Website design By BotEap.comLike any good entrepreneur, I’m always thinking of ways I can develop and grow our businesses and brands. One of the best marketing strategies does not occur in the digital world. Every week, one of my companies sends out over 1,000 pieces of direct mail. We have an excellent response rate, even with a younger demographic target audience.

Website design By BotEap.comThink about it; people are inundated with emails, social media posts, and instant messages. In the digital world, it’s a novelty to receive a great piece of direct response material in the mail. However, there are some differences between what we do in our direct mail and what was done in the old school days.

• We experiment with all kinds of colorful pieces.
• We rarely send a letter.
• The pieces are always vibrant with images and very little copy.

Website design By BotEap.com There are a couple of reasons why your business should consider direct response to prospect and grow your business.

• Response rate: Last year, Compu-mail noted: “Direct mail response rate in households is 5.1% (compared to 6% email, 0.6% paid search, 0.2 view online, 0.4% from social.) This is the highest response rate DMA has ever reported, since it published the Response Rate Report in 2003.
• Personalization: When your prospects get mail (not including bills), particularly those who are Generation X and up, there’s a familiar feeling. Older generations still like to receive something in the mail with their names on it. They can play the part, and there’s something new about it in today’s world.
• generational myth: Believe it or not, a sizable portion of Millennials also like direct response because it’s something they can touch and hold, too. According to a Forbes article, 36 percent of people under the age of 30 like to check their mailboxes, and 95 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 29 have a favorable view of mail, such as personalized cards.
• QR codes and URLs: Companies have been experimenting with testing QR and PURL (Personal URLs), which redirects a person receiving an email back to the digital age. Since most people now have a smartphone, the target audience can scan these codes to get more information.
• Messenger service: If you’re running a particular project or sale, consider using direct mail to reinforce urgency. My team and I have had high response rates to direct mail pieces that had a deadline to partner with our companies. One of the key reasons we’ve seen this work is because with all the email people receive, many times they quickly dismiss this form of communication just to go through their inbox.
• Multi-channel marketing: Direct response is a great way to support your digital marketing efforts. We know that people have to see your brand and logo multiple times for it to start “sticking” in their minds. Direct mail helps bolster your brand’s digital efforts. Prospects not only see you in the digital world but in the “real world” as well.
• Tests: Direct mail gives your business the opportunity to try another method of communicating with your prospects. We’ve tested direct response with high-end prospects in our target audience, and the new accounts we’ve gotten have paid shipping.
• Easy analysis: Direct mail results are easy to understand. You don’t need anyone on your team to log into a digital platform to get a report for you. Direct response gives you an easy way to see how much you spent versus how much new business you got.
• Credibility: Direct mail, because it’s familiar and tactile, gives recipients an automatic sense of your credibility. We live in a world of “fake news” and raging social media debates about content in the digital space that is authentic and real. Direct response cuts through the noise and instantly lends credibility due to investment and familiarity.
• Creativity: Direct response is a great way to experiment with color, size, shape, and different packaging for your parts. Sophisticated marketers are experimenting with many different types of mailings to stand out from a traditional, regular-sized letter and envelope, encouraging people to look at the piece.

Website design By BotEap.com The Data and Marketing Association (DMA) has reported that direct mail has declined. However, in a digital world where people are inundated with massive amounts of content, direct mail stands out as a creative way to cut through the noise. At the very least, direct mail is a great addition to your digital efforts, and at best, it’s a great way to win new business.