Be the best in the postbox

These days, thanks to the countless emails that are sent every day, it’s almost impossible to stand out in your lead’s inbox. If you want to draw attention to your product or service, consider taking a step back from all the digital noise and investing some time and energy into an effective direct mail marketing campaign.

Direct mail gets into your leads' hands as quickly as possible. In fact, as much as 80% of consumers have said that they open most of their mail, even if they considered it to be ‘junk’.

Just think of what you could achieve if you delivered a direct mail marketing campaign that was far from junk.

What if instead it served as a memorable and meaningful experience for your lucky recipients.

Below are a few ways that you can evolve your direct mail marketing to make it stand out, and not just in a bright and colourful way.

Following these tips is a sure-fire way to not only increase open rates, but also to encourage levels of engagement, nurture existing leads, and secure long-term loyal clients.

Get In Touch With Their Emotions

One of the greatest advantages that direct mail has over its digital counterparts is that it appeals to many of the recipient’s senses.

Because of this, direct mail marketing appeals to your customers in ways that email marketing cannot, and even manages to touch their sentimental side.

As the marketing experts at MailChimp outline in their glossary, direct mail has the potential to ‘evoke nostalgia about the times friends or family has sent you mail’.

While this is not a specific tip on what to include in your direct mail marketing, it is important to be aware of the emotional potential of direct mail.

Ultimately, this is the angle that you should be taking in order to maximize the impact of your campaigns.

The way to make direct mail effective is to make it memorable, and the way to do that is to make it emotionally impactful.

Whether that’s through making your client laugh or making them cry is up to you, or more specifically, up to the kind of product or service that you’re looking to sell (remember to maintain brand consistency, even when trying to make a big splash!)

The best way to make sure that your marketing has an emotional impact is to tailor it specifically to the person that you’re sending to. This leads on nicely to our first real tip: personalization.

Always Make It Personal

Imagine you get two letters through your letterbox. One looks as if it’s written by hand and is addressed specifically to you.

The other is obviously printed on a bland everyday-use envelope and is trying to reach ‘The Homeowner’ of your address.

Which one are you going to be more excited about opening?

• A personalized handwritten letter appeals to your customer’s sense of curiosity before it is even opened.
• It reminds people of holiday and birthday cards, or thank you notes and well wishes.

Personalized handwritten letters appear more meaningful than traditional direct mail. That’s why those who have used them in the past have seen as much as a 635% increase in engagement rates over both traditional direct mail and email marketing.

Obviously, personalized handwritten marketing will require a little more investment of time if you intend to write them all yourself.

Thankfully, Scribeless can take care of everything for you, so all you need to do is tell us what you want to say and who you want to send it to.

With us, organizing a personalized handwritten direct mail marketing campaign that connects with all your loyal customers and potential leads is as easy as sending an email or two.

People Love Interaction

Another great way of standing out with traditional direct mail is by adding an extra layer of interactivity with your marketing.

As previously discussed, direct mail can engage with the senses in a way that digital marketing can never replicate, so it’s best to really make the most of this advantage.

One great example of interactive direct mail is the Natural History Museum’s Explore and Discover campaign:

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• Studio Sutherl& designed a collection of leaflets that encourage physical engagement and showcase several animals that link to the museum’s attractions.
• Recipients can use their parts of their body, from fingers to faces, to give life and movement to the animals and minerals on the leaflets.

Another example of phenomenal direct mail marketing that use physical interaction are BMWs ‘Joy Is Cutting Through Winter’ campaign which requires unique interaction for the mail to be opened:

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All of these combine striking visuals with tactile sensations to create a memorable experience out of direct mail marketing.

And that’s why they bagged such great response rates and will be remembered long into the future.

In fact, we did a little blog post on the best campaigns recently!

Offer a Little Something Extra

You should never underestimate the influence that a coupon can have on a sale.

In fact, two out of three consumers say that a promotion closes the deal when they are unsure about making the purchase.

If you’re less concerned with standing out from the crowd and encouraging engagement than you are with securing customers and driving sales, then including a gift, a free sample, or an exclusive offer is a great way to evolve your direct mail marketing.

Many businesses who understand the potential of direct mail marketing take it for granted and assume that choosing it over email is enough.

They think that just getting a leaflet into their lead’s hands will make be enough to guarantee a sale. This could not be further from the truth.

While it’s been proven that direct mail marketing is far more likely to grab attention than email marketing, a good marketer makes the most of that time in the recipient’s hands.

Offering a token of thanks to show appreciation for their attention is a fantastic way to encourage business.

The ideas explored above are all terrific means of increasing engagement rates and securing sales, but it’s up to you what you do to optimize your direct mail marketing campaigns.

If you’d like to find out more about the potential of direct mail marketing and how personalization can triple your customer engagement rates, get in touch with Scribeless and we’ll help you to make the most of your time in your customer’s hands.