There are so many social channels being fed to hungry marketers, circa 2015, that it’s become near-impossible to keep up. Social networks have been cropping up like wildfire over the last ten years, but never has there been a time when it’s so difficult to choose the method by which to deploy your next marketing campaign. Facebook has their fancy new Carousel Ads. Pinterest their Cinematic Pins. Snapchat recently unveiled their Full Screen Vertical Ads (which are non-autoplay thanks heavens!)
While Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are always obvious choices, depending on your business model and demographics, there are so many trends to keep abreast of, and someone always has to play the guinea pig (or sacrificial lamb) too, before an emerging trend becomes something tangible marketers can jump on and devote a portion of their budget to with any hope of a return. Then there’s the insane competition, likely with at least hundreds of others fighting the noise and competing for the same social market share.
See 9 Things Social Marketers Need to Know.
Then there’s email. It will always be profitable, yet still unpredictable from one campaign to the next. Not to mention, the average Internet user has at least one “ghost” account that they don’t pay any attention too. Savvy consumers know they’re going to get spammed to death by offers after they sign up for free information, etc., and only sign into these emails to empty their inbox with one click every once in a while and never open any of the emails they get in them.
One oft-forgotten media is the good ole been-around-for-centuries method of touching base with prospective customers: Direct Mail.
Direct mail has been given the shaft from most marketers in the digital era. After all, you have to get the text and image proofs done, send them out to a printer, pay someone to put them in envelopes, pay the post office god-knows-what for postage… then sit in a room with your sales team and pray the calls start pouring in. Not very promising in an age where you can make money just by getting people to make a purchase by clicking a mouse, right?
Compared to email, direct mail still gets a much higher response rate and engagement with consumers.
Don’t believe me?
- Email currently boasts a 0.12 percent response rate vs. direct mail’s 3.4 percent rate. That’s a whopping difference. Just a quick aside: if you own a local business, you’re killing your profits if you’re relying solely on online engagement and customer referrals to score more customers. With an over 3% higher response rate, you can expect to close at least 3 out of every 100 people you mail to, provided you offer a service that’s appealing to your surrounding community.
Forget about open rates — Actual Responses = Sales and Branding Opportunities.
The key is to use a few of the same tricks in your direct mail as you would with digital marketing methods like social ads and email blasts:
1. Tailor your message.
In order to get 3% or higher response rates, marketers really need to get as much data as possible about the area they’ll be mailing to. Unless you’re offering the cure for cancer or some other nasty human condition for free, there’s never any guarantee that you’re going to get the response you’re hoping for. You need to tailor your headline, message and call-to-action to the demographic you’ll be mailing to.
A depressed, low income area will have no interest in a fancy $2000 dishwasher, but will gladly spend that same amount over a year for entertainment-related product and services such as cable, Internet, or phone deals. Those living in a wealthy area may not give a passing glance to refinancing offers, yet they’ll shut down your call center with incoming calls if you have a lucrative investment opportunity offer with 5 and 6-figure buy-in costs.
It’s all about knowing who you’re mailing to and obtaining, cultivating and using data in order to get the right offer in front of the right people.
2. Make them wait by the mailbox for the next envelope.
This is perhaps one of the most effective tools used by email marketers and social media marketers worldwide. It’s much easier said than done, but there’s a lot you can do here. Whenever you mail something, you have to balance the value you’re giving to your end reader with that which you’ll be taking ($$). If all you do is try to hammer them with desperation and scarcity-based text, the first letter they open will surely be their last.
Always make sure you’re giving away tons of free stuff: information, entertainment, deals and exclusive coupons. With regards to informative or entertaining content, you don’t even have to use your own stuff. Offer links to a funny YouTube channel, or tell them to visit a great how-to site that may relate to their needs.
A good friend of mine went ultra-niche in his second direct mail attempt, sending 100 street car tuners a how-to video for installing a turbo on older model Honda Civics. The 2 hour video literally walked them through every part of the process. His local business was tuning car computers after performance mods were made. He got the cars running right and kicking butt at the track, for what I consider to be a pretty penny. Imagine how this kind gesture impacted his response rate, just by giving people a free guide that also worked to get his customers exciting to upgrade their cars and build his credibility as a automotive turbo authority with this ultra-niche group. I can tell you it was a lot more than 3% in his case!
3. Teach them to go digital.
Direct mail may, in fact, one day meet it’s untimely end. Home delivery is already on the chopping block here in the land of snowmobiles and igloos: Canada Post Abolishes Home Mail Delivery. Surely, USPS and other global mailers will follow suit in the coming years. That’ll just make it easier for people to do a quick sort at the pickup facility and throw out anything that doesn’t look official long before they get home. Many are predicting the death of local Yellow Pages advertising too: Yellow Pages Dead
You wouldn’t send out an email or social blast without encouraging people to visit your blog, vlog, or landing page, would you?
That means that you have to do your part to help “train” consumers to find you, and other marketers online. Use QR codes in your mailers to send them to a landing page with exclusive “Internet Only” offers. Entice them to set up online accounts on your blog, ecommerce store, and email list. Once you get them on your email list, you can send them traceable links that will give you even more data about demographics, location, referrers, and more.
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If you’ve read anything you agree, or disagree with, or just want to offer some advice to our readers, leave a quick comment down below.
