Direct Mail Guide: Meaning, Benefits, and More
Did you know that 74% of people in Australia pay complete attention to direct mail? Additionally, 65% of Australians scan and read every mail item they receive.
Considering these statistics, we can say that direct mail is a powerful and must-have marketing tool for your media mix.
It helps you connect with people, improve brand visibility, and drive conversions!
But, what is AU direct mail marketing?
Direct mail is any physical correspondence sent directly to the physical mailboxes of your customers and prospects. It allows you to communicate with them personally and encourage them to buy from your business. Common examples of direct mail formats are postcards, letters, brochures, catalogues, etc.
Try adding an offer that makes people respond to your mail along with an upfront CTA that tells them what to do next.
Apart from a few basics, you can get creative with your direct mail advertising items. You may experiment with graphics, copy, colours, finishing, coating, etc. But, make sure to design something appealing and result-bearing.
In this blog, we will talk about several things regarding AU direct mail, like:
- Benefits of a direct mail marketing
- Do’s and don’ts of direct mail
- Steps to conduct mailing campaigns, etc.
Let’s dig in!
Why is Direct Mail Marketing Still Effective?
We know that direct mail is one of today’s most effective and profitable marketing channels. It helps marketers achieve several objectives, like increasing brand reputation and getting more sales.
But why does it still work even when the digital marketing field is expanding every day? What are the advantages of direct mail?
Below are some points that can answer these questions and help you learn more about direct mail:
Direct Mail Is Engaging
Direct mail consists of printed materials sent to your target market for generating new leads. These items are tangible and can engage with all the readers’ senses.
Unlike emails and social media ads, direct mail can also be felt. Hence, it is more engaging and interactive than other channels. People can save it for later use or share it with family and friends. Thus, your brand can get more visibility by using direct mail solutions.
Direct Mail Has a Broader Reach
This marketing form helps you connect with people that aren’t active on social media or other digital channels. Also, direct mail allows you to target more demographics and geographical areas than digital marketing.
With services like PostGrid, you can compile segmented mailing lists to reach relevant prospects.
Direct Mail Drives Responses
At PostGrid, we generally come across questions like- what is a good response rate for direct mails?
Well, the average direct mail response rate is 9% for in-house lists, which is far more than several digital marketing channels. Furthermore, 43% of people buy from a brand after receiving a mail item.
Thus, it is evident that direct mail Sydney can drive responses and increase your campaign’s return on investment (ROI).
If you aren’t satisfied yet, read more direct mail statistics that can change your mind.
Direct Mail Faces Less Competition
Several companies have replaced direct mail marketing Australia with digital marketing. They believe that digital marketing is more cost-effective and speedy. Luckily, direct mails are not spammed as much as online ads due to these reasons.
You can take advantage of this situation and use traditional mail to stand out from the crowd.
Creative direct mail advertising can help you give your potential customers a break from the digital noise. Hence, your audience is more likely to appreciate your mail and respond.
Direct Mail Is Long-Lasting
Recipients tend to store direct mail items at their houses for a few days, especially when they come with a coupon offer. Try adding phrases, like ‘Bring this postcard to our store by 1st March to get a 20% discount.’ Readers will likely save your items at least till the mentioned date.
Find the image below of a direct mail item with a discount coupon:
Such creative direct mailer ideas help you grab your prospects’ attention and persuade them to complete the CTA.
Tips to Conduct Effective Auspost Direct Mail Marketing Campaigns
Though direct mails are exciting and memorable to recipients, there may be a learning curve to it. Therefore, we have mentioned some do’s and don’ts below to help you out:
Do: Identify Your Target Audience
Before planning a B2C or B2B direct mail campaign, you should know your buyer personas. It enables you to focus on the most relevant prospects, saving you a lot of time and money.
Categorize your customers according to geo-demographics, like age, gender, income level, location, preferences, etc., to find their look-alikes. Then, you can target them and increase response levels easily.
Do: Always Add a Call to Action
Including a CTA in your Australia Post, direct mail marketing pieces is not optional. It can lead to your campaign’s success or failure, so be sure to add upfront CTAs.
