As exciting as digital marketing options are, they should not replace direct mail services in your advertising campaign. Direct mail takes more work to create a great campaign, but it is worth the effort. Your conversion rates on any direct mail campaign will reflect the effort you put in. These six simple tips will help you plan and implement a great direct mail campaign, regardless of your budget.
- Determine what you want from your audience. Direct mail services help you create materials designed to do a variety of things: create new leads, build your customer base, update existing customers, build brand loyalty, move inventory and more. Decide on what you want a mailing to accomplish before thinking about ad copy.
- Create a convincing ad. Once you know what you want from customers, you need to find a way to convey that clearly and concisely. Direct mail offers you a way to connect with consumers, but you have a very limited time window. Your ad must convey a complete message at a quick glance. Direct mail lets you include a lot of information, but you need a great hook to get recipients to continue reading after the first few seconds.
- Schedule delivery times carefully. Unlike digital mediums, direct mail services has a lag time between your finished design and receipt by your mailing list. Printing and sorting your mailing takes time. Plan your campaigns in advance to ensure consumers receive your mailing several days in advance of a planned sale or other event.
- Personalize your message. One of the largest benefits to a direct mail campaign is the ability to craft a personalized message. When appropriate, be sure to address your target consumers by name. If you have an unverified mailing list, consider targeted salutations that do not include a name. For example, if you are sending out a mailing for Valentine’s Day, you might use the salutation: Dear Romantics or Dear Couples. This helps personalize without giving offense if a name is spelled wrong.
- Include multiple points of contact. Not every mailing recipient wants to visit your store. Make sure you point recipients to your website, telephone number and physical address, so they can decide how to get in touch.
- Plan for multiple mailings. Using direct mail services to send out bulk mailings helps keep costs down, but only a few recipients will respond to each mailing. Consider the benefits of sending out more targeted follow-ups, regularly. A letter directly to a customer referencing a prior campaign helps build continuity.
As with any advertising medium, repetitiveness breeds success. The more you mail, the more success you will have. No campaign starts off with sky high conversions. Using direct mail services produces a cumulative effect. The first mailing might garner several responses for a sale, and the second might reengage existing customers. These six tips help you stay focused on your goals as you design your next direct mail campaign.