Direct mail has been an advertising standby for more than 50
years, evolving as newer methods of design, printing, and mailing have
developed. There have been numerous technological breakthroughs for the
strategy, including integration with digital features like personalized URLs
and real-time analytics platforms, and companies are still using it to promote
themselves; in fact, there’s probably at least one piece of direct mail waiting
for you in the mailbox.
But is direct mail “dead” as an advertising method? Or at
least, dying? After all, purely digital advertising methods have taken over,
with digital marketing budgets increasing year after year. Is direct mail still
worth considering by comparison?
The Cost of Printing
First, you need to consider the cost of printing, which is
oftentimes the largest piece of the direct mail budget. It can cost anywhere from
a few cents to a few dollars per piece, which means your ROI will depend
heavily on what you put into the strategy, compared to what you can get out of
it. Sites like Printing Center USA offer inexpensive printing options for
things like brochures and catalogs, but as a general rule, you’ll still pay
more per-piece for a short run than for a long run. Since your ROI will be
somewhat thin already, direct mail is usually only justified if you can support
long run printing, with thousands to tens of thousands of pieces.
The Target Demographics
Of course, your target demographics should also factor into
your decision—as there are audiences that still reliably respond to direct mail
ads. According to Click2Mail, one of the most responsive demographics for
direct mail are seniors over the age of 65. Younger generations are more likely
to see direct mail as needless clutter. Your type of industry should also be a
consideration; young tech companies, for example, will need to appear
cutting-edge, and direct mail is often perceived as an old-fashioned strategy
that could interfere with your response rates.
Your List
Direct mail success and profitability depends heavily on the
type of list you’re using. If your list is full of outdated information, or
low-quality leads, it’s almost certainly going to fail. But if you’re working
with a long list of highly qualified prospective customers, every dollar you
spend will secure you a potential return. The problem is, bigger,
higher-quality lists also tend to cost more money, or more time to put them
together. Sites like DirectMail.com offer several different types of lists, so
make sure you choose your list (and provider) carefully.
Digital Integrations
Direct mail has experienced a surge in relevance, in part
because of how easy it is to integrate with digital marketing methods and
strategies. There’s no question that digital marketing strategies are usually
cheaper; you aren’t paying for physical goods, or things like postage, so the
costs are inherently lower. Being able to leverage the “best of both worlds” by
tying your direct mail pieces into your social media strategy, or by using QR
codes to send users to personalized URL destinations, you can improve the
response rates, effectiveness, and even the appearance of your direct mail
pieces.
Specific Goals
Of course, direct mail’s effectiveness also depends on what
you’re trying to use it for. Most people end up throwing their junk mail away,
so your strategy won’t be good for forming long-term relationships. Instead,
direct mail is best used as a short-term boost for sales, converting a fraction
of the customers who receive the piece, and providing a temporary flash of the
brand (for brand recognition purposes) to the rest. If you try to use direct
mail as a long-term relationship-building strategy (like content marketing),
you’ll see less-than-exciting results.
So what’s the bottom-line answer here? It’s true that there
are more alternative advertising strategies that yield high ROI, but for many
industries and applications, direct mail is still a significant money-maker.
There’s nothing automatic about the effectiveness of the strategy, however; if
you want a positive ROI from your direct mail investment, you’ll need to think
carefully about where you buy the printing, who you’re targeting, and how
you’re using it in relation to your other marketing strategies.
Article From: huffingtonpost.com