Add them several times through your mail piece, depending on its format and size. For example, if you send a direct mail sales letter, you can include a CTA at the top and bottom. But, a small standard-sized postcard should only have one CTA that is clearly visible to the readers.
Here is an example: Scan the QR code below to complete your transaction and get a $25 cashback.
Read more about how you can incorporate QR codes into your campaigns.
Do: Follow Up Regularly
Direct mailer and marketing is not a do-it-and-forget-it activity. It requires time, patience, and follow-ups. You cannot send out your direct mail items and expect every recipient to reply. Some of them might need additional touchpoints to show interest.
Follow up with all the respondents first to help accelerate conversions. But, also remember to follow up with non-respondents; they may have forgotten to respond.
The point is not to leave any stone unturned and keep in touch with everyone. Perhaps, you can set up an email drip campaign to follow up with your direct mail recipients frequently.
Don’t: Skip Proofreading
Sending mail to existing and potential customers is not a simple task, but it is worth the effort. However, some minor mistakes may act as a barrier between you and your campaign’s success. Hence, make sure to proofread everything before printing. Look out for misspellings, incorrect details, design errors, etc.
Don’t: Miss Driving Online Traffic
Direct mail Australia Post is an opportunity for marketers to drive online traffic to their websites and social media handles. Thus, don’t forget to include all the relevant links and your contact information.
How to Send Direct Mail Online
You can always conduct a DIY direct mail campaign, but it can be daunting and expensive. Hence, you can now use the services of an automated direct mail agency like PostGrid to save money, time, and effort.
Here are the steps to launch a direct mail marketing campaign and how you can automate them:
Plan Everything In Advance
Marketers should plan every aspect of their campaigns in detail. Make sure to settle on your:
- Marketing goals: What are you looking to achieve from this campaign?
- Mailing list type: Are you buying lists or compiling them yourself?
- Campaign size: Do you want to send bulk mail or conduct a small-scale campaign?
- Response channels: What options should you give your recipients to respond?
- Marketing budget: How much are you willing to spend on a campaign?
- Types of direct mail advertising items: Which format do you need to use?
Read how PostGrid can help you send out marketing letters and postcards.
PostGrid’s automated direct mail marketing API can help you avail of huge postal discounts on bulk mail. Plus, it can help you compile targeted mailing lists consisting of valid delivery addresses.
Read more about our address verification solutions here.
Design Your Items
Your artwork is the most significant feature of your campaign. You may choose to keep it minimalistic or go over the top to make it the most creative thing your prospect has ever seen. It all depends on your campaign goals and messaging type.
Here are examples of the best direct mail campaigns:
These items are unique, eye-catching, and creative. They send out the company’s marketing message upfront and encourage recipients to take action.
PostGrid can help you design such items using its HTML templates. That’s right; you don’t need to hire a designer and pay extra!
Printing and Delivery
Usually, you need to print your mail items by yourself or outsource the job to a printing company. But, with PostGrid, you need not worry about printing and mailing. It can help you automate everything from start to end.
Firstly, your items are printed through one of PostGrid’s printing partners, who are experts in their field. Then, they are enveloped and mailed via the postal services within two business days.
Measuring Campaign Performance
It becomes easier to track responses if you include features like QR codes, pURLs, and coupon codes in your items. We can help you add them to your design and track your campaign performance accurately.
No more dangling with estimates and guessing your campaign results! PostGrid allows you to access your campaign reports and insights through your dashboard.
Conclusion
In contrast to what some people think, direct mail is far from dead. It is data-driven, targeted, trackable, and effective. Moreover, you can use the services of a direct mail house to automate all your offline mailing activities.
PostGrid’s direct mail API offers several features to its customers, like:
- Zapier integration
- International address validation
- Item personalisation
- Complete data security
- Per-piece tracking, etc.
Request a demo now to know more about our automated direct mail services!
Ready to Get Started?
Start transforming and automating your offline communications with PostGrid
The post Direct Mail Guide appeared first on PostGrid.
source https://www.postgrid.com.au/direct-mail/
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