Direct mail marketing can be a powerful tool. With more and more digital messages vying for our attention, direct mail and printed messages offer another, less cluttered, communication channel to your customers.
Direct mail, combined with Variable Data Printing, creates a marketing piece that won’t sit quietly and unnoticed in a person’s inbox, but rather, your personalized message, is delivered right to your target consumer’s hands. To achieve a successful personalized direct mail piece you must start with an up-to-date database.
Segmenting Your Database. Your brand has a target audience, but even within your target audience are subgroups of unique characteristics that can be segmented into smaller, more precise, groups. As you narrow your target audience into smaller segments you’re able to discern what message would most likely appeal to the individuals in that group and entice them to respond to your call-to-action.
The Personalized Message. Now that you have narrowed your audience you’re able to create a message that will most likely motivate the recipient to respond to your call-to-action. With over 60 percent of people in a DMA survey reporting that it is ‘very important’ to them that their direct mail pieces have personalized, relevant messages, it’s more important than ever to send relevant messages. Using Variable Data Printing will allow you to print personalized messages and graphics in one print-run without having to stop or slow down the process.
Integrating Your Print and Digital Messages. Another reason personalized direct mail should be incorporated in your marketing campaign is because it can complement your digital media. The two mediums work well together and with new technology such as SMS, QR codes, and pURLs you can seamlessly transfer your viewer from one medium to another.
By using both direct mail and digital you’re able to increase your reach and frequency through a more personalized communication process.
Timothy Freeman
President
Print & Graphic Communications Association
