Companies are constantly searching for new ways to reach out to their customers and prospects. Advances in digital technology have given these companies new channels and ways to promote their products and services.
Online marketing seems to have replaced those traditional approaches to marketing, but a recent study has shown that radio, TV, and print are still the leading medium when people search for products and services. In line with this, many companies consistently use direct mail marketing as an effective form of advertising.
The 2-Second Rule
Two seconds is the amount of time a prospect is actually going to look at your direct mail piece. The good thing about direct mail is that it lands on the decision-makers’ desk and so theres a good chance that it will be opened. But what most people do when they see direct mail is, they look at it real quick and then they toss it.
Treat it like a piece of art
A couple of key tricks that you can use to prevent that from happening, is to make your mail look as aesthetically pleasing as possible. Usually, prospects make some sort of emotional connection when they see a nice piece of art or something that just looks really cool. And don’t put too much content on these mailing pieces because what you don’t want to do is to have so many bullet points that people dont want to take the time to read, so they just toss it away.
Make it clear and concise
In your direct mail piece, use something that is very clear and concise with very big text, so when your prospects look at it for even 2 seconds they know the message you’re trying to get across.
Stick it out
Another key thing is using mailing piece sizes whether it’s a postcard or whatever, that’s kind of big and sticks out from the rest of the mail. Make it bigger than the average envelope, because studies have shown that mail with lumpy objects inside, or something that sticks out of the envelope, are more likely to get opened.
You probably spent money making something really nicely done, and then the client doesn’t even look at it because it doesn’t stick enough from all the other mail.
Add a personal touch
Your prospects can tell by the looks of the envelope if the letter is junk. Always try to provide value with your mail, and replace typed texts on the envelope with handwritten text, making it more likely to get opened.
Conclusion
In spite of the rise of the Internet and recently, mobile web browsing, marketing with direct mail is still used by many companies as an effective tool to boost sales and generate leads. In the U.S. where 78 percent of the population is online, there are still about 70 million Americans that online marketing is unable to reach, which makes marketing offline a vital tool in your marketing strategy.