Are you trying to grow your business? Searching for ways in which you can gain the attention of your target audience? You can do that with the help of Direct Mail Advertising. Whether you are sending out solo advertisement pieces or cooperative mailings, you will get varying benefits.
Want to save some money yet reach out to more people? Send out cooperative mailings by sending your company’s advertisements along with the ads of other businesses. Want to generate leads and get orders quickly? Opt for solo advertisements.
Like everything else in the world, direct mail marketing campaigns have their advantages and disadvantages. Want to learn more about how direct mail campaigns will be beneficial for you? Read on!
Advantages of Direct Mail Advertising
Physical Post Appeals to the Senses
Nothing can top the feeling of holding something in your hand and actually feeling it. Physical mail gets opened by the recipients and it feels way more tangible and personal than any other digital marketing tactic.
The physical post leaves a lasting imprint in your brain. According to scientific research, the human brain engages with physical material and there is a lot more emotional processing than with virtual material.
Any avid book reader would tell you that they love the feel of an actual book in their hands and prefer it over e-books anytime. Similarly, even though digital marketing has a better outreach, physical mail is second to none since it creates feelings of personal touch.
It is one of the few marketing techniques that engage all your senses and therefore, you are more likely to give a better direct mail response than for hundreds of emails you get. It adds a layer of credibility and reliability to the mail from brands and builds trust.
Mail Targets Selective Audience
See a personalized piece of post directed to you? You will be highly curious and intrigued by the package and will be excited to see what’s inside. Similarly, when direct mail providers send out personalized and customized direct mail, the customers are more likely to open it instead of a generic email that several companies send to their email list.
For companies that know their target market, direct mail marketing is fairly advantageous. Based on key demographics, like age, gender, household size, professions, etc. companies can send direct mail pieces to particular buying groups.
For example, if your company is offering family vacation packages and wants to advertise them, it would be a smart move to target those households that have various family members. Moreover, you can find households that have already been on family vacation packages in the past.
Get your hands on several mailing lists and you will be good to go!
Direct Mail is Creative, Versatile, & Memorable
In solo advertisements, companies usually include brochures, sales letters, coupons, order forms, etc. The sales letter contains a wealth of information about the products and services offered by the company.
Direct mail is tangible & visual. It gives the creators a lot more for creativity. Many creative direct post campaigns have left lasting emotional impacts on the brains of their receivers! You can play around with fonts, colors, and designs and come up with the most attractive and appealing ideas!
Usually, a piece of mail stays around the house for a longer period of time. Once you read an email, it is very likely that you won’t open it again. However, postal packages lying around the house get picked up several times by various family members who also learn about your services!
Track Delivery & Activity
Another benefit of direct mail marketing is that it is easy to track and your company can calculate the ROI ( Return on Investment) easily. Usually, businesses send out order forms or applications along with direct messages.
All the business needs to do is key the order forms and keep an eye on the leads or orders via post. With so many companies focusing on digital media marketing and a lot of clutter on the internet, customers are appreciative of the time and marketing efforts it takes to create direct posts.
Therefore, the chance of customer engagement and awareness is higher!
Disadvantages of Direct Mail Advertising
Lower Mail Response Rates than Digital
Unfortunately, the average response rate for direct advertising is relatively low. Moreover, many recipients lump their direct mail with a junk stack of mail and toss the mailing away. If they don’t recognize the return address or are not expecting any post from your company, they won’t even open it.
A lot of effort goes into designing a direct mail postcard. However, not a lot of people respond to the mailing. It is harder to fill out physical order forms and even if people actually like you offer, they would be hindered by laziness.
Therefore, it is very important to create appealing pieces and then sending them out to a highly-targeted audience that you know is very likely to respond!
More Expensive than Digital Media Marketing
As compared to digital marketing, sending out a direct post is going to cost you a lot of money, time, and energy. Printing and posting can be pretty expensive, especially for small businesses trying to reach out to bigger audiences.
However, if you apply the cost-effective techniques of marketing, direct mail is worth every penny you spend on it!
Direct Mail Advertising Can Be Time Intensive
Since you have to send the packages through the post, you will have to pay postal charges. Moreover, the design costs of a batch of mailings are higher than what digital mailings would cost you. By calculating the ROI, you can see how viable this method is for your business.
You can reach out to your existing and potential customers in a matter of seconds with the help of digital marketing. On the other hand, direct mail is going to take some time to grab the attention of the audience since the delivery isn’t instantaneous.
Moreover, you can’t time the deliveries. We all know how important timing the advertisements are. You can control this factor when sending out digital adverts but with direct mailings, this is not possible for you.
Final Word
We live in a world that is surrounded by technology and the internet. Even though technology has brought us closer, we have lost the important aspect of physical touch and communication as a result. With effective and appealing direct post advertising, you can reach out to your target audience and leave an everlasting impression on their minds.
Happy Advertising, folks!
