General

Should Your Small Business Market by Mail?

Junk mail. It’s delivered every day by your friendly (or surly) neighborhood mailman, and most people chuck it straight in the trash without giving it a second thought.

Or do they?

Direct mail has gotten a bad rap in the past few years, but according to this infographic, it might not deserve it. Here are some findings that might surprise you:

-Seventy to 80 percent of people open “almost all” their mail, including the “junk.”

-Direct mail has a 10 percent to 20 percent better conversion rate than email.

-Fifty-one percent of consumers prefer to receive mail from “local” businesses.

Marketing by mail is still very much a “thing,” and a good thing at that. But, like everything else, there’s a right way to do it.

Here are three tips to make sure your direct mail campaign is a success.

Hedge Your Bets

Direct mail may be an inexpensive marketing medium, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pinch your pennies wherever possible. Don’t waste your advertising dollars by blanketing every ZIP code with postcards — instead, focus on your target market.

Your market should be comprised of exactly two camps: A) people you’ve dealt with before, who have signed up for your mailing list and demonstrated a willingness to receive your missives; and B) potential customers you haven’t done business with (yet), but who live in your immediate area and have a need for your goods or services.

Ensuring your mailings only go to the people who want or need them will increase the return on your (admittedly small) investment.

Provide an Incentive

Give your recipients a reason to hang on to your communiqué. Whether it’s a discount coupon, a special offer or even just an entry form for a contest you’re running, you want that postage-paid flyer on the fridge, not in the fireplace.

Create urgency by making sure your incentive is time-sensitive. “Act now,” “ending soon” and “this week only” are far more compelling than “you know … whenever.”

Track Your Results

Direct mail can (and does) work well, especially for small businesses. But if you don’t know for sure that it’s working, you’re wasting your time.

Set up a system that tracks your success. Create an exclusive (read: direct mail only) coupon code that must be entered for a discount. Require an email address for each contest entry. Instruct employees to ask for a ZIP code at brick-and-mortar locations.

When you can see your campaign successes (or failures), it makes it easier to tweak your strategy for the future!

The numbers don’t lie. Marketing by mail is still very much alive, and plenty of people prefer it over email. (Just ask the 41 percent of seniors aged 65 and older who don’t use the internet. At all. Ever.) When you focus on your target market, give them a reason to respond and track your results, it’s one of the most cost-effective ways to build brand awareness, garner new customers and close the deal once and for all!

Need more elements to add to your marketing mix? Mischa Communications has plenty of other ideas on tap! Contact us today and we’ll help you develop a custom-made marketing strategy that delivers some serious results!