Restructure your direct mail campaign to appeal to your target audience

No matter how you market your products or services, you need to think creatively if you want to see positive results. While traditional advertising methods can certainly bring in returns, these practices won’t necessarily leave resonating impressions with recipients or build any solid loyalty. Instead, professionals will capitalize on spontaneous purchasing decisions, acquire a small portion of responses and inquiries and make a few bucks off their initial investment. For small businesses, using generic outreach efforts may be worthwhile, but for any larger organization that wants to generate higher profit margins, having campaigns that stand out can make all the difference.

In a recent article from Deliver Magazine, direct marketer Bruce Moyer spoke on how his company’s open rate increased significantly in just a short period of time.

“Our company found that the open rate for three-dimensional items, such as things that come in a box, is greater than 95 percent,” he said to the news source. “so [recipients] are looking at this stuff on their desk all day long, getting the repetition of the message.”

Moyer and many other marketers have found that sending unique mailings with eye-catching proportions can make all of the difference, especially when what is being sold requires more than a few minutes of thought.

“Real estate is about location, location, location. Marketing is all about the frequency of the message,” Moyer stated.

Does frequency actually improve return rates?
Moyer said he believed frequency is an influential part of direct marketing, as it encourages consumers to engage with a brand time and time again. While this may prove to benefit professionals who want to use direct mail to increase brand recognition or loyalty, it’s also extremely important for marketers to have a clear understanding of who responds to print media more frequently today. In many instances, sending regular content to buyers who are more likely to engage with the mailings can benefit brands in many ways, such as building consumer loyalty, increasing profit margins and generating word-of-mouth marketing.

According to Epsilon’s recent Consumer Channel Preference Study, approximately 36 percent of U.S. consumers said direct mail is their channel of choice to receive promotional content across several categories. What’s more, nearly 60 percent of consumers report feeling an emotional boost from receiving printed mail, which means people who are offered competitive deals through the mail may be more likely to embrace the promotions.

One of the more interesting findings in the Epsilon study was the age bracket in which these statistics were compiled. The research found the preference for direct mail extends between the ages of 18 and 34 years of age in the United States and Canada. Brands who shied away from promoting to younger buyers in the past through direct mail marketing efforts might want to rethink their promotional approaches in the future.

How do I capitalize on my opportunities?
Now that you’re armed with some new-found knowledge about who prefers to receive direct mail and what types of content resonate most with recipients, you are better prepared to design your own direct mail campaign. However, it’s essential that you exploit your messages as much as possible when getting creative – it’s time to take some calculated risk in your marketing, especially if you want to see returns that pay the bills.

Whether you’re selling a product or service, you need to think outside of the box, and find ways that you can keep your brand in front of consumers for as long as possible. If you market something for the summer weather, consider printing your next mailing on something creative like a beach ball, summer tote bag or simply a beach-themed letterface.