5 Ways Direct Mail Can Improve Your Holiday Campaign

22 Oct 5 Ways Direct Mail Can Improve Your Holiday Campaign

As the holiday season approaches inboxes are flooded with emails from retailers, promoting sales and seasonal discounts. As a consumer, these emails can get monotonous, and blur together in a stream of emails we never intend to open. Unsubscribe? It’s tempting. In a digital world, how can a business get ahead and make its brand and product stand out? As old-fashioned as it sounds, direct mail can give the winning edge to a successful holiday marketing campaign. Get the snowman stamps ready, and let’s look at how to approach this holiday season before crunch time hits.

Direct Mail Return on Investment Is High

In any type of campaign, print or digital, the ROI (return on investment) is a crucial factor that can make or break a marketing strategy. In a world encompassed in digital media, it’s easy to dismiss print as a high ROI campaign. However, according to a recent national poll conducted by Alliance Business Services 76% of households read direct mail ads, and most people check their mail immediately upon receiving it versus email ads that are rarely opened. The response rate is also notable with print versus digital—4.4% compared to .12%. As for the customers that open their direct mail advertisements? Nearly 50% of those customers visit the business’s website after reading the direct mail advertisement. In 2018 for every $167 dollars a brand or business spent on direct mail, an average of $2,095 spent on sales or goods was the result.

Direct Mail Compliments Other Channels

As noted above, direct mail pushes consumers to seek out a brand’s digital media channels. Combining print marketing with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) marketing and online banner ads across social networks like Facebook and Instagram can create a strong campaign. Through these three different types of marketing consumers continue to credit print material, such as printed flyers, post cards, and catalogs, for 56% of their decision when it comes to making purchasing decisions. Connecting a print and digital campaign is as easy as using QR codes and personalized URLs to track the crossover between printed marketing and online marketing. This is also a valuable tool in tracking where and when customers are interacting with printed marketing material, evolving the future of the brand’s marketing campaigns. Get creative! QR codes can be printed on almost everything and can be scanned on nearly every smartphone or tablet.

Direct Mail Makes It Personal for Customers

Because direct mail is a physical form of communication, much like the nostalgia of handwritten letters, it stands out as being a more memorable interaction for many customers. This in turn often elicits a stronger response from the customers, particularly if the brand can make a personal statement. A business should consider sending a postcard mailer with a photo of their team or a brand graphic that stands out and include a personalized message that includes a coupon, making the customer feel valued. In fact, 70% of Americans find direct mail advertising more personal than online ads. Want to make a direct mail piece really stand out as personal? Include the customer’s full name in color and add a handwritten signature to drive their response rate up by as much as 135%.

Direct Mail Is Cost-Efficient

While there is no argument about the benefits of digital marketing, it can sometimes come at a price. Many brands rely on outsource marketing to handle advertising and marketing campaigns which can eat up most of the marketing budget. This is often the price of the time committed to online marketing. With print and direct mail advertising, creation dollars are spent on the front end, but once in circulation, it proves to be incredibly cost-effective. While digital marketing channels have competitive pricing structures that can fluctuate by the season, direct mail pricing stays consistent year-round.

Direct Mail Involves More Than Just Visuals

The more a business can put their name and brand in front of new and returning customers the more likely they are to gain or retain those customers. And while people spend the majority of their days looking at a screen, direct mail has the ability to involve more senses than just sight. A huge advantage is an ability for customers to hold printed marketing in their hands. While focusing on brand colors, bold fonts, and colorful images is important, consider the incorporation of texture into a mailer to grab the customer’s attention. Some businesses have even included scented direct mail to make their brand stand out. Sending a company Christmas card? Add some textured snowflakes, velvety ribbon, or an evergreen scent. The more senses involved, the more lasting the impression!

Commercial Printing in Morristown, TN, and the Lakeway Area

The takeaway with holiday direct mail marketing is that it works! Send it early, send it often, and set your brand apart from the overflowing inbox of your customers with quality print materials. Located in Morristown, Tennessee, our graphic design team and expert craftsman have over 120 years of combined printing experience. Acme Printing is the market leader in providing our customers with top-of-the-line digital and offset commercial printing, graphic design, finishing, labels, wide format signs and banners and now promotional items. Even in a world turning towards digital marketing, printed items such as rack cards, brochures, business cards, and flyers are extremely effective to reach our customers desired audience. We offer fast turnaround times, lower costs and the ability to print smaller quantities that allow our customers to target more specific audiences. Contact us today to get a head start on your holiday print campaign!