The Benefits of Direct Mail for Your Business

When it comes to attracting consumers' attention, the internet is often top of mind. However, today's digital marketing space is saturated with an overwhelming number of options ranging from social media to email marketing.

While the never-ending influx of emails, swipes, and beeps all battling for attention, there's one effective way of communicating your message which isn't likely to give your potential customers headaches. It's direct mail — a marketing strategy that many business owners increasingly use.

A direct mail campaign might be an excellent tool for improving marketing performance by providing better visibility, higher response and open rates, and more creative marketing opportunities than online ads. 

Sound like a good solution? Let's explore the key benefits of direct mail so you can set up your campaign today and meet your brand's advertising needs. 

What Is Direct Mail?

Direct mail marketing is an advertising strategy that can complement digital marketing methods in delivering your ads to your potential customers.

Direct mail refers to any physical advertising materials sent directly to consumers via the USPS. These materials include postcards, letters, flyers, brochures, and more.

This type of advertising familiarizes consumers with your brand and incentivizes them to interact with and/or make purchases from your business. 

Consumers Willingly Open and Read Tangible Direct Mail

People enjoy getting tangible marketing messages from companies. Especially now, in today's Internet age where everything is digitized, receiving physical mail is often viewed as a more personal, trustworthy, and valuable than digital ads. 

Consumers are more curious about what they get in the mailbox than what's sent to them via digital channels. Over half of Americans read their mail, while over 20% at least scan it. This means there's a much greater possibility for the target audience to see your direct marketing message delivered by mail than if it was sent by email. 

Direct Mail Provides High Response Rates 

Compared to other marketing methods, direct mail has been a pioneer when it comes to consumer level of involvement which, in turn, continues to see constant improvement. According to the DMA study, response rates are reportedly at 9% for house lists and 5% for prospects. 

Direct Mail Is Highly Targeted and Customized 

The great response rates provided by direct mail are largely due to the fact that direct marketing messages are tangible and designed to resonate with a specific target audience (neighborhood, demographic, etc.)

Learning to measure direct mail effectiveness is crucial to successfully setting up and optimizing your marketing strategy. These days, the widely accessible information about customers makes it easier to tailor your ads for specific groups. These valuable pieces of information include:

• Age
• Gender
• Profession
• Location
• Household income
• Purchasing habits 

Consumer data allows you to accurately anticipate how individual customers might interact with your brand. Using their personal information for targeting purposes can have a significant impact on your business performance by increasing your sales. 

Direct Mail Allows Greater Creativity

Tailoring your marketing messages to your potential customers is as important as communicating your brand's unique identity and ethos in a way that speaks to your audience. 

While digital advertising methods, including email, pop-ups, or banners, often limit your ads to text and images, direct mail offers a more distinctive marketing approach. With printable advertising materials, you have more options for such elements as mailer size and format as well as paper texture and quality. 

By applying a customized, unique design to your marketing message that aligns with your business goals, you're given a bigger opportunity to catch recipients' attention and convince them of the uniqueness of your brand.

Direct Mail Builds Trust

Modern technologies might offer truly innovative options for reaching prospective customers. However, it's the tried and true methods that are often the best. As direct mail is more familiar to consumers, they are more likely to trust ads arriving physically in their mailbox rather than online channels.

Direct mail creates a sense of security and reliability, especially among less Internet-savvy customers or seniors, so it can be an effective way to reach customers from diverse demographics.

Direct Mail Is Highly Trackable and Easy to Measure

Although direct marketing strategies may seem challenging to monitor, there are numerous techniques that help marketers keep their campaigns' performance in check. 

Direct mail's common tracking methods include:

• Website landing page. Using a custom landing page on your pre-existing website is one of the most popular techniques to track your ad campaign. Include URLs to your mailed marketing materials to identify hits and recipient actions.
• Address matchbacks. Comparable to the usage of cookies online, address matchbacks allow tracking purchases by matching transaction addresses to the customer mail list. 
• Custom phone numbers. Assigning unique phone numbers to your direct mailing campaign is another smart way to monitor its effectiveness. It enables you to view your campaign's performance and what marketing methods bring the most desired results.
• Exclusive offers. You can monitor your advertising strategy by creating a special offer scheme sent exclusively via direct mail. Track the number of submissions for special deals to determine how many people are interacting with your campaign.

Direct Mail Is Cost-Effective

Direct mail marketing campaigns may seem like a costly undertaking as they involve up-front expenses related to physical materials, printing, and postage fees. However, unlike online advertising strategies that often require a large investment to see patterns, direct mail works effectively with even a small list. 

With Taradel EDDM Postcards and Flyers campaign, you can save much on your direct mail campaign as it provides a complete advertising package, including design, printing, and mailing costs. 

As a marketer, you know that what you pay upfront is only one factor to consider regarding the actual cost of a product or service. When you factor in a stronger response rate of direct mail advertising, you'll see how it can bring you more profits than digital email campaigns.

Direct Mail Strengthens Digital Marketing 

Complementing your digital advertising with a direct mail campaign can be a great way to boost the overall performance of your marketing efforts. 

If you accompany your online ads with physical mail, your consumers are more likely to remember your brand in the future. This accounts for increased brand recall. 

What's more, customers are more likely to trust a digital marketing message if it's complemented by a physical ad alternative. Therefore, the two channels work exceptionally well together, significantly enhancing the response rates. 

If you want to combine your digital advertising methods with direct mail marketing campaigns, you can do so in numerous simple ways. For example, you can send out a direct mail piece, such as a flyer or brochure, with a QR code included. This way, recipients can scan the code that will redirect them to your website. 

Another effective method of using both advertising methods is running an online branding campaign with a direct mail campaign designed for a small group of your ideal consumers. 

This unique combination can provide you with increased customer engagement, improved ROI, and enhanced overall performance.

Direct Mail Is Simple

Although setting up a direct mail campaign might seem intimidating and complicated, especially if you're using it as a new channel for your brand, it's easier to carry out than you think. 

The relative simplicity of planning, launching, and executing your marketing strategy allows you to create your direct mail campaign quickly and cost-effectively, providing your business with a great ROI. Even a basic campaign with a few varying factors can go a long way in successfully targeting your potential customers and increasing your business's profitability. 

Final Thoughts

Direct mail is an advertising strategy widely used for targeting potential customers through sending physical correspondence to them in the form of flyers, catalogs, brochures, and many more.

Setting up a direct mail campaign can help increase response rates and build brand trust, which, in turn,  can enhance your business' income level. When combined with other marketing efforts included in digital campaigns, direct mail can offer you a satisfying ROI while saving your time and money. 

With Taradel, you can create direct mail campaigns for your business in an effective and cost-efficient way. Visit our website and get a free quote on our marketing services tailored specifically to your business's needs for the ultimate success of your brand's performance.