Get Back to Basics with Direct Mail

BEST PRACTICES FOR DIRECT MAIL MARKETERS

The ability of traditional direct mail to generate results, says Rod Hagedorn, a professor in Walden University’s MBA program, depends on a lot of factors, primarily relevance to the target audience. “Most direct marketing, whether digital or traditional, is poorly targeted,” he says. “Companies routinely waste millions of dollars sending the wrong message, at the wrong time, to the wrong audience.”

Not only will this obviously have a negative impact on potential sales, he says, but it can also dilute the value of the brand over time. “Eventually, consumers become so annoyed with the constant barrage of irrelevant marketing messages that they simply begin to ignore them and automatically direct them to the trash.”

Instead, Hagedorn says, marketers need to target and segment their direct mail efforts beyond simply demographics. “This strategy also requires integration with other marketing tactics,” he says. “The old rules of marketing are still applicable, but the media by which marketing messages are delivered today have changed. While marketing is mostly digital now, direct mail that is skillfully integrated with digital or other forms of highly personalized marketing tactics can still be effective.”

This can readily be accomplished with today’s technology solutions.

Beyond targeting the right list at the right time, direct mail needs to command attention, and it can, more than digital messaging, because of its tactile nature. With direct mail, marketers can get creative with colors, shapes, sizes, textures, and more.

While direct mail might often be considered a B2C marketing tool, it can work effectively in B2B settings as well, especially when well designed to get attention, says Callie Beard, a digital strategist with Triad B2B Agency, a New York-based marketing firm.

“Our agency has found that direct mail is a great B2B marketing tool that shouldn’t be overlooked,” Beard says.

Like Hagedorn, she points to a targeted list as a key to effectiveness. That’s particularly pertinent in B2B: “Identifying key decision makers and sending them a well-crafted package can really increase brand awareness and even brand preference.”

Her firm was involved in one highly successful campaign that won the 2019 Communicator Award of Excellence in the direct mail category. The client, an oil and gas drill bit company, saw a higher level of awareness about the performance of its drill bits and increased sales. One of its clients went from buying just 5 percent of its drill bits from that company to more than 60 percent.

Emails can be easy to ignore, but a box shipped to your office is not, Beard explains.

The key to effectiveness in both B2B and B2C environments is “thinking outside the box and sending something eye-catching and hard to ignore,” she adds.

Emilie Dulles agrees. Dulles purchased her family’s business in 2010. Dulles Designs was founded in 1990 as a stationery company. Today it is a full-service design, printing, and white-glove services business.

“Aside from the fact that email is largely free, and the costs of postage continue to go up, there is tangible value in using traditional printed mail for marketing and message delivery,” Dulles says.

Along with accuracy, says Dulles, “the most important aspect of marketing mail are colors, beauty, and even calligraphy-addressing.”

There’s a reason why wedding and gala invitations and holiday cards that arrive in the mail are so exciting, she says. “It’s because they are beautiful, hand-crafted works of art that are an event and a celebration to open and experience. Take the time, creativity, and expense to delight each person or company or family or organization on the receiving end of your mail and they will be stunned.

“The secret is to make what you send, how you address it, and the message it contains targeted, personal, and exceptional,” she continues. “Cheap and flimsy is out. Thicker and more beautifully printed is in.”

So is direct mail when used as part of a well-integrated communication effort, experts agree. 

Linda Pophal is a freelance business journalist and content marketer who writes for various business and trade publications. Pophal does content marketing for Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and individuals on a wide range of subjects, from human resource management and employee relations to marketing, technology, healthcare industry trends, and more.

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