If you’ve been reading our most recent newsletters, you’ll notice a theme – that traditional direct mail and e-mail work best together. Both have their place in a marketer’s tool kit, neither cancels the need for the other, and the two may even work symbiotically, as when a post card is sent offering a premium if the recipient provides an e-mail address.

While we acknowledge the growing importance of web-based communication to reach customers and prospects, computers and mobile wireless devices like smartphones cannot by themselves reach everyone in a business’s or organization’s target market. That could change as the use of mobile wireless devices spreads (which is happening rapidly). But until that time, traditional direct mail still has valuable place as a marketing tool.

Traditional direct mail is a good choice for some audiences (such as an older demographic whose adoption of web-based communications may be lagging younger audiences) and for anyone who clearly states a preference for direct mail.

Traditional direct mail is also a good choice for businesses and organizations whose target audience is local. Sustaining member campaigns, fundraisers and financial support appeals by community-based non profits are a good example where outreach by traditional direct mail to the homes of donors is likely to outperform web- based appeal.

Anticipating the addition of, or even the switch to web-based communication, businesses and organizations are collecting e-mail addresses and starting permission-based newsletters and blogs. But until that task is complete, traditional direct mail could be the only way to reach a customer or prospect.

http://www.macgra.com/1009Printips.pdf

If you’re a regular reader of Printips, you know we strongly believe in the power of direct mail marketing as a way to build business. Keeping your company or organization’s name in front of customers helps to reinforce their decision to use your products and services; for prospects, it creates name recognition; and for both groups it builds top of mind awareness for your brand.

The success of any direct mail marketing campaign is determined by three factors: the quality of the mail piece itself; the offer; and the mailing list. Of these, the mailing list is significantly more important than the other two. In fact, the Direct Marketing Association attributes 60% of the success of a mailing to the list itself and just 20% each to the mailer and the offer.

http://macgra.com/0911Printips.pdf

Direct mail is a very popular way to market a company’s products or services. We have helped many customers design and print effective direct mail marketing pieces.

But here is something you may not know – the success of any direct mail marketing campaign is more dependent on the mailing list than on any other factor. You can verify this for yourself with a simple hypothetical example. Suppose the owner of a pizza parlor mailed a post card that looked just exactly like a delicious pepperoni pizza and offered a pizza for free just for returning the card. That would seem to automatically guarantee a high response rate. But suppose the mail list used for the mailing was comprised only of vegetarians – a sure case of a great mailing to a bad list.

http://macgra.com/0403Printips.pdf

Direct mail marketing – the process of using a printed piece to communicate directly with a selected audience – is experiencing a renaissance. The surprising popularity of the federal Do-Not-Call registry for telemarketing, combined with public ire at Internet-based spam, is causing renewed interest in using the mail to create leads or generate orders.

Direct mail offers several benefits over other marketing techniques:

• Targeting. Prospects can be targeted by using a list containing individuals or businesses that meet a specific set of criteria.

• Measurable results. The results of a direct mail campaign can be evaluated by computing a cost per lead or cost per sales transaction.

• Flexibility. Direct mail literature can be personalized or tailored to the individual receiving it.

• Affordability. Even a modest advertising budget can fund a successful direct mail campaign.

http://macgra.com/0310Printips.pdf