Direct Mail VS Online Marketing

If you’re looking for a revenue-generating powerhouse for your business, you’re looking for direct mail. This type of campaign is the “Old Faithful” of marketing—businesses count on them because they’re dependable and promise a consistent ROI.

You can push direct mail’s ROI from consistent to record-breaking with a focus on personalization. Some online marketers mistakenly think their methods are more personal than direct mail. Direct mail bests digital marketing tactics in the area of personalization because, to the consumer, it feels more human.

The simplest way to personalize your mail-out is using variable printing to address your leads by name. But you can go even further than that.

Get The Information for Direct Mail

The key to effective personalized direct mail is to get as much useful information as you can from your customers and prospects. Use sales records, surveys and social media to collect good data about your mail leads.

Now it’s time to personalize your marketing piece. To craft a message that’s relevant to the prospect without being creepy, you’ve got to use your data carefully. Let’s say, for example, that your jewelry store wants to market diamond engagement rings. You’re working form a list of young people who you assume—or hope, for your business’s sake—are single (and you should know that from your data).

It makes sense to write copy that speaks to a specific audience; for example males. On the other hand, the mail piece sent to females should feature different photos and copy. Although who will buy and who will receive such a gift varies, catering the message according to gender is a subtle method of personalization.

Know Your Audience

As this examples shows, the best marketers have to interpret the data and use it in a way that tactfully shows consumers that your business is just what they need. But you don’t have to be selling jewelry to personalize in a skillful and non-intrusive way. Think about your audience and how their demographic information may affect their buying habits or business needs.

Work from your recipient data to go beyond names in personalizing your business’s direct mail. When you personalize your direct mail piece with a name, you’re working to catch your prospects’ attention. Go one step further—and one-up online marketers—by letting demographics inform your direct mail piece.