Direct mail is widely recognized by marketers as among the most effective ways to build brand loyalty, promote products and services, increase sales and engage with customers.
The best direct mail programs always have certain basic elements that ensure their success. Without these fundamentals, the chances of earning a healthy return on investment are very low.
Here are the ABCs of every successful direct mail campaign:
A is for Audience
The most successful direct mail marketers know their audience inside and out. If you are mailing to an existing customer list, you already know what it is that these current customers love about your brand, products and services.
Your direct mail piece must reinforce the emotional attachment your customers have and highlight this feeling both in form and content. If you are mailing to customers that have not bought from you in a while, then you will need to remind them of what it is that they love about your offerings.
If your direct mail program is for new customer acquisition, then you must know what types of people or businesses have the target profile of your existing audience. This means your mailing data should be segmented based on geography and demographics for a consumer campaign or geography and industry for a business-to-business campaign.
B is for Benefits
The content of your direct mail piece must be concentrated on the benefits of your offering. What are the best features of your product? What problems does your service solve for your best customers? How does working with your company make your customers more successful in their jobs or businesses?
Thinking about the benefits that your solution or product has for your customers can sometimes be very difficult to do. This is why testimonials are so powerful and effective when included on a direct mail piece. Your customers can often explain how great your company is better than you can because they have used it in a real-life situation and you helped them solve an important real-life challenge.
C is for Creativity
The most successful direct mail campaigns always have some kind of creative flair. This extra impact feature is so important when it comes to the “mail moment;” that is the moment when the mail recipient goes to their mailbox and looks through what has arrived on that day.
The best creative ideas always stand out in this instant when the customer or potential customer decides to pause and take a second look at an individual mail piece or, better yet, decides to put that particular piece aside for another look later on or, even better yet, shows it to someone else in their household or office.
Creativity in a direct mail campaign can be demonstrated in a number of important aspects, sometimes as one feature and other times as a combination of features:
- Graphic design
- Color
- Size
- Shape
- Paper type
- Coating
- Folding
- Interactive components
The best mail designers and producers know how to work with marketing executives, advertising agencies and graphic designers to develop creative concepts for direct mail campaigns. The most effective and successful programs always include these ABCs.
At Printwell, we are committed to working with and keeping our customers informed about the most effective approaches to their print programs. Please contact your account representative for a consultation or send us a message here and someone from our sales team will get in touch with you.