It may not be cool, or digital, but sometimes you have to go old-school direct mail.
Direct mail is a type of direct marketing that’s delivered physically to a prospect’s mailbox through the United States Postal Service. Postcards, flyers, and catalogs are common examples. Email marketing is the digital equivalent.
These days, the marketing world is largely digital. But when done right, direct mail marketing can work with your other channels and make your business stand out.
According to Neil Patel, an entrepreneur, marketer, and best-selling author, recent research showed that direct mail campaigns actually had a higher ROI than both paid search and online display ads. In fact, direct mail was only 1 percentage point behind social media, the second-highest ROI medium.
Other recent results also showed that direct mail’s response rate of 5.3% is higher than the 0.6% response rate for email. So why is direct mail, something considered by many to be on the decline, still so effective?
- Direct mail is interactive. Because customers physically handle mail and usually look at it before deciding whether to keep it, direct mail can help get more eyes on your marketing.
- Direct mail can have a bigger reach than electronic advertising if your target audience is less likely to use social media or email. This form of marketing can turn some people into potential customers when all-electronic ads would have missed them completely.
- It offers a lot of ways to get creative. You can pair social media and digital content marketing with direct mail for a seamless customer journey.
- There’s not as much competition. Companies are scaling back their physical marketing efforts in favor of digital marketing. Digital is the more environmentally friendly route, and it’s also easier to start seeing results with digital. That makes it easier to get noticed.
Remember that most people will at least skim through their mail before throwing it away, and a colorful, creative piece of mail has a much better chance of standing out in someone’s mailbox than your website does on Google—at least in the beginning. People don’t expect direct mail as much in the modern age, and they aren’t subjected to the same distractions when looking through physical mail as they are when they’re online. Plus, and this is important, we have lists of automobile owners. That’s right – want to email people who own Porsches in Hartford, CT. We have a list for that. BMW owners in Greenwich? We have a list for that as well. And more.
Remember, even if someone doesn’t react to your mailing right away, they might keep it, especially when they need service. They’ll stick it on their fridge or a board and let it hang out. Then when they’re looking for a place to get the engine rebuilt, the oil changed, or the car wrapped, your company will be more likely to come to mind.