As 2021 comes to an end, you may have in mind your strategy for a 2022 marketing plan. As with most things in business, consistency and agility are key factors to success. Direct mail marketing is a way to accomplish both with a turnkey, set-it and forget it automated marketing process. Here’s what you need to know to get started.

What is Direct Mail?

First, let’s start with defining direct mail to eliminate any preconceptions. Physical correspondence through mail delivery is the most simple definition of “direct mail marketing”.

Is Direct Mail Still Relevant?

In the face of digital, many marketers called direct mail “dead”. However, even before the pandemic, direct mail numbers were increasing, especially because of multichannel integration where data is shared between on and offline formats for tracking and retargeting. This blend is “rising all boats” in the sense that all marketing methods are elevated to a higher return on investment when blended in this way.

This means direct mail is alive and well and more effective than other marketing methods when targeting is used. It’s ability to be personalized makes is memorable and unique, and the tangible quality means it is interacted with in a way digital products can’t be. Direct mail isn’t subject to ad blockers, “banner blindness”, or spam filters. For all these reasons, it is not only relevant, it is also effective.

How do I get started?

Start by talking to a company who specializes in direct mail campaigns. They will meet with you to talk about your goals, create a budget and support design. Your budget will include designing the pieces, the printing of the mail and the postage rates.

Be clear about your goals. You don’t shoot in the dark, so set a goal by which you will measure results to be sure you are investing well. This will guide both you and your marketing team in the design and call to action as well as what to track and tweak based on the data.

With your goals in mind, think about who your intended target is and build your list based on who is most likely to engage further with your mail campaign. Will you be targeting new customers from a specific mail zone? New movers into a specific zip code? Current customers with follow up or birthday postcards?

Thinking about the action you want the audience to take, design your campaign as a series that builds. Work with your design team to build an automated process that walks customers and prospects through the flow you design. Decide on a variety of styles for the print collateral, but keep your message and logo front and center as well as consistent.

If you need to, start simple with a small postcard campaign and build through the year. However, if you are ready to jump all in with multichannel marketing, take the time to set up the workflow well so the automation takes tasks off your plate.

Decide how often the mail campaign will run and create a strategy for looking at the results. Because your direct mail campaign is tracked, you should be able to easily see when items hit mail boxes and can begin to get consistent, predictable results. However, if you never look at your data, you will be missing a great opportunity to adjust your campaign for greater results.

Ready to get started? Contact Plumb Marketing today to learn about options, create a 2022 marketing plan, and leave the automation to us!