Direct mail and digital marketing are two of the best ways to reach customers
Alone, direct mail and digital marketing work. Together, they thrive and create a well-balanced marketing campaign.
Marketing is a robust and complicated process. You need to sell yourself to people who don’t know you exist. Not only that, but you have to find and reach them. Your potential customers are across the town, state, country, or even world. Some can be reached by email, some don’t even use the internet. The majority will use both but prefer one method over the other.
The key to successful marketing is engaging with potential customers. This is where direct mail flourishes. It forms a physical connection, usually making people take action. However, many younger people spend much more time checking email and social media than their mailbox. These customers don’t want to “call to learn more”. This is why integrating direct mail and digital marketing works so well.
Here are 3 ways that you can make physical media like direct mail and digital marketing work together:
1. Use Custom Landing Pages to Measure Mailing Results
When you send direct mail, you likely include your website’s URL. However, when the customer goes to your site, they receive the standard page. This means their traffic blends with other direct traffic. This makes it hard to tell if the campaign is working. It also makes the experience less personal because there is no special offer on the page.
A custom URL for your direct mail campaign lets you personalize your marketing. You can create a personalized URL for each customer. These URLs can drive 20-40% more traffic than a standard URL. The page can include their name as a page on your site to make it more personal. For example, business.com/JohnSmith. QR codes are another option for custom URLs. They will bring them to their specific page upon scanning. However, they require a smartphone to scan. They should be used in addition to a custom URL.
Personalized URLs also allow for better tracking. You can see how many visits & sales you get from the mails. If someone visits their custom page, you know they are interested. You can target them again to attempt to convert them to a customer. You can also see if they convert better than other advertising paths.
Finally, you can tailor the page to relate to your mailer. If you promised a discount, you can put the code there. If you had a special offer, you can put the call-to-action on that page as well. This makes it seem more personal and exclusive. Just be sure to make it obvious and easy to claim. You already made them go to your site, don’t expect more work after that!
2. Offer Special Discounts for Your Website on Direct Mail
Similarly, to custom landing pages, special discounts are great marketing tools. You can easily include a discount code in the mail. It can be “random” a “surprise” to pique even more interest. You can also instill urgency with “limited time” offers. If they are interested in the product or service, they are likely to visit the site just to try the code. A survey collected by marketing blog Amasty confirms this. They found that 50% of consumers polled are more likely to visit a store if they receive a coupon. 57% of US online shoppers that used a coupon also say they wouldn’t have made a purchase without the discount (MarketingProfs.com). With price playing a huge role in making the sale, discounts are great for conversions.
See Key market trends: direct mail or email?
3. Include Social Media Giveaways on Your Direct Mail
Social media is a huge part of digital marketing. However, as the name suggests, it is simply digital. In some cases, your customer may not know you have a digital presence at all. Reminding them via direct mail can help to gain more followers and increase your digital reach.
To give them a reason to interact on social media, you can use giveaways and promos. On your direct mail, you can put the details they need to follow. For example, you can put your Facebook account on the mail to direct them there. You can also tell them to message you with something like a selfie holding the mail. Then, you can respond back with the promotional offer for them to claim. They get a deal, you get a new fan, and you know your creative marketing is working.
As you can tell, direct mail and digital marketing are complementary. They can be effective on their own but work best when used together. Combining them offers a creative way to reach a complete range of customers. It also helps to deliver a more personalized marketing experience. Finally, it helps to make tracking your marketing efforts easier.
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