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Archive for May, 2019

Direct Mail vs Digital Marketing

Direct mail requires 21% less cognitive effort. As such, there are many customers who will absorb the message quickly. Not only that. Companies are experiencing a 70% recall rate compared to other forms of advertising.

In 2019, mobile marketing will account for 72% of US digital ad spending. It is expected that mobile ad spending will reach $65.87 billion by the end of 2019. As such, it will surpass desktop advertising spending.

In email marketing, segmented campaigns have a higher open rate of 14.32% compared to non-segmented. The reason why segmented campaigns have an upper hand is that they help you reach your target audience. Also, they help you get higher click rates.

Why direct mail isnt dead? When it comes to direct mail vs digital marketing, the former is trusted more than the latter. Is this true?

Read on to find out why direct marketing mail is the best option for business.

Personalization

When it comes to direct mail vs digital marketing, there is a huge gap in personalization. For instance, it is common for social media users to notice an ad on their feed. Normally, the ad is a product they searched for recently.

What would be the reaction of the user? You guessed it right. The user will be alarmed. This is the same with emails from companies you are not familiar with. That is why you find your spam folder is full.

With direct mail, businesses carry out a personalized approach that is not intrusive. For instance, you may receive a custom postcard that is colorful with your name on it in your mailbox. Even with other direct mail options, consumers are always eager to open and learn more.

Simply put, direct mail is more straightforward compared to digital marketing. This makes the customer feel valued.

Content Quality

Today, there is an increase in low-quality content embedded with most advertising. This content is saturating the digital landscape making advertisers worried. When a platform is saturated with questionable content, advertisers will not consider it.

For instance, a lot of businesses engage in black hat SEO techniques just to achieve top page rank. As such, you will end up finding less credible information on the first page of the search engine.

As the digital landscape is rife with questionable content, advertisers are turning to direct mail. With direct mail marketing, businesses add a personal touch with each postcard. This helps to increase their conversion rates.

A touch of personalization increases the response by 135%.

That is not all. They are also using high-resolution images, strong CTAs, and heavy stock paper.

More Memorable

Today, whether we are searching, streaming, or swiping, we are assailed with digital ads. From text-based ads to video-based ads, they flash before our eyes in blazing speeds.

Forty-four percent of the people can recall a brand directly after watching a digital ad. In another survey, 75% of the people could recall a brand after receiving direct mail.

The reason why customers recall brands is because of the personalized touch. It could also be the use of coupons, fliers, tailored messages, and postcards.

Direct Mail vs Digital Marketing – Why You Should Use Direct Mail Marketing

When it comes to direct mail vs digital marketing, direct mail is the better option. Why? It’s cost-effective, personalized and highly flexible. With a compelling creative postcard, you can make a great first impression.

This increases your conversion rates.

Looking for the right direct mail services for your business? We at Modern Mail & Print Solutions can help. Contact us today!

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B2B vs B2C Direct Mail Marketing: Know Your Audience

If you’re looking to drum up business, then direct mail marketing is a good strategy to employ. Up to 90% of direct mail gets opened, which means the money you spend on direct mail marketing will be well spent. Depending on the services or products you offer, your approach to this type of marketing will have to be different if it’s B2B, as opposed to B2C. In this article, you’ll learn some tips for B2B vs. B2C direct mail marketing.

b2b vs b2c direct mail marketing

B2B Direct Mail Marketing

With B2B marketing, the buying cycle is longer than with B2C marketing. So, you need to make sure your marketing is consistent all throughout the cycle. If your marketing isn’t optimal at any point, it can cause people to lose interest and look somewhere else.

Another key aspect to keep in mind about B2B direct mail marketing is that the piece typically has to go through a Gatekeeper. This means you would want your marketing piece to appear to have the utmost importance and be addressed to the ultimate decision marker.

For example, you should consider using a letter in an envelope rather than a post card and personalize it to the specific person you are targeting and not to just the business. Gatekeepers typically won’t open a letter that looks personal or important to others. This will increase the chances of your prospects opening your marketing piece and in turn create a higher response rate.

While most people believe that B2B means cold and unemotional, the opposite is actually true. Since the buying cycle is so long, there’s more of a need to appeal to the emotional side to get buyers to commit and take a risk.

This means that while your B2B direct mail marketing shouldn’t be too casual or humorous, you still have to do your research into what appeals to the emotional side of decision makers. Find out what their pain points are, address them, and position your company as one to trust to solve their problems.

The most important messages you want to get through in your B2B direct mail marketing are ones that you can build a lasting relationship upon. This will include reliability, expertise, and credibility.

B2C Direct Mail Marketing

B2C marketing involves more storytelling than B2B marketing does. The B2C buying cycle is a lot shorter than the B2B one, which means you need to catch your prospects’ interests quickly. B2C purchase tend to lean towards impulse buys more, so if you can appeal to the emotions effectively, then you’ve almost certainly secured a sale.

When you use B2C direct mail marketing, you want to have strong branding. You’ll need to focus heavily on the graphics on your mailings. Since you want to connect with customers on a personal level, your copy can take on a more casual and friendly tone. In fact, you can even incorporate humor.

