Today’s technology can break down your recipients into very specific interest groups (aka potential customers) by location, geographic range, household income, education or retirement status, whether they own a home and much more.
So how does this apply to social media?
Consider this: Direct mailing >> Social media fan >> Customer
Incentivize your potential customers to join your social media networks. Once you have them hooked, you can keep them informed and engaged.
If you’re about to stop reading because your target isn’t what you’d consider a ‘social media user’ – think again!
Statistics year after year have shown a significant up-tick in social media use by all age groups.
That means you can send specific targeted mailers customized with names and even links to personalized website landing pages all leading to your social media.
You’ll wow your customers with how with-the-times you are and likely you’ll also get them to talk about their experience and get even more customers.
Just be very clear in the steps someone must take or your awesome idea could flop.
Need some advice before your next mailing? Let the experts at imPress printing help!
Your printed materials are often the first impression someone has of your business or organization. So how do you make sure you’re starting off on the right foot and appeal to a wide-range of demographics?
The answer is you don’t appeal to every demographic collectively, you appeal to each individually.
Today’s targeted mailing lists and amazing printing technology, combined with decades of experience here at imPress, can ensure a high return on investment.
First off, what are the goals of your piece? If you’re looking to raise money, for example, you don’t want to look like you spent a ton of money on your printing design with flashy colors on fancy paper.
You really have to know your audience. If you are an environmental group, you should use real recycled paper, soy-based ink and possibly have the piece produced with wind technology.
Perhaps you’re doing printed pieces that need to go to consumers that speak several languages? Why not do the same piece in multiple languages?
Targeting your audience
Technology has dramatically changed the level of accuracy you can employ to target your audience. imPress can help you increase your ROI by hyper-targeting your audience, tailoring the message and making sure your product is appealing to each potential customer on their own terms.
Say you’re selling pools. Our mailing lists can target the proper income level and age and even put your materials in the mailboxes of families with a certain number of children.
If you’re a real estate company, why blanket the entire region when you can send materials to targets that are broken down by how many years someone has spent in their house? Maybe you want to target retirees looking to downsize. We can do that, too!
Talk to imPress and we’ll help you spend those coveted marketing dollars wisely.
It’s much easier to show up unannounced in somebody’s mailbox than it is to show up unannounced on somebody’s computer screen.
Now, mind you, we’ve got all kinds of love for well-designed websites, and we can’t say we don’t enjoy a well-crafted email. But even though lots of people are using those internet-based marketing techniques to get their names out there, we can’t help but see the advantages that printed mailers have over web marketing strategies – especially when you’re trying to bring somebody in for the first time.
Introduce Yourself With Print Marketing
Websites and e-mails have got nothing on print when it comes to reaching out to new clients.
Let’s be honest…your clients have to actively try to end up at your website. The computer user is running the show when he’s surfing the web. So if he’s not searching for, say, a website that sells bubble bath for dogs, there’s no way he can end up on such a site. You could have the best dog bubble bath website on the world wide web, but you’ll have no visitors if no one takes the time to look for it.
And as far as e-mail marketing goes, we guess it’s possible to send unsolicited e-mails to random addresses. It’s just not very effective. That delete button gets a workout whenever people receive e-mails from addresses they don’t know…and those people tend to get a little skeeved out that a company somehow uncovered their addresses. Not to mention that there can even be less than thrilling legal ramifications of sending out such e-mails. In a nutshell, it’s just not the best plan.
Mailing addresses are another story, however. They’re a matter of public record, so people are more open to receiving communications they don’t expect when they’re delivered to their actual mailboxes. And unlike an e-mail, the recipient can’t press delete. Most people do at least a quick scan of their snail mail before deciding whether to junk it or keep it. So a mailer with the right design has a decent shot at sharing its message – at least when compared to an unsolicited e-mail.
Now, we’re definitely not saying that this direct mail should be the end of your communications with them. We’re just saying it should be the first. After you get their attention with a super stylish mailer, we do recommend referring them on to your website. And once they’re there, feel free to legitimately collect their e-mail addresses and continue the marketing via e-mail. After all, websites and e-mails are groovy things. They just have trouble starting the dialogue.
So let print handle the introductions, and let imPress handle the printing.
Plopped right on your desk is today’s mail. Bills, magazines, direct mail.
The competition for your attention is in full swing…and it’s survival of the fittest. Getting to the top of the pile has always been a challenge for direct marketers, no more so than now when time is at such a premium.
No, direct mail is not dead. Far from it. One client of ours drops over 4 million pieces of mail each year and generates a very healthy ROI, thank you very much.
There are a number of tactics you can use to improve the response of your direct mail program. Lead among them is the use of variable print data. Enabled by technology, personalized messages can be created on each piece by pulling information from your database.
Research shows that mail with your name on it, along with a relevant message, generates a significantly higher response rate than those without it. The additional costs of variable printing can be highly justified by the higher returns generated.
PURLs of wisdom
Personalizing mail is hardly where the technology stops. A PURL (personalized URL) allows you to create a customized experience on the web for your target audience. You can combine PURLs with your direct mail or email marketing tactics to “tag team” your clients and surround them with a personal message.
By speaking to your audience in a direct and personalized way, you will be able to convert more of your campaign recipients into valuable clients.
The benefits of PURLs include:
Higher response rates
Gathering and updating information about your clients
Accurately measuring the success of marketing campaigns
Educating clients about your company
Interested? Talk to us about personalization technologies.
We’re a little bit direct mail obsessed, so we pay pretty close attention to the direct mail that is sent to our office. We like to check out the layout and graphics and color choices and think about what we love and what we might have done differently. You know…it’s like a little creativity exercise to keep us on our game.
But the other day we received a mailer from Nissan that was so unique we would have had to pay attention, even if we weren’t the direct mail junkies we are. Check it out – this thing rocks.
A mailer like this gets people talking. Here we are right now talking about it and giving Nissan some free advertising at the same time. Spring-loaded cardboard cubes don’t usually explode out of direct mail, and when they do, people pay attention.
We love that direct mail can do things like this. E-mail, social media, and web marketing are terrific in their own ways, but they just can’t capture someone’s attention like a flying object can.
If you aren’t aware of the latest direct mail technology, get ready to be amazed.
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It’s much easier to show up unannounced in somebody’s mailbox than it is to show up unannounced on somebody’s computer screen.
