Here at Litir Marketing making contact with clients or customers is so much a part of the mission statement that it's actually part of the name. 'Litir' or Irish for 'letter' refers to the good 'old' fashioned stamped envelope in the letter box. One way you can literally incorporate letters into your marketing is with direct mail.
Direct mail is a great way to provide targeted communications to specific segments of potential leads. Recent studies indicate that 47% of people aged over 65 and 41% of 45 to 54 year olds, read their mail daily. In this post, we'll look at three reasons why direct mail campaigns should be part of your next marketing strategy, such as the targeting and personalization capabilities, as well as the creative amongst competitors and tracking (i.e. reporting) possibilities.
Photo by erica steeves on Unsplash
A moment before the meat of this post! Before the virtues of direct mail marketing are extolled and excite you, remembering that any strategy needs parameters to determine its effectiveness is important. Setting a budget, purpose, and KPIs are the best way to examine the results of a direct mail strategy. Fundamentally: how much can be spent, what do you want the lead to do when they receive the communication, and how can you determine if they took that action?
Your 'send list' should be shaped by your budget, purpose, and KPIs. Determine what the function of the direct mail campaign should be, and your send list, creative and KPIs to track will follow naturally.
Targeting & Personalization:
Targeting via demographic segmenting can affect not just your list of leads but your messaging. The more you know about the residents the more specifically you can present them your product or service offering. You are even able to customize the offering to the individual demographic, providing incentives for segment A and a different set for segment B, perhaps based on their previous shopping history, etc.
Whether you're looking to target previous or possible leads, direct mail allows you to get specific in your sending. If you're looking at worldwide business, be mindful of regional regulations such as GDPR when defining your segments. It is always important to be versed on the legal! Being certain of the permission you ask and receive of your leads to contact them is vital.
Photo by Letizia Bordoni on Unsplash
The importance of personalization cannot be understated. According to a 2020 report, 70% of consumers surveyed said that direct mail is 'more personal' than online (i.e. email) interactions. Some research indicates that by adding a name to a piece of direct mail brands can increase the response rate by 135%. Personalization across the marketing mix affects your leads positively. Using someone's name in your communications helps build trust -- assuming that you obtained it properly. Always remember to be up to date on the T&C's of how to obtain and use data for your business.
Creativity:
There's no mistaking that there is a lot of noise in marketing. It's natural to want your brand or business to stand out amongst competitors and direct mail is a great way to accomplish that. By getting 'creative' with your direct mail you can deliver a piece of memorable marketing directly to your lead's door. Keeping your communication within the brand voice is important but don't feel limited by the brief.
Your creative should be shaped by your purpose.
Photo by russn_fckr on Unsplash
Perhaps you're sending a direct mail campaign to previous customers who are celebrating a birthday. Your creative could include birthday cake, candles, and a personalized wish for the individual. Or you might be announcing an annual sale and want to make sure that individuals who have ordered from that sale in the past but haven't since, are aware of the upcoming promotion. You could use product photography or imagery suggesting urgency, as well as incentivizing copy expressing a time limited offer, to drive action. But how can you as the client, track the results of the direct mail campaign?
Trackable:
One of the biggest headaches about 'out of house' marketing (i.e. billboards, television, newspaper or radio adverts) is that there is no 'real' way to track the ROI. But with direct mail, you can. This will help shape future budget and ultimately, future profit for your business. What are three of the easiest ways to track results on a direct mail campaign?
QR Code: A unique QR code on your direct mail can quite literally 'direct' users to a specific webpage where they will see the promoted offering as advertised. When you use a service to generate your QR code you can check how many times that QR code has been 'scanned' by an individual. Be warned though that QR codes are a generational adaption and to consider the demographics of your 'send list' before relying on them exclusively.
Coupon Code: Creating a unique coupon code for a specific send list will let you track the number of orders which come in using that code. Not a fool proof method, however, as individuals might visit your website and order without the coupon code (depending on the value of the incentive over the urge to shop) and you are left without a clear picture of ROI until you...
Run the Report: Perhaps the most arduous, this step will likely happen during your reporting period. By running the orders/appointments booked in the time frame as set by the direct mail campaign against the names who were sent the campaign(s) you will be able to see a direct correlation and infer results from those figures.
Photo by Charlota Blunarova on Unsplash
Summary:
Direct mail isn't going anywhere. When used in conjunction with a digital strategy, direct mail can be a workhorse for your business. From the T&C's of personalization and segment targeting to the creative edge amongst competitors, but especially the tracking capabilities, don't sleep on direct mail.
Get in Touch:
Learn more about how to create and deploy a direct mail strategy for your brand or business, today. Write us an email at liz@litirmarketing.com.
Comments