Use direct mail effectively

Nowadays, companies mainly invest in online marketing, but that does not mean that all forms of offline marketing have been written off. In fact, offline marketing is alive and kicking! Only many companies do not see this. Great shame! Yet there is a form of offline marketing that is still widely used, but the approach is not always effective. We are talking about direct mail. These are addressed postal items that have a commercial intention. For example, increasing the sales of a product or visiting an event.

A direct mailing is extremely suitable for such purposes, but as stated, companies do not always set up their campaigns as effectively. In this blog article we therefore go step by step through the process of setting up an effective direct mailing campaign. This step-by-step plan is not a guarantee of success, but if you follow the steps, the chance of success will be much greater!

Step 1: Set objectives

Every marketing activity starts with setting goals, so that is no different with direct mail. Examples of objectives that fit perfectly with a direct mail campaign include:

• Increase the sales of products a, b and c in [year] by 5%, via the catalog that is added to the mailing
• Sell a minimum of 100 tickets for event x in November [year] by means of a link to a landing page on our website (the link will be added to the mailing)
• At least 20 completed coupons for a free consultation on product / service x in October [year]

An important point of attention when drawing up objectives is that you make the objectives SMART. This means: Sspecific, Medible, aacceptable Realistic Ttime bound.

Step 2: Specify your target group

At this point, direct mail often still goes wrong, while this is a crucial component for the success of your campaign. It is best to describe your target group as specific as possible. Therefore make a profile, in which you include the following:

• Age category
• Sex
• Marital status
• Profession
• Interests and hobbies
• Educational attainment

By describing your target group as specific as possible, you get a good picture of the person who will receive your mailing. That way you can adjust the address file that you are going to use to the profile that you have outlined. For example, the chance that the recipients will experience your message as relevant is much greater than if you put the mailing in a random letterbox.

But there is another reason why it is important that you describe the target audience as specifically as possible. After all, you can deliver another relevant message to someone, but if the message is subsequently delivered poorly, the chance that your recipient will take the desired action is very small. With this we can go to the next point, compiling your message.

Step 3: Write your message

As we indicated in step 2, it is important that your message ensures that your recipient starts taking the desired action. Because you have sketched a concrete image of your receiver in step 2, you also know what problems, irritations or issues he is walking around with. And that is exactly what you have to mention at the start of your message.

An example: Suppose you are sending a mailing to people who live in an uninsulated home. Then in the opening of your message you could start by naming the problems that an uninsulated house entails. For example, cold, draft, mold growth and a high energy bill. By naming these problems in concrete terms, the reader will probably want to continue reading the message, because you state exactly what is bothering him.

After you have identified the problems in the opening of your message, proceed to the substantive information. To stay with our example: you tell something about the advantages of insulating your home and how it works. You then provide information that undermines any counter-arguments. For example that it isolate your home can be completed within a day and that the property is delivered clean. You then close your message with a temporary offer and tell how your reader can make use of your offer. When you use the structure of a message just described for your mailing, you will see that the response can be extremely high

Step 4: This is how your direct mail will stand out

A message can still be so relevant and well written, but it must be striking to ensure that your target audience will actually read your message. With regard to direct mailing, it is important that your mail item stands out among the other mail items.

You can easily do that, for example by working with a different color envelope. You can find a company that can relieve you in the field of printed envelopes that stand out here: https://www.mail-succes.nl/drukkerij-gouda. This company has its own double-executed printing company, which guarantees quality and delivery time.

A method to ensure that your envelope will stand out even more is to put in a small giveaway. The giveaway creates a bubble in envelope that enormously stimulates the curiosity of your recipient! You can also choose not to use an envelope and to package your message in a narrow letterbox. After all, people do not receive letterbox boxes in their letterbox on a daily basis, so that the boxes are most likely opened by almost all recipients.

Step 5: The follow-up

Depending on the approach of your mailing, it is important to follow up. For example, suppose the objective of your mailing is to be free advisory consultations to schedule. Then it pays to call the recipients after asking if they have received your offer and if they are interested in planning a consultation.

On the one hand, the re-dialing helps to schedule several appointments, but it is also a good feedback moment. If recipients do not want to make an appointment, it is interesting to ask why that is the case. From the answers you can discover new counter-arguments to which you can respond in a subsequent mailing. It is also likely that uncertainties will come to light, so that people who initially did not want to make an appointment may want to meet with you later.

Set up direct mail campaigns yourself or engage a specialist?

With the tips from this blog article, the chance of a successful direct mail campaign is already a lot bigger than if you do something randomly. However, it can be valuable to approach a direct mailing specialist to help you set up and implement your campaign. After all, a specialist has an eye for the details, which can have a major impact on the success of your mailing. Moreover, direct mailing specialists have high-quality address files. You can imagine that purchasing such files saves you a lot of time and therefore money.

Are you still unsure whether you should set up a campaign yourself or whether you should hire a specialist? Then our advice is to just be a direct mail specialist such as Mail Success to approach and engage in a no-obligation conversation about what he could mean for you. That way you get a good picture of the possibilities and the added value of a specialist.

In any case, don't be afraid to invest in engaging an external party. After all, setting up and running a campaign costs a lot of time and money, so you want to achieve a good return. And if you have to make an investment for that, but the results are more than worth it, then it is more than worth the investment.