You want to ensure your B2C offer is clear and stands out. You only have a few seconds to grab the attention of your prospects, so you want it to be impactful. In fact, postcards are a great way for you to get your message in their hands, while making sure they see your offer right away.

Another commonly used strategy is to place a letter in an envelope that appears to be a personal card/invitation. Everyone likes to receive birthday/holiday cards or invites in the mail, increasing the chances of the consumer opening the piece.

Since you’re going for impulse buys, it may be a good idea to include coupons for either discounts or free items. These things can make all the difference between someone keeping your mailing or throwing it away immediately.

B2B vs. B2C Direct Mail Marketing: Know the Difference

When it comes to B2B vs. B2C direct mail marketing, knowing the difference in approach can have a huge impact on your marketing. Most other direct mail marketing is considered as “junk mail” by consumers. But if you use the right techniques, then you’ll create something that your potential customers will see,  like, and remember.

For reliable printing services regarding direct mail marketing, get in touch with us today.

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Direct Mail Marketing Tips And Trends

Direct mail marketing has a larger emotional impact than digital ads. As such, it has resulted in a stronger recall. The average household receives two or more pieces of direct mail a day and 90% of the direct mail is opened.

If the house has a median income of more than $65k, there is a 58% chance they will buy goods recommended by direct mail when it is relevant to them.

The reason why households have a high rate of opening direct mail is that there is a sense of excitement. Consumers cannot wait to read what new products or offers are in the mail from their favorite retailors. Direct mail marketing is effective because it is memorable, tangible and creates a lasting impression among your prospects.

In this post, we highlight the direct mail marketing tips and trends.

direct mail marketing

Know Who Your Audience Is

Direct mail marketing can be expensive but the ROI can be huge. To make your campaigns effective, you need to know your audience and who you are trying to target. The best way to start is by creating a list of your current customers.  Knowing who your customer is, what they look like, how they buy and how frequently they buy is key to a marketing strategy.  This allows you to focus your campaigns towards your customers’ needs and wants, which will increase response rates.

Also by profiling your current customers, it will help you identify what your future customer looks like. You can purchase custom consumer mailing lists that are specific to the type of audience you want to market to.  Identifying your target market is essential for having a successful direct mail campaign.

Maximize Your Returns with Value-Added Promotion

You can continue saving and maximize your returns with value-added promotions. In every direct mail sent to customers, it should contain rebates and discounts or a strong call to action. For instance, you can add a coupon that your customers can redeem when shopping.

By doing so, you are giving your customers a reason to buy from you now and not later.

But how do you make your message stand out?  Use relevant and tailored messages specific to your audience. Make your offer specific to their wants and needs.  Personalize your direct mail piece by using VDP (Variable Data Printing) so that it calls out to your recipient.  Response rates soar when the consumer thinks the direct mail piece was specific to them and not everyone else.

Personalizing your messages has been a proven way to maximize conversion rates and will help establishing customer loyalty.

Select the Right Medium

30% of internet users are expected to use an ad blocker. What this indicates is that consumers are getting overwhelmed with email ads and are running away from the digital ads. To reach your savvy customers, you need to up your game.

How?

By adopting the latest in direct mail marketing tips and strategies. For instance, invest in influencer marketing, seek referral partnerships or use postcards. Another strategy that businesses are yet to capitalize on is cross channel marketing.

This is where businesses get to integrate many channels such as direct mail, and social media. A good example is where a business has invested in an AI fused CRM. The application allows easier integration with your direct mail marketing efforts.

Using AI, you can track consumer behavior and even anticipate their needs. AI technology can also help you forecast your channel fatigue.

Send out Creative Designs

What design pieces have you been sending out in the past? Were you able to achieve your goals? If your conversion rates have remained the same, then you may want to inject some creativity in your designs.

Instead of small designs, why not go for large pieces. Incorporate bright colors and higher impact images. When it comes to CTAs, use those that can compel your customers to take action.

You can also incorporate fun and creative elements such as texture. Even when it comes to paper, go for heavier stock.

Growing Your Business with Direct Mail Marketing

Only Direct Mail allows you to target your specific prospect, with a specific offer that is for them, that allows them to respond how and when they want to.  That is why Direct Mail Marketing remains the best one-on-one marketing tool for any business.  Profile your customers and utilize personalization and watch your response rates increase!

Are you in search of direct mail services? We at Modern Mail & Print Solutions can help. Contact us today!

 

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Essential Direct Mail Design Tips and Ideas

The USPS processed and delivered 509 million pieces of mail. That translates to 21.2 million pieces of mail per day and 353,000 per minute. Simply put, the USPS handles 47% of the world’s mail.

You may be wondering how businesses are able to convert prospects into buying customers with direct mail. Well, it’s no secret; the success of direct mail marketing is all about sending the right piece, to the right prospect, at the right time. But how do you get noticed in the mail box? Standing out in the mail is all about the use of impactful images with a strong Call to Action on your piece. And if you can add in personalization in your direct mail design, that will help you stand out amongst the competition!

