Direct Mail in the Digital Age. Lin Grensing-Pophal

the exact same experience online through a click of the mouse, there’s just something about a tangible package that has yet to be replaced in the digital environment.

      Traditional direct mail is inexpensive and effective. Aside from online marketing, it is still the most trackable means of communicating with a prospect, and it is still the most effective way to get an unsolicited message into consumers’ hands where they’re going to see it, even if they throw it away.

      As with Twain, the report of the death of direct mail may certainly be an exaggeration. In fact, as more and more marketers bring their messages online and clutter up the mailboxes of their intended recipients, some will begin to take advantage of the relative “emptiness” of the old snail mail box. Here are some representative comments from participants in an online marketing forum:

      • “My clients use direct mail every month to gain new customers and interact with existing customers. They mail from 50,000 to 500,000 pieces per month. They make money. Their customers love getting direct mail. It’s personal, interactive, engaging, and extremely satisfying.”

      • “I prefer snail mail because my spam filter generally filters out more than 90 percent of the direct mail that comes electronically and I nuke the balance if I don’t already know the person sending it. At least snail mail gets to the mailbox of the targeted consumer and needs a look to decide to recycle it.”

      • “Nothing captures my attention better than a well-written and engaging direct mail letter. Personal, well-crafted communication which stands out from the crowd is infinitely more compelling than a faceless, carbon-copied, email.”

      • “Direct mail isn’t taking its last breath any time soon, but it is evolving. Business marketing strategies are different than they were even four or five years ago. Now it’s common and necessary to integrate a marketing campaign with your website, social media pages, and email marketing. For example, you send a direct mail postcard to your target market, they go to a landing page where you offer a report or special discount and they, in turn, enter their contact info. Next you follow up with those contacts via email to stay in front of the new lead. It’s a cycle that works together, and comes full circle, to close a sale. Bottom line: Direct mail still yields results, is effective for a variety of industries today, and is still one of the only mediums that can specifically target your ideal clients.”

      Karen Menachof, Chief Client Officer of Catalyst, a direct marketing firm in Rochester, New York, says, “Direct mail has always been the one channel where truly relevant information could be used by marketers to engage customers and prospects in a compelling manner to provide things that matter to them and thereby create true value while reinforcing the marketer’s brand. Data-driven insights have long been the key driver to success in this channel.”

      What’s really changed now that the digital marketplace seems to have taken over? Menachof says, “Sure, some folks no longer check their mail — some even opt out of receiving it entirely. Sure, many folks are more likely to actively seek information online rather than wait for it to arrive in their mailbox. Sure, some folks view direct mail as an obsolete channel. But the truth is that the direct mail channel is keeping up with the times. Our ability to further customize direct mail communications based on what we now know about their cross-channel interactions with us has the potential to make it more relevant than ever. And as we get better at understanding the preferences of those we are marketing to and are able to identify those individuals who prefer mail and/or those circumstances which justify mail we may mail less, but with exceptionally more impact. Mail is not dead, but its success is increasingly dependent on the effective integration of all channels so that the individual’s needs are understood and addressed in the most relevant, impactful manner possible.”

      Menachof’s final sentence is the key. While this book will deal specifically with direct mail which, as we’ve already seen, is a subset of direct marketing (which is a subset of promotion, one of the four Ps of the marketing mix that also includes product, price, and place), no individual promotional tool can or should be considered in a vacuum. To be most effective, marketers must consider the broad range of communication options available to them and then select the right mix of options to best meet their goals. In this book, we will focus specifically on the mix between traditional and digital email options. Still, many of the questions asked will be pertinent to marketing communication considerations in general.

      What your prospects and customers will see of your direct mail is the actual presentation of your message, whether in letter, brochure, catalog, three-dimensional, DVD or CD, or electronic format. Before you even begin considering the development of what will become the final deliverable to your target audience, there are a lot of behind the scenes decisions and work that need to occur. The first consideration, identifying overall goals and objectives, is discussed in Chapter 2.

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      ** *** **** Note: The points above that will have the most variation are 5, 7, 8, and 9. The others are the same. So, if you’ve been successful at traditional direct mail marketing, you’re already well on your way toward achieving success online!

      2

      Identifying Your Overall Goals and Objectives

      Before you can even begin to think about the specifics of your direct mail campaign, you need to determine what your goals and objectives are. You may want to —

      • develop new markets,

      • increase awareness of your company name,

      • secure leads for your sales force, or

      • increase sales.

      The choice is yours — the key is to be specific.

      Perhaps you’re currently selling lawn and garden equipment and would like to add a line of sporting goods, or you’re running webinars for administrative assistants and would like to introduce a new line of programming for a management-level audience. In each of these cases, your advertising objective might be to develop new markets through the acquisition of a certain number of prospects and/or customers.

      If you use a direct sales force for some of your marketing efforts, you may want to qualify prospects rather than having your salespeople make cold calls. Direct mail can help you identify people who have an interest in your product or service before you send a salesperson to the phones or out on the road.

      However, the most common objective for direct mailers is simply to generate sales. They want more people to spend more money on their products and services. While your objectives may change from one campaign to the next, it’s important that you do take the time to identify a quantifiable objective for each of your direct mail efforts. Since the big benefit of direct mail is its measurability, you want to take full advantage of the ability to leverage this benefit through a solid foundation based on specific, quantifiable, and measurable goals. After all, if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.

      1. Will Direct Mail Work for You?

      Not everything will prove to be a successful mail-order product. Will your product sell through the mail? The following sections include five important questions to ask before embarking on a direct mail campaign. If you can answer “yes” to each of these questions, there’s a good chance that your campaign can be a successful one.

      1.1 Can you reach your market effectively through direct mail?

      You will need to consider whether you can reach your market effectively through direct mail. Suppose you’re selling a product that appeals to lawyers. It’s easy enough to get a list of lawyers. You can reach your market. However, suppose you’re selling a product that appeals to 30-year-old redheads who collect stamps. You’re going to have a very tough time finding a list of these