails that are entirely unique for each customer, using their background information or purchase history with your company. All this additional personalisation can help to build a relationship between the business and buyer as well – hopefully creating some brand loyalty.
It is Versatile
Perhaps the biggest benefit of direct mail marketing is its versatility. Advertisers can be inventive and come up with all sorts of ideas for promotional material. Physical objects do lend themselves more to creativity, after all. So, instead of sending out a generic leaflet, you could use special printers to make visually dynamic shapes or textures. There is also the option to send your customers little gifts, including branded pens, notebooks, or novelty goodies. These things increase the likelihood of customers engaging with the content. It can be uniquely intriguing and rewarding in a way that other marketing strategies are not.
It is Familiar & Trustworthy
Like we mentioned at the start of our article, direct mail marketing has been around for a massively long time. It feels familiar to us – particularly for elderly people who are adjusting to technology still. We don’t have to worry about any security issues when opening a letter, but the same doesn’t necessarily apply to emails or other internet adverts. This is especially true as cybercrime has increased so exponentially over the past few years. People can click one link and then find their details have been stolen or their computer has become riddled with viruses. So, direct mail marketing offers some familiarity and security. Customers know they can trust to open it.
It is Easy
Marketing has become increasingly complex over the past couple of years. You need to enhance all your content for search engine optimisation, create effective link-building strategies, improve your website for user experience, mobile compatibility, and so on. If you aren’t a tech wizard, this stuff can all be incredibly difficult and time consuming. So, direct mail marketing can feel like a breath of fresh air. All you need to worry about is the design, address list, and postage. Though it might seem complicated at first, once you have got the hang of things, it really is simple. The same cannot be said for repairing a broken website or rectifying an email marketing campaign that has been flagged as spam.
It is Cost-Efficient
Most businesses are deterred from direct mail marketing because they are worried about additional costs for the printing and postage of promotional materials. However, it has transpired that direct mail marketing is surprisingly cost effective. This strategy can be fully scaled to suit any budget. Regarding return on investment, direct mail marketing has an average rate of 29%, which is up there with online media marketing. What’s more, you don’t have to go all in to have a successful direct mail campaign. For instance, social media advertising requires being consistent throughout, while SEO also needs consistency and a complete transformation of your website in most cases.
It is Trackable
Finally, it isn’t as difficult as one might think to track the success of a direct mail marketing campaign. If you are running a marketing campaign that involves redeeming a discount through a mailed code, then you can easily see how many customers have engaged by tracking the number of times the discount code was used. You can also use unique website links or phone numbers with the direct mail promotional materials and track how many people have engaged with the campaign that way. These are some of the main benefits of direct mail marketing. We hope that you found our article informative and insightful.