If you are trying to make your business stand out, you should consider doing a direct mail campaign. Whether your company works directly with other companies or you target consumers at home, you can benefit from using letter printing and mailing services to contact your customers where they are. Here is what you need to know about direct mail marketing.
What is Direct Mail Marketing?
Instead of using digital media, direct mail marketing involves physically mailing papers, postcards, brochures, letters, or promotional products to your potential customers. B2b direct mail is an outbound form of marketing or advertising. The chances are that you’ve received several marketing pieces from local or national businesses trying to introduce you to their goods or services.
Many companies will send free samples, something you can’t necessarily do with physical products online. Other businesses use mail to reward current customers or promote gaining referrals. Direct mail is also a great way to send coupons or announcements. Because so many companies are relying on e-mail to spread their marketing message, direct mail will make your business stand out. Even if your promotional material is thrown away, it will be seen. Promotional e-mails can easily be filtered or deleted without someone taking a single look at them.
How To Create a Direct Mail Marketing Campaign
At its base, a direct mail marketing campaign is simple: sent something to existing or potential customers. Merely sending mail without a plan can be expensive and produce a low return on investment. Here is how to successfully plan your campaign.
1. Target Audience
The first step is to determine who it is you want to target. In some cases, targeting a specific zip code can be useful. This approach often works for restaurants that want to send out coupons to homes in their delivery area. On the other hand, if your company offers private tutoring for standardized graduation tests, like the ACT or SAT, your best bet would be to target families with children in high school.
Sometimes you can purchase lists of contact information based on your desired demographics. Compiled records usually come from different sources like phone books, school directories, or other public pieces of information. Compiled lists are often cheaper, but may not break down the people into specific enough categories. Response lists are made up of people who have signed up to receive direct mail. These lists offer more particular data about people, but at a higher price.
Read more: Simplify sending without leaving your office
2. Create your direct mail piece
Create the piece that you are going to send. You don’t have to go crazy into the design details, but make sure your piece stands out. Make sure to include some call to action: register today, set up a free consultation, or visit our website, for example. If you’re sending a coupon or promotional piece, put an expiration date on it to encourage customers acting sooner than later.
3. Package and Send
Depending on what you are sending, you may need to create an assembly line or direct members of your team to put everything together. You can also use a printing and mailing service to do this work for you. Make sure to address each piece clearly so it will be delivered to the correct place. You also don’t want to forget to include a return address. If your pieces are sent back to you for some reason, like an incorrect address, you can make the appropriate notes or changes on your mailing list.
4. Track Results
It’s always worth keeping track of what works. When possible, create a unique web page or coupon code for recipients. By doing these things, you can see exactly how many people acted because of your campaign. You can make changes and test what kinds of marketing piece work. Most importantly, you can show those results with actual data as opposed to guessing if something works or not.
Conclusion
A direct mail marketing campaign might be precisely what your company needs to push forward, find new customers, or raise general awareness of your brand. You don’t have to replace your digital marketing efforts but can complement them with a more personal touch. Of course, creating your direct mail campaign takes proper planning and execution. Plan it, track it, and succeed with it.
