The main objective of a direct marketing campaign is to communicate with your selected target audience directly.
Although the number of communications sent can be massive, direct marketing is personalised by inserting the recipient’s name and address in a prominent place to increase engagement and generate leads.
The most effective direct marketing campaigns use selective lists of targeted prospects to send their campaign message to those who are most likely going to convert.
For example, you can create a specific list that might target new homeowners, a family who have recently had a baby, or retirees where you can connect with your chosen audience, providing an offer and CTA (call to action) on products or services that they might want or need.
1. Consumers Enjoy Getting Mail
Direct mail is personal allowing you to speak to your prospect by name, appealing to their desires and interests directly. You can emotionally connect through direct mail the way an online campaign can’t, a survey of millennials conducted by USPS showed that 75% of respondents said receiving personal mail makes them feel special. Direct mail marketing provides the receiver with a sense of nostalgia in the digital age we’re all living in.
2. Better Response Rates Than Email
Technology and automation have made it easier than ever to create visually appealing emails that can target the masses not to mention it’s fast and efficient. Direct mail on the other hand targets a more specific audience and according to The Direct Marketing Associations’ response rate report – direct mail’s average household response rate is 9% compared to 1% for email.
We still love email marketing, but in order to be the most effective an email campaign should be balanced with a direct mail marketing campaign.
3. Think Ahead With Direct Mail
The type of mailer you choose can come in many formats, like brochures, postcards, flyers, or booklets. You can also think outside the box and send a gift or a token item along with your company information and offer — always be sure the gift aligns with your brand, otherwise it might not make any sense.
Cloud10 Beauty did this perfectly when preparing for Christmas, anyone who purchased an item from their website in the months leading up to Christmas received a catalog showcasing their Christmas special offers and, all the must-haves (I would know as I fell right into the honeypot). Small Business Law Ireland does say 75% of Irish consumers prefer looking through a physical catalog rather than viewing online.
4. Avoid the Intense Competition of Digital Strategies
If you’re running a pay-per-click campaign, you know how competitive ranking for your targeted keywords can be. The online competition is vast, and bidding for the highest spot on a search engine results page can really eat into your marketing budget.
Let us tell you that all is not lost as fewer companies are now using direct mail as a part of their overall marketing strategy. With less competition, this gives your company the perfect window of opportunity to grasp your customer’s attention through their letterbox.
5. Drive Engagement Through Personalisation
You could argue that direct mailing is that missing personal touch in a frantic world. Speaking directly to your targeted customer builds trust and you’re more likely to gain customer loyalty if you address a potential or current customer by name and take time to research their needs.
For your mail campaign to succeed it must add value to your prospect’s life, and that’s where detailed, targeted mailing lists come in, you can connect with prospects who will gain something from your product or service using direct marketing.
Source: Royal Mail Market Reach
The KitKat Chunky mail campaign by Nestle is a great example of how to make your mail campaigns work. They sent out a postcard saying the postman couldn’t deliver their mail as it was “too chunky for your letterbox.” The humorous and personally addressed postcard received an 87% success rate, adding that personal touch and offering an incentive can increase consumer demand. We all need a good laugh (especially nowadays) and who wouldn’t love a free bar of chocolate.
6. Build Trust with Your Target Audience
A fully enjoyable and enticing customer experience is a non-negotiable for any business that wants to keep and grow its customers. As today’s consumer is more demanding than ever, and for good reason, they need to know they can trust your organisation will use their data responsibly, while also providing them with value at all points of interaction.
The Marketing Sherpas survey showed that 70% of millennials and 80% of baby boomers trust ads/catalogs, they receive in the post, mail offers a profound first point of contact with your target audience. Direct mail is also backed by science, you can see and touch it, this correlates with an individual’s cognitive behaviours by stimulating a thought, a feeling, or an emotion that builds trust and encourages a prospect to take action.
7. Improve Your Social Media Following & Website Traffic with Direct Mail
In the fast-paced digital world we find ourselves in, direct mail remains a constant with a much longer lifespan. Direct mail secures a better response rate compared to emails as we mentioned earlier, you can leverage that high response rate to get people active on your social pages and website.
Be sure to link your physical and digital marketing campaigns with coupon codes, scannable QR codes, hashtag campaigns, or giveaways on your social platforms or to the landing page of your website you want to drive traffic to. This ensures the success of your direct mail marketing campaign can be tracked and measured.
We’re Here to Help
Shanahan Direct Marketing feels direct mail marketing and ‘digital’ direct marketing are a synergy, working together is definitely better.
We have years of experience in direct mail fulfilment helping companies to develop a strategy that suits their needs. We can provide your business with the knowledge and best practice guidelines ensuring a prominent, cost-effective, and successful direct marketing campaign.
If you’d like to know more about the services we provide Talk To Us or call us directly on 01 460 9006 for a free consultation.
