By DM, I mean direct mail. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by your email inbox? Maybe you’re thinking, when don’t I feel that way? If we thought we were receiving more than enough emails before the pandemic, you’re not imagining that it’s increased significantly since then.
At CIM, we’ve been following another tactic, one that’s had its own trend for decades: Direct mail. Peaking in the 1990s, direct mail filled physical mailboxes, and people tired of “junk mail” at home and work. With online communications taking off, many predicted that direct mail would be on a downswing, and it did decline. It has since increased and declined based on the economy and postage rates.
But something else happened. As people grew tired of their overloaded email inboxes, many rediscovered enjoying receiving physical mail to go through – actually paying attention to what they receive in the mailbox.
Direct mail has remained a successful tactic for a number of our clients for multiple reasons:
- Direct mail serves as a physical touchpoint with clients.
- Very targeted lists can be secured or purchased, sending your message to specific neighborhoods or ZIP codes.
- There are creative options to make a mailpiece stand out: Special postcard shapes and sizes, for example. In addition, pieces can be printed using variable data to personalize a mailer per recipient.
- Surveys show that people like to have a choice in how they receive communications from a company. We often send printed and email newsletters to the same recipient audiences, letting them choose how they wish to read the message. Some will delete the email as they clear out their inboxes, but may glance the hard copy.
- With less mail in mailboxes, what is there has a better chance of standing out, and being read and acted upon.
- Direct mail is now trackable using tracking phone numbers or unique web page URLs, so you can maintain lead tracking.
For many companies, direct mail remains a marketing tactic that has a place in a diversified marketing approach. If you’d like assistance in evaluating options to reach and capture your market, that’s what the CIM team does every day.
I hope you enjoy the July Fourth weekend by celebrating our freedom and independence.
Quote of the week:
Freedom lies in being bold.
Robert Frost