What is Direct Mail Marketing?
Direct Mail Marketing, AKA Direct Mail Advertising, or simply Direct Mail, is any advertisement you send through the mail, most commonly via the USPS. But it can also include flyers, door hangers, and the like delivered by people, whether it is someone you hire for the job, your current employees, or even yourself.
Direct Mail campaigns are written by a copywriter who understands the audience. The copywriter does the research, ad copy, and Call to Action (CTA) for the business sending out the campaign.
Direct Mail can be a letter, a bulky mail campaign (something to thicken the envelope, causing people to open the envelope instead of just tossing it), Outrageous Marketing, multiple deliveries as in a series or campaign, or just a flyer, postcard, or door hanger delivered to homes and businesses.
EDDM, or Every Door Direct Mail, is a USPS program that allows you to reach one postal route or a whole town at a time.
Is Direct Mail Dead?
According to top marketing watch group companies, the bottom-line answer is a resounding no. In fact, to summarize, online marketing has recently reached its peak. It is still active but on a downhill trend. These facts can be verified with just a little research.
Due to so many scams, advertising overload, and mixed messages online, more and more consumers trust the information they can hold in their hands, like letters, postcards, and other forms of physical marketing material.
In fact, I have verified testimonies from businesses that have seen an excellent ROI (Return on Investment) in their advertising dollars using offline marketing. I’ll discuss that in the section below.
Am I against Online Marketing?
I want to say that I am not against online marketing. In fact, I offer online services myself—under a different name, JBL Action Marketing. I am a Certified SEO Copywriter, which means I help businesses with websites and online marketing build their organic traffic. Organic traffic means you don’t have to buy online advertising, but you optimize for the words people search for.
Some of the best marketing strategies combine online and offline marketing. If your offline marketing is well-written with a good Call to Action, you can get people to go online, where you can expand their thoughts.
You may be reading this post because you came to this page via a printed URL or a QR code.
Have You Received a Catalog in the Mail?
Think about the catalogs you receive in the mail, especially at holiday times. Those catalogs cost those companies a pretty penny, but they continue to do it because it works. You may ask, why don’t they send a link to their website? Because when something is in your hand, you are more likely to look at it than only browse a website.
The bottom line is it is making them money. Here’s how…
In the end, many people see an item they want in the catalog and then go online to order it. Others may choose to call in an order, and a smaller percentage will fill out the form and mail it with a check in the provided return envelope. One catalog, three types of buyers.
Direct mail doesn’t just work for big businesses, either. Smaller local companies are succeeding with direct mail, whether a simple ad on a postcard co-op mailer, a stand-alone postcard, or a sales letter inside an envelope.
Flyers, Door Hangers, Rack Cards, and More
I am sure you have found a real estate flyer, a restaurant menu, a roofer’s offer, or a door hanger from another business on your front door. Someone had to put much effort into delivering them or pay someone to do it for them. In addition, there is the cost of printing.
Why do they keep showing up? They work!
They work best when you do them multiple times. Some businesspeople try an advertising idea once and say it doesn’t work. Repetition in advertising is critical to your success. It is a proven fact that people need to see an ad between five and fifteen times before they act. It depends on the wants and needs of each person and the offer being made.
To Sum It Up
In closing, do some research to see how direct mail can enhance your business’s marketing. You may be surprised.
We offer a Free Discovery Call to help you figure it out. We can guide you to do it on your own, do it for you, or provide you with the necessary materials at a great price.
I wish you much success in marketing your business. Let us know if you need a brainstorming partner.
The Discovery Call
Talk to Jimmy on a Free Discovery Call. It’s a 10 to 15-minute brainstorming session—no obligation, no pressure – ever.
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