Small businesses face a lot of challenges in their journey to grow and expand their territories. One of the challenges most small businesses face is to advertise their ventures. Remember, an advertising campaign around direct mail marketing can see the business fail or succeed depending on the approach you use.
That means you have to choose the best marketing approach that will attract more clients and revenue and help your business grow. One of the marketing approaches you can use is direct mail. Do you know what this is and how it works? Read on and understand how you can grow your small business with direct mail.
Understanding Direct Mail Marketing
That is whereby a business markets its products or services through direct mails, which it sends to various correspondence to a potential client. Your main aim in sending such mail is to win their trust and make them buy or use your products and services. That is an effective marketing strategy since it lets your clients interact with the marketing piece, unlike in other cases.
Remember, currently, most entrepreneurs market through different digital platforms and not through physical advertising. So, if you use the right strategy to market your business through direct mails, be sure to impact your clients and goals positively. But you have to ensure the direct mail contains your business identity like name or logo, a call to action, and your contacts.
Will direct mail marketing bear fruits?
Although most companies are now using digital marketing strategies, traditional mails still have a system. A 2017 study shows that direct mail campaigns had a higher return on investment (RIO) than online display ads and paid search. It also shows that the RIO is behind digital marketing like social media just by 1%, known for the top RIO.
Why Does Direct Mail marketing Help Small Businesses Grow and Give Better Results?
Its highly interactive
One of the reasons that helps this marketing strategy stay on top of the list is its interactiveness. That is because you give your clients physical things in the mail and a call to action or promotional offer. So, when your customers receive these, they know they should do something about the mail like bringing it to your business premises. Alternatively, your customer can keep the mail and look at it regularly, making them have first-hand experience.
It helps create memories
Nowadays, it’s rare for a person to receive mail, but it’ll remind you of the old memories when you get this. Also, this will make them have some emotional sparks, which increases personal connections to both the mail and the message in it. You can make this more appealing through signatures or writing the customer’s name.
It’s capable of reaching large numbers
Unlike digital marketing, which reaches only those on such platforms, direct mail can reach more people. That makes it the best method to get those who’re not on social media and can’t also access emails. Moreover, it ensures that all your customers are well taken care of.
Fewer competitors
The good thing about direct mail is that there is little or no competition. That is because more companies are now using digital marketing strategies. So, if you use direct mails, your chances of growing the business are high as you reach most of your clients. That enables you to increase your customer base in the small playing field without using many efforts.
Types Of Direct Mails You Can Use to Grow Your Small Business
Although most people think direct mails marketing involves only letters, this is not the only method. You can use other types of direct mail apart from letters which tend to be expensive but have a better open rate. For example, you can currently use the cheap and popular newsletters, but it will take you time to create.
You can also use the self-mailers like brochures or postcards that don’t need you to put in an envelope to send. These direct mails are a sure bet since the recipient will most likely see the content as it is not covered.
Catalogs are also another direct mail you can send your customers to inform them about various services or products in large numbers. But this needs money to make, so you need to prepare adequately.
You can also use packages that come with online orders and include other marketing materials and letters. You can also add free samples on the packaging to woo the customers into different products.
When Should You Use Direct Mails to Grow Your Small Business?
Even though direct mail seems to be an effective way to market your small business, there are instances when you can fail in it. But then there are times when you can use direct mail and increase your market share and profits. One of these instances is when you’ve got a new product/service you’re trying to launch or promote.
You can also use direct mails when you want to create brand awareness essential for a growing business. For example, you can use this strategy to reach new areas or specific people in a targeted area. That will act as a reminder about your products or services in your locality.
Different Direct Mail Marketing Formats That Can Help You to Grow Your Small Business
You can use the tested formats to get the attention of different customers and help you grow your business. Here are the ways you can grow your business through direct mails.
Use direct mail postcards to grow your business
You can use postcards which are small flat mailers that are affordable; hence a small business can afford them. These pieces are more likely to attract the attention of readers, helping you achieve your marketing goal. But you need to be creative to attract your customers’ attention through the messages in the postcard.
Through Every door direct mail marketing
Another way to grow your small business through direct mail is through every door direct mail (EDDM). The United States postal service program enables you to send flat mailers to specific neighborhoods through carrier routes. But you don’t have to know the addresses as you only choose the route and the post office delivers to either a house or business premises.
This marketing strategy is best for upcoming restaurants, health clinics, retails, and real estate. You can choose who to send the mails to depending on the residence type, age, or income to ensure your offer reaches the target audience.
Using Door hangers to grow your business
You can also boost your small business income through these printed pieces to attract your customers’ attention. As their name suggests, you get to hang these pieces of advertising on potential client’s doors.
