How direct mail marketing can benefit business

How to effectively run direct mail marketing and how it can benefit your business.

Email campaigns are both useful and cost-effective, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the opportunity to use direct mail marketing. Direct mail can increase your brand awareness and customer base if done properly.

If you run a business that is purely online which requires you to open an account digitally, and without anything physical, this might not be as preferable. But if you run an eCommerce site this might be just what you need.

If you want to increase sales for your B2C marketing, you should explore every avenue you can. A well planned out direct mail campaign can have a huge impact on your business. In fact, data shows that direct mail is a proven marketing powerhouse with the highest ROI of 112% compared to other mediums like SMS, email, and paid search. Follow these tips for a cost effect mail campaign.

Identify your target market

Whatever your business may be, you need to target it towards a specific audience. Even if your service may be something general, you still need to target your marketing. Nowadays people can choose to opt-out of direct mail. Whether they are environmentally conscious or just don’t care for it, it doesn’t matter. This will already be a big help, as it would mean that the majority of people who receive your mail will have some interest in it.

Use web data and analytics to help define your audiences age, sex, geography, or even their income. Once you know what sort of people you are communicating with, you can alter your marketing approach to appeal to them. Make sure your message is clear and precise, and something that they can relate to.

Garner interest in your direct mail campaign

If your mail campaign is lacklustre or offers little substance, then it will most likely be thrown away. You can combat this by providing useful information, a gift, or even a discount. Discounts will help people stay interested in receiving direct mail and help build loyalty towards your brand. Providing expert knowledge and opinions will keep interest in your services.

Create a unique design that flourishes, standing out amongst the crowd. The first glimpse of your mail makes all the difference. If it appears messy and unorganised, they may not want to receive mail from you again.

Follow key principles for the success of your mail campaign

The costs of your direct mail campaign will include the costs of printing, envelopes, copywriting, design and postage. This will be an expensive undertaking. To ensure that you are getting your value for money, there are certain principles to follow called AIDA.

• Attention
• Interest
• Desire
• Action

Gain the attention of your target audience, then pique their interest (Maybe with a discount). Incite them to take advantage of an offer, and then give them something to do next. These principles should help with the customer lifecycle and build brand loyalty.

Rinse, and repeat

You won’t have the perfect direct mail marketing campaign on your first try. It could take numerous attempts to perfect or to get the best results. After any mail campaign, you should look at the data. What are the conversion rates? You can track a conversion rate by including a certain discount, and then seeing how many people used it. If you have a lot of people use this discount, then you had a good number of positive responses to your direct mail marketing. If you did not receive good conversions, then experiment with your mail design. Anything from the layout, wording, colours, or offers you included can change.

By testing and reviewing your content while keeping a close eye on conversions. You can perfect your mail campaign, making it much more effective and lowering the costs. Direct mail marketing can have a huge benefit towards the business if the time and resources are put into it.