How many of you are disappointed when you check your mail and nothing is there. Even though all you were expecting were bills or ‘junk’ mail. It’s a little sad opening your mail box and finding it empty. Why do you think that is?
The answer is simple. We like to get mail.
As a kid, I used to wait on pins and needles every July, running out to check the mail every day as soon as it was delivered, waiting for birthday cards from my Grandparents. Even now, years later (not going to mention how many years …), I’ll walk my kids down the road to the mail box and it’s still exciting. My kids will run ahead and fight over who gets to unlock the box, they’ll plunge their arms all the way to the back of the box to make sure they don’t miss a thing, and they’ll divvy up the treasure. Sure, most of it is bills, magazines and the odd attempt to sell me something, but it’s still thrilling to get mail.
It’s always nice to get something, from anyone, even if it’s considered junk. Especially now, when marketers are focusing their attention on Social Media and Online Marketing, when e-mail is feeding our penchant for instant gratification (who has time to wait around for correspondence to be mailed?) and with everyone going paperless, we don’t even have to get bills in the mail. Mail is in a definite decline and we’re finding our mail boxes empty more often.
Now is the time to take advantage of those empty boxes. They are yearning to be stuffed with colourful pamphlets and eye catching mailers!
As new and shiny as these new marketing tools are, they are way too broad range. You can get yourself out there, but you can’t hone in on your target audience. Direct mail can do that. It’s extremely targetable.
I’m not saying to abandon all your other marketing mediums and focus primarily on direct mail. As much as I love direct mail, I am realistic and understand that a little mail piece is going to have a hard time competing against all the tweets and likes flying back and forth.
The solution is to meld high tech with old school. Send mail pieces out that promoting your website, or QR codes promoting your facebook page encouraging your prospects to like you.
I know what you’re going to say next – if we all are slaves to the computer and like instant gratification so much, why not simply send out emails. Why not do both? Reinforce your message and give your prospects a variety of ways to respond.
Last year marketers were enamoured by social media, before that it email marketing and before that it was banner ads. I predict this year marketers will return to their roots and direct mail will play a large role in direct marketing.