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In today’s digital world, your customers are inundated with online ads and email marketing campaigns. Almost 75% of consumers report feeling overwhelmed by email overload, and nearly 40% use an ad-blocking tool.
Digital marketing has its place. However, online ad fatigue makes it easy for it to get lost in the chaos. If you’re a brand interested in standing out, it’s time to get retro and reimagine an old-school marketing approach, direct mail advertising.
What is Direct Mail Advertising?
Direct mail advertising is a marketing strategy used to engage with your target audience offline. This form of advertising is physically delivered straight to your prospect’s mailbox, cutting out the clutter we see in the digital space. Direct mail advertising includes postcards, corporate swag, catalogs, or any other physical item a company wants to send prospects.
Why Direct Mail Advertising is an Effective Strategy
People Love Receiving Mail
Checking emails fills most folks with anxiety. However, visiting their mailbox has the opposite effect. In a 2020 study conducted by the United States Postal service, 65 percent of people said receiving mail lifted their spirits. Furthermore, your prospects actually want to hear from you via snail mail, with 59 percent saying they enjoy receiving mail from brands about new products.
Direct Mail Has a High Response Rate
Because you’re interacting with consumers in a memorable way, you’ll likely have a higher response rate than other digital channels. Ambre Zachmann an eCommerce Marketing Specialist at Printing for Less, says this is because of direct mail’s tangibility. “Your mail will nearly always be seen, but that’s not the case with your digital efforts. The nice thing about a mailer is that people tend to hold onto them and can easily refer back to them. We have had a number of customers who held onto one of our mailers and reached out months later. That is harder to do with digital.”
Direct Mail Has a High ROI
You may be surprised to learn that direct mail has a more reliable return on investment than other online mediums. The average ROI for a direct mail campaign is 29 percent, while the average ROI for display ads is only 16 percent. Melanie Handl, Printing for Less’s Custom Solutions Team Lead, notes that companies can expect their direct mail ROI to increase as they send more mailings to the same group of people. The more prospects interact with your brand, the more recognizable you’ll become.
Strategies to Make Your Direct Mail Advertising Interesting
Simply sending your prospects a note in the mail isn’t enough to ensure a successful direct mail advertising campaign. Like any other advertising medium, you need to be strategic with your approach. This starts by creating quality content. Below we’ve outlined our top tips for creating mail that moves prospects down the sales funnel.
1. Customization
Your prospects are bombarded with generic messages daily. If you want to differentiate yourself from your competitors, you need to take a different approach. Customers want to feel like they matter to your company. In fact, 80 percent say they’re more likely to buy from brands that provide a personalized experience. So, creating customized content is key if you want to set your direct mail advertising campaign up for success.
One easy way to personalize your content is by including your prospect’s name. This may seem a minor addition, but it has the power to make a huge impact. Studies show that simply adding someone’s name to your direct mail advertising can increase response rates by 135%.
2. Use a Powerful Image
The text you include in your advertisement is crucial. But the images you include are even more important. People can process images 60,000 times faster than text. This means you can portray a lot more information about your company with an image than with just words.
Since visuals are so important, Wes Kirk, our in-house mailing expert, recommends choosing images that represent what your company can do. “A photo of your contractor’s truck does not tell prospects how good your work is. Show before and after photos. Let them see what sets your firm apart from your competitors.”
3. Have a Clear CTA
Sometimes, marketers are so focused on compelling copy and engaging images that they fail to include a call to action (CTA). Without a clear CTA, your prospect won’t do anything after receiving your advertisement.
CTAs are short and sweet, so you need to get your message across quickly. Use command verbs like “order” or “download” to give your readers clear and specific next steps. To grab your reader’s attention, Ambre recommends making your CTA two times larger than the rest of your text.
4. Make it Part of an Omnichannel Marketing Approach
You’re probably not going to get a ton of traction if you only send your prospects one piece of mail. There’s an old marketing rule that says consumers need to interact with a brand seven times before making a purchase. But new research shows this number may be closer to 13.
Relying on direct mail alone isn’t going to get you the best results. Instead, make it part of your broader marketing strategy. Taking an omnichannel marketing approach uses a variety of mediums to interact with your customers. This helps create a seamless customer experience and gives them more opportunities to interact with your brand.
Cut Through The Noise
Online marketing is important, but if you really want to capture your customers’ attention, you need to take things a step further. Engaging prospects offline provides your company the opportunity to interact with them in a unique way. Need help creating high-quality mailers? Give us a call at 800-930-7978!
