In order to stay competitive today, businesses must look for innovative ways to market to their target audience. With so many digital marketing channels available, this may seem like a daunting task.
Many people think direct mail is an outdated method for reaching prospective clients. However, going old school may be just the thing you need to stand out among your competitors.
It turns out that despite technological innovations to the way businesses market themselves, there are still major advantages of direct mail advertising.
Let’s go over eight primary benefits direct mail campaigns will provide to your business.
1. Highly Targeted
Instead of casting a wide net, direct mail allows you to tailor the campaign to your target audience. This could include both current and prospective clients.
Part of any good marketing campaign involves understanding what your customers want and need. Once you’ve identified this, you can use direct mail to create urgency. You can send offers directly to the people you know have an interest in your product.
This will increase the value of your campaign. Your ads have a higher chance of converting new clients and increasing sales from customers you’ve done business with for years.
A highly targeted direct mail will also provide a clear understanding of customer response to your offers.
2. Easily Personalized
In addition to targeting consumers with a need for your products and services, one of the other advantages of direct mail advertising is that you can personalize your offers.
Personalization allows you to form an instant relationship through the use of a message or other information. This shows potential customers you value their specific needs.
Aside from increasing the chance that your audience reacts to your offer, personalized direct mail makes you more memorable to consumers. Simply by addressing them by name and including a personalized message will make them more eager to do business with you.
3. Flexibility
Different marketing campaigns have different goals. One of the great things about direct mail is that it offers flexible solutions for many different initiatives.
Young businesses can mail coupons to potential customers that may not have heard of them yet. While this isn’t a long-term marketing approach, it’s a great way to say hello to your client base.
You can also use direct mail to deliver information or reminders to existing customers. Personalizing this material is a great way to reinforce the relationship you have.
Direct mail can also help you gather useful information from your target audience. Sending out surveys with product incentives is a great way to get a better grasp on what your customers want from your industry.
4. Cost-Effective Marketing
Saving money is important, especially if you’re a small business. Direct mail provides a cost-effective way to reach your audience.
A huge advantage is that you can create the material yourself with simple desktop software. Plus, high-quality printing is relatively affordable.
When trying to save money, a great technique is to do a small, test run of your campaign. Mail out a small quantity first. You can then scale the campaign depending on the results.
Another great advantage is that mail rates are also affordable. You can even form a relationship with a professional mailing service. To learn the advantages of this, read more here.
5. Measurable Results
If you’re not tracking the results of your marketing campaign, how can you determine if it’s effective? Direct mailing makes this process easy.
A great way to do this is by including vouchers with your next campaign. These vouchers may contain a redemption code for online purchases or simply ask that the customer redeem it at a store.
Doing this allows you to gauge if your mail campaign is attracting the eyes of your customers. If you’re not happy with the numbers, it may be time to repurpose your campaign and try a different approach.
This is also a great way to test new audiences to find out if there’s a market you’re missing out on.
6. Build Trust
One of the negative aspects of digital marketing is that the internet is flooded with ads in virtually every industry. The result is that consumers no longer know who to trust.
With direct mail marketing, you have an opportunity to build trust using your logo, graphic elements, and information about your business. The difference is you’re no longer lumped into the rest of the ads seen on social media.
This is where personalization really comes into play. Sending out individually personalized offers create an instant relationship and lets your customers know you care. This trust translates to brand loyalty which translates to customer retention.
Building trust also helps your business reputation, which will lead to the higher conversion of new customers.
7. Simplicity
Mail campaigns are easy for your business to create and implement. The programs needed to build a great looking ad are readily available and user-friendly. There’s no need to turn to a marketing agency.
Direct mail programs also allow you to easily import and track mailing lists. This means the entire process can happen in-house.
These campaigns are also simple for your customers. Many digital marketing ads require people to jump through too many hoops. However, direct mail provides a straight-forward message, delivering all pertinent information then and there.
You can also deliver a simple call to action that makes the buying process easy for your customers.
8. It’s Physical
When it comes to marketing, direct mail provides your customers with something tangible. This increases the likelihood they’ll look at it. This is much more effective than emails, which can easily get ignored.
Even though digital communication has dominated for many years, people still like receiving mail. And even though an advertising offer won’t elicit the same response as a letter from a friend, there’s still a good chance of creating customer engagement.
Boost Your Business with Direct Mail Campaigns
Digital marketing techniques may seem like the best way to reach customers today. However, with so many businesses competing for attention, employing traditional methods can make you stand apart from your competition.
Start implementing direct mail campaigns and take your business to the next level.
For more articles geared toward helping your business succeed, check out our blog today.