6 Reasons Direct Mail Marketing Deserves a Look
Digital marketing is where it’s at, right? That’s what we’re told. You can hardly bring up an app on your smartphone without being hit with an ad. So logically, digital marketers feel like they need to convince us that the only place worth spending the marketing budget is online. We would like to challenge that thinking by suggesting you give direct mail marketing a look.
Too many people assume that direct mail marketing is a dinosaur. If it is, it’s a big, old dinosaur worthy of Jurassic Park. Do not assume that what we do is little more than collecting mailing addresses so that we can send out postcards. There is a lot more to it than that.
Here’s why you should ignore the naysayers and give direct mail marketing a serious look:
1. It Can Be Demographically Targeted
Contrary to popular opinion, direct mail can be targeted demographically. Maybe you’re looking to sign up millennials for your lawn care service. Unless you have some amazing abilities with concrete, there won’t be much need for your services in the middle of the city. So don’t send postcards there.
Direct mail marketing gives you the ability to target the suburbs. Not only that, but the right data can also point you to customers who can afford to hire a lawn care service rather than breaking a sweat every Saturday morning throughout the summer. These are the customers you want.
2. Its Presentation Is Unique
How many ads come across your smartphone every day? You don’t know. Why? Because you see so many that you don’t bother counting. You’re so blitzed with digital ads that you’ve learned to ignore them. Direct mail marketing deserves a look because it gets attention. Its presentation is unique just because it’s not digital. Admit it. You look at all that mail you retrieve from your box every day, even if you throw most of it away.
3. It Offers Something Tangible
We all need something to hold onto, right? If your customers cannot hold onto their dreams, they can – and will – hold on to your direct mail promotion. Direct mail gives them something tangible. It gives them something to grab with their fingers and stick on the fridge. You can’t do that with a digital ad.
4. It Can Be Less Expensive
Don’t let anyone convince you that direct mail marketing is more expensive than digital. Sure, you can spend the equivalent of a year’s revenues on direct mail if you want to, but you don’t have to. A clever and well-developed direct mail campaign can actually be cheaper per impression.
5. It Is More Trustworthy
Do you believe everything you read online? Is Wikipedia your most trusted authority? We hope not. Online information has a reputation of being unreliable. On the other hand, mail is considered more trustworthy. Chances are you will get more trust traction with a good direct mail campaign.
6. It Integrates with Digital
Believe it or not, direct mail marketing can be integrated with digital. It might sound strange, but it’s no stranger than so many Hollywood marriages we take for granted. It can work. For instance, you can print a QR code on your postcard or brochure, pointing your customers to an online deal. You know as well as we do that people can’t resist those codes. They see one and they have to scan it.
Feel free to call direct mail marketing a dinosaur if you like. But the right kind of dinosaur is a lean, mean, engagement machine. That’s exactly what you get with direct mail marketing. It still exists because it still works.