What Are the Advantages of Direct Mail Marketing?
With everyone going digital these days, it’s nice to just get something physical in the mail. Whether it’s a carefully designed brochure, some promotional coupons, or an informal flyer, consumers are showing that direct mail marketing is still a smart way to market your product or service.
Don’t believe it? Here are a few advantages that come with a strategic direct mail marketing campaign.
Tangibility
In the digital age, it’s possible to reach millions by posting an advertisement on social media. But you can still have a high-success rate with mailing out tangible forms of your marketing. With direct mail marketing, approximately 80 to 90 percent of receivers open the mail and the response rate to these tangible marketing tools is 3.7 percent.
Just in case that sounds low, mobile has a response rate of 2.0 percent, social and email have a rate of 1.0 percent, and online displays have only 0.2 percent. People clearly love something that they can hold in their hands and take to the store with them.
Simple and cost effective
Although direct mail marketing requires the time, energy, and quality design that all forms of marketing are given, it’s still a rather simple and cost effective way to advertise for your company. Yes, you can pay pennies for ads on social media platforms. But the success of an online ad depends on how much the company you spend to have it displayed.
The internet can often feel like the wild west, since you don’t always know if things will work or how much money you should budget for it. But direct mail marketing has proven success rates, with 54 percent of people stating they receive mail from brands they like. And with mail not having a pay-to-play mentality, you could end up saving in the long run.
Building brand trustworthiness
To get someone’s home mailing address, they have to give it to you, meaning that they probably like your brand already. Use direct mail marketing to cement that customer’s trust. Send them special offers that only mailing-list members receive. Give them inside information on what’s coming up for your organization and what new services and offers you’re working on.
Data driven mailing strategy
Like social media, you can keep track of how direct mail marketing is impacting your business. The whole point of marketing is to inspire customers to act, track those actions, and see what kind of marketing instigates them. Measuring direct mail campaigns won’t be the same as checking analytics on a computer.
But you can digitize aspects of your mail to make tracking it easier. Instead of having written out coupons, add QR codes that people have to scan to get the coupon. That creates an actionable move that can be virtualized and turned into data for you.
Tapping into multichannel marketing
Direct mail marketing and all other forms of marketing together are known as “multichannel marketing”. Multichannel marketing is where companies interact with customers through a multitude of channels, like through the mail, social media, on the website, etc.
By having multiple channels where you communicate your message to consumers, you’re bettering your chances of inspiring action in people. And whether it inspires them to go out and buy a product or service or merely follow you on one of the social media platforms, this is moving them towards a connection with your brand.
Greener practices
Lastly, direct mail marketing can be greener and better for the environment than online campaigns. Since paper is one of the more recyclable items, especially when compared to plastic, mailing marketing materials to consumers can have a better impact on the environment. Not to mention, the energy and space required to hold all online data can be at the detriment of our planet.
