Direct mail, email, social media — any form of communication can be en effective and powerful way to communicate with your audience.  But, if your communication is not strategically timed or doesn’t include relevant information or offers, you’re going to see low response rates.

Today, we’re sharing with you a few tips, tricks and stats to help better your next direct mail marketing campaign.

First, let’s discuss statistics – how are other companies and brands using direct mail effectively?  According to the CMO Council, of the companies using direct mail to reach their target market, 35 percent are using it to generate a sale, 29 percent use it to drive consumers to another form of communication — social media and their websites.  Finally, 14 percent of companies reportedly used direct mail to offer promotions or discounts.

How can your company create a stronger and more effective direct mailing in the future?

1.  Know your audience.  Dig into your database.  Take the time to segment your consumer data into multiple groups with similar interests and from their create micro-targeted campaigns that reach your customers when they’re most likely ready to make a purchase and with the right, relevant, message.

2.  Use direct mail Strategically.  As we alluded to above, it’s not just about the right message being sent to the right people, it is also about the timing of your message.  Depending on your product or service, people may have a need to purchase weekly, monthly or only every few months.  Use your consumers’ past buying habits and compare that to the average amount of time a person needs before making another purchase and then send the right message at the right time — reducing the amount of ‘waste’ (or the number of people who do no respond to your message) and increasing your response rate.

3.  Finally, integration.  Direct mail is powerful, but just as you wouldn’t rely solely on social media or email to reach your audience, you shouldn’t just rely on direct mail.  When you use direct mail to cut through the digital clutter and then direct those people to an online source to further captivate their attention, you’re more likely to not just see a response, but also a purchase, simply because you were able to give more information to your consumers and increased the number of times your message was seen by your target audience.

Your marketing is only as powerful as your database and the tools you use to reach your audience.  Make sure you’re using a database to create the right messages and send those messages at the right time — by doing so, you will see better results — in direct mail and any other form of marketing in your cross media mix.

Timothy Freeman
President
Print & Graphic Communications Association