5 Surprising Reasons Direct Mail Marketing is Still Effective

Many people wrongly assume direct mail is no longer a useful marketing method. Though direct mail has certainly changed in recent years, many of those changes have actually been for the better. Here are five surprising reasons direct mail marketing can still bring in lots of leads and customers.

1) Works with Digital Promotions

There’s no reason why your direct mail and digital marketing campaigns can’t help one another. Physical promotional materials can easily be used to drive customers to digital locations. For example, lots of businesses include scannable codes with their direct mail messages, which allow people to scan the code with their mobile devices and be taken to an online destination of their choosing.

2) Highly Targeted

As the accuracy of online advertisement targeting only continues to improve thanks to technological advances, the same goes for direct mail. Creating a direct mail campaign online is now easier than ever before, and presents you with the opportunity to fine-tune your contact mailing list in order to appeal to your ideal customer. You’re also able to save the parameters for the demographics you’ve chosen, so you can easily use them on future campaigns.

3) Response Rates Remain High

Response rates for direct mail depend on a lot of factors, including the type of mailer, where it’s sent, the tone of the message and more. Regardless, the response rates most businesses now get from direct mail are comparable to those offered by digital mediums such as email marketing, and in some cases, even better. Direct mail typically has higher response rates than advertisements placed on websites and search engine pay-per-click listings.

4) Less Competition Than Ever

Due to the trend of businesses moving their marketing efforts to digital mediums, fewer businesses are now using direct mail. Because people aren’t receiving as many advertising messages through the mail as they used to, your mailer has a better chance of getting their attention. Less competition also means direct mail is cheaper for your business to send out than it once was.

5) Boost Brand Awareness

Unlike when someone sees an online advertisement surrounded by countless others, a piece of mail captures a person’s full attention, even if it’s just for a moment. Because of this, increased brand awareness is an important benefit of direct mail. Even if someone receives your mailer, looks over it quickly and then throws it away, they’ve still registered your brand in their minds and will be more likely to remember it in the future, should they ever come to need what you have to offer.

Don’t make the mistake of underestimating direct mail as a marketing strategy, as many business owners have done. Whether you’re running marketing campaigns targeting B2B or B2C leads, direct mail can still improve many aspects of your marketing, from digital campaigns to highly targeted local promotions.