While direct mail is now often seen as a dated way to communicate, especially when used as a marketing strategy, there are still plenty of reasons why marketers still use it. There’s great potential in the strategy, you just have to learn how to master the tricks of the trade. Traditional methods are not gone for good; they’ve just been improved to help the people and be able to cope with advanced technologies.
Pervasiveness of email
The average business person receives 123 emails per day and CEOs receive anywhere between 20 and 200. The use of direct mail is a way for a business to stand out from a sea of email offers and increases the chance that the recipient will open, read, and respond to the offer.
Ability to personalize
Direct mail is easy to personalize, especially since a company usually obtains other information apart from the recipient’s email address. These additional details help the business craft a message whose original and well thought-out content will most likely be appreciated by the other company's executive since a personal touch can easily be sacrificed in the world of business communication.
People’s trust on direct mail
According to a study by Epsilon, 25% of consumers trust direct mail offers more than email offers. As a result, recipients are more likely to entertain the messages since they consider direct mail safe, particularly when you consider the increasing threat of identity theft, spamming, and viruses – aspects that CEOs would want to be protected from.
Higher ROI
While direct mail campaign costs more than email, which entails little to no cost, the potential for a greater ROI is higher. Several factors are involved, however, to do a direct mail campaign correctly but the investment in money, effort, and time is worth it as direct mail is more effective in generating action from the recipient in terms of looking at and reading the mail, going to the sender's store location, visiting the website of the sender, calling the 800# number listed, and replying via email. Direct mail also has an immense influence on creating online sales, according to a USPS study.
Tips on having an effective B2B direct mail campaign
Similar to a regular direct mail campaign, there are basic principles to follow to ensure that a company's B2B direct mail marketing will reap returns.
- Treat direct mail as an extension of one’s digital marketing efforts. Direct mail has been shown to improve a business’s email open and click-through rates and a company can capitalize on this by sending a direct mail or postcard informing their business partner to expect a special offer via email a week before sending the email offer.
- Target specific recipients. Sending direct mail offers indiscriminately will no longer fly because it doesn’t only waste resources, it could also send the wrong message to business recipients, and that is they are not important enough to warrant a personalized message.
- Address the mail to the right person. Corporate mailrooms receive plenty of mail daily so it’s important for them to get rid of junk, much like spam filters on most email services, to decrease the potential clutter executives have to deal with. To keep the mail from ending up in the trash, the company should address it to a specific person and not just the company or the job title. It’s also essential to use a standard envelope size and a regular postage stamp to avoid the possibility that the mail will not be delivered or will not reach the intended recipient.
- Create a catchy headline. Executives are busy people and if you don't present something that would catch their interest, all your efforts of making sure your mail reaches the intended recipient will be in vain.
B2B direct mail isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, it might continue to prove valuable especially when continued to be used in conjunction with other forms of marketing, such as email. If you’re having issues understanding the methods, check with direct mail companies uk and settle on a service that best complements your business’s needs and wants. Before you know it, your campaign will skyrocket and you’ll become a fierce competitor in the online and offline environment.
—
This guest post is courtesy of Steve Brown.