Direct mail is far from dead. Let me tell you why.
The average lifespan for a piece of direct mail is 17 days, compared to the average lifespan for your email, which is 2 seconds. Yes you heard me right, it takes no less than 2 seconds for someone to press the delete button on email. I do it and I know you do it too. We can’t help it. The difference between the two? People like tangible. They like having that piece of mail in their hand, they like being able to hold it, feel it, open it; it’s all about the experience.
Don’t get me wrong: Tangible or not, junk mail is fucking awful.
But, it’s here to stay and there’s nothing we can do about it. So, I want to give you some tips from a customer’s perspective (as well as a business owner’s) on how to do direct mail correctly so your customers don’t consider your direct mail junk.
Bigger is better.
First off, after looking at the huge stack of mail I received today, there are a variety of sizes, colors, formats, etc. Bigger is better when talking about direct mail. Small pieces of paper will most likely get lost in your stack of mail. That would be like trying to advertise your whole business on a Post-It note. It’s not ideal. Go big, go bright. Bright colors (but not too over-the-top), as well as a clean format, big font, with a very obvious call-to-action is the way to go.
Be creative.
Direct mail does not come in only one form. It can be a piece of paper, a catalog, a brochure, a letter, etc. Different forms are more useful for different companies. Be creative and figure out how to do it right.
Find what works for you and think more for your company than just a 2 second impression.
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3 thoughts on “Direct Mail ISN’T DEAD”
I can definitely see that direct mail still “works”, especially now that fewer and fewer people are doing it. The question I have is whether or not direct mail is over priced. With social media marketing I can get in front of 1,000 people who I have specifically targeted to real time data for as little as $100, where direct mail could upwards of $1-2k for printing, postage and a list that is lost likely terribly outdated. The one time we ran a full direct mail marketing campaign it costs us $1200 in total and we got zero leads and one pice went to bride we had already photographed the year prior on an expert list of “recently engaged couples”.
I use the list I get from a big bridal show. I dont direct mail much, but by doing this, I know the list is accurate. I select accordingly with their wedding date. So I might only mail 100 beautiful flyers in an envelope but I will get about 5 or 6 people at the end.
Cost about $500 total to do it. If my cost per signed lead is less than $200, it works.
Can we see your marketing piece ?