A direct mail marketing campaign could be your greatest asset but not if your entire budget is paying for postcards. Let me give you a scenario: your boss comes to you and says, “It’s time to update our marketing strategy” and you tell him, “Okay” because what else are you suppose to say to your boss. Naturally you hit up Twitter, LinkedIn and Google and realize you have no idea where you should start. So much has been said on the subject of a direct mail marketing campaign that we decided to pair it down to three singular improvements you can make.
Know your audience
It might be the “way they’ve always done it” but let’s stop solely buying a random group of addresses. Know your audience, know who is getting the mailer and what makes them tick? This is going to sound funny but don’t mail to anyone who won’t buy from you. Spend 33% of your time understanding your potential client and spend $100 on your best prospect, instead of 1$ on 100 shots in the dark. Now that you know what makes them tick, make it easy for them to respond, contact you and buy! If you do buy the address sheet, do your research so you are only sending to the target market.
Tailor your direct mail
Don’t send a postcard. You can do so much better than that. We understand that the post office has created this magical flat rate for “4×6” mailers and it just so happens to be in your budget. But now that we know our target market, we can tailor each message we send out. Did you know you can print a different message on each mailer? It’s called variable data and you can decide to send one message to women ages 25-45 and another to college students ages 18-25. If you really want to get some attention, once a year mail something crazy. Need some more ideas? Invite your printer to your next brainstorming meeting.
Jump from the Junk
Do you remember when everyone was using that font that looked handwritten? That tactic is so old! What if you mailed this piece to your house? Would it land in the stack of junk mail on the edge of the coffee table? Make your direct mail piece so substantial, that it will literally JUMP out of the junk pile. Here are a few ideas for you:
- Send a multi-piece campaign
- Use quality paper
- Use an actual stamp
- Design your packaging
We helped Franklin Covey design and distribute this high quality invitation for a technology expo they have next year. As you can see, they used a cool color palette, industrial images and high quality paper (Reich Shine) in order to create the quality experience Franklin Covey desired.
If you want more tips to improve your next direct mail campaign, check out the blog where we list 52 Hints to help your next campaign. Or contact us at 801-223-8666. We would love to help you achieve your brand’s direct mail version 2.0.
With more and more businesses focusing online, people have under valued traditional direct marketing. In fact, it seems like there is a lot less competition in the mailbox. That being said, you still have to know your audience and stand out so your piece doesn’t end up in the trash.