Direct mail is any marketing mail piece sent to a precisely-targeted group of prospective customers. This is, of course, a very broad definition–one that encompasses countless types, shapes, and sizes of mailers. Its broadness is exactly what makes direct mail such a powerful tool for your business or institution.
Direct Mail Gives Your Creativity Free Reign
Chances are, you have received a wide variety of direct mail pieces in your own mailbox: everything from letters in envelopes, to colorful postcards, to self-mailers that have been folded down and glued for easy opening. While all of these pieces are effective marketing tools, they are just the tip of the iceberg. Because it is so versatile and adaptable, direct mail truly rewards creative design and innovative content delivery. Direct mail can be shaped in a way that both catches the recipient’s eye and captures the essence of your business. Direct mail also allows you to offer promotions in a creative and attention-grabbing way, whether that includes scratch-off incentives or detachable gift cards.
Both the design and content delivery have adapted to meet the needs and expectations of today’s digital-savvy consumer (if there is one thing direct mail is not, it’s “static”). For example, many current direct mail pieces feature Augmented Reality technology. With Augmented Reality (or AR, for short), users can hover their smart phones over the mail piece, superimposing a digital image over the physical graphic. The digital image can interact with the physical mail piece in several imaginative and eye-popping ways: it can pull up a video related to the content, create an animated effect, or zoom in on a portion of the mail piece, just to name a few. Direct mail pieces can even contain a small USB device, so that customers can access digital content on their computer, as they hold the physical mail piece in their hand. These high-tech elements of a mail-piece allow you to bridge your digital and physical marketing campaigns, reaching customers across multiple channels at once.
Direct Mail Is Precisely-Targeted To Ensure Optimal Response Rate
Not only does direct mail allow you to design creative marketing materials, it ensures that those materials go out to whatever demographic or market segment you choose. For example, address lists can comprise recipients of a certain age group, recipients who live within a specific neighborhood, recipients who have purchased a certain product of yours in the past, or even a combination of all three criteria. The fact that direct mail goes out to a finely-tuned list of ideal recipients is one of its greatest strengths. With the right message, the right design, and the right list, you can be sure of a strong return on your investment.
Make Direct Mail Work for You
If you would like more information on how you can reach new customers through direct mail, give us a call at 866-542-2107, or contact us today. We will be happy to answer any questions, and give you a quote for your next project.
By: Brandon Wuske
