You may think the advantages of direct mail might seem like last century’s marketing, but it’s not!
Despite all the advances in digital advertising in the previous decades, good old direct mail is still one of the single most effective and cost-effective marketing options available for local outreach. Physical mail never went away, and it’s still one of the most-used communications methods in the country.
If you haven’t thought about direct mail lately, here are a few things you might want to know about just how effective it still is!
Why the Advantages of Direct Mail Make it A Great Local Marketing Investment
1 – Everyone still gets postal mail.
Aside from a truly tiny number of people living in the middle of nowhere, essentially the entire country has at least one postal address and receives mail at it on a daily basis. Furthermore, ninety-eight percent of people check their postal mail every day.
People might be “cutting the cord” with telephone or cable services, but postal mail is still as widely-used as ever. That means the advantages of direct mail include the best reach of ANY marketing method.
2 – Its cost-per-lead is as low or lower than any alternative.
Another common misconception about direct mail is that it’s too expensive to be worth it, because of the costs associated with physical media. However, one of the key advantages of direct mail actually has a response rate far beyond digital channels, including more than 10 times the responses garnered by email.
For this reason, direct mail actually yields a lower cost-per-lead than other alternatives. The campaigns might cost a little more upfront, but they can pay off dramatically when compared to digital alternatives.
3 – Geotargeting makes direct mail into a science.
Still concerned about the costs of direct mail? Another aspect to consider is that modern data services can target your mailer to only those prospects who are most likely to be interested. Rather than blanketing an entire city at great cost, you can now easily micro-target neighborhoods or even specific streets based on demographic data. When done properly, this can drive your cost-per-lead down even further and truly maximize the return on your marketing investment.
4 – Direct mail inspires immediate action.
Among the many challenges with getting leads via electronic methods is that it’s so easy for the recipient to get distracted. With emails coming in nearly constantly, and so many other online activities vying for attention, that most emails are forgotten about before the recipient ever gets around to acting on them.
On the other hand, an amazing seventy-nine percent of direct mail recipients will act on a piece of mail immediately after receiving it. This is probably because working with physical mail is a focused activity, without the distractions of electronic work. Whatever the reason, if a piece of direct mail catches a customer’s eye, they are far more likely to take action.
5 – Physical mail is physical.
Electronic media provides plenty of eye candy, and occasionally some audio, but very little else. There’s no real joy in tapping on a touchscreen, and it’s easy to feel disconnected when all one does is shuffle virtual papers around into virtual folders without being able to actually touch or feel anything.
Direct mail provides tactile experiences that are simply impossible with electronic media. Direct mailers can be fun simply to open and play with, if they’re well designed, with multiple folding elements, or pockets, or even nested envelopes-within-envelopes. In a touch-deprived world, that helps people form emotional connections to your mailings.
OneStopMail has more than thirty years’ experience in printed marketing! Contact us today to learn more about how direct mail can drive your next local campaign.
