There is a constant balancing act in-played in your marketing department. The goal is to have your message where your audience is looking, while not getting lost in a crowd.

So, where is your audience? Averaging more than 15 hours per week of screen time, they are staring at their phones and computer monitors. So go there! Digital is king!!!

Hold on, this isn’t a new idea. Every marketer in the world is pushing their budget towards digital. During that daily 15 hours of screen time, your audience is exposed to hundreds, maybe even thousands of digital ads. Don’t you want to avoid getting lost in the clutter?

Sometimes the road less traveled is very familiar.

Direct mail is not dead in this digital world.

  • Response Rate by Marketing MediumThe average household only received about 20 pieces of mail each week.
  • More than 40% of individuals read or scan direct mail pieces.
  • Over 14% of people, age 45-54, respond to direct mail pieces, making them the most likely demographic to respond to direct mail.
  • The average response rate for direct mail is 5.1%, while online display click-through is 0.2%.

All in all, a sound mix in your marketing tactics is the best bet.

  • If you’re targeting age 45+ direct mail may be the best option. Under 45, use more digital.
  • If you can whittle your target down, direct mail may be the best option. If your audience is much larger, digital.

Digital is, by far, the least expensive, most targeted, fastest-to-market marketing tool with the easier, one click, response mechanism.

Direct mail can have more impact. Your message competes with less clutter, and it can be more personal.

Direct mail can be considered your knockout punch. Set up the market with digital ads and emails. Send direct mail to non-closed digital leads, targeted current customers and your highest-value prospects.

Here Are Some Tip to Awesome Direct Mail:

Laser Focus

Due to the cost per piece, keep your list as narrow and focused as possible.

Get Personal

Personalize the mailing where possible. I once received an envelope with a ghosted picture of my house on the front! It definitely got opened.

The World is Flat

Postcards are the preferred direct mail piece because the user doesn’t have to open anything. But dimensional is powerful if you have the budget.

Impact

The truth is that you only have the time it takes to walk from the mailbox to the closest trash can to get their attention.

  • We once created a postcard promoting personalized debit cards with foil that looked like a mirror. When you looked at the front of the over-sized postcard, you saw your face on the credit union’s debit card.
  • To help commercial lendersset meeting with physicians, we once printed a direct mail message like an x-ray … on actual x-ray film and mailed in an x-ray envelope.
  • We are currently sending a mailing to a highly targeted audience of realtors and customers who are most likely to move. The message is inside a small moving box marked, “Kitchen.”

Quick Read

Your mailing shouldn’t tell the entire story. The job is to interest the audience and provide the STRONGEST benefit to them.

Next Steps

Create a strong online call to action where the customer can learn everything quickly and respond online. Make sure the page is mobile friendly, that’s how most people will engage with it.

Digital is fantastic, but it can’t do it all. There is a time and a place to go ol’ school and use paper. There can be a positive return on that printing and postage investment. With only 20 pieces of mail per week in your customer’s box, direct mail has become the road less traveled.

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