Direct Mail Advertising

What is Direct Mail Marketing

Direct mail marketing is a communication channel where a brand or business sends a communication to pre-selected individuals based on criteria such as demographics, spending habits, and/or geographical locations. 

As a mailing solution, direct mail marketing is a printed form of communication, a simple postcard, informative leaflet or letter, a product catalogue, or an inspirational brochure. With the only limitation being the dimensions of a letterbox, your mailing format can be something designed and created to a bespoke brief. Direct mail marketing today is no longer a purely offline channel. Effective direct mail marketing strategies use personalized URLs, specific codes, augmented reality or QR technology within the communications call to action. 

The basic structure of direct mail advertising

It doesn’t matter what type of direct mail advertising you use, you’ll still need to stick to a basic structure. In short, you need to make sure your direct mail advertising does the following:

•  Something clearly identifying your business. Yes, this might sound obvious, but there are businesses that have buried their logo, name, etc., at the bottom of their direct mail advertising. Naturally, they didn’t get many enquiries.
• An enticing call to action (CTA). It’s all well and good having a flashy leaflet filled with everything that makes your business great, but without a CTA customers will feel less compelled to actually use your product or service. You can always try pairing your CTA with an offer (50% off, a free trial, or something along those lines)
• A clear, easy-to-see way of contacting your company. You could have the above two points sorted to the point of perfection

Does direct mail advertising still work?

As we mentioned earlier, digital is king these days, but that doesn’t mean that direct mail advertising isn’t viable. In fact, in the right situation, direct mail advertising can be far more effective than any email could be. The data backs this up too, with studies showing a response rate of over 5% for direct mail advertising, compared to around 0.5% for email marketing. What makes direct mail advertising effective though? Especially when it was predicted that email would become the dominant form of mail advertising?

Interactivity

With emails, most people barely spend more than a few seconds skim-reading them before either ignoring them or sending them straight to the trash folder. Physical mail advertising, on the other hand, is something tangible, something a potential customer will pick up and hold before deciding to throw it away. This means a well-placed offer or some form of promotional material can be seen by customers immediately. It’s even better if the offer requires the customer to keep the leaflet, something like a physical form to fill in and post for example, or a redeemable discount for use in a restaurant. The possibilities of grabbing attention like this are near limitless. 

Creativity

Physical leaflets let you get creative in all sorts of ways. You can design a leaflet to unfold into multiple panels, taking the reader along an interactive journey. Or, you could introduce different textures that make a leaflet fun to handle. Really, how you get creative is entirely up to you and that’s what gives physical mail its unique advantage over digital mediums.

Potential for greater reach

We get it, digital reigns supreme in most advertising channels. But the simple reality is that there are still millions, if not billions of people around the world that prefer something physical. Indeed, many still view physical advertising as more legitimate and the aforementioned studies prove that the response rate is higher.

Lesser competition

One of the best parts about the greater switch to digital is that the competition for direct-mail advertising has definitely gone down. This gives businesses willing to still use physical mail an advantage over those solely using digital. 

How can Posthub help?

Here at Posthub we are passionate about post, offering both practical and consultative support throughout the advertising mail campaign planning and delivery process. With extensive knowledge and experience, we are best placed to provide cost-effective postal costs, for every campaign.