In this post, we highlight essential direct mail design tips and ideas that will help increase your response rates.

Email marketing concept with businessman touching a mail button to send a message to a list of customers

Keep Your Brand and Design Consistent

Your postcard is a gateway to interacting with your customers. If you want them to take action – buy your products – you need to build trust immediately. How do you go about this?

By maintaining consistency in your brand and design.

When you do so, you promote bonding and familiarity between your brand and your consumers. Not only that, you reassure your customers that they are dealing with the same brand.  You want to create brand awareness and stay top of mind.

To achieve consistency, pay attention to the design and conceptualization phases. That means maintaining the brand message, color scheme, and other elements.

Understand What Your Consumers Want

If you don’t know what your audience is looking for, it is difficult to design postcards that will achieve a high response rate. You want your postcards to be relevant to your audience so making sure the design of the piece and offer speak to your prospect is very important.  Remember, when you target a specific audience with your direct mail piece, you are positioning your business as the go-to location for customers to find and buy the products they need.

So profiling your current customers and identifying the right target audience for your marketing message is key to setting up a successful campaign.  If you are unsure where to start, work with a reputable data company and they will help you find the right target market.

Understanding what your customers want and making sure your direct mail piece is designed accordingly is key.

Use Pre-Built Direct Mail Templates

Want to entice your airline passengers with a printable paper plane? How about using a briefcase design to entice business travelers? Want to celebrate the anniversary of your loyal customer or Christmas?

You can achieve this with a pre-built direct mail marketing templates.

A quick search on Pinterest will reveal hundreds of designs for your target audience. For instance, you can choose a coffee cup in a box as an appreciation gift. You can also use a brochure or a loft cube design.  Again, it’s about being relevant to your target market and speaking to them with your marketing message.

With pre-built designed templates, you get to save time and money. The templates are designed by professional direct mail designers. As such, you can achieve a higher response rate if sent to your target audience.

Use White Space Effectively

Adding white space to your direct mail design emphasizes the important sections. Also, it helps to organize your elements helping you avoid overcrowding design elements.

For instance, you can add white space between your logo and brand name or CTA. Here is a simple trick to utilizing your white space well.  Divide your layout into four parts – header, body, call to action and image. The header should be clear and attention-grabbing. For the body, it should have the important details. For your call to action, use an accent color to ensure it stands out.  The Image is the most important part of your direct mail design. Use high resolutions images that are simple and colorful.

Direct Mail Design Tips for Your Business

There are more direct mail design tips to keep in mind. After designing your postcard or brochure, proofread it. Also, give it to others to proofread your design. You can request your employees, your family or co-workers to do so.  Better yet, ask some of your existing clients if your design would get them to respond!  You are trying to find like customers, so why not ask them what would make them want to do business with you.

Their opinion will help you to create effective designs and campaigns.

Looking for great direct mail designs for your business. We at Modern Mail & Print Solutions can help. Contact us today!

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3 Tips To Optimize Your Direct Mail Marketing Campaigns

In a digital era, it can be easy to think that direct mail and print marketing doesn’t have as much of an impact; however, this couldn’t be further from the truth. As many as 92% of shoppers say they prefer direct mail for making purchasing decisions. However, shoppers will only make those purchasing decisions if you properly optimize direct mail marketing campaigns. Use these tips to make the most of your mailing lists. They will help optimize your direct mail campaigns as much as possible.

this picture represents how to optimize direct mail marketing campaign as a concept.

3 Ways to Optimize Direct Mail Marketing Campaigns:

Remember Your Target Audience

When you’re designing your mail campaign, you’ll want to focus on the target audience. A design meant to be opened by Millennials will look different than one meant for seniors. Make your message and offer specific to your target market.  Consider what types of mail your average customer is getting on a daily basis and keep that in mind when designing. Make sure your mailing list is targeted and hitting the right prospects.  Stay focused on your preferred customers to give your campaign the best possible chance of improving your business.

Use Eye-Catching Design

One of the difficulties of direct mail marketing is it can only be effective if the intended audience opens it. If your customer recognizes it as an advertisement or something they don’t need, they’re not likely to open or ready it. Make your designs eye-catching and unique, specific to your audience with information visible that’s sure to get the attention of your consumers. This will help you stand out against standard letters, bills, and other advertisements that might end up in their mailbox.  Personalizing the direct mail with Variable Data Printing is another way to stay ahead of the competition and standing out in the mail box.

Integrate Online Resources

Utilizing digital technology with your direct mail can be one of the most useful tools available to optimize your campaign.  Leveraging Personalized URL’s, QR codes and Informed Delivery with your mail campaigns provides a coordinated omni-channel experience to enhance your marketing.  This gives customers multiple ways to respond to your offers. Plus, it allows them to respond how they want and when they want to your direct mail piece.  Making things easy and seamless for the prospect is the best way to increase response rates!

Direct mail marketing is still be incredibly effective, even in the new digital era. Making use of these tips will help you optimize your direct mail campaigns to draw in as many new customers as possible. For more information, contact Modern Mail and Print Solutions today.

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