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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Well, spectacular as direct mail goes.

The mailer, which advertised dog food, was printed on nice card stock, was beautifully designed with well-chosen colors and graphics, and included generous coupons that were easily removed due to handy perforation.

The only thing that Jimbo found suspect about the mailer was that he is not a dog owner.

Still, the photos of the dog food made it look so appetizing that Jimbo found himself craving it. He briefly debated purchasing some for his own dinner, but came to his senses and ultimately gave the mailer to Pierre, a puppy-owning pal.

Wrong Recipient, Right Design

So let’s analyze this situation. Clearly, the dog food marketers forgot to do their homework and use a mailing list to ensure that the mailers ended up in the right hands. Not the best move, dog food people.

On the other hand, all’s well that ends well. Thanks to the mailer’s general awesomeness, Jimbo did what the company failed to do by passing the mailer on to someone who could use it. Pierre ended up becoming a lifelong customer of this dog food company, and it wouldn’t have happened if Jimbo wasn’t so impressed by this ad.

So while it’s really important to send your direct mail to the right people, it’s really REALLY important to have wonderfully designed direct mail.

Create a persuasive message. Your marketing materials need to include a call to action (CTA) that clearly describes what you want your customer to do. CTAs have four elements: The action the customer should take; when the customer should act by; how the customer benefits from fulfilling the CTA, and; how easy it is to act. Consider the mindset of the audience and know what motivates them. Use this research when drafting your CTA.

Use design tricks to enhance your message. Most likely, your audience will “skim” the information for anything eye-catching. Make your CTA stand out through your design. Perhaps you send a post card with a tear-off CTA that people can take to their computers. Or maybe it’s a magnet they can stick to a filing cabinet or company refrigerator. In an email, try using different images, colors and fonts to highlight your CTA. If the messaging in your CTA is interesting enough, your design will help your audience quickly find it and engage in the action.

Rephrase your CTA at the end of your mailer. Hammer home your CTA at the end of your messaging. Rephrase and condense what you want the audience to do. Offer another incentive or benefit of following the CTA. Remind your audience of the action you’re requesting to increase conversion rates.

Design and messaging are complementary elements that produce effective direct mail campaigns. Using both creatively will capture immediate audience attention and propel them into a new phase of interaction. Creating a clear, repetitive message within a striking design is a surefire way to boost conversion rates throughout your sales process.

Watch any couple prancing around Bed, Bath, and Beyond as they create a wedding gift registry. About 35% of the joy they are experiencing is due to their overflowing love for one another, 25% can be attributed to anticipation of the super cool gravy boats and cheese graters they are soon going to receive, but at least a full 40% is the fact that they get to scan things with a special scanner gun.

When you incorporate QR codes into your direct mail marketing materials, you’re taking your marketing to the next level – by using the newest technology, by helping your targets to spend more time thinking about and interacting with your brand, and most importantly, by providing that special scanner gun experience.

And…What’s a QR Code?

We mentioned QR codes in a previous entry, but as a quick refresher, they’re those little square barcode-like deals that are starting to turn up here and there. The camera function of smartphones can scan them and apps can decode them and send the person who scanned them to a specific website. So at the end of the day, it’s a barcode that’s really a hyperlink.

These babies are useful for advertising purposes because you can use them to direct your targets to your website, or even a specific page of it if there’s a special promo going on or if you have a certain element of your business that you want to highlight.

The “Look What My Phone Can Do!” Factor

Now, smartphone users are well aware that their phones are cool. And most of these lucky folks aren’t afraid to explore all the funky things that their phones are capable of. So by including QR codes in your printed marketing pieces and letting smartphone users know that they can play “scanner gun” with their phones by zapping these codes, you’re more than likely to get a few takers.

This is especially true while QR codes are just starting to make their way into the marketing world. After all, not all smartphone users have had the opportunity to scan any QR codes yet, so your chances of getting your code scanned right now are pretty good. Even if they’re just scanning the QR code because it’s something new and fun to try, you’ll be getting people to spend time on your website who may never have made the trip otherwise.

So drive traffic to your website, show off how cutting edge your company is, and provide your targets with some of that “Nah-nah-I’ve-got-a-scanner-gun-and-you-don’t!” delight. Talk to your pals at imPress about how you can include QR codes in your printed materials.

To start, they didn’t test their mailers. Direct mail has two components – design and message. The design was lackluster, and the message didn’t resonate with the recipient. Make sure the design and message are reflective of each other and include specific elements that are a direct reflection of your target market.

Secondly, they probably used hype. No offense to the used car salesmen out there, but your approach doesn’t work. Don’t claim your product or service will do more than it actually does. Instead, find your best features and emphasize them to avoid creating a “lemon” reputation.

After the mailers where shipped, the sender most likely neglected to follow-up with recipients. You must direct people to your website (or to call). This will allow you to collect addresses for email follow-up and drive customers into your sales funnel and market to them in the future.

Lastly, they probably went cheap on postage – that is to say, they didn’t invest in the proper amount of postage to ensure the mailer arrived in time. The calls to action were most likely out of date at that point.

When it comes to direct mail, don’t shoot from the hip. Have a plan, target the correct audience, and make the right offer. Create value in your direct mail campaign and prove naysayers wrong.

QR codes are small images (similar to barcodes) that are captured by Smartphone cameras and processed through downloadable apps. They then direct people to websites or special landing pages. Think about incorporating QR codes into your printed materials (newsletters, direct mail, even business cards) to lead people to your website and find more information about you.

If you are marketing to people who are social networking savvy, add QR codes that lead to your Twitter, Facebook or blog feeds. Your audience can instantly choose to follow you, creating a larger sphere of influence beyond that one piece of direct mail or other marketing collateral. Conversion rates will increase because the call to action is no longer lost due to time. QR codes make everything instantaneous.

QR codes are a great innovation that should not be overlooked. Instead of simply telling people to “Follow me on Twitter,” you are actively engaging them from the first introduction of your company. Consider QR codes in your next direct mail campaign.