Direct mail marketing can be used by, small-scale business and large multinational corporations to reach their prospective customers directly, spreading a targeted or a more general message or proposal. It is considered one of the pillars of a successful marketing strategy all over the world, although some authors argue that direct mail marketing is somewhat old-fashioned and not as effective when compared with other marketing tools based on newer, electronic technologies. Nevertheless, all and every reputable marketing strategist would consider the use of direct mail as part of a broader marketing strategy, aimed at a target customer group.
Quite obviously, the success of a campaign that involves dissemination of a message through direct mail marketing largely depends on methods to evaluate and target precisely those customers that are more likely to react to the message. Hence, a direct mail campaign should be based on in-depth analysis of databases of customers that are to be targeted, their possible preferences, income level, etc. Of course, a marketing campaign targeting a huge audience of average customers will involve logistical operations related to the message distribution, as well as techniques to supervise the entire process of direct marketing and whether the message have physically reached its destination i.e. the target audience. This in turn requires specialization in the field of direct mail marketing that only a handful of companies in any particular market would have.
Actually, the logistical element of such a campaign is only the visible part of a process that involves careful planning, thorough market analysis, and in-depth knowledge in the field of marketing and message creation. It is irrelevant to try to convince customers in a particular neighborhood to purchase a service or a product that is beyond the average financial ability of the average household residing in this particular area. On the other hand, dealing with averages is tricky because the average income distribution in an area does not take into account the particular income of select high-income households in the neighborhood. Thus, a company specializing in marketing services and direct mail marketing would be able to reach the targeted audience even if the neighborhood is not considered a lucrative market for a particular service or product.
Such an approach, however, requires significant efforts in the field of marketing and mass message dissemination which is hardly achievable by the average merchant. Evidently, the local brick-and-mortar grocery or a family store can deal with a small-scale marketing campaign through direct mail, but a large chain of stores should use the services of a professional direct mail marketing firm for best results. In fact, small-business owners can also benefit from the services of such a professional company lowering the cost of their promotional expenses through a more focused and targeted direct mail campaign.
Direct mail marketing offers a great advantage that a good number of new-generation marketing professionals tend to underestimate. The world is now more digital than ever and a widespread fallacy says that organizational messages should now be distributed mainly through electronic communication channels. While this is true to some extent one should bear in mind that reports based on in-depth research of customer preferences and customer behavior suggest that a customer is much more likely to skip a message received through electronic communication channel as compared to a print copy of a message received through direct mail. Customers all over the world also tend to perceive a print copy of a message more trustworthy than its electronic counterpart, and for good reasons.
Finally, there are markets where direct mail is still the main option to reach a broader audience due to the lower penetration level of digital technologies, which in turn can be caused by lower income levels or the rural character of the area. In any case, direct mail marketing is still a major tool to get one’s message distributed to a target audience that can be otherwise unreachable.
Sam is free lancer content builder for many sites as well as magazines. He writes many articles on digital technologies, trading, marketing mostly his articles published on direct mail marketing.
Very Informative post.. Thanks for sharing such a good post.. Generally now days no one use email marketing. but after reading your post I got knowledge about email marketing.
Yeah you can say but still it is illegal to send mail to anyone without their permission.
I’ve been thinking about trying direct mail marketing, I might have to give it a try now!
Direct mail marketing has its importance there only the person should be professional to use the resources.
Sending direct mail to everybody is not recommended and people treat such kind of mails as spam,but if the mail reaches the right target it can be useful.Its hard to reach the exact target so in my own view its not what i will do to raise my voice to the audience.
Yes, I think direct mail is way more effective than email. Actually, I don’t disrespect direct mail. When I get a shiny card in the mail that’s related to something I’m interested in, then I do look at it and respond if I’m interested. With email, everything just looks so much like spam; I probably read 20 or less emails that are marketing to me every year. I think where advertisers get weird with direct marketing is that it really is a pretty expensive endeavor, but from what I’ve heard from marketers and businesses that use it regularly, it’s well worth doing.
Direct mail is left in abeyance now a day. Its good that you highlighted the aspects associated with direct mail. It is a great way to reach the audience. Thanks for writing on this niche.
I like Direct Mail Marketing and EDM is very useful, I must say that you’ve done a excellent job with this. Also, the blog loads very quick for me on Chrome. Outstanding Blog!
Direct mail is still effective as part of a well rounded marketing campaign. Due to costs there is less direct mail being distributed today which means that it provides an opportunity to those marketers that are willing to invest the money and resources to do it well. It helps to keep a business top of mind if mailings are going out on a regular basis.
Great post Gary. In the age of digital campaigns, the need for offline channels such as Direct Mail to justify ROI has become absolutely vital in securing the required spend. I think through a combination of annotation in Google Analytics and unique, campaign specific landing pages, it’s easy enough to gauge the response rate of a direct campaign. Where it gets a bit sticky however, is when you move away from that last touch attribution and start looking at a direct campaign’s impact on brand awareness. Your thoughts?
Really, direct mail marketing more advantages, it is beneficial for our bussiness.