Direct Mail Marketing Ideas

Direct mail works. It’s an affordable way to directly reach a targeted audience with your business message. Anyone from real estate agents to fitness centers can benefit from direct mail.

If you haven’t been able to get your direct mail campaigns to get results, keep reading. Take a look at these direct mail marketing ideas to supercharge your next mailings.

1. Design for Attention

What kind of mailing are you going to do? Are you going to do a postcard or will you have an envelope with a letter?

You need to design your envelope or postcard to get attention right away. For example, the envelope can have a deadline that encourages people to open the envelope right away.

A postcard can have one bold headline that captures attention right away. You can’t afford to have a cluttered postcard with too much information. It will take too much effort to figure out and people will throw it away.

2. Have a Call to Action

The most important aspect of your direct mail piece is to tell the reader what’s next. Do you want them to call you? Fill out a form on your website? Make a donation to your charity?

People need to be told specifically how they can take action. Make sure that your call to action stands out, is clear, and concise.

3. Use a Good List

Did you buy your direct mail list? Some companies will sell lists that aren’t relevant to your audience or have outdated information.

You want to make sure that you use a leaflet distribution company that has accurate information and can distribute your pieces to the right audience.

4. Direct Mail is a Campaign

The biggest mistake that businesses make with direct mail is that they treat is as a one-off. In other words, they’ll send one mailing and that’s the entire campaign.

That’s not going to do anything for your business. You need to send multiple mailings to make your direct mail campaigns most effective.

Think of it as an email marketing funnel. You don’t send one email asking for the sale. Instead, you let people know about your business, why your business is the best in your area, and how people can work with you.

You should take the same approach with your direct mail campaign. Map out multiple mailings, with the purpose and the call to action for each one.

5. Know Your Target Audience

How much do you know about your target audience? You want your direct mail piece to be relevant to the person receiving it.

Do some research into what their major issues are and how your business can help them solve them. For example, a gym direct mail piece can be for weight loss. A campaign for a dentist can talk about the confidence that comes with a healthy smile.