Since you don’t send them to the mailbox, they don’t meet other direct mail pieces. They’re also unique in that it’s hard to ignore them and are also cost-effective. However, they’re prone to upset some customers, especially if you don’t package the messages well. So instead, you can print a coupon on the door hanger and then hang them either at a restaurant or a local shop with a specific target.
Stickers and magnets
Although this may never come to your mind when thinking about direct mails, it’s the best way to reach your clients. In addition, stickers or mails are one of the best print pieces that your customers can get as they’re durable.
The magnets will also help you achieve your marketing goal as one gets to stick them on the fridge to see them every time. Seeing the magnets will act as a reminder helping the potential customer think of it often. They’re also interactive as your client gets to stick it to the preferred position, making them have experience with your brand.
Helps you grow your small business through sensory marketing
For your business to grow through direct mail, you need to have them in shape. It should have a compelling message that can capture the reader’s attention more than what mail can do. That is what marketers call sensory marketing, and it majorly deals with tapping a customer’s feelings to get an experience. The more emotions you trigger, the higher the experience. Remember, social media or email can only create visual effects on an individual. But a direct mail will also start their sight hearing and touch.
Use different print effects
You trigger emotions to get desired response from potential customers using print effects. For example, you can use things like metallic inks or scratch-off interactions. In addition, you can use different effects to develop a unique mailer. That means you can make a custom piece on top of the flat mailer that makes it look distinct.
To achieve this, you can opt for the most sought-after effects like foil printing or embossing. Through them, you’ll create a new impact on the recipient’s mind and trigger fresh memories and an understanding of modern designs. But ensure you work with the best printing company that will give you quality print effects.
Tips To Help You Grow Your Small Business with Direct Mail
It would help if you used the following tips for your direct mail marketing strategies to be successful.
Understand your potential customers
If you want to send your clients direct mail, you need to understand them better. Know their demographics like age and gender. It would help if you also learned more about their purchasing behaviors and attitude towards new trends. Finally, don’t forget to know more about your customers’ behaviors about various media platforms or marketing strategies.
Also, their lifestyle will help you understand how to package the messages you print on the direct mail. That will help you trigger the desired response. Effective packaging of your messages means you’ll meet the goals of your marketing strategy, helping you grow.
Have a specific customer in mind?
After understanding your customers, the next thing you should consider is to use the information to develop a targeted list of potential customers. Creating the targeted direct mail list is expensive, but you’re likely to get a better response rate and get future loyal customers.
The initial formula for knowing the success of direct mail marketing was mass marketing which is sending the mail to several people. But because of the increase in the price of paper and postage and most people throwing away the mail, there’s a change in the way of thinking.
That is because you can use less money to reach the intended customers who will heed your call. We call target marketing, which majors in reducing costs and wastage but increases the percentage of achieving your goal.
Decide on a mailing list type
You can’t overstate the significance of direct mailing lists to the success of your direct mail program. A good mailing list should have your primary goals. To succeed in your marketing strategy, you need to be careful while analyzing and selecting the list. Remember, there are various mailing lists in the market with different costs and effectiveness for your marketing.
So, when you want to choose a mailing type, you’ve got to consider either a specialty list that enables you to identify your target audience. You can also go for the customs mailing list that allows you to work with customers’ criteria that meet your demands. But you can also use the cloned list, which enables you to get new customers like the ones you already have.
Develop a mailing
After creating a mailing list, you need to develop the message you’ll be printing on the direct mail. The content will show who you’re and what makes you. As a growing business, you need to attract more clients through the messages to get more income. But this is never easy to achieve, especially because getting quality content can be a challenge.
To achieve this, ensure that your direct mail is also of high quality if you’re into high-end professional services. Don’t forget to include a call to action, as it will lead your customers to make the desired response you need.
Do follow-ups
Don’t forget to schedule and track your mail to know how successful this marketing strategy is. You can do this through the use of coupons or offer codes. Doing this will enable you to know the right path to use during the subsequent campaigns. It will also help you see what went wrong, where and why, and take the necessary actions.
Conclusion
It’s every entrepreneur’s wish to grow and become the biggest shareholder of the market. However, this is never possible as several factors come in between that prevent you from succeeding.
However, if you’re a small business owner, you can make good use of direct mail, which is affordable and has fewer competitors to grow your business. The good thing about this marketing strategy is that it’s much interactive and allows you to reach specific customer groups. That is because not all people can access digital adverts owing to various factors.
But you need to identify the type of direct mail that’s capable of meeting your marketing goals. You also need to know how to package the content of the mail and also your targeted customers. Finally, don’t forget to work on the print effects that will deliver your message and trigger the customers’ desired emotions.
