You could send out identical emails, mailers, and social media advertisements to the masses, but that wouldn’t be the most effective use of your resources. Direct marketing targets key segments with more personalized strategies and materials. These campaigns focus time and money on promoting a specific product or service to segmented markets, making these efforts more successful.

Why is direct marketing so much more effective than other types? This approach boasts a variety of benefits that nearly guarantee its success, including these key advantages:

Direct Marketing Focuses on Segmentation & Targeting

Typically, a marketing team will conduct research to determine which markets they should target, segmenting by demographics, psychographics, behaviors, and geographics. This narrows down recipients to those most likely to make a purchase, increasing the chances of a sale. 

To learn more about finding the mailing list right for your target market, check out our blog “How to Find the Perfect Targeted Mailing List.” 

Personalization Enhances Every Campaign

Direct marketing can utilize personalization to create a one-to-one communication experience. Integrating other channels such as direct mail has proven to enhance your success. Additional customization can strengthen the one-to-one touch appeal. This ensures the customer feels the piece was created specifically with them in mind. 

For example, when creating a direct mail piece such as a letter, postcard, or self-mailer, you’ll want to incorporate variable data printing. Adding three or more points of personalization to every mailer has proven to improve your results. The customer receives a piece that they feel was developed just for them.

For more information about variable data printing, read “Variable Data Printing: Drive Direct Mail Success With Personalized Campaigns.” 

The Approach Is Cost-Effective

Because you’re able to target a group that is more likely to buy, you’re committing your resources to nearly guaranteed sales. By allocating your resources only toward viable targets—instead of sending your efforts out to anyone and everyone—you’ll save funds. Plus, because you’re targeting those who are more likely to make a purchase, you’ll be making your money back in the long-run. Your team is able to set realistic goals, conduct tests, and determine the best approach for your customer base. You can also easily break down how much you’re spending on each customer and adjust according to how much they typically spend. 

An Opportunity to Upsell & Re-Engage

Some of the target markets may be previous customers, meaning you’ll have an abundance of information on each of them. You’ll be able to tailor almost every aspect of your mail piece. This is helpful when trying to upsell your clients on more luxury products or services. Greater personalization leads to more sales. Direct marketing can also be used to re-engage previous customers who haven’t made a purchase in a few months or years. Express how you’ve missed them, ask them to return, and provide an offer. 

Easily Test & Analyze Results

Direct marketing campaigns typically include a call to action and a way to respond. This can be a phone number, URL, PURL, or email address. Adding these elements makes it easy for marketers to track the method used and amount of responses received. By analyzing the data, they can measure success and determine which offers or channels are most effective for future campaigns.  

Check out our blog “How to Track & Measure Direct Mail.”

Why You Should Incorporate Direct Mail in Your Direct Marketing Approach

Direct mail has proven its value time and time again. Statistics and science prove it often yields greater results than digital because of its tangibility. Direct mail also offers major benefits, such as greater response rates, trust building, personalization, versatility, simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and more. 

Design Distributors understands the importance of incorporating direct mail into any direct marketing campaign. Whether you want to send out letters, postcards, self-mailers, or all three, Design Distributors can help you develop personalized pieces for your target audience. For more information, contact us or request a free quote.