7 Tips for Choosing Direct Mail Marketing Strategy

A study revealed that over 90% of shoppers prefer direct mail promotions when making purchasing decisions. The format offers unique opportunities for businesses like yours to connect directly with your target audience and generate effective leads.

If you don't already have a direct mail marketing strategy, you may be looking for help developing one.

These seven tips will help you develop a successful direct mail campaign from the ground up. Keep reading to discover practical advice to help you:

• Understand your audience
• Set goals for your campaign
• Design mail to send out
• Boost brand awareness
• Drive engagement

When you've finished reading, you should have all the direct mail campaign tips you need to see measurable results moving forward. So, start optimizing your targeted mailing strategies now!

1. Understand Your Audience

Before you put pen to paper, you must understand more about who you intend to send these messages to. Your audience is the foundation of any effective direct mail campaign, and targeting specific demographics will prevent you from worrying about wasted effort.

Make sure to research your target audience in terms of:

• Location
• Demographics
• Interests and behaviors
• Life goals
• Income levels

You can often gain a lot of this data using surveys or social media to assess interest in what you have to offer. It may also benefit you to segment your audience into separate sections, enabling you to personalize your efforts further towards specific groups. 

Taking these steps can often lead to better engagement and higher response rates as those receiving the communication feel like you are offering them a solution that caters to their needs.

2. Set Clear Goals for Your Campaign

Specific SMART goals can help you assess your strategy and measure whether you have developed effective mailing techniques.

These can also ensure you understand your campaign's key performance indicators (KPIs) and how best to attain them. So, focus on the objectives of your business when planning any goals to make sure they align with your needs.

Consider what measurable aspects of your campaign you can set as a goal and continue to measure moving forward. For example:

• Response rate
• Conversion rate
• Return on investment (ROI)
• Online mentions
• New social media followers

If you need to measure whether these individuals came from this campaign specifically, you could use tools such as:

• Unique QR codes
• Specific campaign URLs
• Phone numbers set up to track engagement
• Use of hashtags in online engagement

Each of these offers more clarity in ensuring any customer actions are something you can compare against your objectives.

3. Maintaining a Clean Mailing List

The success of direct mail depends heavily on ensuring your messages reach people who are willing to hear them. One of the best ways to do this is to use data analytics to predict specific customers with a high likelihood of responding.

Over time, you can refine this list further based on historical data. However, you may need to make more assumptions in the short term.

You can often create these specific mailing lists based on your customer records or previous purchases they may have made. Alternatively, if you are a locally-focused business, you can often use community engagement or in-person methods to gather data.

Over time, you will also need to update this list:

• Remove people who have never responded
• Update addresses and other details as necessary
• Highlight those who have engaged
• Confirm all data with customers now and then

You can then send out mail matching each group's habits and avoid sending mail to those who do not engage.

4. Design Compelling Mail Pieces

A visually appealing mail item will grab someone's attention when they pick it up. Work with a designer, in-house or externally, to get a high-quality piece that matches your brand in terms of:

• Color
• Images
• Fonts
• Tone of voice
• Brand identity

Make sure you also understand the role of persuasive copywriting. Leveraging this skill can help you communicate the core value propositions of your product or service to the customer.

Make sure to also include a clear call to action. Such an element will explicitly drive engagement and cause more conversion as people know how to continue their journey with you.

5. Opt for the Best Timing and Frequency

The timing of when people receive direct mail has a significant impact on maximizing a campaign's effectiveness. So, if a holiday is coming up or the season is changing, align your message with that event.

Alternatively, try to personalize anything you send out, such as shortly before a birthday or anniversary. You can often encourage faster responses as people want to take advantage of the timing.You can drive this harder by including a deadline of, for example, a week past the event.

6. Leverage Geotargeting for Hyper-Local Campaigns

When someone believes you are targeting them more specifically, they may unconsciously feel like you empathize with or understand them. One good way to do this is to geotarget said individuals, focusing on their local area and referencing a group they are a part of. 

Remember to include an address on any mail you send if you have a local store or physical location nearby. Adding this gives people an easier way to find you.

7. Integrate Digital and Direct Mail

You can combine direct mail with other efforts, such as digital marketing, to create a more cohesive experience.Ways you can do this include:

• Using a unique URL in the mail that leads to personalized pages
• Repeating messages across multiple channels to reinforce an idea
• Tracking engagement between channels
• Cross-promoting different methods of communication

Not only will this optimize future campaigns, but it also means you are further secured against unexpected events. For example, a social media provider could shut down or undergo a paradigm shift that causes them to lose users.

Leverage a Direct Mail Marketing Strategy For Greater Success

Having a robust direct mail marketing strategy will make it much more likely that you can connect with potential customers. The above marketing strategy guide should help you create a well-targeted and appealing campaign, giving you the best chance of boosting engagement.

If you want to know more, Taradel is an expert in this field, with decades of work under our belt. We can help you get your next direct mail efforts off the ground. So, start planning your future campaign with us today.