Direct mail marketing is using the post to deliver paper, concrete advertising to users’ doorsteps. You can send postcards, brochures, personal letters, and flyers; if you want to get creative, you can even send promotional paper bags or origami. Office Depot would send out paper bags, for example, to encourage parents and students to buy supplies from them in August and September. This marketing spread awareness of back-to-school sales to pair supply and demand. We worry about marketing strategies going out of style due to technology changes. After all, no one uses a printing press these days to replicate woodcuts or advertisements when we have computers and mass printers. Direct mail marketing has lasted for centuries, however, and has proven still effective in the digital age. We highlight some reasons for why we can use the post for advertising:

Direct Mail Can Grab People’s Attention

When we go online, we multi-task. Often we go to check email, our bank accounts, and social media. Gmail now has a spam filter and divides mail into three categories: Primary, Social, and Promotions. Most email advertising goes into the Promotions email unless you specify otherwise. Grabbing consumers’ attention using emails, as a result, can prove frustrating with the low response rate. Direct mail has only a small amount of places to go: a P.O. Box, a regular mailbox, or an office room for sorting, or a slot in a house. When a person picks up the mail, they spend a few minutes just sifting through various documents. You get a few minutes rather than a few seconds of attention. Those minutes can make all the difference to deliver your message.

No Regulations On Mail Types

Email marketing runs the risk of the law, and spam filters. The CAN-SPAM act is not your friend. While its regulations and guidelines are clear-cut, violating them can lead to devastating, bankrupting fines. You aren’t sending spam. But if you appear to be, then people will have a negative association with your business. People do not like spam. When we get an email, we like it to have a sense of the meaning, especially if a company is trying to advertise to us. Sometimes an ad can completely miss the mark, phish for personal information, or distribute inappropriate content to the target market. This can lead to someone permanently blocking business email addresses. Direct mail advertising has a lesser risk of appearing as “junk mail” and it doesn’t violate any regulations. For one, you are curating your mail for your target market and not sending out messages en masse in the hopes of appealing to customers. For another, as long as you don’t violate confidential information or send grossly inappropriate content, you are not breaking any laws by sending a brochure about sales or a postcard with reminders for dental visits.

Direct Mail Has An Emotional Connection

Thanks to email sending messages in seconds, and being free compared to postage stamps, people have stopped sending handwritten letters as a normal method of communication. You can send electronic congratulations for promotions, PayPal or Bitcoin payments on a job well done, and digital cards for birthdays. We like receiving mail. The tactile sensation of walking to your post box or mail slot, skimming through your letters, and opening them is something no computer can replicate. What’s more, a consumer feels that someone took the effort to design and deliver a message to them. When they get a piece of mail that makes them smile, they are more likely to buy. And they are more likely to support your brand. Postlead can help you generate a direct mail campaign that strikes that emotional connection consistent with your branding. Reach out to us today.