Direct Mail is Thriving with the Help of Local Marketing

• September 29, 2017
• Caroline Lanspa

Just in case you’ve blinked a few times in the last 10 years, the world of marketing has undergone wholesale changes – transformed first by the ubiquity of websites and then the prevalence of social media.

Social media advocates in particular might have you believe that direct mail’s most promising days lie in the past. But they are not reading the fine print – and, if they’re good sports, would even chuckle about the irony of their oversight.

The fact is, direct mail remains a thriving form of “traditional” marketing, embraced even by those most untraditional of consumers: millennials. The keys to making direct mail work, as always? Localization and personalization — and local marketing software can help you bridge any time warp and improve your traction with customers with resounding success.

Local marketing software enhances your direct mail efforts

In case you haven’t opened your direct mail file folder drawer in a while, it may be more robust than you remember. In addition to postcards, flyers and brochures, your library may include coupons and other promotional offers, menus, calendars and catalogs. They all can enjoy a revival when you consider that:

• Most Americans spend about 25 minutes of quality time reviewing the direct mail that lands in their mailbox. Contrast this finding with the fact that they spend only seconds scanning online messages.
• Seventy percent of consumers view mail as more personal than the Internet, and they like this personal attention. (Just imagine how much they’ll like it when you personalize your direct mail pieces with local marketing software.)
• Young adults ages 24 and under embrace direct mail enthusiastically.
• Forty percent of consumers say they visit a business soon after receiving a direct mail piece from that business.

Personalize with local marketing software

Despite the promise that these statistics portend, you know they offer no guarantee of success. Like all forms of marketing, direct mail depends on the deft of execution. These tips should help blow the dust right off that file folder:

• Personalize your direct mail pieces, substituting the off-putting and impersonal “Dear Local Customer” and, worse, “Resident,” with first and last names. Local marketing software can help with this crucial step.
• Tailor direct mail based on a customer’s experience. For example, gather information from customers who visit your store for a three-month supply of vitamins. A few weeks before that supply is due to run out, send them (and surprise them with) a personalized direct mail piece that contains a discount or offer for a fresh supply.
• Ensure that your direct mail piece contains a call to action and emphasizes benefits rather than the features of your product or service. If you need help writing snappy, concise content, hire a skilled freelancer. It will be worth the investment.
• Commit to multiple outreach efforts. In other words, think – and plan – in terms of a campaign. “One-shot wonders” are rare, and it doesn’t pay to count on them. Repetition pays off.

Local marketing software can pay off, too. See how to maximize ROI of any marketing technology (ahem, local marketing software) here.