How to Use Direct Mail Marketing to Generate Leads

In the highly digital, AI-focused world we live in today, it might be shocking, but direct mail continues to be a successful marketing strategy. Integrating direct mail into your current marketing mix allows you to reach more consumers and grow your business. Let’s see where direct mail is today and how you can maximize your results by using direct mail marketing best practices.

Why Direct Mail Marketing?

Many people consider direct mail marketing to be dead. But it’s definitely not. Yes, consumers spend a lot of time on digital platforms. In fact, the average American spends over 7 hours looking at a screen each day. But there’s also a lot of competition out there vying for their attention.

Direct Mail is Tangible

Who doesn’t love to get a thank you card? A holiday card? A note from their local business? Direct mail is visual, tangible, and something your prospects can physically touch. Most people – over 91% – read through their mail. And consider this: a recent study showed that 57% of boomers, 45% of GenX, 41% of Millenials, and 37% of GenZ would be disappointed if they stopped receiving mail.

Direct Mail Improves Engagement

Email is impersonal, even if your name or company is listed. It’s not something you hold in your hands at your home. Direct mail marketing involves all senses, which naturally piques interest and helps people remember and recognize what they are reading. That means a direct mail piece will hold their attention much longer than an email stating the same thing.

Direct Mail Isn’t Disruptive

Do you ever get annoyed when your email pings you and it’s not what you want to see? That happens to everyone and a lot. But with direct mail, consumers choose when and where to allow direct mail, with little disruption. In fact, Americans are more comfortable receiving direct mail than any other advertising medium, including television, online ads, and social media.

It’s a fact. Direct mail marketing works. While direct mail is not a marketing success on its own, adding it to your marketing mix means you can reach your prospects at home on their terms. But since it isn’t almost free like email marketing, you have to ensure you’re getting the most bang for your buck. That’s where direct mail marketing best practices come in.

Direct Mail Marketing Best Practices

Now that we know how exceptional direct mail can be for you let’s get down to business. It’s not as simple as sending out a few letters. Best practices can help you reach more consumers and maintain a great ROI.

Tip 1: Hyper-Target Your Audience

In order to boost response rates, your first step is to pinpoint your audience. Who are you trying to reach with your campaign? What are their interests and their needs? Once you know your target, you can tailor your message and design to appeal to them.

Hyper-targeting is easier than ever these days, thanks to the wealth of demographic information available in the marketplace. Consider what your ideal audience looks like. Demographics, socioeconomics, financial data, family connections, veteran and spouse status, etc. These figures will depend on what prospect you are looking for.

Plus, narrowing your focus to fewer, highly qualified recipients will give you better results for less money. And the key is to understand your audience and design your campaign to appeal directly to them.

When creating a list, don’t forget to retarget previous visitors. Who should you retarget? Consider visitors to your website that didn’t convert, followers on social media that aren’t clients, or people you’ve met at an event who weren’t ready to commit. These people have already shown an interest in what you offer and may just need another touch point for them to convert to clients.

Tip 2: Personalization and Creativity

It should go without saying that you need to use high-quality materials in your direct mail. Anything you put your name on reflects your business, and you want it to speak highly of you! Thick, glossy paper and eye-catching graphics and copy will make your piece stand out among the rest.

And it’s been proven – personalization on direct mail marketing can result in 64% more RSVPs to events. That’s huge! Everyone loves to feel valued and important, and the small token of adding their name to a flyer can be the difference between them reading and taking action or discarding it.

But don’t stop at just name personalization. Ensure the topic, copy, and message are spot-on for your target audience. What solutions are they looking for? How can you help them with their pain points? What type of verbiage or language would they use? Connect with them, and win them over.

Tip 3: Specify a Call to Action

What do you want the recipient to do after they receive your direct mail piece? Do you want them to visit your website? Call your business? Make a purchase? Don’t leave anything to chance. Make sure your call to action is clear and concise and stands out from the rest of your message. Plus, make sure it drives them to act. Use verbs and directions that push them into taking the next step without being overly pushy.

For example, a “Visit our website” or “Call us for more info” leaves way too much to chance. What’s the website? What’s the phone number? Plus, it’s passive. What would be more effective would be, “Call our team now for a full review of your finances at 555-555-5555” or “Save your seat for the webinar right now by visiting www.leadingresponse.com.”

Tip 4: Test, Retest, and Track Results

So you’ve sent out a direct mail piece. Wonderful! Your work isn’t done yet. How did it perform? What can you do to improve on the response for the next one? How many people scanned the QR code? How many people called and asked for more information? What was the general feedback on the mailer? These questions will help you improve your direct mail marketing and continue finding ways to get better results.

Tip 5: Integrate with Other Marketing

Don’t leave your direct mail marketing stranded. Align your direct mail marketing with your webinars, social media presence, email marketing campaigns, in-person seminars and events, and more. With a cohesive multichannel marketing campaign, you can reach more people in more places with the same message. And ultimately connect with and convert more prospects into clients.

Make Your Direct Mail Marketing Count

Direct mail marketing is still a valuable tool in your marketing toolbox. Eye-catching, intriguing pieces can help you connect with qualified prospects and push more registrations and inquiries through your website or phone system. Testing and retesting can ensure you increase response rates and get a great ROI by constantly improving. For more information about how to create marketing campaigns backed by decades of data and experience, contact our marketing experts at LeadingResponse. We can help you design a marketing campaign to help your firm reach its full potential. Contact us now.