As with any marketing campaign, before beginning a new direct mail campaign, you want to ensure that you have a thoroughly developed strategy that will enhance the success of your campaign and return sales on the investment of your marketing dollars. At Jilco Direct we develop this strategy for our clients, but in this (our very first) blog post we’re going to work through the six best practices inherent to all of the most successful mail marketing campaigns.
After reviewing the below tips, give us a call and let's discuss how your business can benefit from a well planned direct mail marketing campaign.
#1 - Follow the 40/40/20 Rule!
A successful mail marketing campaign is 40% Audience, 40% Offer, and 20% Creativity.
When planning your direct mail campaigns, you should always consider the exact geography and demographics that you want to see your message. Your response rate will be higher, if you're targeting your mail at individuals most likely to respond. Direct Mail is unique across all marketing methods in that gives you full control over exactly who is receiving your message.
If your mail campaign is specifically to market consumers, then your offer to them becomes very important. Remember that the goal here is to attract new clientele that will become repeat clientele. Make an attractive offer and you will receive higher response rates.
Finally, we need to BE CREATIVE. Personalize your mail piece. Modern Print Technology allows us to be much more personalized instead of just printing the same piece over and over "To the Current Resident". Have your card say "Happy Birthday Jessica!" or "Welcome to the Neighborhood Michaelson Family".
#2 - Quality is KING
It may not be intentional, but a simple typo can have a very negative impact on your mailing campaign, as well as your business as a whole. If there is an obvious typo or issue with formatting, these errors will most likely lead your mailing campaign straight into the trash.
This is why it’s essential to read over all of your written materials and create a sample mailer before printing hundreds or even thousands of copies. Complete a quality control check on your sample mailer to ensure that it’s void of grammatical errors and is simple enough for all your recipients to understand.
At Jilco Direct, we take on this responsibility along with our clients. We have in house graphic designers that will create a beautiful post card for you. We pass every design through a rigorous quality control check internally.
#3 - Tie your Direct Mail Campaign to your Website
Using QR codes that directs your recipient to your website is a great way to add legitimacy to your offer. If the potential client can go straight from their mail box to your website to place an order or make a reservation, they are much more likely to take action. At Jilco, we believe that your entire marketing strategy is critical and should tie together as often as possible.
#4 - Track Your Results
Sometimes running a direct mail marketing campaign is as effective for gathering useful data about your audience as it is making actual conversions. The good news is that you can track both at the same time!
Make a spreadsheet that tracks sales, emails, and phone calls you’ve received since your mailers were sent out. If you included a unique short link on your mailer, you can assess online engagement and track conversions this way as well. At Jilco, we provide a variety of ways to do this and will help our clients with this process. We offer call tracking options, we can gather the cards that come back into your business, or work with your web hosting service to track the hits to your website as a result of the mailing.
#5 - Adjust Your Strategy Based on Results
Your results will tell you something about your marketing efforts. Therefore, if you want to get the most ROI from your campaigns, you must adjust based on results: The key to sending successful direct mailing is to calibrate your future campaigns based on previous results. That is why you need a system in place that will allow you to track the response rates. You also need strategies to follow up with your audience.
Mail Marketing is a great way to get your brand out there in front of the right consumers. Give us a call at Jilco Direct today and let's talk about the right strategy for your business!