While online marketing campaigns have certainly become the popular option among businesses today, they haven’t wholly displaced offline efforts such as the direct mail campaign. Direct mail campaigns can still play a very important role in a company’s efforts to create buzz and interest, promote a new product, advertise an exclusive deal or sale, and educate potential customers on the company’s offerings.
If your company has decided that it’s time to create its first direct mail marketing campaign, there are some tips to use that will help ensure it is successful. Ideally, you want to use as many of these tips as possible, taking the layered approach.
What is the Goal of the Campaign?
The first thing to decide is the goal or purpose of the direct mail campaign. What do you hope to achieve by sending out the mailers? Your answer will help determine the language used on the content, the layout, graphics, and who it should be mailed to.
Some of the most popular reasons companies use a direct mail marketing campaign include:
- Engage with customers
- Inform customers of new products
- Exclusive deals, promotions, and sales
- Expand customer base
- Send out swag or free samples
- Provide a personalized piece of mail
There can be more reasons than this – these are just some of the more popular uses.
Should the Mailer Go to Your Complete Customer Database?
Another important question is whether this is the kind of direct mail campaign that needs to reach all your databases or select customers. If you want to tailor your message and perhaps get more bang for your buck, it will be important to focus your efforts on the client portfolio that makes sense for that particular campaign. For example, maybe you are expanding a specific line of products. Depending on the available data, you can target customers who have purchased from that product line in the past and let them know of the expansion. Because this requires specific types of information, it may not apply to all companies.
Ensure the Addresses are Correct
One of the simplest mistakes a company can make with a direct mail campaign is to use the wrong address on mailers. This results in a waste of time and resources as it will not reach the target consumer.
There is a simple solution, and that is address verification from Lob. Lob provides businesses with a way to enter an address and instantly learn if it’s correct or not. You can enter both domestic and international addresses and get an instant result. You’ll be reducing the amount of returned mail you get, making sure you don’t create a bottleneck situation downstream, and it’s a great way to keep your contact list updated.
Make Sure the Mail is Personalized
All pieces of mail should also be personalized with the recipient’s name. Simply pasting in ‘dear customer’ or ‘dear reader’ isn’t going to cut it. That’s a great way to have your mail thrown directly into the trash by recipients. By personalizing it, you’ll grab their attention, so there’s a higher chance they will open it and give it some attention.
Be Consistent with Branding on All Materials
Because you are always trying to create brand awareness, anything mailed must consistently show the company logo. In addition, customers need to identify who the company is immediately, so keep the branding clear, concise, highly visible, and consistent.
Have You Ensured the Content Is Accurate?
You’d be surprised at how many companies mail out flyers and letters that contain errors. It could be grammatical errors, pricing errors, or even product errors. If you have to retract the information, it will make your company look unprofessional and unorganized, which is the last thing you want to do.
All content should be checked for accuracy multiple times by multiple people/departments before being sent out. Experts also suggest you print out a sample mailer so you can see what it will look like. This will help to highlight any potential issues with the layout. But, again, it is better to find these things out early before you’ve made all the copies and sent them out. It’s an extra step that should be accounted for in the process.
Always Finish with a Call to Action
No matter what kind of mailer you send, it should always finish with a call to action. Of course, the call to action will change depending on the purpose of the mailer and its content, but it needs to be there.
Using all these tips will ensure that you’re well-prepared to put together your first direct mail marketing campaign. It will come off as professional and eye-catching, which increases the odds of success and Tips for Creating Your First Direct Mail Marketing Campaign.
