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2021 Direct Mail Marketing Trends For Success

Huge Opportunity To Beat The Competition

As the market continues to reopen and stimulus money is poured into a rebounding economy, increased competition and demand for creative and aggressive marketing practices cannot be ignored. Marketers who wait to engage will certainly miss opportunities for growth. At Spectrum, we’re helping clients navigate the current marketplace and working to develop 2021 marketing plans that will resonate with their audience for higher response, lead generation, and continued success.

Our clients have been asking our marketing experts: “How can Spectrum improve our direct mail results during these uncertain times?”

In this blog post, we’re going to highlight some key direct mail marketing trends and response-driven ideas and solutions on how to keep your marketing campaigns fresh. Keep your business on track for a successful year as the economy rebounds and we move closer to normalcy.  Waiting isn’t going to cut the mustard!

Improved Targeting

Direct mail is the original king of marketing data.  Response codes, lists, data cards, demographic selects, A/B testing and multiple variation testing have been around for decades, but the tools we leverage now are much more sophisticated.  This is amazing because you can segment your audience and market to them more effectively than ever.

Data sources have more information than ever before. There’s a continued rise in real-time marketing analytics reporting where marketers are able to see how their campaigns are performing and the adjust targeting, messaging to optimize performance.

Your message must be specific to the person receiving your marketing collateral. The more specific you are with identifying demographics the more efficient your marketing will be. Also, your bottom line will thank you.

Direct mail can be very granular with data targeting the right audience at the right time, making it a very powerful marketing and response channel.

Personalization

Creating personalized messaging in your direct mail strategy has always been a goal. But, it’s more necessary than ever since consumers respond at much higher levels when the messaging closely meets their needs. Personalization is more than just adding a first and last name to your paragraph copy. Serve returning customers different offers and a different message entirely than new customers is a great example.

Utilize Spectrum’s VDP (Variable Data Printing) tech to enhance direct mailings with truly customized, highly relevant offers.

USE AS MUCH DATA AS YOU CAN

Tailor the experience to different groups specifically. For example, auto service repair shops can send staggered campaigns based on customer behavior throughout the year and internal data on their purchasing habits and vehicle specifications.  Relevance is important in personalization and using as much data on your customers will be critical in creating that 1-to-1 engagement that drives sales.

EMPATHY MARKETING

Empathy is another element that is critical when communicating your message in 2021.  Understanding how your clients and customers are feeling and building connections with them is more important than ever. Spectrum’s creative team can assist you with developing copywriting that will help you express your goals.

Omnichannel Marketing

INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGY WITH DIRECT MAIL ADVERTISING

What does omnichannel marketing mean many ask?  It’s not just marketing on multiple channels. You’re probably doing that already with your social media campaigns, search ads, and more. True omnichannel marketing is when multiple channels work together with the same coordinated message targeting a singular data-driven audience.  This can be particularly effective when running sales promotions or events.

Touching your audience with a consistent message across direct mail, Informed Delivery, social media, your website or landing page, and online display ads with Google Ads provide the repetitiveness necessary for success.

  • Key Stat:  A combined physical and digital presence can help brands increase their impact by 32%, according to ROI Genome data.

Informed Delivery

CONSUMERS SEE WHAT’S COMING IN THE MAIL

Informed Delivery® is a free subscriber (30+ million as of today) based email notification service offered by the United States Postal Service. Residential consumers receive a digital preview of their household’s incoming mail scheduled to arrive soon directly in their email inbox! Informed Delivery® allows subscribers to view greyscale images of the exterior, address side of letter-sized mail pieces and track packages in one convenient location.*

  • Engage simultaneously through print media and digital advertising
  • Use informed delivery to enhance your product offering or drive traffic to your store and website.

Direct Mail Retargeting

CAPTURE MAILING ADDRESSES FROM YOUR WEBSITE – AND MAIL TO HIGH INTEREST PROSPECTS

With Spectrum’s LeadMatch service you can now match physical mailing addresses of unique visitors who came to your website or landing page from your direct mail piece. You’re able to sort leads by geographic area and then mail those highly interested prospects a follow up marketing piece.

Increase your campaign success by reaching out to highly engaged prospects who visited your website or landing page.

Take Advantage Of Postal Promotional Rates

DIRECT MAIL HAS TRANSFORMED INTO A CHANNEL THAT PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS IN WAYS THAT MAKE SENSE AND INCREASE CAMPAIGN IMPRESSIONS, ENGAGEMENT, AND RESPONSE.

The USPS has a program giving mailers a 2% discount for incorporating new and emerging marketing and print technologies with mail that’s delivered in 2021.

Captivate With Unique Mail Formats

GET CREATIVE!  DELIVER BETTER OFFERS!

Keeping the format of your mailer and the creative unique and memorable is critical in capturing the mail moment.  Entice your customers with powerful offers they can’t resist. Try testing new formats. Capture customers attention by sending something to your customers they have never seen from you before. Show your passion with high impact graphic design.

SOURCES

  • SPECTRUM Marketing
  • USPS Informed Delivery
  • USPS Postal Promotions 2021