Direct mail marketing is when businesses send marketing messages through the United States Postal Service (USPS) or another mail service. Effective marketing materials include postcards, flyers, catalogs, business cards, mailers, and more, depending on the business’s creativity!
While businesses must also focus on digital and email marketing in our technical world, traditional direct mail marketing can be super effective, especially when used in conjunction with digital efforts.
So, what direct mail marketing avenues are the most persuasive? And how persuasive are they? Read on to find out.
Types of Direct Mail Marketing
Brochures can be great things to send to potential customers or clients outlining your services or new products. Businesses can get creative with graphics and messaging and there is plenty of space in a brochure to get your message across.
Perhaps you are a new small business owner who wants to target a certain neighborhood. Consider sending out your business card in a nicely-printed or hand-addressed envelope to let people know who you are and what you do!
Direct Mailers
Mailers, or rack cards, are great ways to send deals or other incentives to get customers in your door. When you include a persuasive call to action (CTA), a mailer can be a great marketing tool!
A calendar could be a super-creative direct mail marketing idea. In fact, according to MailChimp, a gym in Brazil sent out calendars in the shape of a man and a woman that got slimmer as they flipped through the months. That’s a creative marketing campaign to get more members!
Depending on your business, sending a catalog to a particular demographic or area can be a smart way to get sales. Offer a discount code unique to the mail campaign and you can see exactly how powerful your direct mail marketing efforts can be!
How to Make Direct Mail Advertising Persuasive
There are lots of ways to make sure your message is coming across loud and clear through direct mail pieces.
First, you need to decide on the goal of the direct mail campaign. The goal will help you define your audience. The target audience will help determine your demographic, which will guide your design. Plus, zeroing in on who you are sending mail to will help you find out where to send it! The USPS has great mapping tools compiled with census information that makes up their EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) service.
Next, you will want a strong call to action message. Again, decide what the goal is of your campaign. If you want more sales, include a discount code unique to the mailers. If you want more calls, make sure to set up a specific phone number to get potential customers who get your mail to call.
By including a unique coupon code or phone number with your direct mail marketing campaign, you can easily track the business you get from the mail campaign, one of the misconceptions with traditional marketing! While digital ads can give more immediate data, traditional marketing could lead to more quality business.
In fact, according to a marketing survey by Marketing Charts, direct mail marketing had a 29% return on investment (ROI), nearly overtaking social media marketing. Another study by Go Inspire Group found that response rates of digital and direct mail marketing were around the same, but businesses that sent out mail made more money from the campaign. The survey concluded that “astute marketers should not be regarding direct email and direct mail as a choice — an either/or decision — but should be exploring how the two mediums are combined to provide the greatest incremental, complementary effect.”
See, print is not dead! When direct mail coincides with a digital campaign, magic can happen! Consider sending direct mail with a creative hashtag or bar code that scans to a YouTube video, your business’s social media, or landing page explaining the campaign…are your creative juices flowing yet? There are a million different ways to get creative with marketing strategies!
Digiprint | Direct Marketing Efforts
We can help with your business’s direct mailing needs! Our in-house graphic designers are experts at creating cost-effective but eye-popping mail pieces that don’t look like junk mail. Plus, with our fulfillment and mailing services, you don’t have to store your mailers or collateral or even send them out yourself.
Reach out for a quote to see what we can do for you!
