Summary
- Advertisers are considering multiple media to best reach and engage their valuable customers.
- Increased interest in direct mail presents a key opportunity for marketers — read on and get tips for campaign success.
Increased interest in direct mail presents a key opportunity to diversify your marketing efforts. With more than 81% of people in the United States always or sometimes working from home (February 2022 data from Gallup research), an increasing number of businesses are revisiting direct mail marketing — and for good reason. Mailboxes are rarely as cluttered as email inboxes, making it much easier to grab the attention of customers. But the real catalyst has been increased consumer interest.
As people continue working at home, the February 2022 Vericast Awareness-to-Action Study found that 71% of consumers and 68% of millennials regularly read direct mail ads. That’s a lot of eyes on your brand. The timing couldn’t be better to implement a direct mail marketing strategy to complement your existing efforts to drive awareness and sales. Implement the following ideas to build successful direct mail campaigns.
Access, analyze, and act on great data
When you know and understand your customers, it becomes that much easier to tailor a direct mail marketing campaign around their specific needs.
For example, the Vericast Consumer Intel Report revealed that 66% of all consumers use coupons they get in the mail, but the percentage is higher amongst millennials. Around 72% of millennials and 81% of millennial parents use coupons. Some of this traction around coupons might be because inflation hit a four-decade-high, driving up costs across the board – cost increases that could be offset with coupons – but there is also a growing trend for consumers to be more thoughtful about their spending.
Data can give you a glimpse into consumer preferences and the buyer’s journey, allowing for more relevant direct mail campaigns. You can offer the right promotion at the right time to the right person or the right neighborhood and can also have options to tailor your approach to specific households and their preferences. Each household or neighborhood will respond differently, so use a data-driven approach to build direct mail marketing practices that focus on relevant messaging and targeted media spending to drive results.
Make efficiency a central focus
One significant component of any direct mail marketing campaign is, naturally, the mail. That means printing, preparing, and delivering a promotion calls for partners that understand the importance of postage and distribution. Without a knowledgeable partner, the time and money involved in a marketing campaign can quickly balloon — and you could risk missing your target audience or window of opportunity altogether.
When evaluating a marketing partner, consider every facet of a direct mail marketing program, including:
- Pricing
- Format and availability of high-impact additions
- Postage and timing
- Print and paper quality
- Address list quality
- Incremental lists costs
- Measurement
Capabilities are essential, especially when you want to vary your direct mail marketing tactics — perhaps when moving from a postcard to a solo mailer to a full-size 3D piece. But, this isn’t for the variety alone. Certain types of content are better suited for each stage of the buyer’s journey. For example, a cooperative piece of mail helps improve awareness in neighborhoods through saturation, while a solo delivery excels at personalized messaging.
There are partners, like Vericast, that provide turnkey direct mail solutions. In fact, our company has the only residential list with nearly 100% of U.S. addresses updated and mailed weekly. This provides more accurate mailings for clients.
Add omnichannel as a compliment
While a direct mail marketing campaign can stand on its own, it is often most effective when it’s one component of a broader omnichannel approach. A direct mailer can amplify digital or mobile marketing — or vice versa.
According to Vericast’s Awareness-to-Action Study, 47% of consumers like to receive offers in print and online so they don’t miss out on savings — and 62% of millennial parents agree. It’s all about encircling your desired customers with the ideal messaging at the right cadence and in various ways along multiple touchpoints to prompt conversions.
Choosing the right direct mail marketing partner
With the right direct mail marketing partner, you can take advantage of the medium in no time — and at a cost-effective rate with significant ROI.
Direct mail provides a tactile experience that appeals to consumers. As the effects of the pandemic ease and more people are finding a new normal in their buying habits, get your brand in front of consumers with printed promotions delivered directly to their homes. Just make sure your direct mail marketing strategy relies on good data, a strong partner, and a personalized call to action that sparks interest and delivers optimal sales.
Like almost any other marketing tactic, direct mail requires some effort and strategy on the front end to ensure the best results on the back end. Ideally, you would partner with a company that leverages strong data, rich consumer intelligence, and superior end-to-end execution.
If you’d like to learn more about the value of direct mail marketing for increased consumer engagement, download the “This Direct Mail Moment” ebook.
