If you think about communication between people, it is certainly something that has been reduced to special holidays. If you think about communication between companies, you are wrong to think that physical mail is something of the past; direct marketing (or sending letters and postcards) is still a very relevant communication channel that generates a greater investment than other marketing channels.
Let's move on to another question: if you receive a letter and an email, which one do you read first? Statistics say physical mail. Let's look at some other noteworthy statistics that put direct marketing on the podium among business marketing channels.
Great! Now that we know that direct marketing is here to stay and that it has a real impact that is greater than many other marketing channels, let's look at some numbers that will help us better understand its impact.
Figures and impact of direct marketing
Direct Marketing Participation:
According to data from the US Direct Marketing cameroon whatsapp lead Association (DMA), direct marketing accounted for approximately 54% of total advertising expenditures in the United States.
Effectiveness of Direct Marketing:
The effectiveness of direct marketing is often measured by response rates. According to the DMA, the average response rate for direct mail was 5.3% in the United States.
Segmentation and Personalization:
Segmentation and personalization are key in direct marketing. A study by Epsilon indicated that 80% of consumers were more likely to do business with a brand that offered personalized experiences.
We are not necessarily talking about your letter or postcard having to be designed to receive a national drawing or creation award. No. We are talking about the fact that your piece does not have to be a boring piece. We need to catch the attention of your recipient. Here are some images that represent effective direct marketing campaigns, with a “different” design that achieves the objective: capturing the recipient's attention.
As you can see in the image below, direct marketing is not limited to just a designed and printed “letter” or “postcard”. It can also be large and 3D – obviously it is more expensive to send, but if it is addressed to a small list of companies, we encourage you to try it!
How to start direct marketing campaigns?
1) Get a list of potential current clients
If your marketing strategy is focused on customer retention and you want to reach your current customers, you already have the list! Perfect.
You probably also want to target potential customers, which is the most common audience in the direct marketing channel. You can get the most reliable data in the industry at Camerdata, the only official source of information on company data in Spain, at this link:https://www.camerdata.es/formulario-empresas-espanolas
2) Get a volume discount
Depending on the number of pieces of physical mail you plan to send, you can get a shipping discount ranging from 10% to 15% of the public price . In Spain, Correos has a product called Publicorreo, where its most economical variant is Publicorreo Óptimo and allows you to print everything from postcards to letters with an average price of 21 cents for cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants.
So, it pays to compare suppliers and secure a volume discount. Depending on whether you deposit hundreds or thousands of pieces in each shipment, you can send it to your nearest post office or to the bulk deposit centre found in the largest cities in Spain. Here is a link so you can read about the Publicorreo product and see if it interests you:https://www.correos.es/es/es/empresas/m ... va/mailing
3- Measurement
Measurement is not exclusive to digital channels; every channel must be measurable to know whether the campaign has gone well or not. In the case of direct marketing, the impact can be measured in several ways:
- By putting a phone number on the piece that is unique to the physical mail. This way, when someone calls us, we will know that it was thanks to the mail we sent.
- By putting a landing page that only uses physical mail. This way, we will know that the people who fill out the contact form on this page have come because of the promotion we have sent by mail.
4- AB tests
In the article about email marketing campaign strategies, we said that it was imperative to test in order to improve the results. We can't know if the message resonates with our audience until they let us know - and there's no other way to know that they're telling us that than to put up two messages, with only one difference between them, and compare the results between the two. So, for the same audience that you're going to direct a mailing to, make sure you make two very similar designs, with only one thing that differentiates them, and compare the results. Each of the mailings must have a different phone number and landing page, of course!, so you can know where each prospect comes from.
Direct marketing is certainly one of the oldest channels for reaching new customers. It is certainly interesting that it remains one of the most effective.
We will finish, for those who are still not convinced, with two keys to why direct marketing is better than email marketing:
Why is direct marketing better than email marketing?
1) Prior consent is not required.
The General Data Protection Act (GDPR) is quite restrictive(official link)when it comes to mass digital communications. One of the conditions is that you must have received express consent to receive commercial mail. This is not the case with physical mail; you can send it even if you do not have the recipient's consent.
2) Physical mail does not go to the spam folder
Depending on the email marketing provider you choose, your emails may end up in the spam folder and not be read. By using physical mail, you can be sure that your piece is received, and if it's a postcard (the format we recommend), you can be sure that it is read, which only happens in 20% of the emails that are sent .
3) You have less competition
How many emails do you receive each day (wanted or unwanted)?
How many pieces of junk mail do you receive each day (wanted or unwanted)?
The difference is probably quite significant. With direct marketing, you have less competition to share the attention of your target audience with.
I hope this article has served to raise awareness of the importance of direct marketing as a great marketing channel whose ROI is among the best in the commercial mix of any company of any industry and size.
5 direct marketing strategies [ed. 2024]
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