What comes to mind when you think of direct mail marketing? For most of us we see this as an advertising discipline in which marketing communications such as letters, pamphlets, brochures and post cards are sent straight to customers using the postal service. Though this is true, there is a vast array of possibilities that are untapped when it comes to the world of direct mail marketing. Let’s take a closer look at this particular form of marketing.
What You Need To Know
Direct mail keeps the consumer “in-the-know.” It helps them find out about new products, services and money-saving deals. It connects customers to local merchants, informs them of important local and national charities and even helps them compare prices, which encourages informed shopping. Direct mail is only successful if the consumer is interested in the types of mail they’re receiving.
Digging Deeper into Direct Mail Marketing
Advertisers often enhance the direct mail process by analyzing a database of names and addresses, and selecting recipients who are most likely to respond positively to their marketing. What this means is that most advertisers have an expansive database of consumers, and typically use direct mail marketing to target the certain few that will provide them with a positive outcome for their service. On the other hand, advertisers have the option to target consumers on a neighborhood to neighborhood basis. Instead of choosing a specific type of consumer, it is sometimes easier to mail to a broad group of people. Whether at the individual or neighborhood level, direct mail marketing allows recipients to be targeted, attempting to match the demographic profile of the recipients to one most closely matching that of likely customers. This forms the basis of direct mail marketing.
Not only can advertisers target consumers, but they also have the opportunity to target other businesses. When targeted to other businesses rather than individuals, direct mail is known as a business to business mailing.
Direct mail is a particularly attractive option for small business owners, as it can communicate a lot of information about a product or service and reach almost any conceivable target group for a relatively low cost. Direct mail can be a company’s sole form of advertising, or it can be used to supplement other sales efforts. For example, a small business could use direct mail to inform potential customers about its offerings, and then follow up with a phone call or a visit from a salesperson.
The Pluses and Minuses of Direct Mail Marketing
The most important factor is that the advertising message be targeted to those most likely to buy the specific product or service. The advertiser has the ability to choose who he/she wants as the target, in order to market the product or service properly. Compared to its radio and television counterparts, direct mail allows the advertiser’s personalized message to be as long as necessary, thus helping increase a positive response. In addition, the effectiveness of response to the campaign can be easily measured.
Another bonus is that a direct mail campaign is very elusive to your competitors. They have no idea of a direct mail campaign until it is in full force, and, perhaps, too late for them to react.
With everything positive, there is always a negative side. Direct mail marketing does have its disadvantages. The major disadvantage is that some people don’t like receiving offers in their mail, so a common reaction is to immediately throw them away. One way an advertiser can help increase the odds of a recipient opening the mail is to target the right consumer. By targeting a certain consumer that has already shown a positive response to your product, your odds of them opening your mail increase.
Like all types of mailings, you need a list of recipients. If your mailing list isn’t of high quality, the wrong people will be receiving the direct mail, and, as mentioned before, will most likely toss it. Alternatively, if your mailing list is very expansive, depending on your quality of market, the campaign could be quite expensive.
While a piece of direct mail may look great, and get the message across, it probably came at an expense. It takes a lot of time and energy to design the artwork for the piece. Once that is done, it needs to go to the printer. These tasks can be costly and time intensive.
Go Ahead, Try it for Yourself
Now that you have an idea of the madness behind direct mail marketing, if done effectively and creatively, it is a great option for advertisers. It is a cost effective alternative to radio and television advertising. And by targeting the right group of people, you will begin to see a positive response. Meanwhile, more and more consumers will be aware of your products and services. Go ahead, try direct mail marketing for yourself.